White House counselor Kellyanne Conway would neither confirm nor deny Friday a report from The Wall Street Journal that President Donald Trump is expected to name financier Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director.
"All I can say is in speaking with the president and others, we have a great communications team already," Conway told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
"We had dozens of people who work there. They work really hard against what is often a very hostile and skeptical press, where it's increasingly difficult to connect our message with the American people because there is so much noise out there."
She continued that Scaramucci has been an "incredible asset" to Trump through his campaign and transition, and "now he is one of the killers on TV who goes out there . . . the president has confidence in all of the people who work for him, and we know that Anthony is someone who is a friend to the administration."
Scaramucci, 53, is the previous host for a Fox Business Network financial program, and founded the hedge-fund investing firm Skybridge Capital and the SALT hedge-fund conference, reports The Wall Street Journal.
He has worked at Goldman Sachs, and would fill a spot as communications director that has been vacant since the resignation of Mike Dubke in May.
Conway pointed to the recent CNN scandal involving Scaramucci. Three people were fired after the network incorrectly linked Scaramucci to a Moscow investment fund, and the network quickly retracted the article.
"CNN has a lot of issues these days," said Conway. "It's the rush to judgment, the presumptive negativity that always follows this president and everyone around him. But I think the difference for America is what they hear and what they see, and so they hear all the noise and negativity."
However, what they see is an improving economy, said Conway, including a "record high in the Dow Jones."
"The Gallup economic confidence index combined is way up," she said. "You have the consumer confidence . . . they feel really great will about a president who says I want 15 percent tax rate for employers. Look what he has done in six months, much of it without the Congress."
"Job production alone is over 800,000 since he has gotten there," said Conway. "He is doing many things outside of Congress. We would like the Congress now, the Senate, to go ahead and do its job and pass healthcare reform."
Conway also addressed the ongoing Russia investigation and the involvement of special counsel Robert Mueller, complaining that the probe is now going in several directions and is being conducted by people who contributed heavily to Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
"People should know what folks' paths and motivations and political motivations are," said Conway. "These weren't minor donations . . . these are significant donations by members of that team. They clearly wanted the other person to win."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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