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- President Donald Trump told aides not to pay Rudy Giuliani because he’s upset with him, The Washington Post reported and The New York Times confirmed.
- Trump feels that allies didn’t stand up for him as Congress moved forward to impeach him for the second time.
- He also feels like he wasn’t defended after he incited a mob that broke into and ransacked the Capitol, resulting in five deaths.
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President Donald Trump is now upset with personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and has instructed aides not to pay him his legal fees, The Washington Post reported and The New York Times confirmed.
Trump was impeached for the second time on Wednesday. The House of Representatives brought forth an article of impeachment for “incitement of insurrection”; it was approved 232-205 with ten Republicans voting in favor of impeaching the president. The charge is for Trump’s role in inciting an attempted coup at the US Capitol last week that left five people dead. It now heads to the Senate for trial.
According to The Post and The Times, Trump has become increasingly isolated – cutting out some aides, while others leave the emptying White House in the last week of the Trump administration.
Giuliani is one of those confidants whose relationship with the president has become frayed.
The New York Times reported that White House officials started blocking Giuliani’s calls to Trump, and according to The Post, Trump told aides not to pay him.
Trump was "offended" by some of Giuliani's actions including requesting $20,000 for his work fighting the election results, The Times reported. (A fee Giuliani has denied.) Trump has also instructed aides that he would personally approve any reimbursements to Giuliani for travel while disputing the election results, The Post reported.
Giuliani had encouraged Trump to believe in the baseless conspiracy theories about nonexistent election fraud. Trump and Republican allies failed to win any of the several dozen lawsuits they waged in courts attempting to overturn election results.
Giuliani has also been criticized for his remarks during the "Save America" rally that preceded the siege of the Capitol.
The lawyer had called for "trial by combat" at the rally but later claimed he was just making a "Game of Thrones" reference and not calling for violence.
Many, including former assistant US attorneys who worked with him, said they were dismayed at his comments.
A senior administration official told The Post that its not just Giuliani that Trump is upset with but also Vice President Mike Pence, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, economic adviser Larry Kudlow, national security adviser Robert O'Brien, and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows who he believes have not defended him following recent events.
"The president is pretty wound up," the senior administration official told The Post. "No one is out there."