Trump fires 'The Mooch' after just 10 days

UPDATE Aug 1: President Donald Trump has sacked his controversial communications director Anthony Scaramucci after just 12 days.

"The Mooch," — a former Wall Street financier and Fox News contributor — hit near-immediate controversy after leaking details of his spats with White House colleagues Reince Priebus and Steven Bannon during a call to the New Yorker to complain about leaks.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders confirmed Mr Saramucci's departure, telling reporters he "does not have a role in this time in the Trump administration."

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that new chief-of-staff John Kelly earlier threatened to quit the Trump administration if the president fires special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

Earlier: Trump says chief of staff Reince Priebus gone, replaced by John Kelly

July 29: US President Donald Trump has made another announcement via Twitter fiat, this time that "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff."

The president has indicated for some time that he has been unhappy with his chief-of-staff, but some commentators thought he would not oust the incumbent because Mr Priebus – chairman of the Republican National Committee during the campaign – served as his only link to the party's establishment.

It was not immediately clear if Mr Priebus had jumped or been pushed.

The usually well-connected Politico did not help, reporting that "Two White House officials said Priebus had resigned but another senior West Wing aide said he was ousted."

Whichever was the case, The Hill reports that Mr Priebus was left behind on the tarmac, in the rain, as the president returned to Washington from an engagement in New York just moments after announcing his chief of staff was out. It was a dismal end to his tenure.

Priebus exits stage left (Getty)

Leaking about the leaks
Whether the fault lies with Mr Priebus or not, the Trump White House has not been able to keep a lid on leaks and infighting.

New communications director Anthony Scaramucci (whose arrrival in turn triggered the resignation of piqued press secretary Sean Spicer) has made his anger about leaks clear.

But it was also plain that the latest leak about infighting came from Mr Scaramucci himself as he called the New Yorker to dump on Mr Priebus – only to have the magazine publish most of his quite extraordinary attack on his colleague (capping it off, the Wall Street Journal published a front-page photo of the communications director and chief-of-staff giving each other the death stare in the White House foyer). 

At that point, it was clear one of them had to go. As it turns out, it's Mr Priebus.

In his leak to the New Yorker, Mr Scaramucci also ran down White House chief strategist Steven Bannon in profane and degrading terms. A showdown between the two looms.

Bracing prospects
Mr Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general who has been serving as Homeland Security Secretary, will have his work cut out. As well as plugging leaks and wrangling inhouse feuds, he will have to kick-start the president's legislative agenda, which at this point is largely stalled.

The most recent setback was the Senate voting down the so-called "Skinny repeal" of Obamacare overnight NZT, the third attempt this week at getting some kind of healthcare reform measure through the upper house this week. It is still not clear if Mr Trump has any plan to reconcile the differing views of moderate and conservative Republicans on the issue — which, with its huge implications for spending, really needs to be resolved before the intertwined issues of tax reform, the budget and the towering deficit are addressed.

Mr Kelly will also have to deal with the ongoing probe into alleged Russian meddling with the 2016 election.

In a series of tweets, the president has been openly attacking his own appointee for Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions. It appears Mr Trump is pressuring Mr Sessions – who has recused himself from the Russian inquiry –  to resign.

However, Mr Sessions has so far stayed put. This morning, NZT, a group of more than 100 prominent conservatives signed a letter in support of the Attorney-General, who already enjoys the backing of a number of high-profile Republicans in the Senate.

The president seems to have also been positioning himself to potentially fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller. 

But on Friday NZT, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned it "could be the beginning of the end," of his presidency if Mr Mueller was removed.