Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Outnumbered 20170721

Together. Trish will take the town of l. A. Harris will try to show up for the show. Sandra its a fabulous show when its on sunday nights on fox news channel. Lets get started. Going on offense, President Trump legal team reported looking into a potential conflict of interest among members of special counselor Robert Muellers legal team. Thats according to the New York Times and Washington Post. Some of those concerns could include the fact that several of millers legal hires have made big political donations to democrats, including Hillary Clinton and former president obama. Also, one of the lawyers on millers team represented the clinton foundation. Plus, he was considered for the fbi director position after james comey was fired. And the special counselor and comey are friends and former colleagues. Trump attorney jay secular says they want to make sure mueller stays within the boundaries. He will have to stay within his mandate. If theres drifting, were going to object, but Richard Blumenthal who sits on one of the committee is investigating russias interference in the election says looking into muellers team raises serious questions. Trying to draw lines, redlines or boundaries, and then intimidating or threatening a prosecutor, i think verges on potential objection of justice. Sandra , Newt Gingrich questioning why mueller would put such a team together, suggesting that something sinister may be a play. Its hard to understand why he would assemble such a team, unless it was a deliberate effort to go after the president and the president s team. I dont understand why the house and the Senate Judiciary committees arent investigating a lot of the stuff. I think its very reasonable to say that this is a very dangerous witch hunt that mueller keeps it standing because cant find anything. Sandra there is no doubt that this russia investigation is expanding. Of course, a lot going on. Steve the first thing we should look at is arent we all just sick and tired of hearing about russia, talking about russia . We need to say that every time because its important to remember that the purpose of government and politics, the recent donald trump was elected, the reason most people in congress were elected was to do real things were real people. Not this kind of stuff, so i want to get that off my chest. I do agree with the weight newt talked about it. Its part of the Bigger Picture which is ever since Election Night last november, official washington, the establishment, the elite, whatever you want to call it, they cant believe that he won. Theyre doing everything to obstruct him and stand in his way. Its a really great big group of people who genuinely want to get him out. They dont want to wait until the next election to get him out, theyll try anything. Harris i want to lean on your perspective because you have such great knowledge, having worked with David Cameron at a time when he was as part of the establishment and now youve got President Trump whose counter the establishment and whatever else is saying. What informed you, what lessons did you take away from that they might share with us . Steve the big point is that you cant give them ammunition. To fault the president and his team, i think hes given them too much ammunition. Theyve allowed all this to the developed and become an abstraction. Thats what needs to stop. Sandra is in a good strategy as far as what were seeing now, going on the offensive, warning mueller, dont dig into my finances, my familys finances, he put himself on the offense. Trish it is because it is a witch hunt and has gotten out of control and someone needs to speak up. If you are president of the United States and you basically had comeys body investigating you and then his buddy goes and hires a bunch of people that have donated to Hillary Clintons campaign and donated to the dnc, youre going to start to wonder. It doesnt feel like a fair fight. They want to solve for this equation, they assume he is guilty for a crime and theyll do everything they can to try and connect those dots. If im him, im saying wait a second, everybody slow down and lets do this in a more sane way. Harris ive just happen with breaking news right now. The Communications Director and the person weve seen out front for this administration for months now as is White House Press secretary, reports now according to the Associated Press, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has resigned over the hiring of new communications aide. Weve been hearing since late yesterday into last evening that there is a possibility, again, reports that Anthony Scaramucci might be stepping in to a communications role, a role that would inform the president and a senior fashion. We know they have a longstanding commitment and friendship and working relationship. He stepped away from the white house in another capacity just months ago and now come out word that he may be back and upon that, sources with the Associated Press saying the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has resigned. Lets talk about this a little bit. One of the criticism that has been so pure and clear is can the white house get on a singular message . Sandra can i get this in here . Apparently this all went down, we knew that Anthony Scaramucci was meeting with the president at the white house this morning. Sean spicer is said reported about the New York Times to a vehemently disagreed with appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as the munications director. The president reportedly requested that spicer stay on, but spicer told him that he believed the appointment was a major mistake. We know there had been tensions between those two in the past and i think thats not something that we know from having had anthony here on the couch, but thats something that was out there at the same time when sean spicer stepped back from the podium, one of the things we heard he was angling for was the Communications Director. Its not surprising. Lets be frank, the communications of the white house has not gone terribly successfully out of the gate. I dont fault sean spicer that it felt like when he came out here, he was given the mission of being and credibly combative with the press, but it didnt work out that way. Harris i dont know that i had to be a mission. You had a press that was oppositional, not just personality wise, but in every move they made, many of them with the president. It was part of his Job Description at that point, not only an expectation, but necessity. I want to make it clear again, about the criticism that came from this white house that you had Kellyanne Conway on one day saying one thing and 15 or 20 minutes later saying another from the white house. Sean spicer had to do combat and the snl skits on the reports the president not being happy with him being the focus rather than a message. Trish i dont think this was the best job for him. He is a talented guy, smart guy, he could have had more impact doing Something Else. He got very emotional and angry and very combative with the press. