rudy giuliani tel aviv
Giuliani: Kim 'begged' to reschedule summit
01:33 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

Rudy Giuliani said the White House has not spoken to him about his comments that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “begged” for a summit between the US and North Korean leaders.

“Not a word,” Giuliani told CNN Thursday, adding that “it’s a metaphor.”

But he acknowledged that he is “not privy to actual details,” calling it a “fair interpretation of what happened.”

Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv Wednesday, Giuliani said “Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in.”

The comments were striking, especially after fiery rhetoric about Vice President Mike Pence from North Korea temporarily derailed the summit.

Giuliani downplayed the comment to CNN, saying, “I didn’t say anything personally bad about him.”

Asked if he is concerned over whether his comment will jeopardize the summit, Giuliani said, “if that’s the reason he doesn’t do it, it wasn’t going to be much of a summit, right? ”

“If he gets himself all upset about that, then when the President says they obviously have all kinds of demands in mind that we can’t beat … they have both said far worse things about each other,” Giuliani added.

Giuliani was brought onto President Donald Trump’s legal team in April to handle matters related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential Russian involvement with the Trump campaign. But he has weighed in on other topics in media appearances since joining the legal team.

Giuliani made headlines last month when he got ahead of White House statements to predict that three Americans detained in North Korea would be released imminently, though it took days for it to happen.