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"He basically said to me, 'Hey you know, this is, maybe they did it, maybe they didn't do it,'" Scaramucci said of a recent conversation he'd had with the President about alleged Russian interference.

Prior to Trump's inauguration, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an unclassified report showing the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency all concluded the Russian government attempted to influence the election to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump.

Scaramucci suggested Trump does not yet accept the conclusion of the intelligence community and questioned the media's pursuit of the story, saying it tarnished Trump's victory in November.

"The mainstream media position on this, that they interfered in the election," Scaramucci said. "It actually in his mind, what are you guys suggesting? You're going to delegitimize his victory?"

Scaramucci said he intended to review the intelligence community's evidence once he had his security clearance and pledged to give Trump his personal thoughts on the conclusions. He said Trump would make up his own mind in time and that if Trump believed Russia was responsible for the 2016 efforts and a threat to future elections, he would act.

"A person that's going to be super, super tough on Russia is President Donald J. Trump," Scaramucci said.

"As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians!" he wrote.

In a separate interview earlier on CNN's "State of the Union," Democratic Sen. Al Franken appeared at a loss, responding, "What can you say? It's just bizarre."

"If I said some things about him when I was working from another candidate, Mr. Trump, Mr. President, I apologize for that," Scaramucci said.

He dismissed the scrutiny around his past comments as part of an unfair political purity test, and said it was totally untrue that he was suppressing his own beliefs to get closer to the power and prestige of the White House.

And now that he is in his new job, Scaramucci said it was time for things to change in the White House communications shop.

"There's obviously a communications problem," Scaramucci said.

For one thing, he said in his own opinion -- which he said was not the final decision -- the White House should agree to put press briefings on camera again. For another, he said he would address leaks to the press from within the White House on Monday.

He said he would tell the staff, "If we don't stop the leaks, I'm going to stop you."

Fresh on the job, Scaramucci found himself talking about one of the President's tweets.

Scaramucci said that despite the report and the tweets, Trump was not actually considering pardoning anyone, including himself.

"The President is thinking about pardoning nobody," Scaramucci said. "The President is not going to have to pardon anybody because the Russian thing is a nonsensical thing."

As for a bill that would increase sanctions on Russia and give Congress a check on the administration's authority to offer Russia sanctions relief, Scaramucci said it was still up in the air whether Trump would sign it, should it pass.

"You've got to ask President Trump that," Scaramucci said.

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Scaramucci: Trump still doesn't accept intelligence conclusion on Russia - CNN