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been able to basically keep her cool together in a way thats different and helpful. As for Anthony Scaramucci, he is interesting guy because as we know, he understands wall street, he understands business, and he understands the media and he has a lot of connections to the media, but he also has connections outside the media. Hell have a little bit of a different take in a different approach. Sandra additional reporting from john roberts saying sean spicer was supposed to lead this newly structured communications operation. The Communications Director would report to him. Reports right now are that Anthony Scaramucci would be the new Communications Director. Scare a mood she was not about to work for spicer which is likely why he resigned. Steve i think youve got it right. One point i would make, to actually, first of all, President Trump in many ways as his own Communications Director. Thats his strength as well. Everyone knows what he thinks and he makes it clear. I do think its important to remember that his job as Communications Director is trying to organize the plumbing and the wiring. To be completely honest, im not sure this is the best choice. Im not sure this is the best move. Harris the white house, because of the way it is structured in a lean way in terms of its staffing, you almost need somebody who can do both. You need some buddy who is nimble enough, but you have to have somebody who can stand up, especially with the Russian Investigations, plural. Rep 26 of those now. The timing isnt lost on me that you want everybody on one message against the greatest headwind that you felt in your Business Career and now in your political career, you want people who have your back. Anthony scaramucci is someone who can do that. And on changs bond spicer cant, but he does have a history with the president. Steve that sense of team spirit and everyone being united is really important. It was before you bring up a great point because there has been division in the white house between the people who really have only come to washington under President Trump and werent there before that. Anthony scaramucci is in that group. The republican infrastructure who is sort of over to President Trump after he won, whether that was Reince Priebus or sean spicer, the ones if Meghan Mccain were here, she was a writer die for the president , having their own people who worked there before who only care about you versus the republican establishment and maybe thats what were saying now. President trump returning to those people that he knows our 100 behind him. Harris i referred to that, that lingo of writer die by saying sometimes people only realize how valuable you are when you park your ride. The president needs somebody he can turn around. What were talking about and depth here and having people he can say in the shadows and in the open, i know youre with me. Sandra one of our frequent oneluckyguy is has Ari Fleischer. Hes always been complementary of sean spicer, saying its a tough job and its one you learn on the job and he said hes been Getting Better as he goes along, but one thing Ari Fleischer falls back on is nobody understands how difficult it is to stand up there that podium every day and take those questions. I spoke to sean spicer day one of his job, the date was announced he would be taking over that role. He knew what he was taking on and he knew the daunting tasks that were ahead of him. This is big news. Steve it is. It will be seen at harris weve been going on other peoples reporting, but now we can for our own team at fox news confirm that sean spicer has resigned as White House Press secretary. We are waiting to bring in our own john roberts will bring his reporting with him right now. Sandra and i are getting his alert emails as hes learning things. Right now, john roberts is at the white house outside with more on this. This was kind of a shock that sean spicer resigned. We didnt know that this is going to provoke a big battle with Anthony Scaramucci who is a contributor at Fox Business Network to come on board as a Communications Director, because the way that communications shot was going to be structured under sean spicer was that he was going to be akin to a deputy chief of staff for communications, so he would be at the head here in the Communications Director would come underneath him and the press secretary would come underneath him. Anthony scaramucci who is very close to the president , was very heavily involved in communications during the transition, was the person who did not want to be under a deputy chief of staff for communications. He wanted to have a direct line to the president. Were still waiting for absolute confirmation from the white house on all of this, but its our understanding that sean spicer really objected to the idea of secure motive being brought in as to medications director and he tended his resignation sometime during this meeting that Anthony Scaramucci had with the president. We do know that he was brought in at 10 00 this morning. He reported earlier for a meeting because the president wanted him to be this medications director. The reason why he wanted him to be this medications director is because he knows that scaramucci is a fighter, he is