An increasingly isolated President Donald Trump has reportedly told his aides not to pay his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s legal fees, reports The Washington Post.
Trump, who has just become the first president in US history to be impeached twice – and only has a few days left in office ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration – is witnessing his his circle of aides shrink, no thanks to POTUS ditching some of them himself.
The White House fired the State Department official who said President Donald Trump was “entirely unfit to remain in office” following the riots at the Capitol, a source told NBC News.
In tweets on 6 January, Gabriel Noronha said Trump “needs to go” after allegedly inciting the mob violence.
Others announced that they were resigning after the chaos at the Capitol, such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, and Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former acting chief of staff and special envoy to Northern Ireland.
Other exiting officials include those in prominent positions in the White House, and staff members who have worked in the Trump administration from the beginning of his presidency in 2017.
‘Offended’ Trump
American attorney and politician who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994-2001, Rudy Giuliani, is cited as being one of those aides whose relationship with Trump has soured of late.
White House officials allegedly started blocking Giuliani's calls to Trump, according to sources cited by The New York Times.
Trump was said to have been "offended" by Giuliani's reported demand that he be paid $20,000 a day for his legal efforts to overturn the results of the election, which ultimately failed, The Times reported.
The lawyer has denied that he demanded the sum.
Trump is also said to have told aides that he would personally approve travel reimbursements for Giuliani while disputing the election results, The Washington Post reported.
In April 2018, Giuliani joined President Donald Trump's personal legal team. After the 3 November election, the president who refused to concede victory, placed Giuliani in charge of lawsuits related to alleged voter irregularities.
Giuliani was the figurehead of Trump's legal challenge against the integrity of the 2020 US election, however, the sitting president and Republican allies lost several dozen lawsuits attempting to overturn election results.
Giuliani was also slammed for his remarks during the rally near the White House that preceded the mayhem at the Capitol, when the lawyer called for "trial by combat."
He subsequently described the phrase as a "Game of Thrones" reference, and not a call for violence.
The list of other officials that Trump is reportedly disappointed with for failing to defend him against the Democrats and media in the days leading up to his Wednesday impeachment, according to sources cited by The Washington Post, includes Vice President Mike Pence; White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany; Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner; White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow; White House National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien; and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
"The president is pretty wound up. No one is out there,” a senior administration official was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
Donald Trump was impeached on 13 January, with the House approving the resolution 232-205 with 10 Republicans breaking ranks and supporting the move.
Earlier, the House passed an article of impeachment charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection" in the wake of the deadly riots that took place at the Capitol, when Congress had convened to certify the election win of Democrat Joe Biden.
POTUS is accused of inciting rioters to storm Capitol Hill, while Trump supporters have claimed that the impeachment process is an effort to prevent him from running again in 2024.
Previously, Trump was impeached in December 2019 but his Senate trial did not lead to a conviction.