Senate confirmation hearings for Rudy Giuliani as secretary of state, given the questions surrounding the former New York City mayor's speeches and consulting work, would end up becoming a "bloodbath," but Giuliani has boxed President-elect Donald Trump in, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said Monday.
"I don't care if my mother wanted to be secretary of state and I could appoint her secretary of state, if she went out and tried to box me in, [I'd say] 'Mom, I love you. See you at Thanksgiving,'" the "Morning Joe" host commented.
"You don't box people in like this," he added.
Giuliani has given several interviews commenting about the potential post, which Scarborough called "classless" and a "punk move."
Giuliani, widely considered as a front-runner for the key cabinet post, met with Trump on Sunday at the new president-elect's golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
However, Trump also met over the weekend with the person widely considered to be Giuliani's main competition for the State Department post, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who Scarborough maintained would be much easier to be confirmed for the post.
And further, concerning Giuliani's foreign speeches and consulting, Scarborough wondered if Trump was "going to call Rudy Giuliani 'Crooked Rudy' now?"
"Forget 'Crooked Hillary,'" said Scarborough. "'Crooked Rudy' would get picked apart on Capitol Hill. And again, Donald Trump has selected Steve Bannon and he selected him for his reasons.
"He's already bled out for Steve Bannon. If he wants to see a real bleeding out, pick Rudy Giuliani as secretary of state and he'll be bleeding out politically."
According to The New York Times, Giuliani brought in $16 million through his speeches and consulting in 2006 alone, when he delivered 108 speeches in 11 different countries, including to MEK, an Iranian opposition group.
Show co-host Mika Brzezinski, though, said that maybe Giuliani's nickname should be 'Rudy Out Front,' as he's "always out in front embarrassing him, always out in front talking about everything he's being offered."
Meanwhile, Giuliani has become an adviser to Trump, but that didn't happen until the New Yorker secured his nomination, said Scarborough.
"Rudy came to him after he had the nomination nailed, when he was winning New York by 40 points," said Scarborough. "Wouldn't even bring up his name early in the process. Who do you think would win? Wouldn't bring up Donald Trump's name.
"Do you want to bleed out politically for the next six months for a guy like that, who like you said, doesn't even get confirmed in the Senate at the end?"
Further, Romney would be more loyal to Trump, Scarborough said.
"Does anybody around this table even think for a second that if you had to choose between Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney that Mitt Romney would be more loyal and disciplined when he's getting off a plane in China than Rudy Giuliani?" said Scarborough.
"He would shoot his mouth off and not only embarrass the president, but the United States of America. He has no discipline anymore. Maybe he did one day."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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