- The Washington Times - Saturday, March 3, 2018

Anthony Scaramucci is among a roster of former Trump staffers barred from entering the White House without special approval, an administration official said Friday.

Mr. Scaramucci, President Trump’s former communications director, is included on an “administrative exclusion list” that prohibits him from easily entering the White House, the official told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity.

Along with other former White House staffers who who left “under adverse circumstances,” Mr. Scaramucci must have any potential appointments at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue “evaluated on a case by case basis,” the official said.

The White House claimed earlier this week that Mr. Scaramucci wasn’t barred from its premises, prompting the financier turned public-relations man to cry foul.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a White House official said Thursday that Mr. Scaramucci hadn’t been blacklisted from the compound and would be allowed access for official business like any former staffer, Bloomberg reported.

Mr. Scaramucci subsequently provided Bloomberg with White House correspondence that proved he was denied an appointment, prompting Friday’s clarification.

In one exchange cited, a Secret Service agent wrote that Mr. Scaramucci is “administratively excluded from entering the complex at this time (not allowed access),” Bloomberg reported. In another, White House Management and Administration staffer Monica Block wrote that Mr. Scaramucci would only be allowed to enter if approved by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly or Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, the report said.

Mr. Scaramucci isn’t being specifically targeted, and that the same restrictions apply to anyone who has failed a background check, was fired or asked to resign, the White House official said Friday, according to Bloomberg.

Brought on by the Trump administration last summer, Mr. Scaramucci’s tenure as White House communications director lasted all of six days. He was appointed on July 21, the same day Sean Spicer resigned as White House press secretary, and officially took office on July 25. He infamously lashed out at his West Wing colleagues in a phone call to a New Yorker reporter on July 26, and on July 31 he was dismissed by the president on the recommendation of his incoming chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly.

Mr. Scaramucci referred to the chief of staff as “General Jackass” this week and warned he would caused a “further evacuation of talent.”

“John wants to turn @potus friends into adversaries. Sorry John. Not happening,”. Mr. Scaramucci tweeted Friday.

“The next time I will go to Washington it will be to visit the @smithsonian,” he tweeted.

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

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