Mooch woes from White House to Manhasset

Amelia Camurati
After only 10 days in the White House, communications director Anthony Scaramucci was removed from his position by Chief of Staff John Kelly. (Photo courtesy Twitter)

When Manhasset resident Anthony Scaramucci climbed close to the pinnacle of political power in Washington before rapidly crashing down the slippery slope, the reverberations were felt on the North Shore.

He lasted a mere 10 days as White House communications director, the shortest stint in that job in history. But while he was briefly a favorite of President Donald Trump, reporters staked out the village, his home, anywhere Scaramucci or his wife, Deidre Ball, might be.

Reporters tracked Ball, who was not wearing a wedding ring, to a Manhasset Starbucks five days after she gave birth to a son, James, the New York Daily News reported. During the delivery, Scaramucci was reportedly with President Trump en route to the Boy Scouts Jamboree.

Ball reportedly filed for divorce near the end of her pregnancy. The couple has been married for three years.

Efforts to reach Scaramucci and Ball were unavailing.

Anthony Scaramucci’s wife, Deidre Ball, filed for divorce near the end of her pregnancy after three years of marriage. (Photo courtesy Twitter)

The newly installed White House chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star general who reportedly made clear on his first day who was in charge of the staff, removed Scaramucci from his position on Monday. Kelly was promoted from secretary of homeland security after his “record-shattering efforts,” Trump said.

Scaramucci, 53, a financier who founded the investment firm SkyBridge Capital, had earlier boasted that he reported directly to Trump instead of following the typical chain of command.

A graduate of Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, Scaramucci was named communications director on July 21 after briefly serving as chief strategy officer for the Export-Import Bank.

He began his tenure by saying he would “fire everybody” if that’s what it took to end the leaks coming from the White House, The New York Times reported. Before he was fired, Scaramucci was never officially sworn into his position, an event that was scheduled for Aug. 15.

The firing came mere days after an explicit interview with The New Yorker, where Scaramucci said he was unlike the chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and was not “trying to suck my own [expletive]” before expressing a desire “to [expletive] kill all the leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people.”

Counselor Kellyanne Conway, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and then-communications director Anthony Scaramucci were photographed together on Air Force One July 25. (Photo courtesy Twitter)

In the same interview, Scaramucci referred to the then chief of staff, Reince Priebus, as “a [expletive] paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.”

Priebus was removed from his position July 28 by Trump, with only a weekend separating Priebus’s farewell and Scaramucci’s.

“The president certainly felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position,” the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Monday at a White House briefing. “General Kelly has the full authority to operate within the White House, and all staff will report to him.”

As to Scaramucci’s future with the Trump administration, Sanders said he “does not have a role at this time.”

Before becoming communications director, Scaramucci was said to be slotted for a move to Paris as ambassador to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

When Scaramucci was appointed to the communications director post,  Sean Spicer, then the press secretary, who was born in Manhasset, resigned, as he was reportedly unwilling to work under Scaramucci.

Former communications director Anthony Scaramucci made one trip on Air Force One before being fired 10 days into the job. (Photo courtesy Twitter)

On July 26, Politico obtained a copy of Scaramucci’s financial disclosure form through a public request, sparking a heated controversy with Priebus. The form outlines Scaramucci’s income sources and assets, which according to the report total more than $50 million.

The report revealed that Scaramucci owns seven limited liability companies in Port Washington, and after its release, Scaramucci took to Twitter, claiming Priebus “leaked” the form, tweeting: “In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony, I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept #swamp @Reince45.”

As if things were not bad enough, the Harvard Law School, where Scaramucci received his law degree in 1989, erroneously reported Scaramucci as deceased in the new edition of the alumni directory, mailed out this week.

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