Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and onetime personal attorney to President Donald Trump, is in critical but stable condition at a hospital, his spokesman Ted Goodman said Sunday.
On Monday morning, Goodman said that Giuliani is recovering from pneumonia. He said Giuliani developed restrictive airway disease after running toward the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, to help others, a condition that complicates respiratory illnesses.
Goodman said the virus quickly overwhelmed Giuliani’s system, forcing doctors to place him on mechanical ventilation to maintain oxygen levels and stabilize him.
“He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side,” Goodman said in his post, which continued, “Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter—as he has demonstrated throughout his life—and he is winning this battle. His family deeply appreciates the outpouring of love and support. The mayor believes in the power of prayer, and we are feeling that strength today. He remains in critical but stable condition. Please keep the prayers coming.”
Giuliani has faced a series of significant health and legal challenges in recent years, and his hospitalization comes less than eight months after a serious car accident in New Hampshire.
Zohran Mamdani Reacts to Giuliani Illness
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked about Giuliani’s hospitalization during a Monday afternoon press conference.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, responded, “I’m wishing strength and recovery to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his loved ones during this difficult time, and I hope that his recovery is steady, and I hope that his family finds peace in one another during this time.”
What Goodman Said
“Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,” Goodman said in a statement on X. He added that Giuliani “remains in critical but stable condition.”
Giuliani hosted his online show, “America’s Mayor Live,” Friday night from Palm Beach, Florida. As he opened the show, he coughed and his voice sounded more raspy than usual. “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,” he remarked at the start of the broadcast.
Trump Reacts
The president weighed in on Truth Social Sunday, mixing well-wishes with political grievance:
“Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition,” Trump wrote. “What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!”
The reaction underscored the deep loyalty between the two men, whose relationship has spanned decades — from New York real estate and tabloid culture in the 1990s, when Trump was a Manhattan businessman and Giuliani was the city’s mayor, to Giuliani’s role as Trump’s personal attorney during his first term and the legal effort to challenge the 2020 election results.
Trump pardoned Giuliani in November 2025 for his involvement in those post-election challenges and awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier that fall.
Who Is Rudy Giuliani?
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani was born May 28, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of tavern owner Harold Giuliani and secretary Helen D’Avanzo Giuliani, according to CNN’s compiled biography. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in 1965 and a law degree magna cum laude from New York University Law School in 1968.
After law school, Giuliani clerked for a federal judge in the Southern District of New York before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He served as associate attorney general — the third-highest position at the U.S. Department of Justice — from 1981 to 1983 before becoming U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989. During that period, he gained national prominence as one of the country’s highest-profile prosecutors, taking down mafia figures, prosecuting financiers Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken, and going after Wall Street corruption.
Giuliani made his first run for New York City mayor in 1989 but lost a close race to David Dinkins. He returned in 1993 to defeat Dinkins in a rematch and became the first Republican mayor of New York in 20 years. He served from January 1994 through December 2001 and was widely credited with the city’s revitalization during the 1990s, when crime dropped significantly and the economy boomed. He was re-elected in 1997 by a wide margin, carrying four of the city’s five boroughs.
Giuliani was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2001 for his leadership in New York after the September 11 attacks and was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II that October. He has been married three times and is currently divorced from his most recent wife Judith Nathan, with whom he separated in 2019. He has two adult children, Caroline and Andrew, from his second marriage to Donna Hanover.
Giuliani’s Legal and Political Troubles
In the years since leaving City Hall, Giuliani’s career has shifted from prosecutor and mayor to political operative — and he has faced significant legal and professional consequences for his post-2020 election work. After becoming Trump’s personal attorney in 2018, Giuliani led the legal effort challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election, an effort that was unsuccessful in dozens of lawsuits and triggered cascading legal problems for Giuliani himself.
Giuliani was suspended from practicing law in New York state in June 2021 by an appellate court that found he had made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” about the 2020 election, according to CNN. His law license was also suspended in Washington, D.C. He was ultimately disbarred in New York in July 2024 and disbarred in Washington, D.C. in September 2024.
He was indicted in Georgia in August 2023, alongside Trump and 17 other co-defendants, on state charges stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He pleaded not guilty. In May 2024, he pleaded not guilty in Arizona to similar charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 results.
A federal jury ordered Giuliani in December 2023 to pay nearly $150 million to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss for defamation. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy later that month, but a judge dismissed the bankruptcy case in July 2024, opening his assets to creditors. He was ordered in October 2024 to turn over his Manhattan penthouse and valuable possessions to Freeman and Moss, before reaching a settlement in January 2025 that allowed him to keep his home and most of his belongings — including his prized World Series rings — in exchange for compensation and a promise to never again defame the women.
What Happens Next
Goodman has not provided specifics on what landed Giuliani in the hospital or whether more updates on his condition will be forthcoming.
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