Rudy Giuliani was released from the hospital Monday afternoon after a car crash Saturday night in New Hampshire, according to Arthur Aidala, a friend of Giuliani.
Aidala said Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and lawyer for President Donald Trump, was in high spirits when they spoke by phone. “I have some healing to do, but I’m otherwise in great shape,” Giuliani said, according to Aidala.
Giuliani, 81, intended to recuperate in Manchester but did not specify where, Aidala said.
Giuliani suffered a fractured vertebra when he was rear-ended while traveling as a passenger on Interstate 93 near Manchester.
“A little car accident won’t be slowing him down,” said Michael Ragusa, the security chief for Giuliani, who led New York through the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
On social media, Ragusa tried to dispel speculation that the crash was an intentional attempt to harm Giuliani, who was disbarred and has drawn criticism for trying to overturn results of the 2020 election for Trump.
“This was not a targeted attack,” Ragusa wrote on X. “We ask everyone to respect Giuliani’s privacy and recovery, and refrain from spreading unfounded conspiracy theories.”
Reports of how the accident unfolded were a little unclear.
It occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday in Manchester, New Hampshire State Police said. Theodore Goodman, Giuliani’s aide, was driving a Ford Bronco northbound on I-93 when a Honda HR-V rear-ended their vehicle. The police identified the Honda’s driver as Lauren Kemp, 19, of Concord.
All three had non-life-threatening injuries, the police said.
Before the crash, Giuliani’s car had stopped on the side of the highway to help a woman who had flagged them down during a reported domestic dispute on the southbound side of Interstate 93, Ragusa said.
It is unclear precisely where the woman was standing or how she drew their attention.
Giuliani and Goodman waited for the police to arrive, then pulled back onto the northbound side of the highway and were hit from behind by Kemp, Ragusa said.
In text messages with a Times reporter Sunday, Kemp seemed unaware that Giuliani was in the car she had hit. Kemp said she was not seriously hurt, “just sore and two stitches under my eyebrow.”
She did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment Monday.
The collision sent both cars into the median, and the state troopers and fire personnel who had been attending to the domestic incident on the south side of the highway crossed over to help, police said. No charges have been filed, and the crash is under investigation. State police declined to provide any additional comment Monday.
The location of the hospital where Giuliani received treatment was not disclosed.
On Monday afternoon, Trump announced on social media that he intended to award Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In a post on Truth Social, the president described Giuliani as “the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City” and “an equally great American Patriot.” He did not mention the car crash.
Trump hasn’t always been as supportive of Giuliani in times of trouble. Despite encouraging Giuliani to challenge the 2020 election results, Trump refused to pay for his legal work, arguing that Giuliani had lost the cases. Trump’s advisers rebuffed efforts by Giuliani’s lawyer to seek compensation, though Trump eventually appeared at a fundraiser to help pay the former mayor’s bills.
Giuliani served as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001. A post from his social media account Sunday afternoon thanked his business partner, Maria Ryan, who is a nurse practitioner in New Hampshire, for “overseeing” his care.
Giuliani and Ryan attended a New Hampshire Fisher Cats baseball game in Manchester on Saturday before the crash, according to a video from a local news website.
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Giuliani has faced a series of legal and financial problems in recent years. He filed for bankruptcy in New York in 2023. But after he refused to comply with basic court requirements, the case was dismissed, leaving his assets vulnerable to his many creditors.
He became a national hero after helping the city navigate the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. He ran for president in 2008, but his candidacy never took off.
Then he became a key adviser to Trump and a pariah in many corners of New York. He was disbarred from practicing law in New York last year after being indicted in Arizona and Georgia in cases involving efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He had faced a $148 million judgment granted to two Georgia election workers he defamed while trying to help Trump overturn the election; the case was settled in January.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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