Media

Scaramucci calls for Trump to ‘end the war’ on media, appear on CNN and MSNBC

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Tuesday he wished President Trump “would end the war declaration on the media” and grant interviews to TV outlets other than Fox News.

“I wish the president and his communication teams would end the war declaration on the media,” Scaramucci told Sirius XM’s Dean Obeidallah, who agreed with the sentiment.

“I think you’ve got to go on CNN, you got to go on MSNBC,” Scaramucci added. “He’s a larger-than-life figure, he’s a television star. He had an award-winning, highly rated television show on a major network and he’s got a tremendous force of personality — don’t paint him into the corner of conservative news media.”

{mosads}”Get him out there. He’s got to explain his agenda to the moderates, he’s got to explain his agenda to the independents, and he’ll win reelection resoundingly,” he concluded.

Trump has not appeared on CNN or MSNBC since August and May of 2016, respectively, preferring sit-down interviews with Fox News. 

Since taking office, the president has sat down for interviews with Fox News or Fox Business Network 21 times, including most recently with Jeanine Pirro in February. 

Trump has repeatedly dismissed multiple news organizations as “fake news,” which he calls an “enemy of the American people.” In particular, CNN and The Washington Post have drawn Trump’s ire.

Scaramucci, a former Fox Business host of “Wall Street Week,” held the role of White House communications director for 10 days last summer.

A profanity-laced tirade during an interview with The New Yorker magazine directed at then-chief of staff Reince Priebus and then-chief strategist Stephen Bannon eventually led to his dismissal. 

“Whatever happened, happened. But it was the best 11 days in my life experience as it related to employment in public service,” he told John Catsimatidis on the “Cats Roundtable” radio show on Salem Radio in October.