Rudy two
steps on Pompeo and most of DC to follow
(Sic em
Rudy, good dawg)
“Pompeo
Grapples for Ways to Outlast Hurricane Rudy”
One top official is out. Congress is at the doorstep.
And the president’s lawyer is practically taunting him on live television. What
does the Secretary of State do now?
Specifics: Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy
Giuliani, is now calling out State Department officials by name on national
television for their role in a plot to pressure the Ukrainian government to
investigate a long-time political rival.
Giuliani’s
mission is and remains (I guess) to dig up dirt on rival, former Vice President
Joe Biden. That is obviously tied to Trump now facing a very serious impeachment
inquiry and he needs to deflect that and everything else away from himself at
all costs (except to himself)
Also, the
full wrath of congressional investigators is bearing down on Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and his team. Three committees: House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence,
and Oversight have all scheduled
five people for depositions in the coming weeks. All five are current
or former State Department employees. Pompeo himself was subpoenaed for
Ukraine-related documents.
All of this has
left Pompeo wondering if there’s any way to clean up his Rudy mess. According
to sources inside the State Department, Pompeo and his advisers have
openly expressed anger about Giuliani’s television appearances. One of those key
officials, is Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who suddenly resigned less
than 24 hour after his texts were read on Fox News by Giuliani.
Pompeo is
reportedly livid about Giuliani sharing these private text messages on-air and
for publicly dragging U.S. diplomats deeper and deeper into the scandal with
him.
Pompeo at
one point even asked an aide if reaching out to Giuliani and asking him to tone
it down was an option.
It’s unclear
if Pompeo or other senior officials from the department have communicated with
Giuliani since the publication earlier this week of a bombshell whistleblower
complaint about Team Trump’s Ukraine squeeze on that country’s president.
Pompeo is
hardly the first member of Team Trump to be vexed by Giuliani.
Even before
this latest saga unfolded, there certainly hasn’t been a shortage in this White
House of senior staffers who privately bash Giuliani as a liability for Trump
and his administration.
Some senior
White House officials have actively avoided criticizing or declined to even try
to rein in Giuliani for fear of upsetting the president, with one senior Trump
aide described the president’s confidant and personal attorney as both a “wild
man and a protected person in Trumpworld” due to his close relationship with
the president, whom he more-or-less successfully defended
during the two-year, high-stakes Mueller investigation.
Another State
official went as far as to say: “Pompeo realizes Giuliani is a dangerous wild
card and what he did is not good for our foreign policy. But he has the
president’s ear. You’re not going to see Pompeo publicly slam Giuliani because
he has a tight relationship with Trump.
My 2 cents: Trump basically says, “Sic ‘em Rudy – go git ‘em boy. Good boy. Now
sit –here’s a nice bone.”
That’s more than likely how Trump sees Rudy.
But, a word of caution here, Rudy: Under Trump you
may end up taking all heat off him but back on yourself. So, Rudy Gee, double
caution: Trump will turn on you as they say “in a NY minute.”
Thanks for stopping
by.
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