The Mooch Is Back: Anthony Scaramucci Threatens To Sue College Student

Emulating his former boss, President Donald Trump, Anthony Scaramucci has threatened legal action against a newspaper that printed some unflattering remarks about him.

While Trump had his litigious sights on the New York Times over reports of sexual assaults against him by many women, Scaramucci is targeting the student newspaper from his alma mater, Tufts University.

The trigger was a Nov. 6 op-ed written by Tufts graduate student Camilo A. Caballero in the Tufts Daily newspaper calling on the university’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy to drop the former White House communications director from its advisory board, which he’s served on since 2016.

"There sits on the Board of Advisors of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts a man whose career and ideals are diametrically opposed to those ideas and who sullies the vision of the University," the op-ed said.

"This is Anthony Scaramucci, a man who began his infamously short career as the White House communications director by uttering profanity-laced comments on national news outlets, the man who sold his soul in contradiction to his own purported beliefs for a seat in that White House."

"A man who is irresponsible, inconsistent, an unethical opportunist and who exuded the highest degree of disreputability should not be on the Fletcher Board," it added.

After the opinion piece came out, in an online petition, more students and administrators called for Scaramucci’s removal. This was followed by the school’s announcement that Scaramucci had been invited to speak at the campus.

Caballero then fired another op-ed, which referred to Scaramucci’s "unethical behavior."

This didn't go down well with "the Mooch," whose attorney demanded in a letter that Caballero and the Tufts Daily newspaper retract "false and defamatory allegations of fact" about his client and issue an apology.

Scaramucci, in an e-mail to Caballero, said the latter had "suggested publicly" that he had engaged in unethical behavior.

"So either back it up or you will hear from my lawyer," Scaramucci wrote on Nov. 16. "You may have a difference of opinion from me politically which I respect but you can’t make spurious claims about my reputation and integrity."

However, T. Barton Carter, a communication and law professor at Boston University, told the Boston Globe that Scaramucci doesn't have much of a case.

"First of all, he would have to prove that they said something factual — not something that’s an opinion — defamatory, and inaccurate," Carter said. "And then he still has to prove that they had knowledge it was false, or at least had serious doubts."

However, the turmoil has put paid to Scaramucci's scheduled talk at the university. The university postponed his talk, which was scheduled for Monday, until the "legal matters" are settled.

"We’re disappointed that Mr. Scaramucci has taken this action," university spokesman Patrick Collins said in a statement.

However, Scaramucci in a deluge of tweets Sunday night made it clear that he won't back off if his integrity is questioned.