- The Washington Times - Tuesday, October 17, 2017

A popular Twitter account associated with former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci tweeted and then retracted an interactive poll Tuesday morning asking social media users to answer how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

“How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?” the Scaramucci Post account tweeted early Tuesday along with poll containing four possible answers: “less than one million,” “between 1-2 million,” “between 2-3 million” and “more than 5 million.”

The tweet was taken down about an hour later.

“This poll was put up by @lancelaifer without consulting @Scaramucci who is traveling in London. The poll has been taken down,” the Scaramucci Post said in a follow-up tweet.

“The intent of the poll was to highlight ignorance of the basic facts of the Holocaust. I take full responsibility for it,” said another tweet attributed to Lance Laifer, a hedge fund manager and former internet entrepreneur in his early 50s, according to previous reporting.

Mr. Scaramucci, 53, launched the Twitter account for the Scaramucci Post in August following his 10-day tenure as President Trump’s communications director. He later described the project as a millennial-first media company, according to The Hill, but he has failed so far to get anything off the ground other than its social media presence.

“We have no idea what the Scaramucci Post is and neither do you. But, we launched it today and we launched with great fanfare and so we’ll have to see how the whole thing unfolds,” Mr. Scaramucci told The Hill earlier this month.

The Scaramucci Post account boasted boasting more than 24,000 followers as of Tuesday morning, including high-profile users such as ousted federal prosecutor Preet Bharara and former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, among others.

Sources close to Mr. Scaramucci said he was “furious” over the Holocaust tweeted and plans to “take immediate disciplinary action,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper reported on Twitter.

“At least one person is getting fired,” Mr. Tapper predicted.

Mr. Scaramucci did not immediately comment publicly on the matter.

Up to six million Jews were executed by Nazis during the Holocaust, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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