Scaramucci Tags Priebus in Tweet Blasting ‘Felony’ Leak of Financial Disclosure Form

The White House’s new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, Tweeted on Wednesday evening that he believes the leak of his financial disclosure form is a “felony” and that he will be contacting the FBI and Justice Department seeking an investigation.

In the Tweet, Scaramucci tagged White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and included a hashtag: “#swamp.”

UPDATE: Scaramucci has since deleted this tweet and sent another, saying that it is “wrong” to interpret his first message the way Axios did, writing, “Scaramucci appears to want Priebus investigated by FBI.”

Politico’s Lorraine Woellert wrote late Wednesday:

The incoming White House communications director earned $4.9 million from his ownership stake in SkyBridge in addition to more than $5 million in salary between Jan. 1, 2016, and the end of June, when he joined the Export-Import Bank, according to a financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics.The disclosure form hasn’t been previously reported.

According to the Politico report—which Josh Dawsey of Politico’s White House team contributed to—Scaramucci also has a number of high-worth assets. Woellert goes on:

In his disclosure, Scaramucci listed assets worth as much as $85 million. He has several real estate investments, including single-family rental homes on Long Island. A minority stake in the New York Mets is worth as much as $5 million. He also is an investor in Juice Press, a chain of snack and smoothie shops in the Northeast. Scaramucci earned $200,000 in income from a majority stake in Hastings Capital Group, according to his financial disclosure. That ownership share also will be sold as part of the SkyBridge deal with RON and HNA. As a contributor to Fox News, Scaramucci earned about $88,000, according to his financial disclosure. He has three mortgages with U.S. Bank for a total liability of $2.5 million to $7 million.

Scaramucci’s decision to tag Priebus in the Tweet has set off a firestorm on Twitter and among some members of the media.

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/status/890410288180318208

https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/890403577163784193

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/status/890415106668072960

https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/890410280596918272

A White House spokeswoman, Lindsey Walters, has not responded to a request for comment from Priebus via text message from Breitbart News late Wednesday evening.

Scaramucci’s hiring by the president as the communications director—a decision the president made without informing Priebus until after it was made—was seen as a blow to Priebus’s standing in the West Wing. What’s more, the president and Scaramucci have both made clear that Scaramucci reports directly to the president—not to Priebus, the chief of staff. Reportedly, Priebus vehemently opposed Scaramucci’s hiring in the West Wing.

Scaramucci has made clear he intends to root out leakers in the White House. He has already terminated one suspected leaker, a White House press aide named Michael Short. Short denies leaking, but news broke earlier this week that Short was being terminated. After Short originally denied the reports on-the-record, it came out that his termination was being processed by the White House counsel’s office. At that point, to avoid being terminated, Short resigned.

Short was not the only suspected leaker and Priebus ally who has lost a job this year. Deputy White House chief of staff Katie Walsh—Priebus’s old chief of staff from his RNC days—was terminated earlier this year after reports surfaced that she was a leaker.

UPDATE 1:14 A.M.

Scaramucci deleted his original Tweet early Thursday, and replaced it with this one: