On Monday's edition of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," Mitch McConnell strategist Scott Jennings had no defense to give when asked about Rudy Giuliani's conflicted work for President Donald Trump in Ukraine.
"Scott, is this appropriate?" asked Cooper.
"Well, I don't know because we don't know exactly in whose interests Giuliani was acting," said Jennings. "Although he's accountable to the president, there may be other people paying him trying to get outcomes which may or may not be in alignment with U.S. policy. If I were the president, even if I asked Rudy Giuliani to insert himself into the situation, what I would want to know is, were you acting in the instructions I gave you and not trying to calibrate those against some other paying client which may or may not be exactly what I want?"
"I don't begrudge people for having clients," added Jennings. "He's a well-known person, he is he a lawyer, he's got a reputation. If people want to hire him and that's how he wants to make a living, I have no problem with that. What concerns me is if he is representing the president and saying one thing and doing something that's in someone else's best interest, is he making the president believe I am helping you while he's making money on that?"
"If I were Donald Trump, I would be concerned, is he making money on my back?" continued Jennings. "To me, I think if you're going to help the president and be his lawyer, that's fine. I think if you're going to make money and have consulting arrangements, that's fine. The mixing of the two, combined with the fact that he is unappointed and unelected, and therefore ... unaccountable, it gives me a lot of pause. It's not inured to the president's benefit here, which, as a Republican, bothers me."
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