a tireless advocate for the fighter, he knows how to throw a punch, and that was witnessed in recent weeks when he went after cnn for what he said was false reporting about ties between one of his former companies and russian business people. It turned out that that report was not true and cnn was forced to fire three people who had been at the network for some time for writing the report. The president likes the way that he gets out there and forcefully defends himself and will forcefully defend this white house. Again, this whole thing was at odds with the current structure in the white house. Reince priebus and steve bannon were not surprised at this. The present will meet with someone he likes and say do you want this job without telling anybody else about it. He understands there was pushback. And then spicer being aligned with previous didnt like it and apparently has thrown in the towel. We are awaiting official word from the white house, but this all revolves around the idea that the president wanted his man in the Communications Director position, that man is Anthony Scaramucci. He was not interested in going through a chain of command back to the president , he wanted to have a direct line of communication, sean spicer apparently did not like that idea or the idea of scaramucci being installed in a position and so now, he has tendered his resignation. We hope to find out officially very soon, theres a big meeting going on in the press secretarys office just a short time ago, we were all ushered out of that area, but we should be brought in soon to learn what the finer points of all of this word. What a friday morning. Harris i picked up on what you said, this is an art of the deal style. Of course dont tell anybody what youre about to do with regard to someone whos about to be the person in charge of the message and coming out of the white house. We know youve been anemic in that area for months and months. I have a big question, though. You talk about who steps up into sean spicers role, Sarah Huckabee standards has been doing that when he is not in that role, what do you know about her experience and whats being said from the white house that she might step into that role. Is sarah Huckabee Sanders someone he would be considering comfortable to be with . Speak out lets straighten out the workflow here. The Communications Director does not report to the press secretary. And the hierarchy that has existed up until now at the white house is the Communications Director reports directly to the president , the press secretary reports to the president. They are parallel and pretty much coequals. In some cases, the Communications Director seems to be the senior member. For example, during the Bush Administration when dan bartlett was the commune occasions director, he was seen to be the senior over the press secretary. He was working on issues of a broader strategic issue and was on the prison out there at the daily press briefing. That said, the Communications Director does go on camera from time to time, particularly on the sunday shows or when there is very big news, and there is something deals with issues dealing with the president. Whoever becomes the press secretary, it could be sarah Huckabee Sanders because the president really likes her, thinks she has a very good presentation, or it could be somebody else entirely. Scaramucci will report shortly to the president. Thats still an open question. Sandra its sandra smith. What do you know and you Reince Priebus and steve bannon did not know about this before hand. Based on that, do you know are they going to be pushing back on this . Its too late now. Its a done deal. Without giving away too many secrets, im told there was a lot of pushback on this last night. Scaramucci went in there this morning for this meeting at the invitation of the president and the president hires who the president wants to hire. Ed could set up some more intrigue going forward. We hear stories, and i have to be perfectly candid, we hear stories about how everything is wonderful at the white house and everybodys getting along. You talk to people who are in the know about these things in their running gun battle with a band at that time, all of these competing interests in these completing competing five domes. The line between Reince Priebus and sean spicer is a tight one. Now that scaramucci is going to be in there, apparently this has to be fully confirmed by the white house, until its out there on paper, anything can happen. This will create another point of conflict. There is no question of the president has not been happy with the communication. He wants someone in there who thinks will fight tooth and nail for him, scaramucci has proven that, he has the trust of the president , so hes going to be the one who survives this first battle and well see about battles going forward. This before this is melissa francis. Tell us a little bit more about that. What does it mean for Reince Priebus, what does it mean for steve bannon, these are the battle lines for people who were there first, who are more washington establishment or republican establishment versus the new folks who came in and were thrown overboard when the Administration One and move on to washington. What about the people who were there from the beginning and when the rest of the party didnt, what does it mean for them . Tell us more about how this places or what it says about whats to come. You talk about people who believed in the president before anybody else did. You count scaramucci among them, he was not part of the party establishment. He ran skybridge ouppercaseletter, he was also a contributor for the box Business Network he was always there at the president s side, during the transition, he was shepherding through some of the very high profile people who are coming in to be interviewed for jobs. David pretorius among them. To say he is a newcomer to the Trump Organization is not exactly accurate because hes been there for a long, long time. You can suggest that people like Reince Priebus and even steve bannon are relative newcomers to the scene. Bannon was brought on in the summertime of last year, scaramucci had known the president quite well