Giuliani, an 81-year-old who was once closely allied with President Donald Trump, has been taken off a mechanical ventilator and is breathing on his own, spokesman Ted Goodman said on X without specifying where the man once known as "America's mayor" after the September 11 attacks is hospitalized or when he was admitted.

Goodman linked Giulani's current illness to the 2001 attacks when hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands.

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The spokesman said Giuliani rushed to the Twin Towers that day to help people, breathing the toxic air that engulfed New York and eventually developing what the spokesman called restrictive airway disease.

"This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body," Goodman said of Giuliani's pneumonia diagnosis, which had not been disclosed until now.

Goodman gave no other details of Giuliani's illness or planned treatment, saying only that his family is with him and urging people to pray.

The New York Times reported that Giuliani was hospitalized in Florida.