Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge fund manager-turned-campaign fundraiser and trusted adviser to President Donald Trump, is being considered to take on the role of White House communications director, two senior administration officials said Thursday night.
Scaramucci has been interviewed for the job, the sources said, and was spotted at the White House leaving the West Wing around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The position has been vacant since longtime Republican strategist Mike Dubke resigned from the communications director post in late May after about three months on the job, leaving White House press secretary Sean Spicer to take on many of those duties.
Scaramucci would step into the role — typically one of the most sought-after in political communications — at a time when the White House remains engulfed in the ongoing drip of stories about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians and the special counsel investigation probing the matter.
Scaramucci came under consideration for the job after he was tapped last month to become the vice president and chief strategy officer at the Export-Import Bank.
The communications director position would be a first for Scaramucci, who has never held a formal political communications role.
But the New York hedge fund manager has been a prominent TV surrogate for the President — during the campaign and since he was sworn in — and previously hosted a financial news show.
And while Dubke’s lack of a relationship with Trump hampered his efforts, Scaramucci would enter the West Wing armed with a year-old relationship with the President.
Scaramucci’s political experience has been more focused on the fundraising realm, having served as national finance co-chair of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. He later fundraised for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 GOP primaries before joining the Trump campaign’s national finance committee.
Scaramucci also served on the executive committee of Trump’s transition team after the election.
Scaramucci was initially tapped to lead the Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs, but never stepped into the role amid concerns over the pending sale of his hedge fund, The New York Times reported.