Scaramucci: White House morale is ‘terrible’

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Thursday predicted more staffers will leave the Trump administration because morale is “terrible” under chief of staff John Kelly.

“The morale’s terrible, and the reason why the morale is terrible is that the rule by fear and intimidation does not work in a civilian environment,” Scaramucci said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“And so here we are. It’s messed up; it’ll be up to the president to figure out if he wants to fix it or not,” he continued.

{mosads}Hope Hicks, the current communications director and one of President Trump’s closest aides, said Wednesday she will resign, effective in the next few weeks.

News of her departure came one day after deputy communications director Josh Raffel announced he would leave the White House.

Ex-staff secretary Rob Porter resigned last month after allegations he abused his two ex-wives became public. Kelly drew criticism when he stood by Porter despite the accusations.

In addition, dozens of White House staffers in recent days had their security clearances downgraded from “top secret” to “secret” as part of a new policy laid out by Kelly. Among those affected was the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner. 

Scaramucci, who was fired by Kelly after 11 days in the communications director role, said his criticism did not stem from a personal grudge against the chief of staff. Scaramucci was ousted last summer after a reporter published disparaging comments he made about then-staffers Stephen Bannon and Reince Priebus.

“I talked a little bit of smack about two guys that we were trying to get rid of, he fires me in five seconds,” Scaramucci said. “These guys are smacking up their wives and he’s trying to figure out a way to keep them inside the White House. So it’s very dishonest, to me.”