‘Back It Up or Apologize.’ Anthony Scaramucci Keeps Attacking Tufts Student Who Criticized Him

After resigning from the board of advisors to Tufts University’s Fletcher School, Anthony Scaramucci doubled down on his demand that a Tufts graduate student apologize for writing critical opinion pieces about him in the student newspaper.

“I will not allow the defamatory remarks to stand without reprisal. I am all for free speech,” Scaramucci said on Twitter on Tuesday night. “Defamation is something I take seriously, so should the school and the student.”

Scaramucci, a Tufts alumnus who briefly served as President Trump’s White House communications director, resigned from the board on Tuesday following weeks of Tufts students and faculty members calling for his removal. Scaramucci had been scheduled to speak at Tufts on Monday, but the event was canceled after he demanded an apology and threatened to sue graduate student Camilo Caballero, who described him in an op-ed as “irresponsible, inconsistent” and “an unethical opportunist.”

On Tuesday night, in response to a tweet about whether he is calling for Tufts to punish Caballero or the Tufts Daily, Scaramucci said “not at all.”

“I have asked for an apology,” he tweeted. “Or he needs to back up his comments about my integrity and ethics. I would like him to speak more not less. Back it up or apologize.”

ACLU lawyers representing Caballero released a letter on Tuesday describing Scaramucci’s claims of defamation as “wholly without merit.”

“We therefore ask that you and your client immediately stop threatening a student op-ed contributor simply because your client does not like what the student has to say,” the letter said. “The protections in our state and federal constitutions— not to mention basic human decency—require no less.”