Sean Spicer resigned as press secretary on Friday, the New York Times reports, citing his disagreement with President Donald Trump’s pick of Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director.
Spicer had a contentious relationship at best with much of the mainstream media. His very first press briefing was overshadowed by his disputes with reporters over the crowd size present at Trump’s inauguration; the following months were marred by a flurry of rushed, often contradictory press briefings. Spicer often seemed to be either speaking purposeful mistruths or was just “badly out of the loop,” as The Atlantic‘s David A. Graham once put it.
Scaramucci, a longtime Republican donor and financier, faced resistance from other White House staffers, including Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Politico reports. Scaramucci had previously been blocked from other senior-level appointments in the White House, including director of the office of public liaison.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a spokeswoman for the president, has been elevated to press secretary.
