Anthony Scaramucci may have ended his 10-day tenure at the White House, but his controversial remarks against Reince Priebus are still making rounds on several news outlets. On Wednesday, the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza received a phone call from the then-communications director who was asking him to name the leaker of his meeting with Donald Trump among others.
Inside Scaramucci's controversial phone call with journalist
The journalist was the first to report about the meeting and revealed that it was attended by Melania Trump, Sean Hannity, and Bill Shine.
Ryan Lizza added that the information was given to him by two knowledgeable sources. Anthony Scaramucci, who was not pleased that the meeting was made public, personally called the New Yorker staff to ask who gave him the scoop.
When the reporter refused to name his sources, the financier and political figure threatened to fire all members of the communications team. Ryan Lizza revealed that the former communications director attempted to convince him again before he went on to accuse Reince Priebus of leaking the information.
"I’ll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus—if you want to leak something—he’ll be asked to resign very shortly," he warned.
“Reince is a f--king paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac."
Scaramucci claimed he was joking when he attacked Priebus
After his phone conversation hit the headlines and following his dismissal from the White House, Anthony Scaramucci is finally speaking up to defend himself from criticisms for his remarks against the former chief of staff.
According to the Huffington Post, the financier insisted that he was joking when he said those statements to the reporter.
The former communications director even claimed that his family has been friends with Ryan Lizza's family for more than 50 years now. "My dad knew his dad from construction, and we were building a personal relationship.
Most of what I said was humorous and joking," he explained.
Anthony Scaramucci also suggested that the New Yorker journalist knew that he was not serious during their conversation. Ryan Lizza, on the other hand, denied having a personal relationship with the former communications director.
"We are not and have never been "old family friends," though I think our fathers knew each other, so maybe that’s what he’s talking about," the journalist said. "But again, that would not be a reason to suppress an explosive on-the-record interview.”
