Giuliani hospitalized in critical condition

Rudolph W. Giuliani has been hospitalized in critical but stable condition, his spokesperson said Sunday.

“We do ask that you join us in prayer for America’s Mayor,” Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for the 81-year-old former New York City mayor, said in a statement. “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.”

He was hospitalized in Florida, the New York Times reported. On his weeknight streaming show “America’s Mayor Live,” Giuliani said he was broadcasting from Palm Beach.

In his opening remarks Friday night, Giuliani coughed and said, “My voice is a little under the weather, so I won’t be able to speak as loudly as I usually do.”

President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, called Giuliani “a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City....HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”

In August, Giuliani was injured when the vehicle he was traveling in was rear-ended in New Hampshire. He was hospitalized and suffered a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg, a spokesperson for Giuliani said at the time.

Giuliani first gained national attention as a prosecutor in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration, and later became U.S. attorney in Manhattan. After losing his first run for New York City mayor in 1989, he won in 1993, and went on to serve two terms. He was the first Republican to occupy the New York City mayor’s office since John Lindsay left in 1973.

Giuliani’s time in office was marked by a crackdown on crime, but race relations eroded as Giuliani defended the police against accusations of bias and brutality. He dropped out of a race to represent New York in the Senate in 2000, citing a prostate cancer diagnosis.

After Al Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in 2001, he was widely praised for his leadership, and Oprah Winfrey called him “America’s mayor.”

Giuliani floated the idea of changing the law to run for a third term or serving an extra three months to help with a post-9/11 recovery. Neither idea drew much support, and Michael Bloomberg was sworn in Jan. 1, 2002.

He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008. During Trump’s first term, he defended the president during the Russia investigation. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Giuliani was a leading proponent of the president’s false claims about the legitimacy of the vote.

In 2024, Giuliani was disbarred and not allowed to practice law in New York or Washington for such false statements about the election.

Former Times staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.