Shock Spicer Resignation May Signal Wider White House Shake-Up

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary who dutifully weathered media criticism for months and even became a Saturday Night Live punching bag, has resigned from the Trump administration.

The shock resignation follows President Donald Trump reportedly considering a staff shake-up in the executive offices as he also weighs going into full battle mode with the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel.

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The first sign of the change was word Trump would be appointing a new communications director. The new communications director is businessman Anthony Scaramucci.

Scaramucci’s name was bandied about for the past 24 hours before being made public by the White House. Reports indicated that both Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff, and Steve Bannon, the special assistant to the president, opposed his appointment.

But Trump likely sees Scaramucci as the salve for a troubled communications office. An additional bonus is that several right-leaning outlets like Scaramucci, a loyal Trump surrogate. His nickname among admirers in the press is “Mooch.”

Scaramucci is best known of late for “putting CNN into a body bag,” as one conservative journalist told LifeZette, after CNN reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee was looking into a Russian investment fund. The June 22 story suggested the fund’s CEO met with Scaramucci, at an event in Switzerland, before the inauguration.

Scaramucci threatened to sue, and by the following week, three top CNN journalists had resigned. The story was not only retracted — it was deleted from the CNN website.

Reports in the late morning indicate Trump offered the job and Scaramucci accepted. Spicer did not return a message from LifeZette, but the Washington Examiner reported the outgoing press secretary was displeased Scaramucci would take the title of communications director while he would continue to be responsible for much of the role’s responsibilities.

Right-leaning journalists hope Scaramucci will arrange more interviews with Trump and his Cabinet officials, something they feel has been lacking in the first six months. Some journalists blamed Spicer for that, although it is widely known Trump picks his own interviews and the timing, too.

Scaramucci will steer stories in the conservative media’s direction, said one right-leaning journalist to LifeZette, and “he’s actually competent,” he added.

But other right-leaning journalists will miss Spicer. He took questions from right-leaning outlets during the first days of the Trump administration, shocking the mainstream media.

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At his second press briefing on January 23, Spicer skipped the Associated Press, usually the first to get a question at the briefings, and called on the New York Post, a right-leaning tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch.

On January 24, Spicer again sent the media into a tizzy when he called on LifeZette for the first question.

But as the months dragged on, Trump had seen Spicer as being beaten up by hostile reporters. Trump reportedly did not like the news-making press briefings, which reportedly drowned out his message.

LifeZette began reporting in May that Trump would shake up his communications staff.

The first casualty was actually Mike Dubke, the first communications director, who quit on May 30.

Just after noon, Fox News reported Spicer quit because of the Scaramucci job offer.

Note: This story has been updated to reflect the confirmation of Scaramucci’s appointment as White House communications director .