Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani hospitalized with pneumonia, breathing on his own, spokesperson says

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized with pneumonia in critical condition and, initially, required a ventilator to breathe, his spokesman said Monday afternoon.

"The virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen," spokesman Ted Goodman wrote in a social media post. "He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side."

The pneumonia was complicated by a restrictive airway disease Giuliani has, stemming from his response on the ground to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to Goodman.

On Sunday, Goodman announced that Giuliani was in the hospital, without specifying what sent him there, prompting local and national politicians alike to send their good wishes for him.

"Mayor Giuliani is the ultimate fighter—as he has demonstrated throughout his life—and he is winning this battle," Goodman wrote Monday. "Please keep the prayers coming."

It was not immediately clear where Giuliani, 81, was being treated.

He hosted his web show, "America’s Mayor Live" from Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday night.

President Donald Trump called Giuliani a "True Warrior" who was "the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR" in a social media post on Sunday.

"What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radial Left Lunatics, Democrats ... and now, look at Rudy. So sad!" Trump wrote.

After serving as one of the nation’s highest-profile prosecutors, taking on mobsters and crooked Wall Street traders, Giuliani was elected mayor of New York City in 1993 and served two terms.

Giuliani's performance as mayor during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan was widely praised and it raised his national profile.

Trump's former personal lawyer, he became one of the president's most vocal supporters in spreading false information about voter fraud in the 2020 election. It led to him being disbarred in Washington, D.C., and New York and he lost a $148 million defamation lawsuit brought by two Georgia election workers.

Giuliani was indicted in 2023 for what prosecutors said at the time was a scheme to overturn the 2020 electoral votes in Georgia in favor of Trump. Last year, Trump pardoned Giuliani and dozens of other allies who promoted theories about the "stolen" election.

In September, Giuliani was hospitalized after a car crash in New Hampshire in which he suffered a fractured vertebra and other injuries.

He abandoned his 2000 race against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate representing New York after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.¶