so much for joining us and thanks to steve hilton for joining us. good to have you. we are back on tv monday at >> jon: we will take the baton in this fox news alert, a major white house shakeup under underway right now. sean spicer resigning, protests over the hiring of a new communications director. we are awaiting all white house news briefing with deputy press secretary sarah huckabee sanders, that is to take place an hour from now. scheduled for 2:00 p.m. eastern time, lots to get to on this story. good afternoon to you, at least you are on the east coast. >> heather: nothing like us slow friday afternoon for this administration. >> jon: that never happens. >> heather: the white house press secretary, sean spicer reportedly resigning because of objections to the appointment of a new white house communications

director, new york financier anthony scaramucci. we've got fox live coverage for you beginning with chief white house correspondent john roberts, who has been incredibly busy in the past hour. >> when are we not busy here at the white house? it's a sad day for those of us who know sean spicer very well. we know he put his all into this job. he was tireless, working 18 hours a day, neglecting his family and his children to do the best job he possibly could for the president. in the end, the present decided -- this is not replacing sean spicer. the president decided he is going to put in a strong ally of his, somebody he believes is a really loyal soldier and somebody who has defended the president many times in the pas past. and decided he wants to make him the communications director. it would be possible for sean spicer and anthony

scaramucci to coexist if sean spicer would have stayed the press secretary and anthony scaramucci were to be the communications director. but in the proposed new structure, sean spicer was to be the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff and it would have a communications director and a press secretary who would both report to him. scaramucci because of his long-standing relationship with the president did not want to be in the position of reporting to sean spicer, who would be the one who would be the liaison with the president. he wanted a direct line of communication with the president because that is something he has always had. it was the president who brought scaramucci into the white house yesterday and said look, i would like you to be my communications director and brought him back in this morning at 10:00 a.m. and said you are the guy, you are going to be the communications director. this was over the protestations we know of at least a stephen bannon and likely reince priebus as well.

we've got a statement saying priebus and scaramucci had been friends for a long time. that is open to interpret into. at the recommendation of priebus, the president decided not to go ahead with the position, though scaramucci was later given a job at the export/import end. the president had always wanted to give him a prominent job. even though scaramucci does not have a large background in strategic communications, he is cut from the same cloth as the president is, he has a forceful presenter on television and it's not to say his job is going to be to go on television every day because it won't. he will go on television on occasion. he is one of those guys that likes to get down in the trenches, he is literally in

fatigue a bowl, you cannot hire this guy out. sean spicer needed to have some room to make those changes, decided it was best if he were to depart the white house. again, it's a bit of a sad day for those of us here who know sean spicer well, on a personal level we were hoping he was going to survive the slings and arrows that come out of this white house every day. he has decided he can't remain in this position with the president making these changes. the big question left open now, is who will become the press secretary. it looks like they are going back to the old communication structure, scaramucci reports to the president and the press secretary will support to the

president. sarah huckabee sanders has been doing duty for the past couple of weeks, almost all of it has been off-camera. will she be named the press secretary or will they go outside the white house to try to find somebody else who was on an equal footing with scaramucci in terms of forceful messaging and the ability to really throw a punch when necessary and for that person in that position? >> heather: we know she is going to have an on camera briefing at 2:00 p.m., i'm sure we will have some of our additional questions answered there. i did want to ask you, we are talking about the attorney general possibly turning in his resignation. we did report he had offered to resign in the past, the president did not accept that. do we know if president trump has accepted sean spicer's resignation at this point? >> we do know, this is a done deal. i am just checking my phone here to make sure i'm not missing

anything. it's a done deal and it's likely going to happen very quickly. i wouldn't be surprised if sarah huckabee sanders is doing the briefing and scaramucci might come out to me people. when it comes to making staff changes at the white house, things tend to happen very quickly. i don't think so sean spicer wants to hang around, he would probably like to go home to kiss his wife and kids because he has very little opportunity to do that since the middle of the campaign. i would expect we will see scaramucci very soon, i also expect we will get a statement from the white house as well as all of this goes forward. one other thing to watch for, not to say this is going to happen today because one change of staff at this level is probably enough per day but there may be some more changes going forward as well, if not in the coming days then perhaps the coming weeks. >> heather: a new meaning to the friday afternoon document

