US President Donald Trump fired his communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, on Monday over an obscene tirade, just 10 days after naming him to the job, in the latest staff upheaval to hit the Republican's six-month-old administration.
Anthony Scaramucci speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, July 21, 2017. /AFP Photo
In a statement, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Scaramucci will be leaving his role because he "felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team."
The move took place on the first day of work for Trump's new chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, who was serving as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly replaced former Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, who resigned last week.
Newly sworn-in White House Chief of Staff John Kelly looks on during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, July 31, 2017. /AFP Photo
An administration official said Kelly had asked for Scaramucci's removal.
"A great day at the White House!" Trump tweeted on Monday evening.
Screenshot of US President Donald Trump's tweet.
Scaramucci made headlines last week for comments he made to The New Yorker magazine last week in which he attacked then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, in profanity-laden terms.
The departure of Scaramucci followed one of the rockiest weeks of Trump's presidency in which a major Republican effort to overhaul the US healthcare system failed in Congress and both his spokesman and previous chief of staff left their jobs as White House infighting burst into the open.
(With inputs from Reuters)
