'I think this thing will burn out,' a senior White House official said.
Rudy Giuliani thinks he enjoys Trump's full confidence, but a senior White House official says Rudy's time in Trump's spotlight may soon be coming to a close.
In an interview this weekend, Giuliani said that Trump is "very happy" with the job Giuliani has been doing, but CNN reports that Giuliani has been an "embarrassment" to Trump, and may soon find himself sidelined. Others in the White House are comparing Giuliani to ousted communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
A senior White House official told CNN, "I think this thing will burn out," and, "Either he'll change his behavior, or he's not going to do it very long."
And while Giuliani still thinks things are going well, he recently told Politico that he will be giving interviews more "selectively."
The comparison to Scaramucci, who lasted just 10 days as White House communications director, is an apt one. Trump actually hired Giuliani in mid-April, but Rudy stepped out of the shadows less than a week ago — to completely upend Trump's legal footing.
Last Wednesday, Rudy stunned Sean Hannity with the bombshell revelation that Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for the hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, which would mean Trump lied when he denied knowing about it.
On Thursday morning, Giuliani gave another Fox interview, during which he drew an explicit connection between the payoff and the 2016 election.
By Friday, Trump was forced to try doing damage control by telling reporters that Giuliani is a “great guy” who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
But Trump sent Giuliani out to do some more interviews over the weekend, during which Rudy confirmed that Trump and attorney Michael Cohen have a “long history” of payments like the one made to Daniels.
And Giuliani's media blitz began shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller's questions for Trump were leaked to the media, an unwise move that observers suggest had Rudy's fingerprints all over it.
Giuliani has only been on the job as de facto communications director for six days, and he's already managed to damage Trump more than even Scaramucci could. Let's see if he can make it through the rest of this week.
