Rudy Giuliani says that he was slapped by a worker at a ShopRite on Staten Island on Sunday and that it felt like “somebody shot me.” The worker has since been taken into police custody and is being charged with second-degree assault involving a person over age 65.
“All of a sudden, I feel this, ‘Bam!’ on my back,” Giuliani said afterward. “I don’t know if they helped me not fall down, but I just about fell down, but I didn’t.”
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He continued: “I feel this tremendous pain in my back, and I’m thinking, what the — I didn’t even know what it was. All of a sudden, I hear this guy say, ‘You’re a fucking scumbag,’ then he moves away so nobody can grab him.”
Security camera footage from the incident soon surfaced and it appeared that the former mayor of New York City was not struck quite as hard as he had claimed, with the suspect seeming to give him a pat on the back to get his attention for the “scumbag” insult.
Giuliani said that the attack was provoked by the US Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.
Giuliani’s son, Andrew, who is running for governor, said in a statement: “We will not be intimidated by left wing attacks. As governor I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again.”
Check out a video of the assault below.