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Rudy Giuliani was mingling with people at a Staten Island grocery store on Sunday when an employee approached the former New York mayor, slapped him on the back and branded him a “damage,” according to police.
Now, ShopRite employee Daniel Gill, a 39-year-old Staten Island resident, has been arrested and charged with assaulting someone 65 or older, a felony, a New York Police Department spokesman said to the Washington Post. Gill, who could not be reached for comment, was in custody Sunday night, the spokesman said. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
Giuliani, who was the personal attorney for former President Donald Trump, did not respond to a request for comment.
Speaking on “The Curtis Sliwa Show” after the incident, Giuliani said he was on ShopRite campaigning for his son, a Republican candidate for governor of New York, when “I suddenly feel a shot in the back, like if someone shot me. ”
“I advanced, but luckily I didn’t fall,” Giuliani said. “Fortunately, I’m a 78-year-old man who is pretty good, because if he wasn’t, he would have hit the ground and probably broken my skull.. ”
Giuliani then claimed that the worker referred to abortion rights, and allegedly added, “You will kill women. You will kill women.”
The surveillance video for the incident, published by the New York Post, shows a man in a peaked cap approaching behind Giuliani and slapping him on the back. A woman immediately walks with her arm around Giuliani while the man passes in front of the former mayor and his supporters and goes down another hallway.
The video has no sound, but a New York police spokesman said Gill asked, “What’s up, you bastard?” when he approached Giuliani. The incident took place shortly before 3:30 p.m., and Giuliani was not seriously injured, the spokesman said.
ShopRite did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post on Sunday afternoon. In a statement to WCBS, a representative acknowledged that an incident took place between Giuliani and a store partner at a Staten Island location.
“The security of the store observed the incident, reacted quickly and alerted the police,” the representative said. “We have zero tolerance for aggression against anyone.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Giuliani said he considered the employee’s statements to be “political,” a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn. Roe against Wade, which protected the constitutional right to abortion. Police did not specify whether the suspect referred to the abortion or the Supreme Court decision.
Throughout his political career, Giuliani has hesitated on the issue of abortion rights. On his weekly radio show Sunday before the grocery store incident, Giuliani said he was “rolling” against abortion during a discussion of the Supreme Court’s decision.
But as mayor of New York, Giuliani was a supporter of the right to abortion, even signing a proclamation to celebrate the anniversary of Roe against Wade, the Tampa Bay Times and CNN reported. In addition, Giuliani gave Planned Parenthood at least six times during the 1990s, Politico reported in 2007, when Giuliani was seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
It was during that campaign that Giuliani’s position on the issue was scrutinized, as the candidate repeatedly said that he personally opposed abortion, but believed it was an “emotional decision that ultimately it should be left to the woman, ”her spokeswoman told Politico. time.
Amid pressure, Giuliani decided to strongly support abortion rights during the campaign, making it an atypical point among his Republican opponents, the New York Times reported.
In his Sunday program, Giuliani described his previous stance as “very childish and immature” and said he has gone through a “tortuous intellectual, emotional and moral situation with abortion,” now saying he is in against abortions.
While Giuliani faces scrutiny over his unfounded allegations of fraud following the results of the 2020 presidential election, he is using his political brand in certain New York enclaves to help push his son’s candidacy for governor. .
Andrew Giuliani is proving his father’s legacy in New York
Andrew Giuliani, who praised the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, condemned the alleged assault on his father in a tweet Sunday night, adding that it was “out of politics.”
“We will not be intimidated by the attacks of the left,” he wrote. “As governor, I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again.”