a long time before that. Reince priebus in the rnc was playing a neutral role before he became the chief of staff of the white house. Dont forget, the jobs are different, youve got the Communications Director, the press secretary, they can tend work together. Bannon is in a different orbit and Reince Priebus is the chief of staff, another different orbit. There are always orbits, they do intersect and if these point of intersections where you have opposition and thats at the senior staff. Harris john roberts, thank you very much. We are going to the anchor of Fox News Sunday, chris wallace. Thank you for joining us on outnumbered. A lot was going on last night. There were reports part of the Washington Post that he was looking at who he could pardon including himself and now this talk about sean spicer leaving as White House Press secretary. Is there anything any of us that we should be looking at as maybe it was a one, two, three or is it not connected . The only way theyre connected is there is tremendous disarray in the white house, both on policy and on communications and of course, the whole point of communications is policy. One of the interning frustrations in the white house think of it, this is supposed be made in america week. This was supposed to be a week where the president made a number of appearances, put on hats, he got in a fire truck and all of that. The perfect example is the president has had a very successful lunch with the senators on wednesday. You can argue whether or not its going to have any practical impact, but in terms of the image, a very successful lunch meeting with the vast majority of senators to talk about health care and weve been promising this for seven years, we have to stay and work on it. He went straight from there to the oval office to meet with three near times reporters to spend 50 minutes talking to them, supposedly on where the administration is six months an end it ended up turning into all about the russia investigation and bashing Jeff Sessions and setting redlines for bob muelle mueller. Thus the continuing frustration in the white house, is they set a plan and talk about this and it never stays there. Trish x trish regan. Yes, its a bad week for him, but now youve got Anthony Scaramucci coming in and as you point out, formally at at fbn, but hes not someone whos had a tremendous amount in the Communications Strategy stage. Does that matter at this point or are his relationships and his commitments to the president enough . I think it matters a lot. There are two aspects the job. One is having a trust and confidence of the president , thats enormously important, especially with this president as weve seen just in the last 24 or 36 hours with Jeff Sessions who is very close to the president and seems to have lost a lot of the confidence of the president because of his recusal and the pride public f. Scaramucci is a solid to the president. Hes a tough guy, hes fast on his feet, he is an able defender of the president , i hope hell come on Fox News Sunday this week. In that sense, hes good. I think you raise a very legitimate question which is what are his qualifications when it comes to Communications Strategy, which is a lot more than just punching back on a cable tv show, and what are his qualifications when it comes to Communications Strategy and advancing legislation in washington, which is a very different thing . Frankly, i dont know the answer to this question, but how close are his ties to people on capitol hill . Paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, and in terms of working in concert with republican infrastructure, and the end, whats the point of Communications Strategy . Part is defending the president , but part is advancing the agenda and thats a real spell. Weve seen bad Communications Directors and now for the last two months, we have no Communications Director in the white house. I think theres been some draft, whether scaramucci can get under control, more power to him. But i think thats a legitimate question to ask. Sandra sean spicer, White House Press secretary has resigned, we are getting pictures now coming out of the white house. Look at this. This is reporters trying to get anything they can as the story breaks. Chris wallace, you are still with us. This is a story that even caught Reince Priebus and steve bannon by surprise. We are told that the president did not inform them that he was making this decision about sean spicer. Youre getting a look at reporters getting anything they can at the white house, trying to get reaction to the story. Chris, this is catching a lot of people off guard and i have to ask you very simply, what message is this sending as we wrap up a week that you just mentioned, was supposed to be made in america week for the president , and has taken a dramatic turn. When it shows is something we knew already, its being reinforced again which is this is Donald Trumps white house and hes going to run in his way. Youre talking about the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, you are in charge the staff. And obviously the president always is. Heres the president going over his chief of staff, basically saying, i get a choice between you and scaramucci, im going with scaramucci. In addition, the relationship, i know john roberts talked about this, between previous and spicer was really close. Reince priebus was sean spicer was his spokesperso spokesperson. That was his man at the podium and for the president to basically say, i want my director and if that means spicers leaving, thats a real statement. And certainly, it weakens the position inside the white house. I will say, spicer, it may be merciful for him to leave this white house. He really has suffered a lot of indignities, its been no secret that the president has been unhappy with spicer and his briefings. As time went on, you saw spicer, the briefings went off camera, then spicer did fewer and fewer of the offcamera briefings, audio only and sarah Huckabee Sanders did more and more, plus a whole Melissa Mccarthy spoofs on snl, they say people dont get paid enough, i wonder if spicer might feel like he stopped hitting his head against a wall when he leaves the white