WELCOME TO THE RAT KING:

Chief among Kelly's public detractors this week has been Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director whom Kelly and Trump canned in late July on Kelly's first --and Scaramucci's eleventh--day on the job.

In the aftermath of allegations that former White House staff secretary Rob Porter abused his two ex-wives, Scaramucci took aim at Kelly's insistence that the White House had acted swiftly to oust the embattled aide. Kelly "almost certainly knew" about the allegations long before he claimed, Scaramucci declared on Twitter on Tuesday. "Inexcusable," he wrote. "Kelly must resign."

Scaramucci was not randomly lashing out. In fact, five sources in and outside of the White House familiar with their conversations, tell The Daily Beast that he's been in direct contact with Trump over at least the last month.

Three of those sources, one a White House official and the others close Trump allies, told The Daily Beast that Scaramucci received phone calls from President Trump in January, just as the former comms chief began going on TV to bash former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon for the scorched-earth interview he gave for Michael Wolff's book on the Trump White House. (Bannon and Scaramucci, for their part, had previously feuded.)

Though Scaramucci had left the White House on such bad terms that the president earnestly asked if he was "on drugs," Trump was pleased by the cable hits. He called Scaramucci to discuss and review them, knowledgeable sources say. And in at least one conversation, he told Scaramucci that he wasn't brutal enough in his criticisms of Bannon.

The dialogue continued from there. A source with knowledge of the exchange said Scaramucci told the president that he would be sending his tweets critical of Kelly. After they touched base, Scaramucci put out his social media missive calling for the chief of staff's ouster. One West Wing official simply dubbed this saga, "The Mooch's revenge."

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