Rudy Giuliani says that 9/11 was, in some ways, the greatest day of his life

Mayor of New York City during the attacks, Giuliani spoke to Newsmax on Friday regarding his "complex feelings"

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published September 9, 2022 6:51PM (EDT)

Rudy Giuliani, former advisor to former President Donald Trump, attends the annual Memorial Day Parade on May 30, 2022 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Rudy Giuliani, former advisor to former President Donald Trump, attends the annual Memorial Day Parade on May 30, 2022 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Days before the 21st anniversary of the attacks of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani appeared on Newsmax to discuss what it was like to serve as Mayor of New York City during that time. Looking back at the events that transpired after two planes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Giuliani describes his feelings as "complex."

"I guess the best way to describe it is it was the worst day of my life and in some ways, you know, the greatest day of my life in terms of my city, my country, my family," Giuliani says.

"It was the worst foreign attack on this country since the war of 1812," Giuliani continued. "It was a complete surprise. It was an attack on completely innocent people and I watched it first-hand."

Describing the first "shocking incident" the former mayor witnessed after the attacks, Giuliani recalls seeing a man jump 101 floors from one of the towers.

"I was transfixed by it," Giuliani says. "All the things that go through your head — why is he doing it? How did he make that choice? Oh my God, can I stop it . . . can I grab him? And then all of a sudden he hit the ground and I watched what happened to his body, which I will not describe."


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 Giuliani recalls feeling the need to throw out any pre-conceived emergency plans and trudge forward based on instincts alone, and then praying to God that they all hopefully made the right decisions.

"The thing that sticks with me always is the image of the people coming in in the morning to work," Giuliani says. "From people delivering bagels, to people opening up their complicated computer programs, to people just opening little stores. Completely innocent people having nothing to do with the insanity of this attack."

What the full interview segment below:


By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Nights and Weekends Editor covering daily news, politics and culture. Her work has been featured in Vulture, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Nylon, Vice, and elsewhere. She is the author of Something is Always Happening Somewhere.

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9/11 Aggregate Rudy Giuliani