31 July, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump swore in a new chief of staff for the White House on Monday. Hours later, the communications director resigned after only 11 days on the job.
Trump administration officials said in a statement that "Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director."
Scaramucci left just hours after Trump officially welcomed retired General John Kelly as his chief of staff. The White House statement read, "Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team."
Scaramucci was named to the position on July 21. His appointment led to the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer on the same day. Scaramucci then accused chief of staff Reince Priebus of leaking information about him. He also threatened to fire the rest of the White House communications team.
In a late-night telephone call to reporter Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker, Scaramucci used profane language to talk about Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Trump announced that he would appoint John Kelly as his new chief of staff replacing Priebus last Friday.
On Monday, Trump tweeted "No WH [White House] chaos" before holding a Cabinet meeting with John Kelly at his side. Seated across from Trump was Attorney General Jeff Sessions who has remained in his position, although the president has criticized him.
"You're fired!"
Before campaigning for the presidency, Trump was the host of "The Apprentice," a reality television show. He was then known for saying the phrase, "You're fired!" on the program.
As president, one of Trump's first appointments was retired General Michael Flynn. Trump named Flynn national security adviser in January. However, Flynn resigned 23 days later when it became known that he did not reveal his meeting with Russia's ambassador to the U.S.
Trump removed Acting Attorney General Sally Yates on January 30. She had refused to enforce or defend an executive order. The order placed a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Then on May 9, Trump dismissed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey. Comey's firing led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the investigation of "Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 election and related matters."
Mike Dubke, the president's first communications director, resigned later in May, after two months on the job. Then-press secretary Sean Spicer took over as acting communications director.
However, the position remained open for another two months before Scaramucci's appointment.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
Hai Do wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.
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Words in This Story
clean slate –idiom to make a fresh start
profane –adj. to treat something (often sacred) with disrespect, something base or improper
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