Washington: The bitter-infighting among top staffers at White House turned ugly as Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump's new communications director, launched a foul-mouthed attack on his rival Reince Priebus, calling him a "paranoid schizophrenic", a news website has claimed.
Scaramucci, the Wall Street financier who joined the administration last week, had earlier vowed to crack down on leaks from the White House, threatening to fire everyone, if necessary, to stop aides from leaking information.
"Reince is a f------ paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac," Scaramucci told New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza on a phone call ob Wednesday. The journalist revealed this in a lead story on the news website on July 27.
Scaramucci, he wrote, called him to find out who the source of his information was, about the dinner he had with Donald Trump the other night.
Ryan Lizza claimed when he refused to divulge the source of information, Scaramucci got agitated.
"I've asked people not to leak things for a period of time and give me a honeymoon period," he said.
"They won't do it. He was getting more and more worked up, and he eventually convinced himself that Priebus was my source," he wrote.
"They'll all be fired by me," Scaramucci said, according to Lizza.
"I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people I'll fire tomorrow. I'll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus?if you want to leak something? he'll be asked to resign very shortly," he said.
Lizza wrote that Scaramucci believed Priebus had been worried about the dinner because he hadn't been invited.
"Reince is a fXXXXXX paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac," Scaramucci said.
Priebus and the White House did not respond to allegations.
Ever since his appointment as the White House Director of Communications, Scaramucci has portrayed himself as a close confidant of the US President.
Last Friday, Sean Spicer had resigned as White House Press Secretary after Trump appointed Scaramucci as the White House Communications Director.
According to New Yorker, Scaramucci also told Lizza that unlike other senior officials, he had no interest in media attention.
"I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not trying to s*** my own c***," he said, speaking of Trump's chief strategist.
"I'm not trying to build my own brand off the f****** strength of the President. I'm here to serve the country." Bannon did not comment.
The White House Communications Director said that his list of allegations included leaking the Hannity dinner and the details from his financial-disclosure form.
