While campaigning with his son at a Staten Island ShopRite, an employee came out of nowhere and open-handedly slapped the disgraced, former mayor Rudy Giuliani in the back and said, ‘Hey, what’s up scumbag?’” according to Rita Rugova-Johnson, an eyewitness to the incident.
Police took an unnamed 39-year-old man into custody but have not released the pending charges against him. Giuliani refused medical attention but claimed he suffered red marks on his back, was not bleeding and had remained on his feet after being struck.
In a brief interview, Mr. Giuliani said he was walking through a ShopRite grocery store in the Charleston neighborhood with supporters when the employee disparaged him and slapped his back, then made an apparent reference to abortion.
“The one thing he said that was political was ‘you’re going to kill women, you’re going to kill women,’” said Mr. Giuliani, who said he understood the remark to be about the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday.
The initial account shared by police did not mention abortion.
Because of his involvement with TFG, spreading the Big Lie and other debunked conspiracy theories, Giuliani is under intense scrutiny.
“This has to stop. This is getting ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve been in politics 50 years, I’ve never been attacked like this.”
“My back hurts, but otherwise I’m able to walk and stuff like that,” the former mayor said. “He almost knocked me down. Thank God for a 78-year-old, I am in pretty good shape.”
