Trump dumps Rudy’s £15k-a-day legal fees
‘Self-pitying’ President refuses to pay lawyer as inner circle dwindles
DONALD Trump was in ‘selfpity mode’ last night as he refused to pay the £15,000-a-day charged by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to fight his loss in the US presidential election.
Mr Giuliani had been Mr Trump’s staunchest defender but is now the latest close aide to fall foul of the President, whose inner circle has dwindled following his second impeachment.
Mr Trump is said to be suffering ‘death by a thousand cuts’ and feels ‘increasingly alone and frustrated’ as nobody is defending him and he can no longer turn to Twitter to vent his frustrations.
He has less than a week in office until Democrat election winner Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President on January 20. Congress has only impeached a President four times and Mr Trump accounts for half of them. The others
‘Death by a thousand cuts’
were Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson. Ten Republicans voted with Democrats to impeach Mr Trump by 232 to 197 votes for inciting a riot which led to the storming of the US Capitol last week.
No President has ever been convicted in the Senate, but it may be possible in the case of Mr Trump amid anger within his own party at the Capitol riots. There was speculation yesterday his trial could begin on inauguration day shortly after Mr Biden takes office.
The FBI has warned the Capitol attack, which left five dead including a police officer, could be a ‘ significant driver of violence’ for armed militia groups and racist extremists targeting the inauguration.
Sources told CNN Mr Trump was ‘in self-pity mode, that he is increasingly isolated inside the White House’. He is said to be considering issuing a slew of pardons to distract from the torrent of bad news.
He has told aides not to pay former New York mayor Mr Giuliani’s legal fees and requested that he personally approve reimbursements for his expenses while challenging the election results.
Mr Trump reportedly ‘did not appreciate’ Mr Giuliani demanding $20,000 (£15,000) a day for trying to overturn the election result. The doomed battle was built around baseless claims of voter fraud. The President is said to be furious that his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and his chief of staff Mark Meadows are not out there defending him. One source called Mr Trump ‘so miserable’ and said: ‘People are doing everything to stay away from him’. The Washington Post quoted an official as saying: ‘He is feeling increasingly alone and isolated and frustrated. One of the metrics by which he’s often judged any number of things is: “Who’s out there saying good things about me or fighting on my behalf?” And he never seemed to think there were enough people doing it strongly enough. It’s like death by a thousand cuts.’
The President’s adviser Jason Miller tweeted: ‘Just spoke with President Trump, and he told me that @RudyGiuliani is a great guy and a Patriot who devoted his services to the country!’
Meanwhile, a total of 26,000 National Guard troops are being deployed in Washington for the inauguration – more than the number in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The Pentagon said it was especially concerned about improvised explosive devices after two pipe bombs were found during the Capitol attack.