dump. thank you so much, i know you have a lot to do, will let you get back at it. >> jon: joining us now is chris wallace. seven months income of the white house losing its chief spokesman. more turmoil in a building that traditionally would have settled down by now in most administrations, wouldn't you agree? >> it's interesting because you do see turmoil from time to tim time, usually at the end of the year when there is more of an assessment of who worked and who didn't. and this is a little early, six months yesterday exactly. six months and i have two say, you have the sense that sean spicer has been living on borrowed time for some period. remember, i am just thinking back to his 10-year period of the second day of the term presidency, he came out at 5:00 in the afternoon, unscheduled

press briefing and basically tore the press apart on the issue of the crowd size at the trump inauguration. he refused to take any questions and left. we were told very quickly thereafter that the president was not pleased with his performance, didn't like the suit he was wearing, asked why he didn't have suits that fit better. spicer came out the next time in a more closely tailored blue suit. you have the sense that he was under the president's very watchful and sometimes intrusive alive from very start. the president, we know, would sometimes watch spicer in the briefings in real time and sometimes send messages that will be delivered to spicer at the podium with the president offering notes. like the director of a play to

the actors on the stage. as time went on, he was doing fewer and fewer of the briefings and sarah huckabee sanders was doing more of the briefings. there was also that brutal portrayal of him by melissa mccarthy on "saturday night live." it's been a tough six months for sean spicer, no question about it. >> jon: this president is somebody who likes to watch television and perhaps that portrayal sort of affected his thinking as well. >> absolutely it did. i don't think he wants these folks to be an object of ridicule. i can't confirm this but i know there was one story that he was particularly miffed that spicer was not only being ridiculed but he was being played by a woman and that the president didn't like that. remember, there was that other time when spicer went out to the

north lawn to try to brief reporters, he was hiding behind some bushes or standing around some bushes and he got ridiculed for that. let me make it clear, i think sean spicer was a very good spokesman, i've known him for period of time both in this job and a spokesman for the rnc. an instrument of player in donald trump's election victory but it was clear this president had problems with him almost from day one. >> jon: if you would be good enough to stay with us, big news day out of washington. dana perino is also with us, she knows well the demands of that job, cohost of "the five" but somebody that used to serve in the sean spicer role for president george w. bush. are you surprised? >> not entirely, no. i have known sean spicer as well for a long time. he worked in washington, you

knew sean spicer. he worked with the bush administration, he was in excellent spokesperson for the u.s. trade representative and really helped on a strategic level on trying to get the most trade deals done. when he was named the press secretary and white house communications director at the same time at the beginning of the administration, i remember saying "that's a lot to have on your plate." i see those as two separate things, like sales and marketing at a company. i think -- if anyone was going to be able to do it, he would have all the qualifications because he has done all those jobs. the press secretary job has changed a lot. this president is much more engaged in terms of watching the press briefings and the news and he has a great desire to make sure he is being defended in the way he expects and wants to be seen. it seems to me today that

sean spicer made his case of why he thought this was not a good idea, he did not prevail and he decided the best thing for him to do was to resign. when it comes to washington you probably can't get better than that. >> jon: chris wallace was talking about the fact that president trump has been known to actually email him while he's at the podium or get in touch with him while he is at the podium. different presidents bring different attributes and different tendencies to the job, but somehow i don't see george w. bush sending you an update in the middle of one of your news briefings. >> no, although i do think -- you think back, that was only nine years ago. i didn't even have a twitter account. the way we communicate with each other has changed dramatically and i always knew that president bush might be watching which is why i would respond in a way that he would expect. he wanted people to be treated like they were in his living

room and he would like for me to push back when i needed to but i also knew that i was representing the family and that meant having some grace and dignity as well as a little bit of a comic elbow now and then. >> jon: dana perino, cohost of "the five" and a former white house spokesperson. thank you very much. we know you have to get into the office and get ready for your program. >> i will see you all soon, thank you. >> jon: back to chris wallace, obviously the host of fox news sunday, what a program that will be this week. i wonder, you were mentioning his connection with reince priebus when they were both at the republican national committee together. obviously the man played a big role in getting donald trump elected president once he won the nomination. i suppose you can even say before that although they both said they were trying to be fair

to all of the would be republican contenders. does his resignation say anything to you about the future of reince priebus? >> it doesn't say because spicer is gone that priebus will be gone but it certainly does -- it's not an endorsement for priebus, one assumes that priebus was very close to spice spicer. spicer made it either scaramucci or him which seems to be the way it came down. the fact that the president thought it was scaramucci doesn't particularly bode well for priebus. i'm not saying he's going to leave his job but it indicates the position is not quite as strong as it might have been. i don't know because i didn't know this was going to happen today. there are reports that jared

kushner and some of the other people in the domestic staff were in favor of this move. people like the national economic council chair and one of his top aides and there are reports, i can't confirm them -- you can be pretty sure priebus -- they were pretty close. spicer was priebus' spokesman at the republican national committee. during the entire campaign and one priebus came in, he very much pushed for spicer to come in with him and was seen as spicer's man behind the podium. you've got to figure this is a blow, maybe not a mortal blow but a blow to priebus' at standing inside the house as well. >> jon: can you give us some insight as to what's going on in the briefing room, the press assembled there are filing

out of the door where i think you sometimes go up to the second floor to get some off-camera information? >> if you go in that door and take a left, there is a white house secret service uniformed guard at the top of the ramp because that would be taking you into the cabinet room and the president's oval office. they have security there but if you go past the white house uniformed guard, you can go to the upper press office. that is aware the press secretary's office is. they obviously were going up there to see if they could talk to -- whether it is sean spicer, sarah huckabee sanders, who clearly is in the building and is preparing for must-see tv when she does a rare televised briefing and tries to explain everything that's been going on

here. they obviously went up trying to get what they could and aren't getting any more so they are going back and getting their seats and getting ready for what is going to happen in about an hour, rather 44 minutes from now. >> jon: we don't have to feel bad for sean spicer, he's had a very high-profile job and he will certainly get a nice vacation now with his wife and kids as john roberts was saying. maybe some other kind of job in the corporate world or whatever. as you pointed out during "outnumbered," the white house press briefings have gotten great ratings on cable tv. i don't know whether people tuned in because they love to mark hated him but he was a popular figure. >> he was a popular figure and he was talking about a president that folks just can't get enough of. whether they like him or don't like him, they love the trump show. he was the anchorman of the trump show during those

briefings, people would come in and tune in to hear what's happening. those televised briefings, today being a rare exception, have kind of gone away. the white house has decided to do them for the public on audio, to play out afterwards. audio only, no live television broadcast of what the spokesman is saying. it will be a thing to see in the new scaramucci regime what happens to the white house press briefings. >> jon: it is interesting, anthony scaramucci, a familiar face to a lot of people on fox news channel. it comes from the world of finance. typically one wouldn't think of that as a natural nectar necessarily to be our communications director. what is his portfolio going to be?

>> i don't know, i know what a communications director normally does. obviously, covering subsequent communications directors even though i wasn't in the white house, it's a very good question. sean spicer was the chief strategist as to how things were going to be rolled out. they were often working hand-in-hand with the chief of staff and other senior staff, legislative people. how are we going to get them out? to what degree is the president going to be involved? often times, the host of sunday talk show, the communications director would play a role in deciding which white house administration officials were going to go out that weekend what their message was going to be, what they wanted to get out.

it is a real profession. it's a tough job and there are certain skills involved with it. they talked at the end of "outnumbered," they are professionals, they spend their whole life doing it. it's going to be something of a job. not saying that anthony scaramucci can't do it, he's a competent, capable, smart guy, obviously has a huge advantage with the confidence of the president, but does he have those specific communication strategy skills, i think that is an open question. >> heather: that lack of political experience and that organizational skill is one of the reasons that reince priebus couldn't throw his support behind him and that was one of the concerns he expressed to president trump as well. i want to go back to the transition period, though. anthony scaramucci at that time had been rumored, they wanted him to take the position of this

liaison with the administration. at that time, reince priebus was concerned about the overseas investments of scaramucci. do you think any of that will be a concern? >> not the investments, he sold the company. people remember who helped them get a job and who blocks them from getting a job and you can just again figure in this kind of "game of thrones" world here in washington and especially in the trump white house there may be some bad blood between priebus and scaramucci. they are both serving the president, they will try to put that away. we've seen in this white house white house tremendous shifting alliances. in the beginning, priebus and stephen bannon weren't getting along and it was a tremendous kind of were vying for power between the two of them. there may be some scar tissue. it doesn't mean they can't put it aside. if he feels their divided

feelings are getting in the way, he did this with bannon and priebus. he will take them to the woods woodshed and say you have to get along with each other. >> heather: apparently stephen bannon was taken by surprise as well. >> that's what some of the reports are saying, i didn't know that. >> heather: in terms of the timing, i asked someone about this earlier. this comes on the heels of the new york times interview with the three reporters that everyone was talking about, how it was so unprecedented and now you have these major changes within the communications department and the press secretary position. do you think the timing has anything to do with the other? >> the answer is i don't know. it's been a really tough week for the president, when the week began they thought they were going to be bringing health care up for a vote.

that went down on monday. they talked about a straight repeal, that went down. the president had quite a successful meeting with senators on wednesday at least in terms of the optics. and then he went straight from there to what you talked about, the meeting with "new york times" reporters where he trapped his own attorney general. the president has done a kind of public flogging of one of the senior members of his cabinet, his attorney general. and now in an apparent kind of him or me, he has let sean spicer go as his press secretary. it's not a good week, it's a

week of terminal inside the white house. >> jon: the communications director job has been unfilled. >> he had it for several months, dealt with him a lot, when you host a sunday show you interact a lot with the communications director. there's been nobody in that job for the last two months. we've dealt with other staff but scaramucci will be in that role now. again, i can't overstate, it is a tough job and a complicated job and there are a lot of boxes you've got to check. communication strategy is something people spend years, people like dana perino learning

to become masters of. scaramucci may turn out to be a natural but he certainly has not had a long apprenticeship in the subject. >> jon: communications are all about selling your accomplishment, what you hope to accomplish and sort of bending people to your will with your persuasiveness. >> not his personal persuasiveness, but the people he puts out. for instance, this weekend, who are you going to put out? will you be pushing health care, fighting back about russia, the stories today about the president and who he can pardon. you have to make strategic

decisions about who you are going to use to focus, when you are going to use the president's time. the communications director is a make all of those decisions but he plays a big role. just to give you an example, when i was the chief white house correspondent in the reagan white house for nbc, the communications director would call the nbc booth at about 5:00, this is back in the early '80s when the evening news was a lot more than they do now. they wanted to know what story you were doing and to the degree we were willing to share what the plans on the story were and maybe try to turn that around a little bit. there were a lot of things that i communications director does. >> jon: he was a good one, if i recall. >> he served in a different role

in the clinton administration. he served nixon as a speechwriter. he was a good or communications director because he had a very good, strategic sense and also sense of the media. an understanding of what they are going to buy and what they are not going to buy. it is over-the-top in terms of trying to sell your argument. >> jon: now that there is an incoming white house communications director we know you need some time to go update your role. >> i do, and to try to get a new desk guest for sunday. >> jon: we appreciate your expertise, thank you very much. >> heather: let's bring in fox news media analyst to talk more about these breaking developments. we are just getting word to that sean spicer apparently will be on sean hannity's show tonight.

hannity will be breaking major news tonight with him. we will see about that moving forward. also, a timeline as to what transpired moments ago, being told that mr. trump offered mr. scaramucci the job at 10:00 a.m. and as we all know, before we even made it back here to this at around noon, we got word that sean spicer had resigned. what do you make of all this? >> sean spicer was in an impossible job. as chris wallace mentioned, from the very first day of the administration, this is a guy who had been very affable, he was sent out to be the presiden president's attack on the press from the very first day. the briefings got really contentious and while that made a good television, and also made it sean spicer himself and

increasingly controversial figure. not just object of mockery on "saturday night live" but with reporters. >> heather: i wonder what melissa mccarthy thinks of all of this. i'm sure she is bummed out. chris wallace was talking about how the public or the media obviously enjoy these press briefings. people tuned in, they got great ratings. at the same time there were moments that we've heard about where president trump would it be texting questions and texting responses as sean spicer was delivering information to the media. obviously an issue between the two of them. >> that kind of captures the situation, the unusual situation sean spicer was in. as you mentioned earlier, the fact that anthony scaramucci, who i have interviewed and who has the advantage of a long-standing personal relationship with donald trump, is being hired for communications chief is very

tied to this decision to move on rather than accept some other job in the white house. the president was often unhappy with spicer's performance, thought he wasn't forceful enough. that sometimes put spicer in the position of not just really getting into it with reporters, he often didn't defuse the situation with humor, there were some factual missteps as well. ultimately, he was playing to the commander in chief who as we know watches a lot of televisio television. some of that is inherent in every administration but it's been obvious and reached recen. sarah huckabee sanders has taken over more of the briefings as sean spicer was being marginalized to some degree and trying to figure out his future within this white house. >> heather: i want to remind everyone that there will be a 2:00 p.m. on camera briefing we will be hearing from live.

