White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said Thursday on CNN that some of the leaks coming from the Trump administration would have resulted in people being hanged 150 years ago.

"The White House leaks are small potatoes relative with things going on about leaking things about Syria or North Korea or Iraq. Those are the types of leaks that are so treasonous that 150 years ago people would have been hung for those type of leaks," Scaramucci said.

Later in the interview, Scaramucci said, "Now all of the cynics around here and the tweets and all these other nonsense saying the leaks are never to going to stop. And I say to those people, you are correct. I know the leaks will never stop, but if I can dial back the leaks in the department that I am representing and the department that I am running, then I will feel that I've accomplished something on behalf of our president."

Scaramucci, who was hired last week, previously said he would fire any leakers on his watch.