Rudy Giuliani called out New York City Mayor Eric Adams as a “phony” and “idiot” after being accused of using some “creativity” in claiming he was assaulted.
The former New York City mayor fired back at Adams Tuesday after the Democrat mayor suggested Giuliani should be investigated and could face prosecution for falsely reporting an assault that allegedly occurred at a supermarket in Staten Island.
A 39-year-old ShopRite employee named Daniel Gill was arrested after the incident and charged initially with second-degree assault, though the felony was later downgraded to misdemeanor charges after he allegedly slapped Giuliani so hard on the back that the 78-year-old said it felt like “somebody shot me.”
“If we didn’t have the video, this person would have been accused with a serious crime when all he did was pat the guy on the back,” Adams said on Tuesday, referring to surveillance video of the incident which he believes challenges Giuliani’s version of the events.
“You can’t do sensationalism to carry out your own agenda, and you can’t use the police to carry out your own agenda,” Adams said.
“Someone needs to remind former Mayor Giuliani that falsely reporting a crime is a crime,” the mayor added. “From what he stated about being punched in the head, it felt like a bullet. What he stated, that was a lot of creativity, and I think the district attorney, he has the wrong person that he’s investigating.”
(Video: CBS New York)
“I saw that video,” Adams said. “I’m sure all of you who saw the video, you have to ask yourself, he stated, if he did not feel so heroic, or whatever, he would have fallen to the ground…The guy basically walked by and patted him on the back. I don’t know if he said, ‘congratulations,’ I don’t know what he said to him. But it was clear that he was not punched in the head. It was clear that it didn’t feel like a bullet. It was clear that he wasn’t about to fall to the ground.”
Giuliani torched the current mayor in response, calling him a “phony” who “doesn’t give a damn about victims,” according to ABC7 New York.
“I filed nothing, idiot, so you can’t prosecute me for anything,” Giuliani said. “I didn’t examine that tape. Your police officers did.”
“Adams gets my respect when crime goes down,” he added. “Until then, I don’t care how many cufflinks he wears, how much jewelry he has, how expensive his clothes are or how many models he hangs around with. Why don’t you stay home and reduce crime, then you can start criticizing other people. Until then, keep your damn mouth shut and do your job.”
His response when speaking with the New York Post was even more colorful.
“Tell Adams to go f–k himself,” he told the newspaper. “What a f–king scumbag.”
“Eric Adams doesn’t know what he’s f–king talking about. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Giuliani told the Post. “I didn’t file the complaint. His police department filed the report. The police department did an investigation. The police interviewed witnesses.”
“Let him talk to his police department. He probably can’t do that,” he added. “The cops probably won’t talk to him. They don’t trust him. He must’ve been a bad cop.”
Giuliani, who was campaigning for his son at the time of the alleged assault, said the employee hurled “dirty curse words” at him after slapping him on the back and said something about “killing women,” likely a reference to the Supreme Court decision last week that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Gill’s Legal Aid attorney Susan Platis pushed back on the claims, according to ABC7.
“The video is clear,” Platis said. “The video is clear that this was just a tap on the back.”
“The charges facing Daniel Gill, who has no previous contact with the criminal legal system, are inconsistent with existing law,” the Legal Aid Society said in a statement.
“Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries, without malice to simply get his attention, as the video footage clearly showed. Mr. Gill was then followed and threatened by one of Mr. Giuliani’s associates who allegedly poked Mr. Gill in the chest and told him that he was going to be ‘locked up’. He was then needlessly held by the NYPD in custody for over 24 hours,” the statement continued, with a personal jab at the former NYC mayor. “Given Mr. Giuliani’s obsession with seeing his name in the press and his demonstrated propensity to distort the truth, we are happy to correct the record on exactly what occurred over the weekend on Staten Island.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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