Scaramucci: Leavitt would have told Trump not to ban media outlets

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Wednesday that former Trump White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would have advised President Trump to not enact his recent press ban.

“A [former Trump White House chief of staff] John Kelly would have told him not to do that. I actually think a Karoline Levitt would have told him not to do that, because it’s going to backfire,” Scaramucci said on The Hill’s “Rising” of the banning of MS NOW, CNN and Politico from the White House.

“It looks like there’s a bubble around the president. They’re more or less letting him do what he wants, or whatever the reactions may be. And there’s nobody pushing back on him and saying, ‘Here are the consequences,’” he added later.

Trump’s decision to bar three news outlets from the White House last week and revoke them of their hard press badges looks to be in danger following a key hearing on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by the president, said at the beginning at the hearing that due process “wasn’t followed here.”

CNN, Politico and MS NOW sued on First Amendment grounds in the wake of being denied access to the White House grounds over the weekend. The five major television networks participating in the rotating pool covering the president’s daily activities have since backed out of doing so in solidarity with the three outlets.

Trump has a historically contentious relationship with the press, often accusing them of false reporting.

On Monday, Trump denied he was “instituting an assault” against the press after the three outlets he banned from White House coverage announced plans to sue due to the restriction.