White House staffers apparently mock Giuliani's 'bizarre' interviews, but he insists 'there is a strategy'

A series of interview gaffes has left those in the White House frustrated with President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani. But he insists he knows what he's doing.

White House communications staffers "privately mock" Giuliani for his interviews that always force them into damage control mode, while members of Trump's legal team complain that his "bizarre" comments are doing more harm than good, The Washington Post reports, adding that Trump has asked Giuliani to step back from TV appearances.

This comes after a series of slip-ups from Giuliani, who earlier this week referenced "tapes" that supposedly dispute BuzzFeed News' report that Trump directed attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, only for Giuliani to immediately backtrack and say, "I shouldn't have said tapes." Giuliani also seemed to admit that negotiations on the Trump Tower Moscow deal continued until the November 2016 election, but he later said these comments were "hypothetical" and "not based on conversations I had with the president."

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Moments like these have left some to wonder whether Giuliani knows what he's doing, with Fox News' Andrew Napolitano theorizing he's releasing damaging information about Trump on purpose through TV interviews so that it's not as shocking when it's revealed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report.

Giuliani himself told The Washington Post that when it comes to his defense of Trump, "there is a strategy" and "you have to be patient.” But the Post notes that any such strategy was "lost" on Trump himself and that he has "puzzled" those in the White House, while a source close to the president's legal team added, "Thinking there is a strategy would give Rudy too much credit."