Trump Orders Aides to Stiff Rudy Giuliani for His Work on 2020 Election

Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump have long seemed to have a fairly solid relationship with one another, and why shouldn’t they?  They were two of New York City’s quintessential citizens for decades, one making a fortune buying and selling skyscrapers, and the other rising to prominence in the smoldering crater of the World Trade Center towers.

When Trump headed into politics, Rudy followed him there, acting as the business mogul’s personal lawyer at the time.  This meant that, as Trump continued to rail against the results of the 2020 election, Giuliani was tasked with bringing this to the courtroom.

Now, several dozen dismissed cases later, President Trump doesn’t appear to be satisfied with the services rendered.

An “increasingly isolated, sullen, and vengeful” President Trump is serving his final few days in office in an emptying White House, taking out his anger on his shrinking inner circle, The Washington Post reports. “Trump has never been more isolated than this week,” The New York Times confirms, “and the White House Counsel’s Office is not preparing to defend him in the Senate trial” after he was impeached Wednesday for incitement of insurrection.

Trump is specifically furious at Vice President Mike Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), both newspapers report, but he’s also angry that his allies in conservative media and politics aren’t forcefully defending him after a mob of his supporters laid siege to the Capitol last week. “His relationship with lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of his most steadfast defenders, is also fracturing,” the Post reports, adding:

“Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, two officials said, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states. They said Trump has privately expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s moves and did not appreciate a demand from Giuliani for $20,000 a day in fees for his work attempting to overturn the election. “[The Washington Post]

This is one of the first real signs of a rift between Rudy and Donald, and could very well spill over into the public eye in the coming weeks, as Trump transitions back to civilian life.