Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said during a Facebook press conference on Monday that he is upset that the charges against the supermarket employee who slapped him on the back Sunday have been downgraded from second-degree assault to a misdemeanor. He claimed it will encourage more “crazy pro-choice people” to “attack” anyone who supports the Supreme Court’s much-protested decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday.
The incident occurred at a ShopRite in Staten Island, where Giuliani was campaigning for his son, Andrew, as he runs for the Republican slot for governor of New York.
The employee, Daniel Gill, was initially charged with second-degree assault for slapping the politician on the back and saying, “What’s up, scumbag?,” according to the NYPD. There is no audio in the surveillance footage of the incident, but it contradicts Giuliani’s claims that he was hit so hard that he lurched forward and nearly fell.
During his press conference, Giuliani referred to Gill as a “little punk,” who is likely to hit more people. He added that the surveillance video footage released to the “dishonest press” is “a little deceptive” because it only shows Gill with a hand on his back.
He said police need to make an example of the situation: “I think [Gill] should be prosecuted. This guy should be imprisoned to say to other people, ‘[It’s] over, doesn’t happen,’” he said. “I believe you let Mr. Gill go, a lot more of these crazy pro-choice people are going to start attacking people.”
GIll was arraigned in Staten Island Criminal Court on Monday on misdemeanor charges of assault in the third-degree, menacing in the third-degree and harassment in the second-degree. He was released without bail, Business Insider reports.
Giuliani told police at the time that Gill referenced the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, saying “You’re going to kill women. You’re going to kill women,” and said on Monday that Gill targeted him because he is “pro-life.”
He said he will continue to campaign in public despite the run-in, and urged people to be “peaceful.”
“We don’t do vigilante justice. I don’t care if we’re on the right, if we’re on the left, if we’re talking about Jan. 6 or yesterday … Let’s not participate in that. Let’s be peaceful,” he said.
In May, Giuliani met with the Jan. 6 Committee for more than nine hours. The committee is trying to determine Giuliani’s role in the insurrection, as he allegedly urged Trump to declare the 2020 presidential election “a fraud.”
