President Donald Trump shamelessly turned his friend Rudy Giuliani’s medical emergency into a platform for an unhinged attack, accusing Democrats of cheating in elections and blaming them for Giuliani’s condition.
A spokesperson for Giuliani, 81, announced on Sunday that the former New York Mayor is in “critical condition” at a Florida hospital.
Trump, 79, wasted little time before politicizing the announcement, firing off a Truth Social post in which he offered few words of concern for his former personal lawyer, instead launching into a rant about Democrats.
“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,” the president wrote.
He continued, “What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!”
It’s still unclear why Giuliani was hospitalized, but Trump is apparently linking his medical crisis to Democrats’ criticism of Giuliani’s alleged role in efforts to illegally overturn Trump’s defeat against Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Giuliani served as a close adviser on Trump’s legal team during his first presidency, and was a major voice amplifying false claims that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from Trump, appearing at the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
His election claims led to his disbarment in both New York and Washington, D.C., and he faced multiple lawsuits and criminal charges. Giuliani denied wrongdoing in the criminal cases.
A jury awarded $148 million in damages to two Georgia poll workers who sued Giuliani for defamation after the 2020 election. He reached a settlement with the pair last year.
While Giuliani is no longer the central figure in the Trump team that he once was, the president has rewarded him for his loyalty since returning to office, issuing him a “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon in November.
Trump announced in September last year that he would award his friend the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., shortly after Giuliani was rear-ended on the highway in August, leaving him with a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple lacerations and bruises, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg.
