Melania Trump's office coldly slaps down Giuliani for saying she believes her husband, not Stormy Daniels

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

published 8 June 2018

Rudy Giuliani's appearance at a Globes conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday keeps making headlines, first with his suggesting that Kim Jong Un "begged" President Trump "on his hands and knees" to resuscitate their summit, then for his derogatory comments about Stormy Daniels, and finally for his assertion that first lady Melania Trump absolutely doesn't believe Daniels about the extramarital affair she had with Trump in 2006. Anderson Cooper played that part of Giuliani's comments on CNN Thursday night.

"Now, the first lady might have remained quiet about Mr. Giuliani saying she believes her husband and knows it's not true," Cooper said, "but instead this afternoon her communications director came out with a statement: 'I don't believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani.'"

Dana Bash called that statement "so unusual." "I mean, Anderson, it's unusual for the first lady's office in any White House to put out a statement on anything of this nature, even if they were talking about a political foe," she said. "This is the first lady's office, as you said, slapping down the president, her husband's, attorney," and "she's basically saying to him, 'Cut it out,' but she's also sending a signal in a very carefully worded statement that maybe she doesn't believe her husband. And there's no question that she left it open to interpretation."

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Cooper asked legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin what's going on with Giuliani. "Well, I really think this is a question for a psychiatrist more than a legal analyst," he said. "I mean, he's just sort of riffing out there," to the point where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also slapped Giuliani down on Thursday for his dig at Kim. Toobin added that Trump probably likes Giuliani's televised theatrics, but "I don't think Robert Mueller's office cares a whit about this stuff he says on television."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.