Attorney General William Barr has been in several conversations in recent months with President Donald Trump to distance himself from his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, telling Trump the former New York City mayor has become a liability and a problem for the administration, according to several sources said to be familiar with the conversations.
The Washington Post reports, however, that Trump has continued to resist the request. In one of the discussions, according to a person described as having knowledge of the episode, Barr warned Trump that he's not being well-served by Giuliani.
The White House and the Justice Department have not commented about the report, and Giuliani did not respond to multiple calls, but White House aides told the Post that the former mayor has assured Trump he is not in legal trouble.
Trump has also told others he appreciates Giuliani's continued support and said in an interview with Bill O'Reilly last month that his attorney is a "good man and he's an honorable guy, and he's a great crime fighter, corruption fighter."
Giuliani traveled to Hungary and Ukraine last week in hopes of defending Trump, with The New York Times reporting he'd met with former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko in Budapest on Tuesday before meeting with several former Ukrainian prosecutors in Kyiv later in the week.
Trump on Saturday said Giuliani "found plenty" and "wants to go before Congress" with a report, as "he's going to give us a lot of good information.
"I haven't spoken to him about that information," said Trump. "But Rudy, as you know, has been one of the great crime fighters in the last 50 years."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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