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Donald Trump announced this weekend that he will award Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The news comes days after the former New York City mayor and disgraced attorney was in a car accident in which reportedly his spine was fractured.
Trump made the announcement Monday on Truth Social, calling his former legal adviser “the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot.”
Shortly before the announcement, Giuliani was reportedly injured with a spinal fracture in a car accident on a New Hampshire highway, according to a statement from Michael Ragusa, who identified himself as head of Giuliani’s security. The car was “struck from behind at high speed,” according to Ragusa. Giuliani has since been discharged from the hospital, according to a statement to NBC News.
Giuliani, who joined Trump’s legal team in 2018 and represented him in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election results, was disbarred from practicing law in Washington, D.C., and New York for his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud after Trump’s loss. Giuliani was also sued for defamation by two Fulton County election workers over false accusations of fraud. A federal judge ruled Giuliani should pay the election workers $146 million, and the two parties reached a settlement earlier this year that Giuliani said “does not involve an admission of liability or wrongdoing.”
Giuliani was also instrumental in the response to the attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Giuliani, who was mayor at the time, admitted to authorizing surveillance of Muslim communities in the city and to planting undercover agents in mosques.
The prestigious award, originally called the “Medal of Freedom,” was created by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 to honor “any person recommended to the President for award of the Medal or any person selected by the President upon his own initiative.” It has been awarded 673 times to politicians, actors, athletes, musicians, philanthropists and religious figures.
Giuliani would be the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom of Trump’s second presidency. Some of the more controversial recipients from his first term include conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh (who promoted conspiracy theories that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States), House Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio (who echoed false claims that the 2020 election might have been stolen from Trump) and Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American physician and Republican megadonor who received the medal in 2018.