Even Attorney General Barr is reportedly warning Trump to dump Rudy Giuliani


Rudy Giuliani's late-career taste for wealth led him to lucrative foreign consulting work, and those business ties apparently prevented him from becoming secretary of state after he helped get his old friend Donald Trump elected president in 2016, The Washington Post and The New York Times recount. But Giuliani joined the president as an unpaid personal attorney in 2018, the Times adds, and since then, "step by step, he has escorted President Trump to the brink of impeachment."
Without Giuliani's "push for money and frank yearning for relevance, the Trump Ukrainian initiative might never have amounted to much more than presidential tweetstorms," and Trump wouldn't be weeks from impeachment, the Times reports. Yet Giuliani was back in Ukraine last week, still publicly digging for (or trying to will into being) dirt on Democrats. Trump seems on board, but his staunchest allies aren't sure what to make of it.
"It's weird that he's over there," Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told ABC News This Week on Sunday. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) suggested on CNN that Giuliani "is the president's personal attorney, but I don't know that he's over there on the president's direction. In fact, I would suggest that he's not." Several times "in recent months", Attorney General William Barr "has counseled Trump in general terms that Giuliani has become a liability and a problem for the administration," the Post reports, and at least once he personally "warned the president that he was not being well-served by his lawyer."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In fact, the Post continues, Giuliani's actions have long "caused persistent alarm among Trump's advisers, who worry that it is often not clear who Giuliani is representing — the president, his private clients, or his own foreign policy views — in his meetings at the White House and in foreign cities." Giuliani's "uniquely powerful position" as "unpaid personal counsel to the president and for-profit peddler of access and advice" has led not only to the Ukraine scandal, the Times reports, but also to a wide-ranging criminal investigation by the Manhattan federal prosecutor's office Giuliani used to lead.
The Justice Department, White House, and Giuliani did not respond to the Post's request for comment.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Gavin Newsom mulls California redistricting to counter Texas gerrymandering
TALKING POINTS A controversial plan has become a major flashpoint among Democrats struggling for traction in the Trump era
-
6 perfect gifts for travel lovers
The Week Recommends The best trip is the one that lives on and on
-
How can you get the maximum Social Security retirement benefit?
the explainer These steps can help boost the Social Security amount you receive
-
President diagnosed with 'chronic venous insufficiency'
Speed Read The vein disorder has given Trump swollen ankles and visible bruising on his hands
-
'Bawdy' Trump letter supercharges Epstein scandal
Speed Read The Wall Street Journal published details of Trump's alleged birthday letter to Epstein
-
Fed chair Powell in Trump's firing line
Speed Read The president considers removing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
-
Trump trashes supporters over Epstein files
speed read The president lashed out on social media following criticism of his administration's Jeffrey Epstein investigation
-
Judge nixes wiping medical debt from credit checks
Speed Read Medical debt can now be included in credit reports
-
Grijalva wins Democratic special primary for Arizona
Speed Read She will go up against Republican nominee Daniel Butierez to fill the US House seat her father held until his death earlier this year
-
US inflation jumps as Trump tariffs 'bite'
Speed Read Consumer prices are climbing and the inflation rate rose to its highest level in four months
-
SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings
Speed Read The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to further shrink the Education Department