something else chris wallace mentioned, those in favor of bringing anthony scaramucci on board as a communications director, jared kushner, ivanka trump. going along the lines of the two different camps within the white house, it shows that loyalty first and foremost is important to president trump. >> particularly important to have the support of the president's family, especially since they also happen to be senior white house officials. i think that will be a great asset to anthony scaramucci who grew up in the rough and tough world of wall street. he has said he finds the washington culture -- as he put it, on wall street they stab you in the front, and washington they stab you in the back. spicer was sometimes put in the unenviable position of having said something at the podium and

the president would contradict it. he said it wasn't proper to refer to the original order on immigration as a travel ban but later the president used travel ban. reporters got on him, spicer told me on numerous occasions one of the reasons he wasn't thrilled as he felt there was too much grandstanding. that's been going on for years. as relations got more tense, there there was the time he made some comments about the holocaust. i think there were times when he was a very effective spokesman for this administration. it was getting more difficult for him to please both parties. >> heather: such a tough job, i can't imagine. who do you think would take over that role? >> ordinarily you would expect the deputy to move out. sarah huckabee sanders has proven herself very adept in

these briefings. because scaramucci is taking over, he may have someone else in mind. perhaps it will be announced, we will find out when there is a rare on camera briefing today later this afternoon. it's not just a question of sean spicer leaving, there will be a rethink of the whole relationship with the media. in light of the fact the president gave that interview where he took a shot at jeff sessions with the failing "new york times" as he calls it. perhaps it doesn't need to be is constantly contentious relationship between the president and the media. we will see what scaramucci has in mind. >> heather: more resignations as a result? >> it's always dangerous to predict resignations as chris wallace mentioned. sean spicer was reince priebus' guy and didn't have the previous relationship with president trump. i don't know whether there will be a full-scale shakeup. i know the president is always reporting, this one is out, this

one is out, but at the very least we will see a retooling of the communication shot. witches, especially for a president who watches so much tv, who cares about cable news in particular, the method of getting his message out, i think we will see some adjustments. nobody thinks this is working very well right now for either side. >> heather: allow would argue those adjustments need to be made. thank you so much, appreciate it. >> jon: nobody has better insight and can explain it better than our fox news politics editor, chris, what's going on here? >> lord affiant no. sean spicer made a man full effort over a period of a couple of months to have his view for how this administration not to be communicating with the press,

and thereby the larger public. he tried to put that in effect, he tried to win. and that is not what the president wanted to do. ultimately the president didn't want to follow spicer's advice, didn't want to follow his course and obviously didn't have full confidence in spicer. spicer did the right thing, when you get to the point that your boss won't listen to you and you get to the point that you are not being heard, you've got to go and there is nothing wrong with that. that's a very healthy thing. not just in washington but in any business and any part of life. >> jon: typically the white house press secretary's last longer than seven months. >> typically the president is in donald trump. this is an atypical presidency to say the very least. this is also a presidency that is under siege. we see the president going to more and more of a war footing,

scaramucci a tenacious trump supporter and defender, presumably that is what we are going to continue to see. more attacks on robert mueller, more attacks on the system, more attacks, more attacks, more attacks. >> jon: the president is tired of reading "the washington post" and "the new york times" in terrible headlines. in part, he has himself to blame. when he was calling the press the most dishonest people around, saying they are awful people. he's invited that kind of coverage and scrutiny, has he not? >> even if it wasn't just that they were aggrieved and counter attacked him, laying that part of it aside. let's take just this week, on wednesday the president took a moment on wednesday, he met with republican senators, they had lunch, he made public remarks, his strongest remarks so far in defense of the senate bill making changes to obamacare,

that he said is a must pass, they've got to do it and he spoke in favor of it. they said maybe he's getting on message and before the day was over, he called "the new york times," that he calls a failing and dishonest, all of these things, he brought "the new york times" into the white house, gave an interview to three of their reporters and made the focus his disdain for his attorney general and his discussion about the russia investigation. they are and one micro-chasm they have one thing, they are liars, they are bad but he gives them what they want. >> jon: are they shaking their heads right now in the press room wondering what's next? we will find out and 23 or so minutes assuming that sarah huckabee sanders is on time with her briefing. >> i think when you get down to it, most of the reporters want a way to in an orderly fashion get their questions answered for the day. certainly there is a good point to be made about the theatrics of the press briefing and reporters who are looking for good cutaway shots that they can

