Assistant White House press secretary Michael Short was fired yesterday, but he didn't know that was going to happen until a report on it was published by Politico.
A report on his termination was published by Politico because it was leaked to them by new White House communications director and Trump sycophant Anthony Scaramucci.
First, Politico’s Tara Palmeri reported that Scaramucci had told her, in her words, “that he plans to dismiss assistant press secretary Michael Short,” as part of his early war on White House leakers and other staffers deemed insufficiently supportive of President Donald Trump.
Short did not respond to TPM’s request for comment, but CNN’s Jeremy Diamond reported less than an hour after Palmeri’s article went live that Short had not been informed of his upcoming firing.
Fifty minutes later, Time’s Zeke Miller reported that Scaramucci said leakers were “unpatriotic” and that Scaramucci refused to confirm Short’s firing, saying it would be inappropriate to speak publicly about the matter — even though, as Miller pointed out, he already had.
It's a well-oiled machine.
We don't actually know if Michael Short was the source of any leaks and I doubt the Trumps do either. We do know that several members of Trump's team and cabinet members objected to Scaramucci's appointment, so it's possible they created or inspired new leakers in the process.
Of course, that may be a moot point if Scaramucci is going to leak things himself like a fucking idiot.