Scaramucci defends deleting old pro-Hillary Clinton, anti-climate change denying, pro-gun control tweets after becoming Trump's communications director

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace said it was an understandable move, and pulled up a 2012 tweet in which Scaramucci advocated for tougher gun control laws.

"We (the USA) has 5% of the world's population but 50% o f the world's guns," the tweet in question said. "Enough is enough. It is just common sense to apply more controls."

Wallace reminded Scaramucci that "all this stuff lives forever," and asked if he still believed that.

"Well, OK, so the answer to the question, and I'm a pro-Second Amendment person. My dad was a hunter, I've got no problem with that," Scaramucci said. "What I was worried about in 2012, in urban centers, if you don't have a little level of gun control, it could lead to more violence."

Scaramucci then reiterated that he deleted his old tweets because they were a "total distraction."

"When I made the decision to take this job, my politics and my political ideas do not matter at all," he said. "What matters is that I am supporting — subordinating all of that to the president's agenda."

The new communications director first announced on Saturday that he would be deleting his previous tweets. "Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that's all that matters," Scaramucci tweeted.

The tweets

But Twitter users posted several screenshots of Scaramucci's old tweets to preserve them even after they were deleted, and observed how at odds they were with many of President Donald Trump's views:

In one tweet, Scaramucci said in reply to a user who said Hillary Clinton might be "in play" for the 2016 election: "I hope she runs, she is incredibly competent."

In January 2016 — shortly after candidate Trump proposed banning all Muslims from entering the US — Scaramucci tweeted, "'It is a fight within Islam, overwhelming majority see Islam as a religion of peace, want to live in multiracial/ethnic/faith democracies'."

Scaramucci also slammed climate change skeptics in 2016. "You can take steps to combat climate change without crippling the economy. The fact many people still believe CC is a hoax is disheartening," he said in a tweet that has since been deleted.

Trump has frequently cast doubt on the scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change contributes to environmental depletion and poses a risk to human health. Trump has referred to climate change as a Chinese "hoax," and in June, he announced he would pull the US out of the landmark Paris climate agreement.

In October 2015, Scaramucci threw his support behind Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush, whom Trump often slammed as "low energy."

"Big number for @JebBush people just need to get to know him. Will make a great President," Scaramucci tweeted.

In another 2015 tweet, Scaramucci picked apart Trump's key campaign proposal for a border wall along the southern border between the US and Mexico. "Walls don't work. Never have never will. The Berlin Wall 1961-1989 don't fall for it," Scaramucci tweeted.

Since being named communications director, Scaramucci has walked back his previous statements and apologized, in particular, for a 2015 Fox Business Network interview in which he called then-candidate Trump a "hack politician."

He addressed the comment with Wallace on Sunday, explaining that they're "both New Yorkers," and during his first briefing on Friday, he said he regretted saying it.

Scaramucci added: "Mr. President, if you're listening, I personally apologize for the 50th time for saying that."

Scaramucci defends deleting old pro-Hillary Clinton, anti-climate change denying, pro-gun control tweets after becoming Trump's communications director

The tweets

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