Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Wednesday said he had seen President Donald Trump apologize just twice in 20 years prior to walking back his Helsinki comments the day before.
A guest on CNN's "New Day" morning program, Scaramucci said the president "made a mistake" in siding with Russia over the intelligence agencies in the U.S. but added that it's time to "move on."
"This was a lot like the 'Access Hollywood' situation. I was present for the 'Access Hollywood' situation and I've seen the president now apologize twice," Scaramucci said on "New Day."
"I've known him for 20 years and he apologized to his wife and the American people, he apologized to Theresa May last week, and he just walked this thing back," Scaramucci said, referring to Trump's remarks in Helsinki that set off a torrent of criticism against the president.
Scaramucci said Trump doesn't apologize "because that's been part of a strategy in his life that has made him very, very successful."
"His strategy has been to always operate off the ball of his foot, not operate off his heels and not be a guy who apologizes. The president is not an easy person to get an apology from," Scaramucci said.
Scaramucci on Tuesday called on the president to rapidly walk back his comments in Helsinki and said that Trump's apology was good enough for him.
"I think he made a mistake. I think he misspoke," Scaramucci said Wednesday. "He got the thing wrong. He's a reluctant guy to walk things back. He walked it back. Let's move on."
Scaramucci said it was Trump's criticism of America's intel agencies that stirred up the backlash.
"What I was upset about - and I think what most Americans would be upset about if they analyzed it - is knocking the national intelligence agencies. Not what he said about there's problems on both sides of the relationship," Scaramucci said.
Scaramucci surmised that "super loyal people" in the house convinced Trump to reconsider his comments made alongside Russian president Vladimir Putin.
"There's probably a cadre of guys, men and women around the president, where he said, 'what do you think' and they said, 'you have to walk this back because you love the rank-and-file people in these intelligence agencies,'" Scaramucci said.
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