Rudy Giuliani Leaves ICU, Remains in Hospital After Ventilator Removal

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has left the intensive care unit but will stay in the hospital before discharge, a spokesperson said.

"The mayor and his family appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers sent his way," Ted Goodman, a political strategist who launched a livestream program with Giuliani, said in a social media update on Wednesday. "Mayor Giuliani—the man who took down the Mafia, saved New York City, and ran toward the towers on September 11th—is the same fighter he's always been, and he's winning this fight."

Goodman added that the "power of prayer is working" and the former mayor "feels it," urging people to keep sending them.

Giuliani, 81, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition on Sunday due to severe breathing issues. His primary care provider, Maria Ryan, told Fox News correspondent Danamarie McNicholl on Monday that he fell ill after a trip to Paris, with breathing problems worsening until he needed a ventilator.

Ryan said his condition became critical, leading doctors to call a priest for last rites at his bedside. By Tuesday, he had improved enough for removal from the ventilator. He now breathes on his own and can speak.

Ryan expects Giuliani to make a full recovery. "He’s a fighter — the way he was yesterday in such a critical condition, he did have a priest come anoint him," she said. "And all the prayers from around — it’s like a miracle. This guy’s got 9 lives, today he’s doing much better."

Giuliani has faced recent health issues but stayed active publicly. Goodman noted his exposure to debris at Ground Zero after the September 11, 2001, attacks, which led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease. He also suffered a car crash in New Hampshire last August, fracturing a thoracic vertebra and causing multiple lacerations and other injuries.

President Donald Trump called Giuliani the best mayor in New York City's history after learning of the hospitalization Sunday. "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," Trump said.