The 81-year-old former New York City mayor made his first appearance back on his conservative talk show Wednesday night following a serious bout with viral pneumonia that landed him in the hospital earlier this month.
Opening “The Rudy Giuliani Show,” the host told viewers he was recovering but acknowledged he wasn’t completely back to full health yet. His illness in early May was severe enough to require critical care and ventilator support at a Palm Beach, Florida medical facility.
News of his hospitalization prompted widespread support and positive messages from prominent political figures from both sides of the aisle.
“I have to thank everyone who sent me prayers and good will,” he said during the broadcast. He expressed particular appreciation for his family members, the hospital staff who cared for him, and U.S. President Donald Trump, who he said reached out by phone during his illness.
“It feels good to be back,” he told his audience before taking the show’s first commercial break.
This wasn’t his first recent health scare – he was hospitalized last September following a vehicle accident in New Hampshire that left him with a broken vertebra and additional injuries.
Following his eight years leading New York City, a period marked notably by the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks, the longtime Republican made an unsuccessful White House bid in 2008 and later served as Trump’s personal lawyer and advisor.
He became a prominent voice supporting the president’s claims of irregularities in the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won. Trump and his supporters were unsuccessful in dozens of court cases alleging misconduct, and multiple recounts, examinations and verification processes found no evidence of substantial irregularities or mistakes.
Two former Georgia election workers successfully sued him for defamation, receiving a $148 million court award. During efforts to collect that judgment, the former federal prosecutor was held in contempt and faced proceedings this winter regarding his asset ownership.
He eventually reached an agreement allowing him to retain his residences and personal items, including treasured World Series rings, in return for undisclosed payments and agreeing to cease making negative statements about the former election workers.
Trump announced last year that he was presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
