When it comes to splash hires for the president’s legal team, it’s hard to beat “America’s F—ing Mayor.”
That’s how President Trump described how the addition of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani should help silence those who were criticizing his efforts to hire a big-name attorney, according to a Friday AP report.
Giuliani, who endorsed Trump early in the 2016 campaign and is also a former presidential candidate and U.S. attorney, joins a Trump legal team that has endured several high-profile defections and the FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s home and office.
“I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani told the Washington Post.
In a deal reportedly completed at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago retreat last week, Giuliani will replace the departed John Dowd on Trump’s legal team.
Although the former NYC mayor was passed over for secretary of state, he has since kept in touch with and given advice to the president, a friend he has known for many years.
According to the AP, “Trump then moved to formalize the arrangement in recent days, touting Giuliani’s tenacity — and raving about his star power with the vulgar variation of Giuliani’s ‘America’s Mayor’ nickname while talking with one person, who not authorized to discuss a private conversation.”
Senior 2016 Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller, who was Giuliani’s deputy communications director during his 2008 presidential run, is a fan of the hire.
“I for one will sleep much easier knowing that Mayor Giuliani and these other people have joined the team to give the president’s team extra power,” Miller told the AP. “I know that Rudy has made it clear that the goal is to try to get this wrapped up here as expeditiously as possible.”