Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own again after being hospitalized for pneumonia
Listen to this article
Average 4 minutes
The audio version of this article was created by AI-based technology. It can be mispronounced. We are working with our partners to continuously review and improve the results.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own after being hospitalized with pneumonia and put on a ventilator, his spokesman said Monday.
Giuliani, 81, is in critical but stable condition at a Florida hospital and is being monitored as a precaution, spokesman Ted Goodman said.
Goodman said Giuliani’s condition worsened due to asthma caused by his exposure to dust and toxins from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.
Giuliani was hospitalized near Palm Beach, Fla., after he was heard coughing Friday on his late-night Internet talk show and told viewers his voice was “a little under the weather.”
“This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring ventilation to maintain adequate ventilation and stabilize his condition,” Goodman said in a statement.
He described Giuliani as a “great hero” and said he is “winning this fight.”
Giuliani’s family and primary medical provider are by the former mayor’s side, Goodman said. He added that they thanked well-wishers for “the outpouring of love and support.”
“The mayor believes in the power of prayer, and we feel that power today,” said Goodman.
‘America’s mayor’ to Trump ally
Giuliani’s eight-year tenure as mayor of the nation’s largest city was cut short by the 9/11 attacks, which occurred just months before he left office. He was hailed as “America’s mayor” for his leadership, honored by the Queen and named Time Person of the Year.
Giuliani, a Republican, later ran unsuccessfully for president and was an adviser to US President Donald Trump, leading Trump’s bid to stay in office after his 2020 election loss.
As a lawyer and adviser to Trump, Giuliani became a vocal supporter of the president’s alleged fraud in that election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump and his allies lost dozens of lawsuits that they claimed were fraudulent, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results showed no signs of serious wrongdoing or error.
Two former Georgia election workers later obtained a $148-million defamation judgment against Giuliani. As they sought to collect the verdict, the former federal prosecutor was found in contempt of court and this winter faced a lawsuit over the ownership of some of his assets.
A judge has ordered former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to pay two Georgia campaign workers $148M US for the lies they spread following the 2020 presidential election.
Giuliani eventually struck a deal that allowed him to keep his homes and various assets, including World Series-worth of rings, in exchange for an unspecified settlement and a promise to stop badmouthing former employees in the election.
He was deported from New York in 2024 after the court ruled against him “falsely and dishonestly” during the 2020 presidential election that thousands of ballots were cast in the names of dead people.
US President Donald Trump has pardoned a number of his political allies who were involved in an attempt to subvert the 2020 election, including his former attorney general Rudy Giuliani.
Last year, Trump said he was awarding Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Giuliani was previously hospitalized last September after suffering a broken spine and other injuries in a car accident in New Hampshire.
Giuliani coughed as he began his late-night Internet show America’s Mayor Live on Friday. As he spoke, he sounded sadder than usual. Before he began to analyze the war in Iran, he remarked: “My voice is small under the weather, so I will not be able to speak as much as I usually do, but I will approach the microphone.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Giuliani “a True Hero, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR.”
“What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL – AND HE WAS SURE ABOUT IT ALL!” Trump wrote on Sunday. “They rigged the election, made up hundreds of stories, did anything to destroy our nation, and now, look at Rudy. It’s so sad!”