show later. that's not baseless allegation, but there is a chokepoint on the information here. reporters need their questions answered, this needs to improve. it needs to improve for both sides in this equation. >> jon: are you making predictions as to how the communication shop will change in the white house? >> a lot of scrutiny is going to shift to the white house chief of staff. spicer was his that guy, trump has pretty successfully marginalized his own chief of staff. with the repeated questions about priebus, is he up to the job, polling, guests at his country club in florida about whether he ought to fire priebus. he's never left his chief of staff and a particularly strong

position to succeed. now with the departure of spicer that is one fewer ally that priebus has. where is the real power center in this white house and who is running things on a day-to-day basis? that's a question that probably supersedes how much of a role scaramucci is going to play. it's scaramucci himself may be the new power center here. >> jon: what about the politics of all of this? is this something that the people on capitol hill say, your choice, or does this profoundly impact relationships between the president and the legislative branch with he is having so much trouble at the present time. >> the other day spicer was not briefing the press, he was on capitol hill. that is because in the universe of regular republicans, spicer is one of the few people left in this administration. he is one of the people that

people in washington know, he is a seasoned operative who has trust and relationships with the people in congress and around town. spicer's departure as a communicator, but what role he had continue to play was that he was a known commodity in the administration. the administration needs strong defenders on capitol hill and of the republicans to be standing next to an embattled president. >> jon: anthony scaramucci is a strong defender of the president and his policies. >> what he is not is very experienced in this. he has experience on television, experience wooing investors, experience as a celebrity hedge fund guy. a lot of experience making a lot of money. washington is it different. you can call it the swamp, call

it whatever it is. if you want to win, you've got to know how to play the game. scaramucci is going to have to get up to speed up really fast. >> jon: celebrity hedge fund guy, that's what i want to be when i grow up. it's a good line. let's get back to working on your column. thank you. >> heather: not bad at all. let's bring in a fox news contributor and former white house press secretary. you can definitely let us know. what is going on behind the scenes here? >> if you want to know what's going on behind the scenes, "axios" put out an amazing stor story. this white house likes to leak. they put everything out. i think fundamentally what this came down to is the president

likes tv and he likes anthony scaramucci fighting for him on tv. the president is going to find the communications job, a visual job. unless he can learn that part of the job quickly. i think the president hired a fighter to go on tv and fight for him everywhere. >> heather: what changes do you think will, in the communications department as a result of this? as we have been saying repeatedly, he doesn't have the political chops in the experience there. >> the communications director's are the ones who are saying we are going to announce this policy in three months, let's start working on the rollout. this white house doesn't do that. we don't see them do rollouts, i don't think it's traditional

communications director's job, it's a tv roll. maybe anthony will do things differently later but i don't see that starting early. other questions of course, who is replacing sean? my advice at the white house is to be in no rush, take your tim time, is there somebody from the outside you should bring in? they have a very qualified person in the deputy. they don't have to make the decision today or even next week on who it's going to be. this is the time you cast a wide net, look around. >> heather: could that wide net possibly include you? >> heavens, no. i am a happily retired man. >> heather: did this surprise you to hear this news, that he did resign? chris wallace said he believed he was living in borrowed time for some time now.

>> it did surprise me. i think it's fair to say that in the trump administration, it's a lot harder, a lot more tense. the president has to figure out his style and do it his way. not your typical washington operation. i think the pot boiled over for sean, there were probably things he just didn't like what he was loyal so he fought through it. he made his case clear. it is a loyal washington tradition to resign on principle if that's what you think. i admire people who do that rather than stay on the inside and leak. >> heather: trying to scan through this article you mention, i was going to ask you about reince priebus reportedly being left in the dark about all over this and surprised by the news. this article saying in a quote

from priebus, the president has decided to bring anthony in it it's a great thing. he's a self-made man and knows how to run an organization. what did you think about the president not bringing people in and telling them in advance? >> we don't know if he told people in advance or not, there's a lot of uninformed reporting. if you are not in the room, you don't know. i'm sure the president told people and i think people are making too much of the tie between priebus and sean, thinking that priebus needs to be next and i don't think that's true. scaramucci supported scott walker from wisconsin. i ignore a lot of the internal talk about who is up, who is down. i would not be surprised if people in the communications office who came in with sean look at this and say maybe it is their time to go, too. they are exhausting jobs.

