President Donald Trump feels "humiliated" by Rudy Giuliani's efforts to overturn his election loss, but a White House reporter says he remains loyal to his attorney and staunch defender.
Associated Press correspondent Jonathan Lemire told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" the president was furious at his legal representation as he suffers "humiliating" defeats in state after state.
"The pressure obviously had been building here immensely on the White House for weeks, particularly in recent days, as more and more of their court challenges were not just ended in defeat, but did so in humiliating fashion," Lemire said. "The final piece is, as people close to the president told me, exactly this: The growing voices from the Republicans, the business leaders, saying it was time to move on."
The White House had been hopeful the president would be able to overturn his loss in Michigan with the help of friendly GOP state legislators, but Lemire said Trump's fight appears to be over.
"The president, as we reported today, again, growing angry and frustrated with Rudy Giuliani, who he is indeed still talking to, but told people around him in recent days he felt like Giuliani had oversold his legal case," Lemire said. "The president was humiliated by watching Giuliani on stage last week in that news conference with the hair dye streaking down his face, and that equally is upset when a conservative Pennsylvania judge tossed out with prejudice the Trump legal team's case over the weekend, sort of closing that avenue as well, and he recognized that there was really no 'hail Mary' coming here, he's angry at Giuliani he had led him down this path."
Even so, the president isn't likely to cut Giuliani loose for one important reason, he said.
"The thing that Trump cherishes and prizes most of all among his aides is the willingness to go on TV to defend him," Lemire said. "That's what many people close to him have said that, and Giuliani does do that. He did so in 2016, he did so most notably during the Russia probe, during the Mueller case. People close to the president say that, yes, that Trump has awareness that Giuliani led him astray during Ukraine, but that's overshadowed by the sense from the president that Giuliani did some some good in the Russia probe, with his fog machine to confuse the issues and deliver attacks on Mueller that seemed to undermine the special council's credibility. The president was willing to keep him in the orbit and we saw the role that Giuliani played in peddling baseless theories about Joe Biden and his son Hunter. He is not willing to cut him free, but certainly frustrated with recent days."