Communications director denies asking FBI to investigate Trump's chief of staff

Anthony Scaramucci deleted a tweet that was interpreted as calling for the FBI to investigate Reince Priebus for leaking.

Scaramucci had tweeted: "In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony. I will be contacting @FBI and the @TheJusticeDept #swamp @Reince45"

The tweet tagged Priebus's Twitter account. "In case there's any ambiguity in his tweet I can confirm that Scaramucci wants the FBI to investigate Reince for leaking," New York Times reporter Ryan Lizza wrote on Twitter.

After Scaramucci deleted his tweet, he responded to an Axios article about the story to say: "Wrong! Tweet was public notice to leakers that all Sr Adm officials are helping to end illegal leaks. @Reince45"

His initial tweet appeared to be a reference to a Politico reportrevealing he will still be able to profit from his stake in his investment firm after he became communications director.

Between 1 January and the end of June, Scaramucci earned earned $4.9m (£3.7m) from his stake in SkyBridge as well as more than $5m (£3.8m) in salary.

He is still listed as the managing director on the firm's website, even though he has been a government employee for more than a month.

On Wednesday, Scaramucci, told Fox News he expected Trump would soon announce a plan to stem leaks, adding that there seemed to be some "political holdovers from the Obama administration that are not helping."