you get to a point where you say this is a good jumping off point. >> jon: i also had a chance to read that "axios" article that you gave us. it does say that sean spicer didn't throw down his papers and stomp out the door. he said he wants to work on an orderly transition and he wants to be very involved. still a big trump supporter and hoping to smooth the path for whoever takes his place. >> that's exactly right and that's important. the cameras are already on you walking out the gates of the white house and you have to figure out how to get your boxes out later. that's what i meant about sean following what i think is an honorable president. resign on principle if you don't believe in something, but be a team player as you do it. i think that's what john is doing here. >> jon: the headlines tomorrow are going to be all about chaos at the white house and it seems like they cannot get away from

that line of thinking or some might call it a line of attack. there seems to be constant turmoil of one kind or another in this white house. >> that's true to a degree, but i think it's also true that american people don't worry that much about the personnel stories. they hired donald trump, they didn't hire the staff. the public is going to judge donald trump and how he is doing and what he stands for, not the staff. ultimately all judgments will be about donald trump. washington loves to fixate on staff and the personnel, i remember when george hw bush's chief of staff resign, most americans didn't know who he was but it was the biggest story in washington. >> heather: dana perino mentioned that when she was press secretary there was not

twitter. there isn't one now and we have a comment from sean spicer. he is now saying on twitter, he sent out this tweet. "it's been an honor and a privilege to serve, i will continue my service through august." important that this transition will be a smooth one. >> there you go. i think that reframes a lot of the initial take on the story. >> heather: i wanted to ask you, and reference to how you see the communications department and the press area changing. earlier, someone had mentioned, i can't recall who it was at this point, that bringing in scaramucci would be an indication that perhaps they are going to go a little more on the attack. >> anthony is more on the attack and i think that's one of the reason the president hired him to be that person on tv.

he's got people he likes and he trusts to send out on tv. if you look at the president's priorities, a lot of the tv coverage. he's getting the team that he wants. he's getting the press secretary he wants. whether the briefings should be on tv, et cetera. i don't see other changes because we have the same president. that's what white houses are about. the president drives and defines the white house and he defines the coverage, not the staff. >> heather: would you expect to see more press briefings back on camera? >> i doubt it would change, i think they are trying to figure out what role the briefing should play in a modern era. it should not be our red-hot tv show. today at 2:00 everybody is going to be tuned in from washington at least to figure out what is going on inside the white house.

i think the briefing should be one piece of valuable information that the press and the public get as they see what's going on at the white house. it doesn't have to be a live tv show for people to get that. i don't bark of the briefing and keep it off-camera. >> heather: there are a lot of other resources available this day. thank you so much for joining us, appreciate it. >> jon: let's get some political perspective from opposite sides of the aisle. the strategy here, bringing in anthony scaramucci to be the communications director at the white house, some people might say it is a risky choice. he is not a guy who has done that particular kind of work in the immediate past but he does have the ear of the president and that is a critical part of this.

>> he's been a fixture in the media. president trump is not a traditional candidate, he's bringing in someone who is not a traditional communications director. he has tried to have that role traditional, mike dubke, sean spicer held that role and it hasn't worked for him. we've seen six months of probably the worst headline any administration has seen. i think he is looking for someone that he deemed street fighter and a brawler like him. anthony scaramucci fits that role, we saw how he handled the cnn story. i think he will have a different approach in handling the white house. that's not to speak ill of sean spicer, he is a phenomenal communicator and good at his job and i think he would've been a perfect press secretary for someone like jeb bush. but this is a donald trump white house and it looks a lot different than it would if jeb bush was president. >> jon: for the democrats you

have an incoming communications director who is combative, not afraid to throw punches and not afraid to take people to the mat if he deems it necessary. >> it will be interesting to se see. i think sean spicer has been a loyal soldier for the president, he's taken hits to his own credibility, marching out with things about the crowd size, the travel ban, he's been a loyal soldier for six months and has not been there long enough to even see the president signed a single legislative victory into law. to see anything progress under trump's agenda. he is going to be on the way out and we'll see how the new communication director builds his office. >> jon: part of that has to do with democratic opposition to the president's agenda. that is part of what's going on. >> i don't think any of those cases it was sean, i think it was president trump who disagreed on twitter with sean spicer about whether the travel ban was a travel ban. i think it was the president who

disagreed about the crowd sizes that -- that's kind of what has been some of the water that the staff have to take on in this. i think president trump would've been a lot better off had he listened to sean spicer's advic advice. >> jon: as the senate gets ready to perhaps vote on another iteration of the health care bill, and the headlines from the white house when they wanted to highlight american manufacturing and so forth have been almost universally negative in terms of the passage or the progress of some kind of repeal of the american health -- obamacare in favor of this better care reconciliation act. as the white house tries to shift focus to get some of these things done, does it seem in your view that anthony scaramucci and the change in strategy here, the changing team is going to help accomplish a? >> we are going to see.

