Police Call Rudy Giuliani 'Assault' Claims 'Much Ado About Nothing' 

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is doubling down on claims that he was assaulted in a Staten Island ShopRite over the weekend, but a new surveillance video of the alleged attack is raising questions about his side of the story.

TMZ posted the surveillance video of the attack from a ShopRite employee on Monday morning, which does not make the attack seem as severe as Donald Trump's former lawyer initially claimed.

On Monday morning, law enforcement reached out to TMZ after they posted the surveillance video. They told the outlet that Giuliani’s assault claims are “much ado about nothing it seems.”

“It was a pat,” they added. “This whole thing is a stretch.”

By that comment, it seems like the employee is unlikely to face criminal charges for assault, which Giuliani insisted was a felony.

In the video, an employee comes up behind the former NYC mayor, slaps him on the back, and says, “What’s up, scumbag?” as reported by an eyewitness. Although the incident seemed to annoy Giuliani and the rest of his team, it doesn’t seem to be as severe as he initially claimed.

Giuliani had told the New York Post that his back was in “tremendous pain” from the incident and that the employee had been yelling about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last Friday. The “on-duty” employee had been arrested for a felony assault because Giuliani is over 65 years old.

Although Giuliani initially claimed that the employee hit him so hard that he was almost knocked to the ground, it doesn’t look like he almost fell over in the video. Law enforcement officials even told TMZ that they felt the incident was more of a “pat” than an actual strike. That being said, during a news conference, TMZ reported that Giuliani is calling for the employee to get jail time.

“He hit me to knock me down,” the politician claimed. “If that doesn't merit jail time in New York, we're in the wild wild west.”

“It was a very, very heavy shot,” he added. “He could have easily hit me, knocked me to the ground, and killed me.”

Giuliani was reportedly on Staten Island over the weekend to campaign for his son, Andrew Giuliani. The 78-year-old politician was at the ShopRite supermarket on Veterans Road when the incident took place. Several witnesses in the crowded grocery store saw the incident as it happened, including Rita Rugova-Johnson, who told The Post that she was “stunned” to see the incident as it happened.

“I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Rudy inside ShopRite,” Rugova-Johnson explained. “We’re talking, and all of a sudden an employee came out of nowhere and open-handedly slapped him in the back and said, ‘Hey, what’s up, scumbag?’

“[The attacker] was on duty at the time,” she added. “The cops arrested him.”

Sources reported that law enforcement officials took the on-duty grocery store employee into custody at the store and arrested him. However, the suspect’s name and charges have still not been disclosed as of Monday afternoon.

Giuliani’s partner, Dr. Maria Ryan, told The Post that he had been campaigning for his son by posing for photos right before he was "attacked" by the employee. Ryan said, “Rudy was assaulted,” adding, "He’s a 78-year-old man with a bad back and bad knees."

The young Giuliani, Andrew, is seeking the Republican nomination for New York governor against Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, and entrepreneur Harry Wilson.

It remains to be seen if the employee will be criminally charged for what law enforcement calls "a pat" and what Rudy Giuliani calls "assault."