Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized and is in "critical" but stable condition with pneumonia that required him to be placed on a ventilator, the former Trump lawyer and New York City mayor's spokesperson said.
The big picture: Giuliani has restrictive airway disease stemming from his exposure at Ground Zero on 9/11, the 81-year-old's spokesperson, Ted Goodman, said in a statement. The condition has complicated the illness.
- Goodman said Monday that Giuliani was "now breathing on his own," one day after he announced the former mayor was in the hospital.
- He described Giuliani as "a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he's fighting with that same strength now."
- President Trump called Giuliani "a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR" in a Sunday-evening Truth Social post about his hospitalization.
Zoom out: Giuliani was NYC mayor from 1994-2001 after serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in the 1980s.
- He became known as "America's mayor" following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
- Giuliani ran for president in 2008, became an adviser to Trump during the 2016 presidential election, joined the president's legal team in 2018, and remained a staunch ally of Trump.
Between the lines: Giuliani was disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., and faced state charges in Arizona and Georgia — to which he pleaded not guilty — over allegations that he attempted to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss to former President Biden.
- Giuliani also settled a defamation lawsuit with two Georgia election workers after he was ordered to pay them $148 million in damages.
- Last November, Trump announced pardons for Giuliani and 76 other allies, who were facing state charges related to allegations to which they have pleaded not guilty.
- The pardons were viewed as largely symbolic, because presidents have no power to pardon state crimes.
Go deeper: Trump to award Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Editor's note: This article has been updated with additional details throughout.
