Total Trump chaos: Anthony Scaramucci asks FBI and DOJ to open felony investigation into Reince Priebus
In just his fifth day on the job, Donald Trump’s new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci has already decided to set the entire administration on fire. Late this evening, Scaramucci announced via Twitter that he’s asking the FBI and Department of Justice to open a felony investigation into his own boss, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. Somehow this is really happening.
Here is the exact text of what Anthony Scaramucci tweeted at 10:41pm eastern time on Wednesday night: “In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept #swamp @Reince45” (link). If there’s any doubt as to what Scaramucci meant, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker helped spell it out: “In case there’s any ambiguity in his tweet I can confirm that Scaramucci wants the FBI to investigate Reince for leaking.” (link)
Scaramucci’s financial disclosure information leaked out earlier this evening, and he quickly decided that Priebus was the one who had leaked it. However, he did not tweet any evidence to support his assertion, meaning that he’s now publicly calling for a felony investigation into his own boss without explaining why he thinks his boss is guilty. In any case, this is likely to bring things to an immediate head, which could result in the firing or resignation of Reince Priebus as soon as tomorrow morning, assuming Trump sides with Scaramucci as expected.
It’s also noteworthy that while Scaramucci is asking the FBI and the DOJ to investigate Priebus, the FBI currently has no Director (because Trump fired the last one), and the DOJ is in imminent danger of having no Attorney General (because Trump is considering firing the current one). But before even getting that far, it’s clear Donald Trump’s White House has now slipped fully into its own civil war. We’re still awaiting Reince Priebus’ response to Scaramucci’s felony accusation.