house. Steve its steve hilton here. It seems to me that this story is just another manifestation of a bigger thing which is that President Trump was elected as a popular, its different than the traditional republicans with their agenda and it feels to me that hes never had a group of people around him really united and not just supporters of him personally, but who understand and buy into that populace agenda. I wonder if this might be the sign of him trying to implement that and you might see more moves like this. Im thinking in particular of people like corey lewandowski. People who understand why he was elected. Do you think we might see more people like that coming back in to the white house around the president . He at least has the united loyal team around him. That may happen. This is the president s team, these are the people he appointed and there was no surprise that people knew about the various power senators. There is a game of thrones quality to the white house. You do have various power senators who are colliding with each other, whether steve bannon and not so much him anymore, Reince Priebus, jared kushner, the kind of hard or nationalist group people like Peter Navarro and stephen mueller, when it comes to economic policies. This has been the team the president has wanted and hes known there have been divisions among state. Yes, you can talk about wanting a more united team in there. Its a good legitimate point, a more populist team. The question is, can they and the end, its all about policy. And being able to get things through congress. If this was a populist wave that may have helped elect donald trump, there is no populous way on capitol hill and you still have to deal with the entrenched republican power structure on capitol hill, people like paul ryan and mitch mcconnell. Im not sure if you put scaramucci and lewandowski, fl have better luck dealing with Republican Leadership in the house and senate than this group has had. So far, it is not that much. Melissa this is melissa francis. Ive been dying to ask a financial question, i dont know if you know the answer to this. Before you begin, i was told math would not be a part of this. The answer is most certainly no, go ahead. Melissa Anthony Scaramucci sold his business before he joined the administration and at the time, it was assumed that he would be paying tax on that gain because he was joining the administration and i know that applies to all posts. He had to join the administration before the end of the year in order to not pay that tax and its a big deal because its essentially cutting in half or doubling, depending on where youre looking from his profit on that business that he created, grew, and then sold. I wonder if that counts as one of the positions where you are not paying tax for what you sold to become part of the administration because thats potentially an enormous windfall for Anthony Scaramucci. May i suggest you talk to one of our enormously qualified people at Fox Business Network. Melissa francis is the kind of person who would have an answer to that. Im not even sure i understood the question. Harris i want to step in with something that politico is reporting right now and they have an article out on their website that says this quote from what they are calling a white house official, we dont know who that person is. It says this was a murdering. They said anthony would get the job over they are dead. This speaks to being in a room and you find out your bosses hired somebody that normally, your Job Description would be part of hiring and firing, what does this do to the relationship within the inner circle of the president . I dont know about bannon, and i dont realize because of bannon and priebus have had an odd relationship. There are times when theyve been at each others throats especially early in the presidency. There are times and they seem to get along better. This strikes me as being more of a blow to the prestige and standing of Reince Priebus because as chief of staff, not to say hes in control of the staff or that he has signed off, the president does, but he does have a lot of say in the staff, he certainly oversees the staff and particularly, as i pointed out earlier, spicer was priebus man behind the podium. He was brought in by priebus. And for him to be let go or quit when it was a choice of scaramucci or spicer, again, very much raises questions about priebus standing in this white house. Its become clear, as we see with Jeff Sessions that there is no tenure. There is no permanence. You serve at the pleasure of the president and the president s pleasure contains on a dime. That seems to have happened without sessions, seems to have happen with spicer to some degree. You have to wonder now about Reince Priebus. Sandra and we are left wondering who steps into that everyday role of holding the press briefing at the white house. As we know, sarah Huckabee Sanders may take that role. Its a huge role and one that affects the daytoday relations coming out of that white house. It is an important role, its somewhat diminished by their decision not to hold televised briefings every day. As we all know, it got good ratings, millions of people were tuning in every day on all of the cable news channels to see Reince Priebus or sarah Huckabee Sanders take on the press and now that theyve basically, to a large degree, ended the televised briefings, that diminishes the role of the press secretary to some degree, but its still a big role and its important, you have to figure sarah Huckabee Sanders has the inside track on that. As of about 9 00 this morning and things do change in this white house, and they like the way she engages and pushes back on the press, so well have to wait and see what happens and well see if scaramucci has some say. Harris thats an excellent point. One of the criticisms were anybody who stepped up to that lectern, whether it be spicer or sanders is that sometimes, i have to talk to the president about that or we havent had time to do sit down and discuss it. You wonder if putting in somebody like Anthony Scaramucci who definitely would have a more direct line of communication with this president given their history and their