Andrew Harnik/AP
Rudy Giuliani spent the greater part of last week weaving through a series of spectacular interviews. It all started when the president’s new lawyer confirmed to Fox News that Trump had reimbursed Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels silent. From there, Giuliani attempted to get his “facts straight” by issuing a new statement that only added more confusion to his explosive initial comments. The former New York City mayor didn’t stop there, again appearing on television Sunday to try and downplay both his previous remarks and the agreement involving Daniels.
While Giuliani still held onto his job with the president, his colleagues at the powerful law firm Greenberg Traurig appear to have lost patience. On Thursday, the firm announced that Giuliani was resigning due to his “all-consuming” new workload for the president. (The firm appears to have already erased Giuliani’s bio from its website.)
But a closer look at the abrupt development reveals that “resignation” might be generous. According to the New York Times, Giuliani’s television interviews, during which he casually claimed that Greenberg Traurig routinely dealt with similar legal scenarios such as Cohen-Trump-Daniels, sparked the ouster:
Firm partners had chafed over Mr. Giuliani’s public comments about payments that another of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Michael D. Cohen, made to secure the silence of a pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
“That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm funds,” he said on Fox News.
He added, “Michael would take care of things like this like I take care of this with my clients.”
The New York Times asked Greenberg Traurig several times to explain those remarks over the past week. On Tuesday, a firm spokeswoman asked for more time to provide answers.
But don’t expect Giuliani to be learning any hard lessons. Shortly before Greenberg Traurig’s announcement Thursday, Giuliani appeared on television once more, this time to claim that Trump was “not aware” that Cohen had engaged in pitching access to the president.
