Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani returned to his regularly scheduled show on Wednesday evening for the first time after being hospitalized for viral pneumonia earlier this month.
The 81-year-old opened his conservative talk show, “The Rudy Giuliani Show,” with assurances to his audience that he was on the mend — though not yet fully recovered. In early May, Giuliani was in critical condition and placed on a ventilator at a hospital in Palm Beach, Florida.
Reports of his illness were met with an outpouring of support and well-wishes from a range of high profile politicians across the political spectrum.
“I have to thank everyone who sent me prayers and good will,” he said. He specifically mentioned his gratitude to his family, the medical staff that tended to him and U.S. President Donald Trump, who Giuliani said called him after he became sick.
“It feels good to be back,” Giuliani said before cutting to his first break.
Giuliani was previously hospitalized last September after suffering a fractured vertebra and other injuries in a car crash in New Hampshire.
After Giuliani’s eight-year tenure as mayor, which was punctuated by the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the longtime Republican politician ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008 and eventually became a personal attorney and adviser to Trump.
Giuliani was a vocal proponent of the president’s allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. 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.
Two former Georgia election workers later won a $148 million defamation judgment against Giuliani. As they sought to collect the judgment, the former federal prosecutor was found in contempt of court and faced a trial this winter over the ownership of some of his assets.
Giuliani ultimately struck a deal that let him keep his homes and various belongings, including prized World Series rings, in exchange for unspecified compensation and a promise to stop speaking ill of the ex-election workers.
Last year, Trump said he was awarding Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.