Rudy Giuliani will receive top US civilian honour: US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump says he will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, two days after Giuliani was hospitalised following a car crash in New Hampshire.

The medal is considered the highest US civilian honour and is traditionally presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the US, world peace, or other significant societal, public, or private endeavours.

Mr Trump described Mr Giuliani as “the greatest mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot” in a Truth Social post announcing his decision to award him the medal.

“Details as to time and place to follow,” he wrote.

Mr Giuliani was mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001 and was once known as “America’s Mayor” for his response to the September 11, 2001, attacks. In recent years, he worked as a lawyer supporting Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election.

In 2023, Giuliani conceded in court that he had made defamatory statements about a pair of Georgia election workers when he falsely accused them of trying to help steal the 2020 election for Democrat Joe Biden.

A federal judge found Mr Giuliani in civil contempt of court in January for not complying with requests from the workers for information about which of his assets could be used to pay off the defamation judgement.

A rental car carrying Giuliani was hit from behind at high speed on Saturday night, causing him to suffer a fractured vertebra as well as other cuts, according to a post by his spokesperson, Michael Ragusa, on social media.

Ragusa said in the post that Giuliani was “in good spirits and recovering tremendously” after the accident.

He added in a later post the crash was “not a targeted attack.”