May 7, 2018 4 min read

Last Wednesday was supposed to be like any other day in the life of the Trump presidency.

Lots of claims and counter-claims across the 24-hour cable news channels about a variety of Trump-related stories.

There was that story about President Trump’s ex-physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, who admitted he’d given Trump a clean bill of health in December of 2015 but by using Trump’s own words.

You know, that stuff about him being “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

There was also that business about the leaked questions that had supposedly been sent to the president ahead of any interview he’d ever have with Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

There was a debate about who really released the questions.

Was it Mueller? Was it Trump’s attorneys? Did they just fall from the sky?

Then, there were debates about whether they were really proposed questions, or somebody’s speculation about what the president could face if he had a sit down with the special counsel.

Nobody seems to know for sure.

In the meantime, there was word that one of Trump’s lead attorneys, Ty Cobb, is about to retire at the end of May.

Of course, that bit of news was met with widespread speculation that Trump is such a hard client to represent, he goes through legal counsel as easily as he changes his ties.

Cobb, by the way, claims he didn’t have anything to do with the leaking of those proposed questions.

The news of Cobb’s departure was accompanied by the news that Trump had hired a Washington attorney, Emmet T. Flood, who’s known for his work as Bill Clinton’s impeachment attorney.

Imagine that?

All of these stories helped make last Wednesday an extremely busy news day.

But then it happened.

Rudy Giuliani, once known as “America’s Mayor,” who’d been later tagged by ex-Vice President Joe Biden as, “probably the most underqualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency,” because, as Biden joked, there’s only three things he needs to make a sentence, “a noun, a verb and 9/11.”

Giuliani’s adroit handling of the post-9/11 period while he was New York City’s mayor, has since been diminished, because he’d become something of a gadfly in support of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.

Giuliani came back from near-obscurity on April 19 and became another new member of Trump’s ever-changing legal team.

Last Wednesday night Giuliani’s performance in support of Trump on Fox News was so shocking that it managed to push all other news aside.

Not only did he call Mueller’s work a “totally garbage investigation,” he managed to call fired FBI director, James Comey, a “disgraceful liar,” and a “very perverted man.”

But there was one part of his interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that was a jaw-dropper.

He volunteered that Trump’s payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels had been “perfectly legal.”

It may have been legal.

But if had also been denied by Trump himself.

While there’s ample evidence that Trump paid Daniels $130,00 in “hush money” just before the 2016 election, Trump has denied that the payment ever existed.

In fact, early last month, while he was on Air Force One, he was asked specifically about the payment on camera.

“Did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels,” one reporter asked.

“No,” Trump said.

Giuliani’s admission that Trump had made the payment, also made Trump a liar.

It’s not the first time he’s been called that.

But it’s the first time he’s been caught in such an obvious lie.

The Washington Post Fact Checker maintains a list of 3,001 “false or misleading claims” Trump has made in the 470 days since he’s been in office.

And that amounts to 6.5 false claims a day.

But never has Mr. Trump been caught red-handed by having somebody (in this case Giuliani) act to defend him, while discrediting him at the same time.

Yes, last Wednesday was a milestone.

A day when our president was not only revealed as a philanderer, but as a bold face liar.

Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.