Sean Spicer, who is stepping down as White House press secretary at the end of August, claimed Friday that President Trump didn’t want him to resign.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Spicer said the decision to leave his role was entirely his own.
“From what I understand, and all the reports are, the president didn’t want you to go. Tell us what happened,” Hannity said.
“He didn’t,” Spicer asserted. “He’s been very gracious throughout this process.”
“He wanted to bring some new folks in to help rev up the communications operation and after reflection my decision was to recommend to the president that I give Anthony and Sarah a clean slate to start from so they can talk about the president’s agenda and help move it forward,” he continued.
Spicer resigned Friday after President Trump offered Anthony Scaramucci the position of communications director. Reports stated that Spicer was worried he would have to continue to fill the role of press secretary and communications director given Scaramucci’s inexperience in government.
“[Trump], after some back and forth, understood the the offer I was making was something that was in the best interest of this administration,” Spicer explained. “I thanked him for the opportunity, and I’m looking forward to watching Anthony and Sarah do a tremendous job.”
WATCH:
.@PressSec says he wants the new @WhiteHouse communications team to have a “clean slate.” Watch the interview on #Hannity tonight at 10p ET. pic.twitter.com/0oUwiJI5jh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 21, 2017