Ryan Lizza: Scaramucci Told Me He Knew The Conversation was ‘100% on the Record’
On Friday, the smart morning show eyes were on New Day to get the latest from the extraordinary series of events surrounding CNN contributor and New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza and White House Communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
Last night, Lizza published a breathtaking interview with Scaramucci in which the newly installed comms chief blasted his White House rivals, Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon is unusually vulgar terms.
During the program’s first hour, Lizza appeared on the show to give the play-by-play to Chris Cuomo. While there was a lot to go over, one of the more interesting moments occurred toward the end of conversation when the issue of “on” vs. “off” the record was brought up.
After his interview was published, Scaramucci suggested that he thought the conversation was off-the-record and that he made a “mistake in trusting in a reporter”
I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won’t happen again.
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 28, 2017
Lizza, however, shot back, saying Scaramucci knew the call was on the record and said as much to him — and he has the audio to prove it.
“He says he made a mistake trusting you. He thought this was off the record,” said Cuomo. “But you say you have recordings.”
“I had a conversation with Anthony yesterday afternoon. I didn’t want to post the piece until I had a chance to talk to him,” said Lizza. “In that conversation Anthony made 100% clear to me, ‘look I understand that interview was not off the record, totally within your rights to publish it. I don’t want to say anything more about that conversation, but that was the takeaway from that conversation.”
Lizza continued.
“We had a conversation yesterday where we both agreed that the conversation was 100% on the record,” he said. “We were in agreement, we had a conversation and that conversation was recorded as well. There is no ambiguity about this. The Communications Director at the White House called me and we conducted an interview, without setting any ground rules at the top.”
Cuomo — who has always seemed quite chummy with Scaramucci on-air — seemed to be looking for a way to defend his friend, saying that on/off record conversations were often very contextual and relationship based — but at the end of the day, the recordings speak for themselves.
“You say the key point. You have a recording of Anthony Scaramucci saying to you, I know this is on the record,” said Cuomo.
“Yes,” said Lizza. “We talked about it before the piece was posted … that’s as clear as day.”
Game, Set, Match — Lizza
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