The news arrived on a Sunday evening in a post on X — brief, serious, and asking for prayers.
Ted Goodman, a political strategist who had been working alongside former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on a livestream program, confirmed that the 81-year-old had been hospitalized and was in critical but stable condition.
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani is currently in the hospital, where he remains in critical but stable condition,” Goodman wrote. “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 closed with a request: “We do ask that you join us in prayer for America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani.”
No details about the nature of the hospitalization were immediately disclosed.
President Donald Trump — who has maintained a close and publicly declared friendship with Giuliani across decades — reacted on Truth Social with a statement that was equal parts tribute and 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!”
He continued: “They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!”
The response reflected Trump’s long-standing framing of Giuliani as a figure whose later political battles were inseparable from his legal and personal difficulties in recent years.
A Response That Rose Above Politics
Not everyone who spoke about Giuliani’s hospitalization framed it in political terms.
Todd Shapiro, spokesperson for former Mayor Eric Adams, issued a statement on Adams’ behalf that explicitly set aside the differences between the two men and focused on what Giuliani’s public service had meant to New York City.
“On behalf of Eric Adams, we are wishing strength, good health, and a full recovery to Rudy Giuliani — a man who devoted his life to public service,” Shapiro said. “From his years as a federal prosecutor to leading New York City through its darkest day on 9/11, he stood with this city when it needed him most.”
He added: “Whatever differences may exist, those contributions deserve respect. We are keeping him and his family in our thoughts.”
The statement was a notable gesture at a moment when Giuliani’s name has been associated as much with political controversy as with the public service legacy that defined the earlier decades of his career.
A Body That Has Already Been Through a Great Deal
Sunday’s hospitalization did not arrive in a vacuum. The news comes approximately eight months after Giuliani was seriously injured in a car crash in New Hampshire — an incident that itself carried an extraordinary set of circumstances.
According to what Fox News Digital reported at the time, Giuliani was flagged down by a woman who was fleeing a domestic violence incident. He stopped, helped her, and called 911, remaining at the scene until police arrived.
After leaving the scene, the vehicle he was traveling in was struck from behind at high speed while on Interstate 93 in Manchester around 10 p.m. Both vehicles sustained heavy damage and ended up in the median. New Hampshire State Police — who were already responding to the domestic violence call on the southbound side of the highway — witnessed the collision directly.
Giuliani’s head of security and spokesman, Michael Ragusa, confirmed the injuries at the time: a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple lacerations and contusions, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg.
“He is in good spirits and recovering tremendously,” Ragusa said following that hospitalization, adding that the crash was “not a targeted attack.”
That recovery appeared to be progressing. Sunday’s hospitalization represents a new and serious development for a man whose health has been under significant strain.
Rudy Giuliani has lived a public life that has taken him from the height of federal prosecution through two terms as New York City’s mayor, through the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and through the long, contentious, legally complicated years that followed. He is now hospitalized in critical but stable condition, with an associate describing him as fighting with the same strength he has brought to every challenge he has faced. President Trump is calling him the best mayor in New York’s history. Eric Adams’ office is setting politics aside to honor his service. And the people who know him are asking for prayers. What comes next is unknown. What is clear is that Rudy Giuliani is not done fighting yet.