Trump Worried Aging, Loudmouth New Yorker Can't Stay on Message

[DonViejo]

By Eric Levitz
@EricLevitz

May 8, 2018
11:29 am

Donald Trump is starting to wonder if it was a mistake to trust an elderly, New York celebrity — who has an infamous affinity for courting cameras and controversy — with a job as important as the president of the United States’ lawyer.

Specifically, Trump is worried that his aging, attention-hungry attorney might be incapable of staying on message in cable news interviews. As the Associated Press reports:

President Donald Trump is growing increasingly irritated with lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s frequently off-message media blitz, which has included muddying the waters on hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels and making claims that could complicate the president’s standing in the special counsel’s Russia probe.

Trump has begun questioning whether Giuliani, an old friend and former New York City mayor, should be sidelined from television interviews, according to two people familiar with the president’s thinking but not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

The AP’s report is buttressed by Politico, which writes that the president “has expressed frustration that Giuliani’s media appearances are raising more questions than they are answering.”

Trump’s frustration is understandable. Over the past week, Giuliani has suggested on national televion that the president fired James Comey for refusing to do his bidding on the Russia investigation (which would implicate Trump in obstruction of justice); revealed that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for his hush payment to Stormy Daniels (which implicated the president in many lies); and suggested that said hush payment was politically motivated (which would implicate the president’s campaign in a major campaign-finance violation).

more
https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/will-trump-fire-rudy-giuliani.html