Scaramucci on White House leaks: 'We're going to let people go if we have to'

White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci vowed Wednesday to take a hard line against leaks from the West Wing, telling Fox News' "Hannity," "we're going to let people go if we have to."

"One of the big problems that I’m discovering," said Scaramucci, who was named communications director Friday, which led to the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer, "is that senior people are really the guys doing the leaking and they ask junior people to leak for them.

"I’m very proud to be reporting directly to the president so I can hermetically seal off the [communications] team from this sort of nonsense," Scaramucci added.
WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ASSISTANT PRESS SECRETARY MICHAEL SHORT RESIGNS
Scaramucci spoke to Fox News' Sean Hannity one day after the resignation of senior assistant press secretary Michael Short, who claimed he offered to step down of his own accord. Short's departure came as sources told Fox News that Republican National Committee officials who followed Spicer and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to the White House feared for their jobs.
"We let somebody go yesterday, but I’ve told people that if there’s a civil war, and people are fighting internally, we have to dial that down," Scaramucci said. "I don’t think you can let people go ... just for the sake of letting them go. I think we have to give them ... some level of amnesty to see if they’ll stop and work together.
"But I’ll move very quickly if they cannot do that, because I have the president’s authority to do so."
Earlier Wednesday evening, Scaramucci tweeted that he planned to contact the FBI and the Justice Department, claiming that his own financial disclosure information had been leaked. But the tweet was later deleted.
Scaramucci also claimed that some leaks from other executive agencies came from what he called "political holdovers from the Obama administration that want to put a hurt on the Trump administration." In response, he said he was planning to meet with communications people from those agencies in an effort to "curtail leaks on their side."
After Scaramucci appeared on "Hannity," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores issued the following statement:
"We have seen an astonishing increase in the number of leaks of classified national security information in recent months. We agree with Anthony that these staggering number of leaks are undermining the ability of our government to function and to protect this country. Like the Attorney General has said, 'whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail,' and we will aggressively pursue leak cases wherever they may lead."

New Audit Shows IRS Paid Out $24B in Potentially Improper Refunds

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The IRS is paying out more than $24 billion in potentially fraudulent refunds claimed under controversial tax credits.
An audit of the agency in 2016 says $17 billion were payments made on improper claims under the earned income tax credit.
It estimates another $8 billion in wrong payments between the additional child tax credit, and a higher education tax credit.
$118 million were also paid to people not authorized to work in the U.S.
The audit suggest the IRS follow a 2015 law delaying refunds claiming those credits so agents have more time to flag suspicious returns.

Wasserman-Schultz Aide Arrested While Trying to Flee the Country

Democrat

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The FBI arrests an aide of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as he was trying to flee the country.
37-year-old Imran Awan, an IT staffer for Schultz, had been under investigation for bank fraud.
Federal agents say Awan was headed to Pakistan, and had no intention of returning to the United States.
In a Washington D.C. court on Tuesday Awan pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges, and was released on high supervision.
He must wear a GPS tracking device, and is restricted to the 50 mile radius around his Virginia home.
Awan will be back in court August 21st.

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Sessions to announce investigations into intelligence leaks: source

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will soon announce several criminal leak investigations, Fox News has learned.

A U.S. official familiar with the discussions said Tuesday that the planned announcement surrounding stepped-up efforts on leak investigations has “been in the works for some time and will most likely happen sometime in the next week.”

The news comes in the wake of days of intense pressure on Sessions, with President Trump lashing out and expressing his “disappointment” with the attorney general, through tweets, interviews and news conferences.
The investigations will look at news reports that publicized sensitive intelligence material, according to officials who have been briefed on the matter.
Meanwhile, it appears that Sessions has no plans to step down at this point.
A source familiar with the conversation tells Fox News that Sessions’ chief of staff, Jody Hunt, recently told White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus that the attorney general had no intention of resigning.
Anthony Scaramucci, Trump's new communications director, said Tuesday that he was prepared to "fire everybody" to stop unauthorized information coming from the press office.
Speaking to reporters, Scaramucci said that he was "not doing an investigation. I'm just going to get the leaking to stop." He stressed that he had "the authority from the president to do that."
"You're either going to stop leaking or you're going to get fired," Scaramucci said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report 
Jake Gibson is a producer working at the Fox News Washington bureau who covers politics, law enforcement and intelligence issues.

Senate Republicans who defected on health care test vote

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, left, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ak., were the only Republicans to vote against Tuesday's motion to proceed  (AP)

Vice President Mike Pence was needed in the Senate Tuesday to cast the tie-breaking vote on a motion to move forward with a bill to overhaul ObamaCare after two Republicans voted "no."

The votes by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Ak., eliminated the GOP's margin of error on the motion. Every other Republican senator voted "aye," while every Democratic senator joined Collins and Murkowski in voting "no."

Collins and Murkowski are among several moderate Senate Republicans concerned about possible Medicaid cuts in any ObamaCare overhaul. In separate statements last week, both women opposed an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to pass legislation repealing ObamaCare without new legislation in place.

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Murkowski — who backed a Senate bill repealing ObamaCare in 2015 that was vetoed by then-President Barack Obama, the law's namesake — said the Senate should "take a step back and engage in a bipartisan process to address the failures of [ObamaCare] and stabilize the individual markets."
Collins, who did not vote for the 2015 repeal, said that ObamaCare is "so interwoven in our health care system that to repeal it completely with no idea what it's going to be replaced with is not the right approach."
As for potential political consequences of their votes, Murkowski is not due to come up for re-election until 2022. Collins' turn will come in 2020, though she has not ruled out stepping down to run for governor of Maine next year.

Scaramucci: “If they don’t stop leaking I’m going to put them out on Pennsylvania Ave.”

Washington, D.C- Trey Yingst, OAN Chief White House Correspondent
The new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is cracking down on leaks. Already, one staffer has resigned as a result.
Michael Short, a former White House Press Assistant, resigned Tuesday after reports surfaced that he would be fired.
The resignation comes following a tumultuous week at the White House. On Friday Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned following the news that Scaramucci would be the new Communications Director.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Scaramucci said the President has given him full authority to fire anyone in the administration if they leak to the press.
“You wanna sell postcards to the tourists outside the gate or work in the West Wing?” Scaramucci asked outside the West Wing.
When asked how he would address future leaks, Scaramucci said he would ‘fire everyone’ if necessary.
President Trump has expressed frustration with leaks coming out of his administration, leaving open questions about more resignations in the coming days.

Beijing Demands U.S. End Flights Over China’s Illegally Occupied Islands

China has been expanding its maritime activity over the past few years. (Reuters/PHOTO)

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Pearson Sharp
China takes an aggressive approach to defending islands its occupying illegally, warning U.S. aircraft to stay away.
A pair of armed Chinese fighter jets swooped in to harass a U.S. Navy Reconnaissance plane flight over the East China Sea on Sunday.
U.S. officials say the dangerous behavior nearly caused a collision.
One of the Chinese jets dove under the American plane, then climbed suddenly and popped up just in front of the U.S. pilots.
China dismissed the claims saying it didn’t happen, and then rushed to scold the U.S. for flying over its annexed territory.
Both of the Chinese jets were carrying air-to-air missiles, posing a legitimate threat to the unarmed Navy plane.
The U.S., the UN, and numerous nations in the region—including Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam—have condemned China’s expansion.
Earlier this month, the U.S. sailed a destroyer near one of China’s annexed islands.