mutual support of each other, there might be a more positioning of a linear messaging coming out of the white house because youve got scaramucci with the president and that one line to the person whose task was stepping up before the crowd of people. Im looking at this on the left side of our screen and everybodys flooding the lower region of the room, where they know that that door is where everybody walks through. Having been in that position so many times before our team members like john roberts on yourself, im wondering, what goes through your mind as youre trying to get your position there and who wins that battle . Doesnt everybody eventually sit down . Today is different. Theyre probably trying to get up to the upper press office, you have to go through that door over there and make a left and go up a ramp of any good to the press office. Obviously come out of the questions is it sean spicer even in the building anymore . If so, is he willing to talk to people . If not, whos sitting in that office . Its not like one will get in there before the other, but they all would like to get some clarity on whats happened and where things stand now with regard to the communications, the press office, and the rest of the white house staff. As the stories come out about priebus or bannon, you wonder, as is a friday shake up and if so, how far does it go . Its a frustrating time as you sit there waiting and there are plenty of times, usually theres a question of some breaking news and youre trying to get confirmation or background context as to what is going on. I think there is an inherent, almost structural problem in terms of communications and john roberts alluded to this and that is the fact that donald trump leaves and may well be right that he is by far the most effective spokesman for his own presidency, his own white house and wants to play that role. I think a lot of president s believe they are the most effective comfort they dont want to go out. You hear stories of this president live run video watching these briefings. There are sometimes televised briefings and sean spicer would be there and someone would come in from that door and hand him a note and it was a note from the president basically saying tell it this way or hears a clarification. Youve got to wonder, however steps into that role, whether the president isnt always going to think i can do a better and i want to do it better, and thats a frustrating thing. Sometimes people are great players, not managers, because theyre frustrated when their players dont do it as well as they can. Sandra chris wallace, thank you so much for jumping on this breaking news for us. If you dont mind sticking around, will get back to a little bit later, but we want to go back to the white house, john roberts standing by. John, is there anything new that you can tell us as reporters are flocking to the door of the press room, trying to see if anybodys going to walk through there at any moment as we have learned a breaking news this afternoon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has resigned. But you know . We know the white house will be releasing an official statement soon. Let me give you the lay of the land. What youre seeing on the left side of your screen. Thus the White House Press gathered at the door and there also inside the lower press office. There waiting to go upstairs. A number of us were upstairs and there is a meeting going on and sean spicers office with the enteric indication staff, including Anthony Scaramucci. We heard some laughter from time to time coming from the room, which would seem to be contradictory, given the news that we are hearing and we were all asked by one of the Deputy Press Secretarys, please go downstairs while they work on an official statement. Thats what everybodys crowd around the door for now. Theyre not waiting for somebody to come out, there waiting to be let upstairs or someone will come to the door and say we just put out a statement, check your email, whatever. One thing i can tell you, again, this is to add its scorching hot out here today. Forgive me. This is to add to the game of thrones intrigue surrounding all of this and that is back in the early days of the administration, Anthony Scaramucci was told by the president that he was going to get the equivalent of the job that Valerie Jarrett had and the Obama Administration and her old office. He went in and heard him talk about skybridge capital. He sold it to a group of people who were partially represented by chinese investors in Reince Priebus came out and said, we dont know if this is going to pass the ethics board and so scaramucci lost that job so he didnt come into the west wing of the white house. He came back for five other times to talk to the president because in the end, the president likes him and wanted to give him a position and thats when the president finally found a place for him at the export import bank. In recent days, the president has become so frustrated by the attention thats continuing to swirl around the Russian Investigation and what he believes is a lack of forceful engagement that he brought scaramucci in and said, do you want to be the Communications Director . Because it scaramucci, hes got italian blood, hes a fighter. Hes not afraid to take people on. The president was also very impressed by the way scaramucci took on cnn and one that case which ended up in the resignation of three journalist journalists. Scaramucci, may be have a background in communications, but youre loyal, you are a fighter and youre the one i wanted that position. Again, neither priebus or bannon were told about the meeting at the white house yesterday. It really hit the fan when that word got out because neither one of them wanted him in there. Again, if bannon and priebus state, and theres no reason that they wont, its going to add a whole new level of potential conflict here at the white house. It should be said that everybody tries to pull together to drive the president s agenda while at the same time, having all these individuals. Harris whats interesting that we are not talking about now is health care and the failure to get that done this week among republicans who hold