Scaramucci memo shows plans for lottery to play golf with Donald Trump to 'humanise' image
'The Mooch' wrote a memo for his staff a day before he was fired as White House communications chief following outspoken remarks.
Thursday 3 August 2017 16:55, UK
Short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci suggested plans for a national online lottery to play golf with Donald Trump or a charity auction to "humanise" the President, in a memo before he was sacked.
The proposals were made in the leaked memo written by 'The Mooch' a day before just 10 days into the job.
The 30 July document, leaked online, contained Mr Scaramucci's vision for his department, with five priorities for staff: "Improve the culture"; "POTUS (President of the United States) is the number one customer"; "Make the news"; "Fill the content void"; and "Jobs, jobs, jobs".
Mr Scaramucci, who has confirmed he wrote the memo, said the communications team needed to "humanise" the President and "burnish" his image.
He wrote: "POTUS is the best golfer to serve as President. Perhaps, we embrace it with a national online lottery to play a round of golf with him… or a charity auction.
"POTUS has a funny and irreverent side which was shared with the electorate during the campaign."
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Since Mr Trump became President, the administration has often clashed with members of the media, including over so-called "fake news".
In his memo, outspoken Mr Scaramucci said his department should be "run like a news channel with producers, scripts and narration" that could "dictate the news of the day on most days".
He suggested the White House "vastly increases" the amount of visual, video and graphical images it produces to "communicate our message".
Staff should meet with members of the media "on their home turf", he said, to "build bridges and foster better working relationships", adding that the White House should "leave old grudges behind but never forget".
He also pointed out that the President could "choose to fight with the media but comms cannot".
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Before being fired, Mr Scaramucci, a wealthy New York financier, caused a commotion in Washington, describing then White House chief of staff Reince Priebus as a "paranoid schizophrenic" to a journalist from The New Yorker magazine.
Mr Scaramucci was also very vocal about leaks coming out of the White House, saying he wanted to "kill all the leakers".
But he was more restrained in his memo, writing: "No more threats about leaking and internal game playing, anyone who takes actions that do not serve the President will be dismissed, period.
"We will eliminate the bad eggs and send a powerful message to the remaining staff that well-intentioned mistakes are acceptable, but misconduct is not."
The draft was posted on Medium.com by right-wing media personality and Trump supporter Mike Cernovich.