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Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Imges

Rudy Giuliani told me that President Trump is fed up with Robert Mueller and wants him to "put up or shut up."

What he's saying: "Why don't you write a report and show us what you have, because they don't have a goddamn thing. It's like a guy playing poker. He's bluffing and he's only got a pair of twos."

Trump tweeted twice about Mueller yesterday in terms that were sharper, and with a more personal edge, than the president's usual rants about the "witch hunt."

  • Giuliani said Trump's view is: "Enough is enough."
  • Asked whether he meant Trump was considering firing Mueller, Giuliani replied: "No. No. He's thinking: 'Hey, the guy should get this over now.'"
  • On Michael Cohen: "The president has always had a soft spot for Cohen. He almost still does. Even now with his betrayal by taping him he still is worried about him because he believes he's only hurting himself."

Giuliani said the Mueller tweets weren't prompted by the news last week that Allen Weisselberg, longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, has been subpoenaed to testify before the federal grand jury probing Cohen.

  • This gets into Trump's wallet. Bloomberg's Tim O'Brien, one of the longest Trump-watchers, calls Weisselberg a bigger Trump fish who "knows far more" than Cohen.
  • Giuliani said Weisselberg is "a great guy. He doesn't know anything that we don't know. He's completely supportive, 100 percent."
  • "Maybe it upsets him [Trump] in the sense that they [Mueller's team] chase down every alley, then they end up with nothing."
  • "Michael Cohen is blowing up on them. He's self-immolating. And it doesn't affect them [Mueller's team]. They are looking at the president's tweets. I don't know how you make an obstruction case based on tweets."

Rudy said that the Trump legal team has "183 unique tape recordings turned over to us" from Cohen, but says only one of these tapes — the one we heard last week — has Trump's voice on it.

  • Giuliani, who earlier discussed the 183 tapes on CBS' "Face the Nation," said the rest of the recordings capture other people talking about Trump.
  • "But they talk about him in a way that the liberal press won't be supportive of," Giuliani said. "It's not a campaign contribution. It's a personal matter concerning the president and his wife."

As the two sides escalate their public case, Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, fought back against Rudy's complaints that Cohen is violating attorney-client privilege.

  • "Mr. Giuliani seems to be confused," Davis says in a statement. "He expressly waived attorney client privilege last week and repeatedly and inaccurately — as proven by the tape — talked and talked about the recording, forfeiting all confidentiality."

Go deeper: Rudy made the rounds on the morning talk show circuit Monday, arguing that "collusion is not a crime."

Get more stories like this by signing up for our weekly political lookahead newsletter, Axios Sneak Peek. 

Go deeper

Cuomo asks New York AG and chief judge to choose "independent" investigator into sexual harassment claims

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo at a press conference on Feb. 24. Photo: Seth Wenig/pool/AFP via Getty Images

A special counselor to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement on Sunday asking the state's attorney general and chief judge to jointly pick an "independent and qualified lawyer in private practice without political affiliation" to investigate claims of sexual harassment against the governor.

The state of play: The statement is an about-face from Cuomo, who had previously selected a former judge close to a top aide to lead the investigation, the New York Times reported, a move that was widely criticized.

Republican Sen. Sasse slams Nebraska GOP for "weird worship" of Trump after state party rebuke

Sen. Ben Sasse, (R-Neb.) Photo: Andrew Harnik - Pool/Getty Images

The Nebraska Republican Party on Saturday formally "rebuked" Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) for his vote to impeach former President Trump earlier this year, though it stopped short of a formal censure, CNN reports.

Why it matters: Sasse is the latest among a slate of Republicans who have faced some sort of punishment from their state party apparatus after voting to impeach the former president. The senator responded statement Saturday, per the Omaha World-Herald, saying "most Nebraskans don't think politics should be about the weird worship of one dude."

Cuomo barraged by fellow Dems after second harassment accusation

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced a barrage of criticism from fellow Democrats after The New York Times reported that the second former aide in four days had accused him of sexual harassment.

Why it matters: Cuomo had faced a revolt from legislators for his handling of nursing-home deaths from COVID. Now, the scandal is acutely personal, with obviously grave political risk.