i think president trump hurt himself a lot, he undermines some of the great success as he could have by stepping on his own message. we've seen that over the past six months, he hasn't done them any favors. i think he needs to trust the people around him and feel like they share the same ideology and approach. i think that is what he will get with someone like anthony scaramucci. i think they share that same street fighter mentality taking on people. i think from that perspective they will at least share that. the big question for anthony scaramucci is going to be the organizational side of this. can he lay out the messaging, with the messaging is going to look like, president trump also has people like kellyanne conway who have done that throughout their career, working on pull testing messaging, putting on speeches, he has some of those people around him. anthony scaramucci can also help them when they look for a tax reform and helping that. i don't know the answer quite

yet. >> jon: no matter which side of the political while you are on, messaging is everything. part of having a successful presidency is reminding people of what you have accomplished. >> that's exactly right, the importance of messaging and being able to get out, that has been a problem for this white house. i think that actually goes -- we were talking about the staffing and the beltway, talking about how it impacts health care, the chaos around the staff trying to push it. how that chaos is that the staff level of the white house. to the rest of america doesn't really care about that. i think they look at the chaos? as the fact that it's a question of -- did 30 million americans get thrown off their health care, did 20 million get thrown off their plan and another? those are real comp consequences and they are different about the question of who is going to be at the podium. >> jon: we are getting ready

for this white house briefing, sarah huckabee sanders who has been sean spicer's lieutenant up until this point is going to be taking the briefing today. it will be on camera. probably going to be one of the most-watched briefings yet, even without the presence of sean spicer. lisa, again, you are the strategist here. if you were running things in the white house communications shop, what would you tell them to do? >> it's tough because president trump is so different. he's a different kind of candidate then we saw before. i think president trump helped himself in the general election when he did start giving some more traditional speeches while still giving himself. i would like to see from my perspective, still be himself. it was his message of not wanting to leave americans behind.

i think people appreciated without authenticity. not doing interviews like "the new york times" interview, sitting down with a publication that you know wants to bring damage to your candidacy is not the best approach. i hope he starts listening through his team, who i hope would advise him against that. you also can't take away who he is because that's a people voted for. >> jon: in terms of how democrats, what democrats do with that, is this something that gives them political capital? >> i think the message for democrats, the consequences of the trump agenda not on the staff behind it. i think democrats should all chip in and send it scaramucci toms and rolaids and asset for

the harper and must be coming with that job. days after he tries to intimidate his own attorney general about investigations, at the same time we have seen the collapse of about the third version so far of trumpcare. he's got a hard job, mr. scaramucci is going to need a lot of patience ahead. >> jon: we are just a couple of blocks from the nbc building, they are not going to have sean spicer to kick around at "saturday night live" anymore. >> i think he should make his own appearance on the show, i think that will be prices. >> maybe they will ask him, he can be a funny guy. >> jon: thanks very much. we await that briefing.

>> heather: melissa mccarthy can switch it up and she can now be anthony scaramucci. it's an idea. >> jon: that would be a stretch but we'll see. fascinating times. >> heather: a lot of breaking news for a friday afternoon. we've got a new communications director, our press secretary sean spicer stepping aside. >> jon: he said he will be there through the end of august, he wants to make a smooth transition, wants the help of the incoming team. are there going to be more changes, are there going to be -- will there be a new sean spicer? will sarah huckabee sanders step into the role? perhaps we will find out when that briefing begins. it is scheduled for a minute or so. >> heather: apparently there are a reports that anthony scaramucci will make an appearance. we will see if that ends up being true. >> jon: he's been a familiar face at fox over the years, now he steps into a new role.

>> heather: he will be back on fox's evening apparently, sean hannity tonight, he will speak with sean spicer, reince priebus and anthony scaramucci. that will be a big show. >> jon: thank you for joining us, see you >> fox news alert for you now. huge day at the white house. we await the first white house briefing since a june 29th, by the way. it is on camera. hello, everyone i am melissa francis. sean spicer resigning as press secretary after just six months on the job. it comes as president trump has named anthony scaramucci the new white house communications director. we have fox team coverage fox news sunday chris wallace is here. fox news politics editor, chris stirewalt. ed henry. washington correspondent, james rosen. they are all standing by.