WATCH: Obama once gave new Trump hire Scaramucci an embarrasing Wall St. history lesson

Before he was tapped as Donald Trump’s new communications director, hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci tried—and failed—to take on then-president Barack Obama over his Wall Street policies.


At a town hall in 2010, Obama took a question from Scaramucci, who at the time worked at the hedge fund management company SkyBridge. The exchange starts out amicably, with Scaramucci reminding the president they went to law school together.

“You’ve done very well, congratulations,” Obama slyly replied, prompting the audience to laugh and applaud.

“I represent the Wall Street community, we have felt like a pinata,” Scaramucci began, asking Obama what his plans were to “heal” Wall Street. This question—just two years after one of the biggest recessions in our nation’s history—appeared to strike a cord with Obama.

“I have been amused over the past couple of years, this sense somehow of me beating up Wall Street,” Obama said. “I think most folks on Main Street feel like they got beat up on.”

“And I’ll be honest with you, there’s a big chunk of the country that thinks I’ve been to soft on Wall Street,” he added. That’s probably the majority, not the minority.”

Obama went on to argue Scaramucci and his Wall Street pals “shouldn’t be feeling put upon.”

“The question should be how can we work with you to continue growing the economy.” Obama said.

“The notion that somehow me saying maybe you should be taxed more … I don’t think that’s me being extremist or being anti-business,” he added.