Rudy Giuliani says he would have given former Marine Daniel Penney a Medal of Valor if he were still mayor as he lashed out at politicians who ’empower criminals’ in a new interview.
Penny, 24, was charged last week with second-degree murder in the strangulation death of mentally ill vagrant Jordan Neely, 30, and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
But in a clip from a new interview obtained exclusively by Newstimesuk.com, former New York City mayor Giuliani says Penny ‘did what she was supposed to do and protected people’.
A Donald Trump loyalist added: ‘The city should do this.’
Giuliani, 79, was speaking on a new episode of Miss Understood — a podcast hosted by Tiger Woods’ ex-mistress Rachel Uchitel.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani claims politicians are ’empowering criminals’ and no longer uses the subway
Trump loyalists say New York’s current crime spree makes the city feel as dangerous as it did in the 1970s and ’80s.
During the interview, he hit out at current mayor Eric Adams, saying the city’s approach to crime was ’empowering criminals’ and also angrily refuted widely circulated claims that he had a drinking problem.
But he reserved his biggest anger for the city’s response to the subway crimewave currently plaguing New York, saying he no longer uses the subway and riding the same subway car on May 2 when Neelyke endorsed Penny for his response.
Neely, who was on a city list of mentally ill people who urgently needed help at the time of their death, previously had more than 40 arrests for crimes including assaulting an elderly woman on the street.
According to passengers, Neely became ‘extremely aggressive’ after boarding the F train – threatening to kill people and throwing rubbish at them.
In the viral clip, Penny, who was in New York looking for bar work, is seen lying on the floor of the train with Neely in a choke hold – which she said she did to stop the rampage.
Tragically, the 30-year-old lost consciousness while being restrained and EMTs who arrived at the scene were unable to revive him.
The incident sparked outrage after footage of the confrontation went viral, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demanding Penny be charged with murder while Reverend Al Sharpton told the congregation at Neely’s funeral: ‘When they strangled Jordan, they put their arms around all of us’.
But Giuliani told Uchitel that the AOC and Sharpton are wrong, that his mayor, Eric Adams, and Gov. Kathy Hochul allowed crime to get out of control — and the only way Penny acted was when she confronted Neely.
Giuliani said: ‘The man [Dnaiel Penny]Get a medal. If I were mayor, I would bring him to city hall and give him the award.
Jordan lost consciousness while being restrained by Neely Penny and EMTs at the scene were unable to revive him.
He said: The man [Penny]Get a medal. If I were mayor, I would bring him to city hall and give him the award.
‘I’d say that was an awfully brave thing you did. You had no idea if you were going to be killed.
‘[Neely] Got on the train, yelled and screamed, threw trash at them [the passengers]Basically telling them he’s going to kill them.
‘Then he took off his jacket and threw it on the ground. When he takes off his jacket, you have to say is he going to kill someone?
‘The Marine Sergeant did exactly the same thing when the jacket came off – that’s the time to stop him because if you wait, he could kill someone.
‘People came forward who had beaten this man and said I wish Penny had been there during the beating.
‘The man arrested 45 people. We are essentially empowering criminals to stay on the streets. He did what he had to do and saved people. The city should do it.’
Giuliani, whose mayorship included a zero-tolerance policy on petty crime, says New York’s current crime rate makes the city feel as dangerous as it did in the 1970s and ’80s.
He said: ‘It’s like deja-vu. It feels like I’m living in the 70s and 80s before I was mayor. No, I don’t take the subway. We basically empower criminals and that will keep people away.’
Penny, who faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of murder, also spoke about what happened in a series of Instagram posts after her May 12 arrest.
He denied being a racist killer and insisted he had no intention of harming Neely but said he felt compelled to protect the women and children traveling with him on the F train that day.
Penny said: ‘There is a common misconception that Marines are not afraid. We actually teach one of our core values is courage, and courage is not the absence of fear but how you manage fear.
‘I was scared for myself but I looked around and there were women and children, he was saying these threats to their faces. I couldn’t sit still.’
Giuliani, 79, was speaking on a new episode of Miss Understood — a podcast hosted by Tiger Woods’ ex-mistress Rachel Uchitel.
In November 2016, Giuliani stood with then-President-elect Donald Trump
During the interview, Giuliani was also asked about persistent rumors that he was an alcoholic and angrily denied it – saying he was sick of the personal attacks.
He told Uchitel: ‘They investigated me more thoroughly than anyone except Donald Trump. They took everything I had and they found nothing.
‘They couldn’t do anything. I want them to stop this ridiculous attack. They say I am an alcoholic. When I woke up in the morning someone said, I drink scotch.
‘It’s completely ridiculous. How could I have accomplished what I have achieved if I had been an alcoholic. Who destroyed a drunken mafia?
‘An alcoholic who managed to take over the Teamsters Union and change it? An alcoholic who led the city on 9/11?’
Giuliani added: ‘I don’t mind if you oppose me politically. My political views are conservative and republican and I respect liberal and democratic people.
‘I don’t respect people who lie about me and get so mad about it that they attack me personally and worse. It’s getting worse. I read things about me that have nothing to do with who I am.
‘Some things that might hurt my reputation. My reputation as a lawyer is very important to me.’
Uchitel’s podcast Miss Understood is out now.
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