Ex-Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci blasted chief of staff John Kelly as “General Jackass” on Thursday, accusing him of pushing out top White House aides.
“Does the president want to lose everyone because of General Jackass?” the former White House communications director said during an interview with Bloomberg News.
Scaramucci was fired by Kelly after just 11 days on the job, after the New Yorker published his expletive-laden tirade against former White House strategist Stephen Bannon and former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
His comments come the day after communications director Hope Hicks announced she would leave the administration. Deputy communications director Josh Raffel also announced he was stepping down this week.
{mosads}Scaramucci has made other public comments blaming the high departure rate on Kelly, who he says has created an environment with “terrible” morale in the White House. He again called for the chief of staff to resign.
“There will be a further evacuation of talent,” Scaramucci told Bloomberg. “The guy is a bad dude. Fear and intimidation doesn’t work in a civilian organization.”
In his interview with Bloomberg, Scaramucci accused Kelly, a retired Marine general, of limiting his access to President Trump and said that he is concerned Kelly will try to interfere with his efforts to sell his stake in SkyBridge Capital, a deal that has been stalled in a government office.
Scaramucci told Bloomberg that he does not care if he is quoted making disparaging remarks about Kelly, saying, “at least I’m an honest front-stabbing dude.”
Scaramucci has also been harshly critical of Kelly’s handling of the domestic abuse allegations against ex-staff secretary Rob Porter.
“These guys are smacking up their wives and he’s trying to figure out a way to keep them inside the White House,” he said of Kelly. “So it’s very dishonest to me.”