‘The noose is tightening’ around Trump — and Rudy Giuliani may flip on him: CNN panel

A CNN panel Friday night outlined the strange pattern that always emerges in Trumpworld when it comes down to someone taking the fall for President Donald Trump. Former White House counsel John Dean warned that something is different in the case of Rudy Giuliani: he has no intention of being thrown under the bus.

In a panel discussion, former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) started the conversation off saying that trying to make others the fall-guy for Trump's actions likely "won't fly."

"Nobody's going to believe for a second that Mick Mulvaney or Rudy Giuliani was acting on their own without any consultation with the president," the Republican said. "I think, just like Michael Cohen paid off Stormy Daniels, didn't he? He just did that on his own, under the direction of the president? They may try to throw these guys under the bus and they'll do it in this order and they'll throw [Ambassador Gordon] Sondland under the bus and Mulvaney and Giuliani in that order. But I don't think it's going to be effective. I think it's laughable, the facts are simply not on the president's side. The noose is tightening. The quid pro quo has been established and all of these people who have spoken up did so out of concern for national security and also because of interference in our elections. So, these are more distractions and they're not going to be effective."

Dean warned Republicans against making Giuliani the fall-guy.

"I think that would be very dangerous for the Republicans to do it, and I would think Trump would tell them to stay away from that strategy," said Dean. "Rudy at some point, if he sees himself being discarded by the White House, and discarded by the Republicans and on his way to the bureau of prisons for a long stay, he's somebody who can give up the president because there is a crime-fraud exception in the attorney-client privilege that Trump can't block his testimony if that happened."

Despite all of the revelations released about the Ukraine scandal, the president continued to talk to Giuliani about their efforts, sources report.

Watch the full discussion below: