Anthony Scaramucci says he's not running for president, and that Nancy Pelosi is a patriot

Anthony Scaramucci said Friday that a presidential run is not in his future. But the New York financier and 11-day White House veteran has another plan: removing President Donald Trump from office.

The former White House communications director said he plans to travel the country and raise money in swing states with the sole purpose of defeating Trump in the 2020 election.

"This is a huge test for us," Scaramucci said in a conversation with BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith during the 2019 Texas Tribune Festival on Friday. "We have to speak out together, and we have to move really, really quickly."

The lifelong Republican said Trump should "stand down" in the 2020 election, adding that the president might pass on another term if his approval rating doesn't improve.

"I don't think he wants the humiliation [of losing], because of the self-loathing," Scaramucci said.

The conversation between Scaramucci and Smith occurred as controversy envelops the Trump administration. A whistleblower complaint released Thursday alleges Trump tried to “solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election” during a phone call with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that White House officials tried to “lock down” records of the call in the following days.

The Long Island native also touched on impeachment, saying he respects how U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi handled the situation.

"She's looking at it the way you should look at it. ... It's not a partisan thing, it's a patriotic thing," Scaramucci said.

Scaramucci has called for Trump’s impeachment on Twitter, and he has referred to his former boss as a “traitor” and a “felon” in recent days.

Scaramucci entered the public eye in July 2017 during his 11-day tenure as White House communications director. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly fired Scaramucci from the position after Scaramucci disparaged administration rivals Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon during a profanity-laced call with a reporter.

After his Washington ouster, Scaramucci maintained his support for the president, penning a book in 2018 titled "Trump, The Blue-Collar President."

But things began to change in July, when Scaramucci criticized Trump’s racist attacks on four congresswomen of color.

"The red-letter thing for me was the four congresswomen, where he said they need to go back to where they came from," Scaramucci said.

Trump called Scaramucci "incapable of handling" his former White House position after Scaramucci renewed his critiques of the president in August. The men traded barbs on social media before Scaramucci broke with Trump in an Aug. 19 Washington Post opinion piece in which he labeled the president a demagogue.

Scaramucci supported Jeb Bush and Scott Walker in 2016 before joining Trump's campaign. He said his decision to support Trump came from his family's blue-collar background.

"Establishment Republicans and establishment Democrats were not advocating for blue-collar people," he said.

Scaramucci added that he is willing to accept criticism for his "full-blown equivocation" in supporting Trump, but he wants to help other people get off what he called "the Trump train."