Opening up about his 10 days as White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci denied an affair with Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, explained that he trusted New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza because of family history and said he plans to “go dark” for a while.
Scaramucci told the Huffington Post‘s Vicky Ward that he was upset last Wednesday when political reporters, including Lizza, tweeted that he was at dinner with President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Fox News’ Sean Hannity, ex-Fox News executive Bill Shine, “The Five” co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle, and several others.
Scaramucci didn’t like the mention of Guilfoyle because of unsourced speculation about them. The HuffPost said he “strongly denies having a sexual relationship with Guilfoyle.”
Trump confidant Roger Stone, who said he is friends with Guilfoyle, told HuffPost that she and Scaramucci “are very close friends but nothing more … He is way too short for Kimberly.”
Through a Fox News spokesperson, Guilfoyle said she’s known Scaramucci for years through her work at Fox News and the two are “good friends.”
Shortly after the group dinner, Scaramucci had his infamous, profane phone call with Lizza, in which he criticized fellow Trump Administration higher-ups Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon. All hell broke loose, and he and Priebus were both soon out of their jobs.
He now feels that he was burned in the interview, saying: “The Lizzas and Scaramuccis have been friends for over 50 years. My dad knew his dad from construction, and we were building a personal relationship. Most of what I said was humorous and joking. Legally, it may have been on the record, but the spirit of it was off. And he knew that,” the Long Island native added.
He said he still wants to take Lizza out for a beer.
Lizza told the HuffPost that him and The Mooch “are not and have never been ‘old family friends,’ though I think our fathers knew each other, so maybe that’s what he’s talking about,” he said, adding that that “would not be a reason to suppress an explosive on-the-record interview.”
Scaramucci recently denied to TMZ that speculation surrounding Guilfoyle had anything to do with his White House exit. He offered to resign over the weekend, and Trump said that wasn’t necessary, but to “watch it,” according to the HuffPost.
The New York Post reported last week that Scaramucci didn’t attend the birth of his son. But he said the baby came early and wasn’t due until Aug. 9, and that he was unable to get a last-minute flight from West Virginia, where he was with Trump, because of the wide no fly-zone around Air Force One.
As for his actual termination via chief of staff John Kelly on Monday, Scaramucci said “It was a very polite conversation.”
He later spoke with Trump, Ivanka and Jared Kushner on the phone and they were all gracious, he said. “The president told me he knows I have his back, but he has to try to tighten the ship,” Scaramucci said.
As for his future in the public eye: “”I am now going to go dark … and then I will re-emerge as me.”