President Trump "is growing increasingly irritated with lawyer Rudy Giuliani's frequently off-message media blitz, in which he has muddied the waters on hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels and made claims that could complicate the president's standing in the special counsel's Russia probe," The Associated Press reports. Trump has begun telling confidantes that maybe Giuliani should "be benched" from TV, at least temporarily, AP reports, citing two people familiar with Trump's thinking.
Trump has specifically "expressed annoyance that Giuliani's theatrics have breathed new life into the Daniels story and extended its lifespan," AP says, and Politico adds that Trump's "frustration that Giuliani's media appearances are raising more questions than they are answering" was "capped by the admission Sunday that the president may have made similar payments to other women." Additionally, "Trump has grown agitated in recent days by cable news replays of Giuliani's Wednesday interview with Sean Hannity," AP reports. "Trump snapped at both men in recent days, chiding Hannity for using the word 'funneled,' which he believes had illegal connotations."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that regarding Trump's views on Giuliani, "I didn't speak with him specifically about his feelings about it but certainly feels that he is an added member — added value, member to his outside special counsel." Right now, nobody in the West Wing is eager to step in with their serious concerns about Giuliani, Politico says, "but some aides said they expect the president to fire Giuliani if his behavior doesn't change."
That's a slip from grace for Giuliani, whose hiring Trump celebrated "last month by declaring that he had enlisted 'America's F---ing Mayor' as a legal attack dog with star power," AP says, citing one Trump confidante. "But many in the White House have begun evoking comparisons with Anthony Scaramucci — who, like Giuliani, was a hard-charging New Yorker with a knack for getting TV airtime." Scaramucci lasted 11 days.