Trump considers benching aide from TV interviews

TRUMP IS ANNOYED GIULIANI’S THEATRICS BREATHED NEW LIFE INTO STORMY DANIELS’ STORY, WHICH COULD MEAN MORE LEGAL AND POLITICAL TROUBLE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE.

NEW YORK: President Donald Trump is growing increasingly irritated with lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s frequently off-message media blitz, which has included muddying the waters on hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels and making claims that could complicate the president’s standing in the special counsel’s Russia probe.

Trump has begun questioning whether Giuliani, an old friend and former New York City mayor, should be sidelined from television interviews, according to two people familiar with the president’s thinking but not authorised to speak publicly about private discussions.

Giuliani, the newest addition to the president’s legal team, first rattled the White House last week when he sat for interviews on Fox News and seemed to contradict Trump by saying the president was aware of the $130,000 payout to Daniels from his personal attorney, Michael Cohen. He also suggested the October 2016 settlement had been made because Trump was in the stretch run of his presidential campaign.

After Trump chided Giuliani on Friday, saying the lawyer needed to “get his facts straight,” Giuliani put out a statement trying to clarify his remarks. But in weekend interviews, Giuliani acknowledged that “Cohen takes care of situations like this, then gets paid for them sometimes.” He did not rule out the possibility that Cohen had paid off other women.

STATE DEPT: GIULIANI IS NOT A SPOKESMAN

Seeking to distance itself from Giuliani’s dramatic public statements about Iran and North Korea, the state department said he does not speak for the president on matters of foreign policy.

“He speaks for himself and not on behalf of the administration on foreign policy,” department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. It was the clearest sign to date that Trump’s administration is seeking to draw a line between itself and Giuliani.