Spicer on leaving Trump admin: ‘I have no regrets’

Outgoing White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday he has “no regrets” about leaving the Trump administration, saying that he wanted to leave the White House press team with a clean slate.

In an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Spicer said that he knew what the “right” decision was after President Trump hired Anthony Scaramucci to serve as the new White House communications director.

“I knew what the right thing to do is. I think I have a pretty good compass, and I made a decision that it was in the best interest not of just myself, but … for the president and for this administration, was to step aside and let Anthony and Sarah lead the team,” Spicer said Friday.

{mosads}

“But I knew right away that that was what was best for this president, for this country, for this administration. And so I followed that path,” Spicer added.

“And I will say, I have no regrets,” he continued. “I can’t thank the president enough for this unbelievable honor, and I’m going — I will always be grateful for that.”

Spicer said Trump had been “unbelievably gracious” following his resignation.

“He’s an unbelievably gracious individual, and wanted to make sure that I thought that that was in the best interest of myself as well. He’s always thinking of others,” Spicer said.

“And I assured him that I would be just fine. He assured me that he would continue to be as supportive as he always has been. And I told him I would stay on for a few weeks to ensure a smooth transition. He accepted that, and then we kept working hard to advance his agenda,” Spicer said.

Spicer caught flak on a number of occasions during his six-month tenure as the Trump administration’s top spokesman.

In April, Spicer faced backlash on social media and from Jewish organizations when he referred to concentration camps as “Holocaust centers” at a press briefing.

The spokesman had an often combative relationship with the press. He blasted news media over their reporting on Trump’s inaugural crowd sizes from the podium in January a day after Trump took office.

“I’m here to tell you that it goes two ways,” Spicer told reporters at the time. “We’re going to hold the press accountable as well.”