Beyond Your Brief: First Lady’s Rep Contradicts Giuliani’s Claim That Melania Believes Her Husband On Daniels Affair

Rudy Giuliani has often strayed far beyond his brief as a lawyer representing the President in the Russian investigation. These include controversial comments about Korean nuclear negotiations where he was criticized widely in falsely predicting an imminent change. Most recently, while in Israel, Giuliani told the world that Kim Jong-un “got back on his hands and knees and begged” for the United States to revive the Singapore summit. Now, Giuliani is not being contradicted by a foreign leader but the first lady. Giuliani, also during the Israeli trip, declared on the Stormy Daniels scandal that the First Lady “believes her husband, and she knows it’s untrue.” That led to the rare push back from the First Lady’s office from her spokesperson and East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham that “I don’t believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani.” In Washington talk, that is a take down. The First Lady rarely issues statements and this statement would never be released absent her consent.
This has been quite a trip of Giuliani in tripping wires and causing controversies. He also attacked Daniels as beyond belief as someone who “sells her body for sexual exploitation.” At least those comments were tangentially related to his brief for the president. The comments on high-level diplomatic matters or the relations between the first couple are well beyond what most lawyers would feel comfortable discussing in public. My concern is that it shows a continued lack of message discipline and focus on the legal team. In this case, that lack of discipline led to a countervailing statement of the First Lady’s spokesperson.  In other words, it made the record worse for his client.