It’s a new day in Donald Trump’s White House.
Sean Spicer resigned from his position as White House press secretary on Friday, in the wake of the president appointing Anthony Scaramucci, a New York financier, as communications director, the New York Times reports.
Spicer — whose six month appointment was often riddled with contradictions, falsehoods and comedic fodder for late night television — told Trump he “vehemently disagreed” with Scaramucci’s appointment, the paper writes. The news of Trump’s decision comes two months after the resignation of Mike Dubke, the previous communications director.
Trump did not ask for Spicer’s resignation; in fact, he requested that Spicer continue his tenure at the White House. But the move comes after weeks of Spicer’s absence from press briefings. He made his first off-camera appearance since June 26 this week to address Donald Trump Jr.’s motivation for meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential election.
Spicer leaves a number of head-scratching moments behind in this resignation; among them the time he lied about the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd, berating the media and respected Black journalist April Ryan, claiming Adolf Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons and botching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s name while referencing civil rights.
In April at a White House lunch, President Trump reportedly said his refusal to fire Spicer was due to the attention his bizarre press briefings received. The three main cable networks — CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC — each aired two percent of former Obama press secretary Josh Earnest’s press briefings. Yet, these networks have aired at least 93 percent of Spicer’s briefings, Media Matters for America found.
“That guy gets great ratings,” Trump said. “Everyone tunes in.”
This marks the second resignation from Trump’s camp this week alone. On Thursday, Mark Corallo, spokesman for Trump’s legal team, quit as questions about the family’s involvement with Russia continue to fly.