leadership on the hill and the white house. The president had a dinner, then he had a lunch, hes had a meeting and that conversation didnt move forward in ways other than theyre going to do some sort of a vote next week for mitch mcconnell. This get that off the front pag page. What about making America Great again this week . That positive message also gets pushed aside. You have something now that is a kin to enable raising. The white house staff getting itself together and out the issues of the american public. Lets be honest with the American People of the soul make America Great again manufacturing issue was out the window when the president gave that interview to the New York Times, as was obamacare. When he publicly flogged his attorney general, he took himself way off message and this is something that i spoke today with some people who are very loyal to the president who advised him and they say they have counseled him to not do such things to basically stay on message, yet the president will take that advice and hell throw out the window along with the messaging on make America Great and obamacare. By doing this, the president needs to get back on message because i have a sense when it comes to the intraadministration messaging, scaramuccis going to run a very tight ship. The other question we talked about before, whos going to take that press secretary job . Thats an open question. Sandra john roberts life rest of the white house on this breaking story, sean spicer has resigned. Steve hilton is joining us today and you have worked harris you were wanting to jump in there. Steve i was laughing because i used to do that kind of stuff. They hardly ever work. Sandra you mean the made in america theme . Steve youre trying to organize the message. Harris ever worked on the campaign trail. Steve thats because it was a very simple everybodys focusing on the campaign and the president did such a great job in the election. The thing that really intrigues me about this, because weve heard this story about the infighting of the intrigue earlier this week and thats all you ever hear from anyone, they cant stand each other, theyre all pursuing their own agenda, im talking about all the people in the white house, thats what everyone said in d. C. The interesting thing that i found about this is this alliance of Reince Priebus and Stephen Bannon, both wanting to stop this. Scaramucci a Stephen Bannon kind of guy. What would be really helpful is a bit of a unity of purpose behind the president s agenda, whether you agree with it or not, thats what people voted for. It was a populist revolution and to get people behind that and really understand it and get it, it was a good thing. Harris what about the human nature of its always good to be the new guy because hes going to get the focus on the power early on . We see that in other of life. Trish Stephen Bannon Reince Priebus, they still want to be involved in us a administration, it will be well served to make nice with Anthony Scaramucci. That said, this whole idea of getting together on messaging in the campaign, one of the reasons they are struggling now and that this is out of their control and that you have so many lobbyists, you have members of the media, all working against them and you have a bunch of terrified lawmakers. They dont want to invite the wrath of the press, they never would have run a campaign anything like the one donald trump ran, so even with Stephen Bannon there, even with Anthony Scaramucci, even with Reince Priebus, its very challenging because all of those folks in the socalled swamp are still part of the swamp and they dont want to join in. Melissa one very important thing about the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci that should not be lost in all of this is that he is kept from the same exact cloth. Hes a business guy. He mixes it up, just like the president. Hes kind of the president s mini me. He lets her laughing at me, i didnt mean that in a bad way. Steve thats what you want want, at melissa in the business message. The idea that we are going to be efficient, i dont care how things were done before. Lets not do it how it was done before. Steve theyre much more pragmatic problemsolving business people. Harris when youre with somebody who is like minded, you dont need to meet 50 times a day. Melissa they want to be efficient, they want to take advantage of economic circumstances. Sandra Anthony Scaramucci, we worked with him for a long time now and most recently working where the Fox Business Network, hes a quiet sort of guy, i should not say quiet, hes already been a very good messenger for the president. Hes already done a very good job communicating the president s message, whether its on tv or talking to the media. Hes handled that very well. Steve he feels at the same way. If this is the start of a white or clear out and every placement of a very desperate group of people in the white house who dont line up behind the president s message, although it would be described as chaos in the next few weeks. It could end up being positive. He strikes me as a perfect example of someone who really gets the reason President Trump was elected. Harris i want to get this and from the Associated Press as they continue to talk with people. They are saying Reince Priebus has told the ap that he supports scaramucci 100 , despite reportedly trying to prevent it. We go back a long, long way and are very good friends, priebus set of scaramucci. All good here. This is speaking to what you guys are just talking about. Scaramucci is expected to play a visible role as one of trumps defenders on television, so we will continue to see him. It is not normally the role of a Communications Director, but because, as you pointed out, hes already been speaking for the president eloquently. Sandra this is something hes had a lot of practice at. Melissa hes been incredibly effective. If you think back to the things that have reverberated, i cant think of anything off the top of my head that involved Anthony Scaramucci. Its true, we were saying he doesnt have a ton of experience, but he actually doe does. Trish this is about strategy too, so its one thing to do a Television Performance