Incoming communications director Anthony Scaramucci is apologizing for calling his new boss a “hack,” back in 2015.
Scaramucci, who was named the White House communications director after Sean Spicer resigned on Friday, is a New York financier who helped on Donald Trump’s transition team.
But he wasn’t always in the Trump camp. In August 2015, Scaramucci was supporting Governor Scott Walker in the 2016 Republican presidential candidate race.
So when Trump attacked the hedge fund industry, Scaramucci was upset and responded on television calling Trump a “hack politician” and anti-American.
“I’ll tell you who he’s going to be president of: the Queens County Bullies Association,” he said on Fox Business News.
“You’re an inherited money dude from Queens County. Bring it.”
Earlier that day, Trump had attacked hedge fund managers, saying “they just move papers around.”
On Friday, at the White House press briefing, a reporter asked if his new boss had heard his criticism.
“I should have never said that about him. So Mr. President, if you’re listening, I personally apologize for the 50th time for saying that.”
WATCH: Scaramucci’s first White House press briefing
But Trump’s hard line on hedge fund managers has taken a turn. His April tax plan unveiled plans for a cut in the tax rate to 15 per cent for so-called pass-through businesses.
While the proposal is being billed as a boon for small businesses from pizzerias to investment management firms, one clear winner looks to be the hedge fund set, where owners can earn hundreds of millions in income a year, tax experts, managers, and their lawyers said at the time.
Scaramucci and Trump also seem to have other conflicts in their policy positions. In an old tweet that appears to have since been deleted, Scaramucci appealed for more gun control. Trump infamously attacked former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for her stance on stricter gun control.
Trump recently pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, siting the economy as one of the reasons.
Trump has been skeptical in the past about climate change and global warning, and has referred to it as a “hoax” and “mythical.” The president has also put blame on China for creating the “concept of global warming.”
https://twitter.com/Scaramucci/status/888547499140685824/photo/1
*With a file from Adam Frisk
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