Sean Spicer resigns as White House press secretary

Sean Spicer has resigned as White House press secretary after a colourful and at times controversial six month stint that saw him become almost as famous as his boss, US president Donald Trump.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer has resigned. Picture: AP

Mr Spicer was unhappy with Trump’s appointment of a new communications director, the New York Times reported.

Anthony Scaramucci, described by the BBC as a “combative Wall Street financier” will replace Spicer.

The shake-up of Trump’s press team comes as the president faces inquiries into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.

The New York Times reports that Mr Spicer “vehemently” disagreed with the appointment of Mr Scaramucci, which he believed to be a “major mistake”.

Spicer was himself the source of several controversies.

In February, he caused an international outcry after he barred several critical news organisations including the BBC from a White House press briefing.

Two months later he caused further embarrassment to America by suggesting that Adolf Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons - a comment at odds with Hitler’s extermination of Jews during the Holocaust using gas chambers.

Spicer was attempting to discuss the horror of the chemical weapons attack last week in Syria that the administration is blaming on President Bashar Assad.

“We didn’t use chemical weapons in World War II,” said Spicer, adding that “someone as despicable as Hitler... didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.”

Minutes later, Spicer delivered a garbled defence of his remarks in which he tried to differentiate between Hitler’s actions and the gas attack on Syrian civilians last week. The attack in northern Syria left nearly 90 people dead, and Turkey’s health minister said test show sarin gas was used.