Anthony Scaramucci isn't wasting any time cleaning up the White House communications shop. On Tuesday morning, Politico's Tara Palmeri reported that President Trump's new communications director dismissed Michael Short, a former RNC staffer and Reince Priebus loyalist suspected of leaking sensitive information to the press.
Short abandoned campaign during its darkest days
Short briefly worked for the Trump campaign but quit after the controversial "Access Hollywood" tape debacle. According to Politico, Short departed the campaign so abruptly that he left his computer behind, and created tension among some Trump insiders after Priebus decided to appoint him to a White House job in January.
“He was scorned by many of his colleagues for quitting the Trump campaign, only to rejoin as a White House staffer because of Priebus,” wrote Palmeri on Tuesday. Palmeri says that campaign staffers arrived at Trump Tower one morning to find Short's laptop left open on his desk, but Short was nowhere to be found. "He had quit the campaign that day and never returned," she added.
No small amount of tension was created a few months later, when Trump staffers bumped into Short on their first day in the White House. Some were outraged when they discovered that Priebus had given a job to the same man who had abandoned them during the darkest days of the 2016 presidential campaign. To make matters worse, some of these Trump loyalists would be working directly under Short.
Breitbart News has confirmed from multiple White House sources that Michael Short was a suspected leaker. Inside the White House, Short worked closely with Katie Walsh, the former deputy chief of staff who was fired earlier this year for leaking. Both individuals previously held high-level positions within the RNC.
Priebus ally insists that he wasn't fired
Short, however, not only denies being a leaker, but is also denying that he was fired. Short told CNN that "the entire premise is false" and that he hasn't been informed of his termination.
Palmeri, who broke the story for Politico, tweeted late Tuesday morning that Short insists that he had been merely "reassigned" by the RNC.
Short disputes his resignations, says he was assigned to campaign from RNC and merely went back to the RNC to work for campaign from HQ https://t.co/bJ4XBtZR6a
— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) July 25, 2017
Michael Short: "No one has told me anything and the entire premise is false." Looks like Scaramucci is firing ppl without telling them first https://t.co/UqtsXuGerP
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) July 25, 2017
Scaramucci last night: "I'll fire all of you." Looks like there may be a new sheriff in town... https://t.co/Yw8yMaVfjm
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) July 25, 2017
At any rate, Anthony Scaramucci has made it clear that he's not afraid to shake things up inside the White House. On Monday evening, the new communications director threatened to fire everybody, if he had to, in order to plug up the incessant stream of leaks that have plagued the Trump administration.
