WASHINGTON — New White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci said he wants to do everything to make Sarah Huckabee Sanders “better” — then issued advice on how to look best in the press briefing room.
“Sarah, if you’re watching, I loved the hair and makeup person that we had on Friday,” Scaramucci told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So, I would like to continue to use the hair and makeup person.”
Sanders was promoted Friday after Press Secretary Sean Spicer resigned over Scaramucci’s appointment.
Sanders and Scaramucci held an on-camera briefing together Friday — the first from the White House all month –- in a show of solidarity.
Scaramucci took to Twitter afterwards saying he really wasn’t talking about Sanders’ looks, but his own.
“For the record, I was referring to my hair and make up and the fact that I like the make up artist. I need all the help I can get! #humor” he wrote.
Sanders told The Post she believed Scaramucci was praising “the makeup artist because he thought she did a good job,” she said in an email.
“People are trying to blow it out of proportion and make it into something it isn’t,” she said.
Scaramucci’s on-air comments were in response to show host Jake Tapper’s question on whether cameras will now be allowed back in the White House briefing room.
“We should put the cameras on. That’s no problem …” Scaramucci replied. “But if the president doesn’t want the cameras on, guess what? We’re not going to have the cameras on. It’s going to really be up to him.”
He praised Sanders for doing a great job and for being a “warm” and “authentic” person. He said he even gave her the “big office” since she’ll be taking the most hits from the press.
But he suggested improvements for her on the podium once the camera lights are back on.
“For Sarah Huckabee, I want to do everything I can to make her better at that podium,” he said. “I think she is phenomenal there now. But like every athlete that is training for the Olympics, every day, we have got to make ourselves incrementally better.”
Then he said “the only thing” he’ll ask of Huckabee Sanders is to keep the hair and makeup artists from Friday.
Tapper quipped: “Anthony, you can always swing by CNN. We have hair and makeup here, if you ever need it.”
Scaramucci joked CNN’s makeup team did well with Tapper’s appearance: “You look tan and refreshed.”