Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Newly-named White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Wednesday wrote in a now-deleted cryptic tweet that the “leak” of his financial disclosure form is a “felony,” adding that he would be contacting the FBI and The Department of Justice.
“In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony, I will be contacting @FBI and the @JusticeDept #swamp @Reince45,” read the tweet, posted at 10:41 p.m.
Scaramucci was referring to a report by Politico which revealed the findings of the former Wall Street financier’s disclosure, which was filed with the Office of Government Ethics. According to the report, Scaramucci earned $4.9 million from his stake in the investment firm SkyBridge Capital and a salary of more than $5 million between January 2016 and June 2017.
But to contextualize it as a leak is incorrect. Why? Because it’s a public document.
Wikileaks, for example, tweeted, “Your financial disclosure report is a public document,” with an image of instructions on how to obtain such a report.
Your financial disclosure report is a public document. https://t.co/H8goxJlmFG pic.twitter.com/Ir28JpYZdA
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 27, 2017
Scaramucci’s tweet also raised eyebrows because he included White House chief of staff Reince Priebus’s Twitter handle.
At a press briefing last week, though, Scaramucci said he had no friction with Priebus. “Reince and I have been personal friends for six years,” he said last Friday. “We are a little bit like brothers where we rough each other up once in a while, which is totally normal for brothers. There’s a lot of people in here who have brothers, and so you get that. But he’s a dear friend. He brought me into the political system. He brought me into the Republican National Committee network.”
After the Twittersphere lit up, pointing out to Scaramucci that the disclosure form is public and that it appeared he was threatening Preibus, he deleted the tweet, and posted a new one at 12:47 a.m., writing that he wasn’t calling for the FBI and DOJ to investigate Preibus: “Wrong! Tweet was public notice to leakers that all Sr Adm officials are helping to end illegal leaks. @Reince45,” he wrote.
Late Wednesday night the DOJ released a statement, agreeing with Scaramucci that leaks, in general, are an issue.
“We have seen an astonishing increase in the number of leaks of classified national security information in recent months,” DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said. “We agree with Anthony that these staggering number of leaks are undermining the ability of our government to function and to protect this country. Like the Attorney General has said, ‘whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail,’ and we will aggressively pursue leak cases wherever they may lead.”
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