--- title: Anthony Scaramucci-Reince Preibus Photo Captures Tension description: A picture published Thursday appeared to be the definitive proof of the bad blood at the White House. canonical: https://time.com/4877327/anthony-scaramucci-reince-priebus-photograph/ author: Andrew Katz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-27T21:21:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:17:49.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: This Photo Perfectly Captures the Tension at the White House Right Now og:description: Here's the story behind it og:url: https://time.com/4877327/anthony-scaramucci-reince-priebus-photograph/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d3fd2fdb9898b15/6988d781bc6cfc95903e26c4/reince-priebus-anthony-scaramucci-oval-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: reince-priebus-anthony-scaramucci-oval-office og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Photo Perfectly Captures the Tension at the White House Right Now twitter:description: Here's the story behind it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d3fd2fdb9898b15/6988d781bc6cfc95903e26c4/reince-priebus-anthony-scaramucci-oval-office.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Photo Perfectly Captures the Tension at the White House Right Now > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3aad3d2c-8af3-4869-aefb-0685cc155e0c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Anthony Scaramucci: President Trump Is 'Thinking About Pardoning Nobody' [Watch (HLS stream): Anthony Scaramucci: President Trump Is 'Thinking About Pardoning Nobody'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/e2rrZLLh.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2017-07-23. Incoming White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Sunday morning that President Donald Trump is "thinking about pardoning nobody," responding to questions about the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election_  by [Andrew Katz](https://time.com/author/andrew-katz/)  ## Andrew Katz Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:17 AM UTCPublished: Jul 27, 2017 9:21 PM UTC  Reince Priebus, the Chief of Staff, and White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci in the Oval Office on July 25, 2017. Reince Priebus, the Chief of Staff, and White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci in the Oval Office on July 25, 2017. T.J. Kirkpatrick—The Wall Street Journal  by [Andrew Katz](https://time.com/author/andrew-katz/)  ## Andrew Katz Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:17 AM UTCPublished: Jul 27, 2017 9:21 PM UTC A standoff at the White House appears to be at [a boiling point](http://time.com/4877141/donald-trump-anthony-scaramucci-reince-priebus-jeff-sessions/). Anthony Scaramucci, the [new communications director](http://time.com/4868758/anthony-scaramucci-president-donald-trump-commmunications-director/), took to [Twitter and CNN](http://time.com/4876138/anthony-scaramucci-financial-information-leak-fbi/) to accuse Reince Priebus, chief of staff to President Trump, of [leaking his financial disclosure form](http://time.com/4876158/anthony-scaramucci-tweet-reince-priebus/). A picture [published on Thursday](https://www.wsj.com/article%5Femail/scaramucci-says-split-with-priebus-may-not-bereparable-1501172308-lMyQjAxMTA3NTIwNzcyMDc3Wj/) appeared to be the definitive proof of their bad blood. But is it? The answer is more complicated than it seems. Washington, D.C.-based photographer [T.J. Kirkpatrick](http://www.tjkphoto.com/) got a text from the _Wall Street Journal_ asking if he was free for an assignment at the White House. He was, and so the photographer arrived with a group of reporters. Before the interview, they were greeted by a “very jovial” Scaramucci. After some small talk, the reporters went into the Oval Office for their sit-down with Trump. Kirkpatrick was called in about five minutes before the end of the interview. Priebus and Scaramucci were already in the room, as was a handful of other communications staff, including spokeswoman Hope Hicks and a White House photographer. That meant about five minutes to get “as much variety as I can,” he recalls, from the moment he walked in to the moment everyone began to shake hands. Kirkpatrick, who covered George W. Bush and Barack Obama, had previously been in the Oval Office but exclusively for pool sprays: those lightning-fast gatherings of photographers to capture brief moments between a president and, say, a visiting dignitary. “It’s the same mindset where you have such a limited amount of time to get as much as possible,” Kirkpatrick tells TIME. “If you’re lucky you come away with three good pictures. But I know from going into those experiences it’s important to pay attention to other people in the room aside from the president because that can be storytelling in itself.” This image certainly proves that concept. Priebus, his hand resting on a couch, appears fixated on Scaramucci, who with thumbs tucked into his pants, is looking in Priebus’ direction. “It’s so hard to say what exactly the exchange is that’s happening there,” Kirkpatrick says. “It doesn’t seem like it could be anything but that representation for what people think is happening in the White House.” Kirkpatrick “wasn’t looking to make that picture.” He wasn’t too aware of the tension between the two aides that has captivated tweets and headlines and airwaves. “I was just reacting to what I saw in front of me when I had a second to look away from the president,” he adds. “But I couldn’t tell you if they were staring each other down the entire time. I don’t know. I got lucky that they looked at each other for that split second.” Going back through his haul from the shoot, Kirkpatrick counted 10 pictures he made of the pair in that area. “There are three where they’re looking at each other, or seem to be looking at each other,” he says. “It’s actually hard to say if that’s what’s going on there.” The picture quickly gained attention: POLITICO cybersecurity reporter Eric Geller called it [ “amazing.”](https://twitter.com/ericgeller/status/890613463516446721) Abby D. Phillip, a White House reporter at the Washington _Post_, labeled it a picture [“worth 1,000,000 words.”](https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/890609770666774528) Darth, a master of Photoshop, had [a bit of fun as well](https://twitter.com/darth/status/890624244027072512). > [](https://twitter.com/darth/status/890612707191177216) And so it became the latest image from Washington to make the rounds, well outside of its original journalistic walls of context. It’s a now-and-then occurrence, especially around Trump, but this is a rare instance where Trump isn’t in the shot. “You kind of have to let go \[of the meaning\] once the photo goes out,” Kirkpatrick rationalizes. He then references the meme-ification of the well-known Diana Walker portrait of Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, using a smartphone during a 2011 trip. The image by Walker, a longtime White House photographer for TIME, is often referred to as “[Texts From Hillary.](http://time.com/4410585/texts-from-hillary-diana-walker/)” The distribution of that photo—like this one, separate from the context in which it was originally published—wipes its slate clean: the audience can read into it as they desire. In this age of instantaneous information sharing, it takes on a new life of its own. “If I’m photographing a scene, it’s something I’m a witness to,” Kirkpatrick says. “If you don’t have that context, if you come to the image from a different perspective, I have no way of controlling how you see that image, what you take away.” That prompts a question: “And you’re all right with that?” “I don’t have a choice,” he replies, “but to be okay with that.” _Correction: The photo caption incorrectly stated the date of the image. It was July 25._ ## Transcript The president's thinking about pardoning nobody, because it has been coming up a lot. There's an undercurrent of nonsensical stuff. The truth of the matter is that the president's not gonna have to pardon anybody because the Russian thing is a Nonsensical thing. I was there early on in the campaign. I didn't have any interactivity with Russians. I didn't see anybody have any interactivity with Russians. And there's a lot of disinformation out there. Somebody said to me yesterday, and I won't tell you who, that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those emails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them. Meaning that they're super confident in their deception skills and hacking. My point is, all of the information isn't on the table yet. I don't know who this anonymous person is that said that if the Russians had actually done it, we wouldn't have been able to detect it. [ CROSSTALK ] How about it was the President, Jay ?. Okay, it's the consensus of the intelligence community. I talked to him yesterday. [ CROSSTALK ] He called me from Air Force One, and he basically said to me, hey, maybe they did it, maybe they didn't do it. I didn't know about the meeting but what I don't like about the way the thing was handled from a communications and strategy perspective. 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