Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is back at the populist Breitbart News and the administration's former chief of staff Reince Priebus is back at his old law firm.
Bannon and Priebus aren’t alone in needing to brush off their resumes after working briefly for the Trump administration; in less than a year since Donald Trump became president, more than one dozen high-level officials have been fired or resigned from the administration.
Read on for a look at what some former Trump administration officials are up to now.
Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon, a hardcore populist, was removed as the president’s chief strategist on Aug. 18. And it wasn’t long before the former Breitbart News chief was back at his old conservative publication.
“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents -- on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America,” Bannon told Bloomberg following his departure.
“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents -- on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America,” Bannon told Bloomberg following his departure.
Bannon returned to Breitbart as its executive chairman on the same day his ouster from the White House was announced and led its evening editorial meeting, the site said.
“The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today,” Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow said in a statement. “Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda.”
Trump praised his former employee on social media and predicted that Bannon will be “a tough and smart new voice” at the publication he headed for several years prior to working for Trump.
But Bannon and Trump butted heads as they both campaigned for opposing candidates in a special election primary in Alabama. Bannon backed the conservative former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, and Trump campaigned for incumbent Sen. Luther Strange. Moore won.
James Comey
In less than a year, James Comey went from F.B.I. director to college faculty.
Comey, who was unceremoniously fired by Trump in May, joined Howard University as part-time lecturer for the fall as the 2017-2018 Gwendolyn S. and Colbert I. King Endowed Chair in Public Policy.
The King Chair is part of the Washington, D.C., college’s push to “provide students access to experienced, senior public service executives who developed and advanced public policy initiatives,” according to a university press release.
Comey, who was sacked from his job at the F.B.I. just two months after he announced the agency was looking into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia’s meddling in the presidential election, said he was “honored” to be at Howard.
“Howard has a longstanding history of being a vibrant academic community and the perfect place to have a rich dialogue on many of the most pressing issues we face today,” Comey said in a statement.
Comey’s time at Howard got off to a rough start after his convocation address was overtaken by raucous protestors.
Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci was the White House communications director for only 10 days, but he caused quite the shake-up in less than two weeks.
During his tenure, the Goldman Sachs alumnus ranted about his coworkers in an infamous and crude interview with the New Yorker – specifically slamming former chief of staff Reince Priebus as a “paranoid schizophrenic” and former chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Since he’s left the White House, Scaramucci has been quite active on social media – including tweeting some vaguely self-deprecating images.
On Aug. 4, Scaramucci tweeted a cartoon depicting a cartoonist banging his head against the wall in frustration as Trump seems to fire “White House misfits” at a rapid pace. A computer screen in the cartoon reads, “New flash! Mooch out!!” – invoking Scaramucci’s common nick name, “The Mooch.”
On Aug. 22, he tweeted an image of a t-shirt that reads, “I was communications director for 10 days and all I got was this lousy shirt.”
Scaramucci is expected to speak at a Liberty University convocation in November.
He has also appeared on a variety of talk shows, including “The View” and Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show.”
Michael Flynn
Trump’s former national security adviser is no longer part of the White House, but he still remains under multiple investigations for his dealings with foreign governments, particularly Russia, during the presidential campaign.
The embattled former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn resigned under harsh scrutiny in February after it was revealed that he misled the administration when it came to his ties to and conversations with Russian officials.
Since his firing, Flynn registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department in March.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Flynn was involved in the push to obtain former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers during the presidential campaign.
Several of Flynn’s allies and appointees in the White House have been slowly pushed out as well.
Sean Spicer
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer could have been a star – a dancing star, that is.
After Spicer resigned as Anthony Scaramucci was hired as the White House’s short-lived communications director, he reportedly turned down an opportunity to be a contestant on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
Sources told TMZ that Spicer turned down the gig because he has an “overwhelming number of commitments in the fall” and because “he’s not a good dancer.”
Since he announced he was leaving the Trump administration, Spicer has been photographed with fans at Fenway Park and “is angling” to appear on “Saturday Night Live.” Spicer was also able to finally meet the pope. The former press secretary was infamously denied the opportunity to meet Pope Francis during Trump's trip to the Vatican in May.
Spicer announced in September that he joined the Worldwide Speakers Group as a paid speaker.
“Melissa McCarthy’s depiction of his press briefing performances earned him a spot in Saturday Night Live lore, but it was his role as the architect of the Republican National Committee’s PR strategy that earned him a reputation as one of the party’s most effective and hardest-charging strategists and communicators,” his bio states.
His speaking topics include: navigating crises, a conservative viewpoint, “an objective look at the philosophies, people and policies making the news” and the Trump administration.
Spicer has continued to consistently share Trump’s tweets and messages of support for the administration on Twitter.
Spicer also made a surprise appearance at the Emmy Awards in September, seemingly poking fun at his own claim about the size of the inauguration audience.
Reince Priebus
The former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus has rejoined his old law firm, he announced on Twitter Wednesday.
Priebus said he has joined the Michael Best & Friedrich, a Milwaukee-based firm, as its president and will work from Washington, D.C. Priebus worked for the firm for about 13 years before he was the Republican National Committee chairman, according to the Associated Press.
Priebus also announced that he has joined the Washington Speakers Bureau.
Trump tweeted his congratulations to his former chief of staff and called him a “really good and talented man.”
“We’re proud of you, Reince!” Trump said.
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