Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been released from intensive care and continues recovering in the hospital after being admitted Sunday, May 3, with pneumonia.
Giuliani moved out of ICU
Giuliani, 81, was hospitalized after becoming ill while returning from a trip to Paris, according to his doctor, Maria Ryan.
His condition reportedly worsened rapidly, leading doctors to place him on a ventilator. A priest also administered last rites, according to those close to the former mayor.
By May 5, however, Giuliani was breathing and speaking on his own and was transferred from the intensive care unit to a standard hospital room.
Spokesman Ted Goodman said complications may have been linked to restrictive airway disease Giuliani developed years after his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while serving as mayor of New York City.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, restrictive lung disease limits the lungs’ ability to fully expand, reducing oxygen intake and causing shortness of breath.
“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,” Goodman said.
“The mayor and his family appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers sent his way,” Goodman said in a social media update Wednesday.
Giuliani is expected to make a full recovery.
From New York mayor to Trump adviser
Giuliani served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989 before serving as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001.
He became nationally known for his leadership after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In later years, Giuliani served as an attorney and adviser to President Donald Trump during Trump’s first term, including efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Those efforts led to criminal charges in multiple states, disbarment proceedings in New York and Washington, D.C., and a defamation lawsuit filed by Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
Giuliani has denied wrongdoing in the criminal cases. Trump pardoned him in November 2025.
Trump wrote on social media May 3 that Democrats were to blame for Giuliani’s condition, calling the former mayor “right about everything” and describing the situation as “so sad.”
Contributing: USA Today Network
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: What happened to Rudy Giuliani? Former NYC mayor now recovering
Reporting by Alexandra Rivera, New York Connect Team / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
