Sources: Trump Miffed by Giuliani Missteps

Campaign reportedly underway to pull Trump's lawyer from TV, possibly even fire him
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 23, 2019 8:06 AM CST
Sources: Trump Miffed by Giuliani Missteps
FIn this Aug. 1, 2018, file photo, Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Trump, speaks in Portsmouth, NH.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Rudy Giuliani's latest media blitz, filled with a dizzying array of misstatements and hurried clarifications, has agitated President Trump and some of his allies, who've raised the possibility that the outspoken presidential lawyer be at least temporarily sidelined from TV interviews. Trump has become frustrated with Giuliani, per three White House officials and GOPers close to the White House who weren't authorized to speak publicly about private conversations, with the president telling advisers he felt Giuliani had obscured what he felt was a PR victory: Robert Mueller's rare public statement disputing a BuzzFeed story that Trump instructed ex-attorney Michael Cohen to lie before Congress. The AP reports Trump told confidants Giuliani had "changed the headlines" for the worse and raised the possibility that Giuliani do fewer cable interviews, at least for a time, per the sources.

Several of Trump's influential outside allies also have begun expressing reservations about Giuliani, with some suggesting Giuliani be barred from evening interviews due to concerns he was going on TV after drinking, per three GOPers close to the White House. Giuliani has previously insisted he doesn't have an issue with drinking, denying to Politico last May that it affected his interviews, noting, "I may have a drink for dinner. I like to drink with cigars." Meanwhile, Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair wrote this week that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are reportedly vying to get Trump to dump Giuliani. Trump himself hasn't expressed an inclination to dismiss him. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders didn't respond to questions Tuesday about whether Trump still had confidence in Giuliani. Much more here on what the president's lawyer has been up to lately that apparently has insiders concerned.

(More Rudy Giuliani stories.)

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