Less than two weeks before Anthony Scaramucci broke with President Trump, the former White House communications director hosted a dinner in Manhattan with Donald Trump Jr. in a bid to impress clients of a business he owns.
The meal, described to the Washington Examiner by three sources, adds intrigue to the timing of Scaramucci’s declaration that Trump is “unstable” and unfit for office.
Some sources found it odd that Scaramucci would ask Trump Jr. to help promote a business venture — and, according to one account, offer to repay the favor with 2020 fundraisers — just days before vowing to rally ex-officials against Trump.
The dinner at the Scaramucci co-owned Hunt & Fish Club near Times Square happened July 30. The financier, fired after 11 days at the White House in 2017, invited Trump Jr. to be the guest of honor at a monthly gathering for another business he co-owns, Strategic Worldviews, launched this year with partner Robert Wolf, a former Obama administration adviser.
The business offers economic insights via phone calls to people who pay for its services. Scaramucci and Wolf say the calls offer balanced bipartisan insights from economists and invite subscribers to the monthly dinners with political celebrities such as Trump Jr.
“It was just a normal dinner of 20 people around a top table with Anthony hosting Donald,” a source who attended the dinner said.
“Mooch was nothing but deferential … It’s just weird, what in two weeks changed?” said another source.
Scaramucci said to Trump Jr. that “we should put together a couple fundraisers” for the 2020 Trump reelection campaign, according to a third source. He declined to comment through a spokeswoman, including on the claim that he offered to host fundraisers for Trump’s reelection.
He largely defended Trump after his 2017 dismissal but also offered occasional biting criticism, saying in mid-July, for example, that Trump’s attacks on four non-white congresswomen suggest he may be “turning into” a racist.
After dinner with Trump Jr., the criticism escalated. On Aug. 8, Scaramucci said on MSNBC that Trump’s post-massacre visit to El Paso, Texas, was a “catastrophe.” And inciting Trump’s rage, Scaramucci said in an Aug. 9 appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show that Trump had done “certain things” that “are absolutely indefensible.”
Trump retaliated Aug. 10 on Twitter, saying Scaramucci was “totally incapable” of being White House communications director and “would do anything to come back in.”
…..other than the fact that this Administration has probably done more than any other Administration in its first 2 1/2 years of existence. Anthony, who would do anything to come back in, should remember the only reason he is on TV, and it’s not for being the Mooch!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2019
Scaramucci, in turn, said Republicans should consider picking a different nominee in 2020 and penned a Washington Post op-ed, saying Trump was “unfit for office.” As the former Trump defender shifted, he reportedly attended the birthday party of former President Bill Clinton last weekend in Martha’s Vineyard, where his business partner Wolf lives.
Sources were divided on whether Scaramucci’s decision to host Trump Jr. shows a lack of sincerity in his current attacks.
“I think he’s being sincere. I’d like to hope so,” said a person at the dinner.
A different source, however, viewed Scaramucci’s attacks on Trump as “him responding to the embarrassment of Trump singling him out” on Twitter. “You don’t go from offering to host fundraisers to ‘this guy has gotta go’ in 10 days. Not if you’re sincere,” the source said.
