Anthony Scaramucci took aim at Donald Trump s recent poisoning the blood remarks, telling CNN on Friday that the former presidents anti-immigrant rant was a total dog whistle.

Scaramucci whos been a frequent critic of Trump since his very brief 2017 stint as White House communications director weighed in on his ex-boss xenophobic comments, which have been condemned for echoing the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler .

He knows exactly what hes doing, Scaramucci said, when CNNs Abby Phillip asked him why Trump keeps saying a phrase lifted from the Nazi leader.

He puts things out there, sort of with a forked tongue, Scaramucci said. Hell say one thing and say, Oh geez, I didnt realize that that was from that. But he does know that its from that.

Trump has since claimed that hes never read Hitlers book Mein Kampf. On Friday, Trump, the current front-runner for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination, declared that hes not a student of Hitler .

That claim conflicts with a 1990 Vanity Fair story that described Ivana Trump, the former presidents first wife, noting that her then-husband read a book of Hitlers collected speeches and kept it in a cabinet by his bed.

Scaramucci told Phillip that someone wrote the poisoning the blood speech for Trump knowing that Hitler said it.

I do believe him that he has not read Mein Kampf, OK, because I dont think this guy has ever read a book, Scaramucci said. The joke on the campaign is that hes written more books than he read.

H/T: Mediaite