Trump says he’s awarding former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom two days after being seriously injured in car crash

WASHINGTON (

The decision places the award on a man once lauded for leading New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and later sanctioned

Trump in a statement on social media called Giuliani the “greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot.”

For much of the past two decades, Giuliani’s public life has been defined

The election workers, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, said Giuliani’s efforts to promote Trump’s lies about the election being stolen led to death threats that made them fear for their lives.

Giuliani was disbarred in New York and Washington for repeatedly making false statements about the election, and he was criminally charged in Georgia and Arizona in connection with efforts to undo Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Giuliani, 81, was hospitalized after the Saturday night collision in New Hampshire. State police said he was a passenger in a rented Ford Bronco driven

The Medal of Freedom, established in 1963, is awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, or cultural or other significant public endeavors.