Rudy Giuliani’s media blitz draws ire of White House

Rudy Giuliani’s latest media blitz, which was filled with a dizzying array of mis-statements, has agitated Donald Trump.

Rudy Giuliani’s TV appearances may be numbered. Picture: AFP

Rudy Giuliani’s latest media blitz, which was filled with a dizzying array of misstatements and hurried clarifications, agitated President Donald Trump and some of his allies, who have raised the possibility that the outspoken presidential lawyer be at least temporarily sidelined from televised interviews.

Mr Trump was frustrated with Mr Giuliani, according to three White House officials and Republicans. The President told advisers he felt his lawyer had obscured what he believed was a public relations victory: the special counsel’s rare public statement last week disputing portions of a BuzzFeed News story that Mr Trump had instructed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie before congress. The President told confidants Mr Giuliani had “changed the headlines” for the worse and raised the possibility that Mr Giuliani do fewer cable hits, at least for a while, according to the officials and Republicans.

Several of Mr Trump’s influential outside allies also have begun expressing reservations about Mr Giuliani. Some members of this informal network of advisers, whom the President frequently calls from the White House residence, urged Mr Trump in recent days to bench Mr Giuliani. Most stopped short of suggesting he be sacked, according to four White House officials and Republicans.

Mr Trump has not expressed an inclination to dismiss Mr Giuliani.

Rarely reluctant to appear before TV cameras or answer a reporter’s call, Mr Giuliani has spent nearly a year acting as a sort of human smokescreen for Mr Trump. He has long played the role more of presidential spokesman than lawyer, often unleashing public attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into possible contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Some of Mr Trump’s allies have suggested that Mr Giuliani be barred from evening interviews because of concerns that he was going on TV after drinking, according to three Republicans close to the White House.

Mr Giuliani has previously insisted he does not have an issue with drinking, denying to Politico in May last year that it affected his interviews.

AP