Fresh off back-to-back victories in the Republican presidential race, Donald Trump is moving to expand his tight-knit campaign by building a political kitchen cabinet that includes former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Giuliani, who has not made an endorsement in the 2016 contest, said in an interview Sunday that he has conferred at length with Trump at least three times in the past month, both in person and by phone, and has counseled the real estate mogul “as a close personal friend” about campaign issues.
“We’ve been talking. Donald and me, Donald and a few other friends who know politics. He calls to check things out or I’ll call him to say, ‘Donald, you’re going too far’ or ‘What you said was great’ or maybe ‘Change it a bit.’ It’s nothing formal. It’s kind of a running conversation,” Giuliani said. “There is candor and there is trust.”...
In an email Sunday night, Trump confirmed that Giuliani has become part of his inner circle as he navigates the 2016 terrain and hotly contested primaries.
"Rudy is a very knowledgeable friend. I consider his counsel very important," Trump wrote.
Yes this Rudy Giuliani:
And it is probably worse. WaPo goes on:
Giuliani would not disclose who else has been speaking more frequently with the GOP front-runner. But he said there is a growing group of high-profile New York and Washington-based figures with deep GOP ties who are now in regular touch with Trump and quietly connecting his campaign with their own networks.
“I could easily list off some names for you but that’s for Donald to say,” Giuliani said.
Trump’s effort to create a private sounding board of associates and allies is the latest example of how he is broadening his outreach beyond the small team of policy aides who work on his campaign. And it underscores how the Republican establishment, which once firmly opposed his candidacy, is beginning to have warmer relations with the candidate, especially as his chances of clinching the nomination improve with each primary win.
