Washington: President Donald Trump is expected to name Anthony Scaramucci, a major Republican donor and investor, as his new communications director, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

Scaramucci is one of the president's most trusted loyalists and is a key defender of Trump on television. He is expected to replace Mike Dubke, who resigned in May after a brief and tumultuous tenure as the communications director for a president who sees himself as his own best spokesman.

Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, met with Scaramucci for more than 30 minutes Thursday in a small dining room off the Oval Office, the official said.

Scaramucci could not be reached for comment.

Scaramucci is close to Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump jnr. He is also respected by Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who is a senior adviser to the president. And Scaramucci has a direct line to the president, whom he has known for years.

Even so, Scaramucci's appointment would be unusual, given his lack of a traditional communications portfolio. But he has been seen as an avid and effective defender of the president on television as the number of Trump's open backers has dwindled.

Scaramucci was recently the subject of a retracted story by CNN that dealt with investigations into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. He accepted an apology from the network, but Trump's supporters were gratified by Scaramucci's approach to getting the story removed.

It is unclear, however, if Scaramucci's appointment will be blocked by Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff. Officials previously have said Priebus helped jettison an earlier plan to put Scaramucci in the White House office of the public liaison.

Priebus was not aware of the anticipated appointment before it was made public, according to the senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

New York Times