Rudy Giuliani, the ex-mayor of New York City and a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, is in critical but stable condition at a hospital, his spokesman said on Sunday.
Spokesman Ted Goodman did not say what sent the 81-year-old to the hospital or how long he has been there.
‘Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,’ Goodman said in a statement on social media.
He said Mr Giuliani ‘remains in critical but stable condition’ after being filmed coughing while hosting his online show, ‘America’s Mayor Live’.
As he opened the show, he coughed, and his voice sounded more raspy than usual.
‘My voice is a little under the weather, so I won’t be able to speak as loudly as I usually do, but I’ll get closer to the microphone,’ he said.
Giuliani was dubbed ‘America’s mayor’ in light of his leadership in New York after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
He later became Mr Trump’s personal lawyer for a time and a vocal proponent of Mr Trump’s allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, won by Democrat Joe Biden.
Mr Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits claiming fraud, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error.
‘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,” Mr Trump wrote on Sunday on his social media platform,’ Trump wrote online.
‘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 everything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!’
Mr Giuliani was taken to hospital in September after suffering a fractured vertebra and other injuries in a car crash in New Hampshire.
He was elected New York’s mayor in 1993 after serving as one of the nation’s highest-profile prosecutors, taking on mobsters and crooked Wall Street traders.
He ran for the US Senate in 2000 but abandoned his race against Hillary Rodham Clinton after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.