Washington, July 22 (PTI): Sean Spicer today resigned as White House press secretary apparently to protest against US President Donald Trump's decision to appoint New York financier Anthony Scaramucci as the new communications director.
Spicer at a White House meeting this morning told the president that he vehemently disagreed with his choice for a new White House Communication Director.
The White House later announced that Sarah Huckabee Sanders would replace Spicer.
"The president requested that Mr Spicer stay on, but Mr Spicer told Mr Trump that he believed the appointment was a major mistake, according to a person with direct knowledge of the exchange," The New York Times reported. The news was later confirmed by the White House.
Later in a tweet, Spicer said he would continue to be in his position through August.
"It's been an honour and a privilege to serve @POTUS @realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August," Spicer tweeted.
Sanders and Scaramucci appreciated Spicer s role and said that he left the position to give the new team a clean slate.
"I wanted to say is I want to thank personally Sean Spicer not only on behalf of myself, the President, the administration, but Sean is a true American patriot, he's a military serviceman, he's got a great family, and he's done an amazing job," Scaramucci said.
"This is obviously a difficult situation to be in, and I applaud his efforts here. And I love the guy. And I wish him well. And I hope he goes on to make a tremendous amount of money," he told reporters at the daily White House news conference, during which he also denied rift between him and the White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus.
The White House had been without a communications director since May, when Mike Dubke resigned from the role in the first personnel shakeup of the Trump administration.
Spicer had taken on the responsibilities associated with the job in the interim and strongly opposed Trump s decision to hire Scaramucci.
Ever since being appointed as the White House Press Secretary, Spicer had emerged as the house hold name in the US and globally, often facing tough questions from the media.
