Newly named White House communications director Anthony Scarmucci is already shaking up the White House staff with plans to fire assistant press secretary Michael Short, Politico reported.
Zeke Miller of Time magazine later tweeted that Mr. Short had resigned.
Mr. Scaramucci had said he planned to dismiss Mr. Short and added that he’s determined to stop the leaks even if that means the communications team is limited to two people.
“I’m committed to taking the comms shop down to [White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders] and me, if I can’t get the leaks to stop,” he said in the interview.
Asked how he plans to stop leaks, Mr. Scaramucci told reporters at the White House Tuesday, “I’m going to fire everybody — that’s how.”
“You’re either going to stop leaking, or you’re going to get fired,” he said.
Mr. Short was close to former White House press secretary Sean Spicer who resigned Friday after learning of Mr. Scaramucci’s hiring. Many also recall that Mr. Short quit working for the Trump campaign a few months before the election and reportedly only joined the Trump administration because of Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
If Mr. Short is pushed out, it would be at least the third departure of a former Republican National Committee staffer from the West Wing.
Mr. Priebus, former chairman of the RNC, brought at least 46 RNC employees to the White House to work for Mr. Trump.
Among them were Mr. Spicer, and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, who quit in March after the initial effort to repeal and replace Obamacare fell apart in the House.
Mr. Short told The Washington Times that he was told of his dismissal Tuesday morning at the White House.
“It’s been a privilege to serve the president of the United States,” he said.
• Dave Boyer contributed to this article.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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