Scaramucci: Leavitt would have told Trump not to ban media outlets

Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as communications director in the Trump administration, said Wednesday that Karoline Leavitt would have counseled former President Donald Trump against imposing a recent ban on media outlets. Scaramucci placed Leavitt alongside other senior former aides, saying that John Kelly, who was White House chief of staff during the Trump presidency, also would have advised against the move. Scaramucci's remarks frame Leavitt and Kelly as voices of restraint within the circle of former administration officials. He suggested that those advisers would have urged the president not to take the step of restricting access or banning media organizations. The comments were made in direct response to the news of a press ban enacted by Trump; Scaramucci linked his view of how Leavitt and Kelly would have responded to that decision. He did not lay out detailed accounts of conversations with either Leavitt or Kelly in the cited remarks. These observations add to public discussion about how close aides and former staff might influence or react to presidential decisions affecting the press, highlighting differences in counsel among figures who served in the Trump White House.