Rudy Giuliani, the 81-year-old former New York City mayor whose leadership after the Sept. 11 attacks earned him the moniker “America’s mayor,” was hospitalized over the weekend in critical but stable condition with pneumonia, his spokesperson Ted Goodman said Monday. Giuliani was placed on a ventilator but is now breathing on his own at a hospital near Palm Beach, Florida, Goodman said.
Giuliani’s pneumonia was complicated by restrictive airway disease, a condition Goodman attributed to the former mayor’s exposure to dust and toxins at the World Trade Center site following the 9/11 attacks. “This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition,” Goodman said in a statement. He described Giuliani as “the ultimate fighter” and said, “he is winning this battle.” Giuliani’s family and his primary medical provider are with him, Goodman added.
Giuliani was heard coughing and sounded unusually hoarse as he began his nightly online talk show “America’s Mayor Live” on Friday night. He remarked, “My voice is a little under the weather, so I won’t be able to speak as loudly as I usually do, but I’ll get closer to the microphone.” The hospitalization followed shortly afterward.
President Donald Trump offered a fervent reaction on his Truth Social platform. “What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!” Trump wrote Sunday, referring to Giuliani’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. “They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!” Trump called Giuliani “a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR.”
Goodman said Giuliani has received well-wishes from Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and two of Giuliani’s mayoral successors — former Mayor Eric Adams and current Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “The mayor believes in the power of prayer, and we are feeling that strength today,” Goodman said.
Giuliani’s eight years as mayor of the nation’s largest city were punctuated by the 9/11 attack. He was celebrated internationally, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. After leaving office, he ran unsuccessfully for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and later became a prominent surrogate for Trump’s 2016 campaign. As Trump’s personal attorney and adviser, Giuliani spearheaded efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, repeating unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud. Dozens of lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign and its allies were dismissed, and multiple recounts and audits found no evidence of significant wrongdoing or error.
Two former Georgia election workers later won a $148 million defamation judgment against Giuliani, leading to a contempt finding and a trial over the ownership of some of his assets. Giuliani ultimately reached a settlement that allowed him to keep his homes and his World Series rings in exchange for unspecified compensation and a pledge to stop speaking ill of the workers.
Giuliani was previously hospitalized last September after a car crash in New Hampshire left him with a fractured vertebra and other injuries. A native New Yorker, he was first elected mayor in 1993 after a high-profile career as a federal prosecutor who took on organized crime and Wall Street corruption.