Sean Spicer Resigns as White House Press Secretary

WASHINGTON (CN) – White House press secretary Sean Spicer has resigned over the appointment of a new White House communications director, New York financier Anthony Scaramucci.

In a tweet Friday afternoon he said he would continue working at the White House until the end of August.

Spicer, an administration fixture since it assumed power in January, had a mostly contentious relationship with the media.

It started the day after the inauguration, when Spicer called reporters to the briefing room to make a statement challenging media accounts of the inaugural crowd size.

His relationship with the press hit a low in May when several news outlets reported he hid in bushes outside the White House press room rather than answer questions about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

He finally emerged after an executive assistant to the press office, Janet Montesi, told reporters that Spicer would answer some questions, as long as he was not filmed doing so.

This and other incidents became constant fodder for “Saturday Night Live,” with Melissa McCarthy playing him.

According to the New York Times, President Donald Trump announced Scaramucci's appointment as the new White House Communications Director shortly after 10 a.m., apparently in the face of vehement opposition from Spicer.

Scaramucci worked for Goldman Sachs from 1989 to 1996, and later launched his own financial management firm, Oscar Capital Management.

He eventually sold the business to another investment firm, Neuberger Berman, which was absorbed by Lehman Brothers in the early 2000s.

After the deal, Scaramucci served as management director for Lehman’s investment management division.

As the 2016 presidential primaries got underway, Scaramucci initially supported Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

When Walker's bid fizzled, he backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and didn't throw his support behind Trump's White House bid until Bush withdrew from the race in May 2016.

Scaramucci joined the Trump campaign's finance committee that same month, and after Trump won in November, he was appointed to the executive committee of the presidential transition team.

Trump then named Scaramucci as an assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Liason and Intergovernmental Affairs.

According to the New York Times, Spicer wasn't the only White House staffer who opposed Scaramucci's appointment as communications director.

Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of staff, and Stephen Bannon, a top adviser to the administration, also reportedly resisted the decision to move Scaramucci, who has no past media experience save appearing on some television programs, into the role.

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