Anthony Scaramucci: Trump's Charlottesville Statement Not Strong Enough

Anthony Scaramucci, whose 10 days as the White House communications director seemed to provide a year's worth of headlines, is not done making news just yet. On Sunday's edition of ABC News' "This Week," he said of President Trump's initial response to Saturday's deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, "I wouldn't have recommended that statement."

"I think he would have needed to have been much harsher," said Scaramucci of the president's reaction to the brutal clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters. Trump was widely criticized for saying he condemned the violence and bigotry “on many sides,” with many observers across the political spectrum seeing it as a failure to single out the neo-Nazis and other racists involved in Saturday's carnage.

"With the moral authority of the presidency, you have to call that stuff out," Scaramucci said. (For more national political news, sign up for the free White House Patch email newsletter.)

The White House later, on Sunday morning, released a statement saying Trump's condemnation of hatred and bigotry a day earlier "of course...includes white supremacists, KKK Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups."

"This Week" host George Stephanopoulos also asked Scaramucci if Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is one of the White House leakers the former communications director brought up in the interview.

"Well, yeah," he said, adding, "I would prefer to let the president make the decisions the president needs to make."

Watch the entire interview below:

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Image credit: YouTube screen capture/Inside Politics