This morning — just hours after news broke that the Trump administration had appointed Anthony Scaramucci to be communications director — White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced his resignation.
According to reports, Spicer told President Trump that he strongly disagreed with the appointment of Scaramucci, an entrepreneur and New York financier. It appears that Spicer resigned over that disagreement, despite the fact that the president asked him to remain on the team.
Spicer has served as White House press secretary since Trump’s inauguration in January, and his tenure has been marked by notable tension between him and the news media. Though he was highly visible in the early months of the presidency, his public role seemed to diminish over time as his combative style continued to cause conflict with journalists.
He also struggled over the last six months to defend some of the president’s more outrageous behavior, often to do with his bombastic tweets. On several occasions, Trump publicly contradicted Spicer, giving the impression of internal division between the president and his communications team. Several reports over the last few months have suggested that Trump believed Spicer was not doing enough to defend him to the media.
Spicer says he will stay on to help with the transition.
Update 2:30 P.M.: The White House has announced that deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will take over for Spicer as White House press secretary.