- President Donald Trump during a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and mocked CNN host Chris Cuomo at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Monday.
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Trump mentioned one particular CNN interview in which Giuliani and Cuomo sparred back and forth in light of a whistle-blower scandal that has dogged the administration.
- "I watched Rudy take apart 'Fredo,'" Trump said, referring to a derogatory nickname against Cuomo. "'Fredo's' performance was incompetent. Rudy took him apart."
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President Donald Trump during a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and mocked CNN host Chris Cuomo at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York on Monday.
Asked by a reporter for his thoughts on a spate of media interviews from Giuliani in recent days, Trump claimed the attorney had performed admirably, despite an unfair line of questioning. Trump mentioned one particular CNN interview in which Giuliani and Cuomo sparred back and forth in light of a whistleblower scandal that has dogged the administration.
Trump rated Giuliani's performance as "excellent."
"I watched him the other night," Trump said, with the prime minister sitting by his side. "I haven't watched that show in a long time. I don't watch CNN because it's 'fake news.'"
"I watched Rudy take apart 'Fredo,'" Trump added, referring to a derogatory nickname against Cuomo. "'Fredo's' performance was incompetent. Rudy took him apart."
"Rudy Giuliani took 'Fredo' to the cleaners," he said.
The CNN host, who is of Italian heritage, was called the name by a heckler earlier in August. Video footage of the verbal argument went viral, and CNN issued a statement saying it supported Cuomo, who had "defended himself when he was verbally attacked with the use of an ethnic slur in an orchestrated setup."
Read more: CNN's Chris Cuomo gets into a shouting match with a man who called him 'Fredo'
Trump was referring to a roughly 30-minute interview between Giuliani and Cuomo last week, where the two lawyers sparred over a whistleblower complaint that a phone call Trump had made with a foreign leader warranted congressional concern.
Trump was reported to have made a "promise" to officials involving Ukraine, and Giuliani denied — before he later admitted — that he asked the country to investigate former vice president and 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden over allegations that he pressured the government to dismiss a prosecutor looking into a scandal with a Ukrainian gas company, where his son was on the board.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump admitted he had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, and that the call was a "congratulatory" one centered on Zelensky's election victory in May. The US president also noted he had raised corruption issues with Zelensky and used the unconfirmed allegations against Biden as an example.
Democrats have since renewed calls for Trump's impeachment and accused him of using his position to gain an edge ahead of the 2020 presidential election. House Democratic leaders are scheduled to hold several meetings on Tuesday to discuss whether the party will issue a formal condemnation against Trump's actions.
SEE ALSO: CNN's Chris Cuomo gets into a shouting match with a man who called him 'Fredo'
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