Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani improves, suffering from pneumonia aggravated by 9/11 illness

Molly Crane-Newman and Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on May 4, 2026

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Rudy Giuliani remained in critical but stable condition while recovering in a Florida hospital from pneumonia Monday, though he was breathing again without the use of a ventilator, according to his spokesman.

“On September 11th, Mayor Giuliani ran toward the towers to help those in need, which later led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease. This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition,” Giuliani’s spokesman, Ted Goodman, said in a statement.

“He is now breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side.”

Goodman said the former New York City mayor and Trump adviser was “winning this battle” and asked for prayers.

It was not clear how long Giuliani had been hospitalized before Goodman announced he was in critical but stable condition at an unspecified hospital in Florida on Sunday at around 7 p.m.

The 81-year-old Giuliani has reported experiencing lung-related health issues in various legal cases and suffered a fractured thoracic vertebra and other significant injuries when a driver rear-ended his vehicle on a New Hampshire highway in September.

In a statement, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani wished a speedy recovery to his Republican predecessor, who has denigrated him as a “communist and Islamic extremist” on social media and on his nightly webcast “America’s Mayor Live.”

“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,” Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx.

Giuliani is not believed to be living with family in Palm Beach, Florida.

He gave up his residence in New York City in 2024 in litigation with the Georgia mother and daughter he repeatedly defamed as having rigged votes for President Joe Biden in 2020. The Upper East Side townhouse had been raided by the FBI two years prior.

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