Rudy Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19, President Donald Trump announced Sunday on Twitter.
“@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!,” Trump tweeted.
.@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2020
Giuliani confirmed the diagnosis Sunday night, tweeting, “Thank you to all my friends and followers for all the prayers and kind wishes. I’m getting great care and feeling good. Recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.”
Meanwhile, a person familiar with the matter told the AP that the former New York City mayor was admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington Sunday.
A maskless Giuliani has appeared in several public places across the country in recent weeks, leading the president’s efforts to overturn the November election and pushing Trump’s unverified claims of voter fraud. In November, Giuliani traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona for his client, attended a hearing in the Michigan House of Representatives on Wednesday and a hearing at the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee to contest that state’s results on Thursday. And last month, Giuliani’s son, who is a White House staffer, also tested positive.
It is unclear who will lead Trump’s efforts now as many on his legal team have either left or contracted COVID themselves.
The 76-year-old Giuliani is moderately overweight and a prostate cancer survivor, putting him in a high-risk group to get a severe form of the virus. “Hope he does ok, late 70s, maybe some co-morbidities, potential candidate for convalescent plasma Or monoclonal antibodies,” Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine tweeted. He added on MSNBC, “A decision would have to be made pretty soon whether to give him antibody therapy.”
Giuliani is the 53rd person in or around Trump’s orbit that has tested positive for the coronavirus in the last few months.