Political commentator and former White House director of communications for President Donald Trump Anthony Scaramucci has said that the US president will lose the legal case being taken against him by the media organisations he has banned from the White House.
CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued Mr Trump and other members of his administration for banning them from the White House grounds.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Six One programme, Mr Scaramucci said that he felt the dispute with the media organisations has served as a “distraction”.
“He’ll lose that case, by the way. I really do think this is more or less a distraction to some of the bad things that are happening to him right now,” he said.
“This is the politics of distraction for the president.
“He wants us all talking about this, as opposed to the failure of the Iranian war and some of the things that are going on domestically that are not good for him.”
CNN, which had been scheduled to cover Mr Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly today, was not able to provide a pool feed.
Donald Trump banned several media organisations from the White House grounds
In response, the other major TV networks have suspended presidential pool coverage, effectively eliminating the most important video source for White House events.
Mr Scaramucci also predicted that the Republicans will lose the House of Representatives in the upcoming mid-term elections.
“If you look at the prediction markets, the House of Representatives will likely go to the Democrats. It’s 85% of the prediction markets,” he said.
“He’ll certainly, in my opinion, lose the House.”
Mr Scaramucci warned that the war with Iran was far from over and said Mr Trump knows this.
He pointed out that at the Republican midterm convention, Mr Trump said that the conflict would last through the midterms and tried to suggest it would de-escalate after that.
But this latter suggestion, he said, “is one of the big lies, similar to the big lie that everyone’s going to receive $5,000, which of course they’re not going to”.
He said there is “no way” Mr Trump would get the payment approved by Congress, even if his party holds onto both houses.
Trump’s united Ireland remark ‘a flippant statement’
Mr Scaramucci said Mr Trump’s remark on a united Ireland was “a flippant statement” and would never have happened “if we had a proper functioning State Department”.
He rejected the notion that they may have been aimed at the UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Donald Trump said he ‘would love to see’ Ireland unified, during his recent visit
Mr Scaramucci said the president “is nuts”, and that such remarks are advisedly not taken seriously.
“He likes to say he’s playing 3D chess, but I generally think that he eats the chess pieces.”
Mr Scaramucci also criticised Mr Trump’s handling of trade talks with Canada, and the subsequent escalation of tensions and tariffs.
“I don’t think the Canadians want to be bullied by the Americans, and a lot of things that were suggested in that trade deal were actually threatening the cohesion of Canada,” he said.
Noting that Mr Trump is “deeply unhappy about Canada and Europe deciding to build an alliance together”, he suggested that the move could hardly have come as a surprise.
However, he said Mr Trump did the “smart thing” in not agreeing to Saudi Arabia’s request for aid in figthing the Houthis.
“I think he’s coming under more pressure,” he said.
He added: “You’re getting American cargo ships and oil through the Red Sea, and if you look at prices today in the United States crude oil is down, stock market is up under the notion that there will be some de-escalation.
“So I think that was a smart thing to do.”