President-elect Donald J. Trump appointed a Port Washington resident, Anthony Scaramucci, to his transition team on Friday.
Scaramucci, 52, the founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, an investment firm that specializes in hedge fund advisory services, praised Trump in an op-ed article in The Financial Times on Friday.
“He is an empathic person who recognizes the pain of America’s middle class,” he wrote.
Scaramucci donated over $210,000 to the Trump campaign, “super PACs,’’ joint fundraising committees and joint contributions supporting Trump in the last two years, according to Federal Election Commission records.
He donated over $177,000 to the Republican National Committee in the same period, according to the FEC.
“Pundits made the mistake of treating Mr. Trump as just another political ideologue rather than what he is: a pragmatic entrepreneur who understands economic incentives better than any head of state in modern history,” he said in the op-ed article.
Susan Scaramucci Mandato, Scaramucci’s sister, said in a Facebook post that she could not hold back tears when she got to speak to her brother.
“I am so proud of him,” she said in the post. “He loves our country. As far back as I could remember he has always been very patriotic.”
On Fox News’ “Hannity,” host Sean Hannity said Scaramucci is being considered for a cabinet position.
On the show, Scaramucci said Trump has been picking “great people” for his team, and commended Trump’s decision to select Stephen Bannon, who is associated with the “alt-right” movement, as chief strategist.
Scaramucci, a registered Republican, donated money to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, as well as Rand Paul and Jeb Bush’s 2016 bids for president, according to FEC records.
He also donated money to President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.
Scaramucci has written three books, including his most recent, “Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole,” which is about thriving in the business environment and focuses on his experiences.
A post announcing Scaramucci’s appointment in The Real Port Washington Facebook page received 273 likes and residents offered their congratulations.
“This is just awesome,” Annmarie Mione-Hickey commented on the post. “We could have seen this coming in [high school.]’’
Scaramucci was featured on Worth magazine’s “Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance.”