and articulate your ideas, hes going to lay out a strategy. This is something that Stephen Bannon is very gifted at. The question is, can anthony transfer, or maybe he doesnt have to because maybe bannon and trump are doing that and all anthony needs to do is be a good spokesperson for those policies. Steve i think youre right, but is more than that. Its managing as well. Its running the operation. Sandra we are just now getting word that there will be a White House Press briefing at 2 00 p. M. Eastern time. Of course, the dash the world will anticipate that moment, certainly because the big question will be, whos at the podium . Weve got Ari Fleischer, former White House Press secretary and fox news contributor. Youre on the phone right now on this breaking news, sean spicer has resigned. You have been on our show defending sean spicer, saying he is doing just fine. What you make of this news . Of the pot boiled over. Sean has had enough. I think a normal white house clearly, sandra stay with us, i have a jump in and get back to john roberts of the white house. Hes got breaking news. Just confirming, absolutely that this is all going on now. The president im told, he wants to make some changes and scaramucci is one of those changes and other people who were involved decided that an order for the president to be able to make changes, then certain people would likely have to get out of the way and one of those people apparently was sean spicer. Spicer has indeed tendered his resignation, the scaramucci is going to take over the communications shot. This happened relatively quickly because of the white house, nothing sits and lays around for too long unless its a piece of legislation, thats a joke. We understand this transition will happen remarkably quickly. We know scaramucci is the one he wanted to put in that job, we knew he was here yesterday. Other people who were involved just decided that in order for the president to make the changes, that some of the people who were initially here in this position had to go. This may be the beginning of more, i dont think more today, but more in the coming days. Sandra john roberts, thanks for that update. Lets go back to Ari Fleischer on the phone. You just heard confirmation of sean spicer, he has resigned an order to make room for a new appointment and that is Anthony Scaramucciesque munication director. What do you make of what youre hearing coming out of the white house right now hes quoted as saying scaramucci would be a terrible choice. Sean had no choice but to leave. They have to get along hand in glove, then to see things eye to eye, otherwise there are cross purposes. Theres Something Else going on here and thats the president s comfort zone. Hes brought on Anthony Scaramucci because he wants comfort. He is a finance guy, he does not have background and communications strategies. Hes effective on tv, but hes been brought in i have questions still about the white houses ability to manage communications issues. Harris this is harris, good to talk to you. There were some among the staff in the inner circle of the president who werent so sure about scaramucci as as a Communications Director because next on the agenda is the push to overhaul the tax system and other policy issues, one of the officials said spicer objected to trumps vision for the future of the press operation, so they understand why he is out. But in terms of policymaking, does Anthony Scaramucci help the president in any way . That was part of the discussion reportedly thats been going on. If the president is comfortable with him, then the answer is yes. The president should have advisors who he wants to hear from and respects. Thats one of the reasons anthony is in there now. Hes more of a finance policy player than a Communications Person by background. Im curious to see about what kind of role that will be, what endorsements they will get. Whats the core message, what do you repeat three times over and over and over again . Is that when anthony is going to focus on or will he be a policy advisor . Sandra it will soon learn the details. We are waiting as the press briefing that happened it will happen on the white house at 2 00 p. M. And its reported that will be sarah Huckabee Sanders that will stop to the podium in that room. Surely, we will learn more in the moment. What is probably going on inside that white house with your experience right now . Its unsettling. Sean was one of the original people, he went back in the campaign along ways as soon as trump got the nomination. I wouldnt be surprised if other people leave. This is one of those moments where you are tired, you are beat down, you are when out of that job, everybody gets that way at some point. With sean leaving, it might be excuse for more to leave. Theres nothing wrong with that. Part of the white house process, having it earlier, i wouldnt be surprised if sean was doing when to leave. Sandra thank you so much for jumping on. Good to hear from you. Meanwhile, big change about the white house. Sean spicer has resigned, Anthony Scaramucci has been named white house munications director. You have a live look at the White House Press Briefing Room where we now know there will be a press briefing happening at 2 00 p. M. Eastern time. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will step up to that podium and we will likely learn more on this breaking news a story, things are quickly changing, thank you so much for joining us and thanks to steve hilton for joining us. Good to have you. We are back on tv monday at jon we will take the baton in this fox news alert, a major white house shakeup under underway right now. Sean spicer resigning, protests over the hiring of a new Communications Director. We are awaiting all white house news briefing with Deputy Press Secretary sarah Huckabee Sanders, that is to take place an hour from now. Scheduled for 2 00 p. M. Eastern time, lots to get to on this story. Good afternoon to you, at least you are on the east coast. Heather nothing like us slow friday afternoon for this administration. Jon that never happens. Heather the White House Press secretary, sean spicer reportedly resigning because of objections to the appointment of