Rudy Giuliani mentioned on Tuesday that he experienced “more pain than I ever felt” following a car accident last weekend but is optimistic about a full recovery. This was his first public discussion on video regarding the rear-end collision in New Hampshire.

After spending several days hospitalized, Giuliani resumed his “America’s Mayor Live” online show and his namesake program on Lindell TV, appearing to wear a metal brace under his suit. Lindell TV is an online media platform launched by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.

The 81-year-old former New York City mayor recounted the incident on Saturday, which occurred shortly after a separate roadside encounter with someone who flagged down his vehicle for help.

“God was very, very good to us. He looked after us,” Giuliani expressed, seated next to spokesperson Ted Goodman. “We did the right thing, so we can feel good about ourselves, and we can be an example.”

Giuliani also took the opportunity on his shows to celebrate former President Donald Trump’s decision to present him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. He described it as “the best medicine.” Giuliani, a staunch Trump supporter, had served as his personal attorney.

On Saturday, Giuliani was in New Hampshire to attend a minor league baseball game. Afterward, he was traveling on Interstate 93 in a rented Ford Bronco with spokesperson Ted Goodman driving when their vehicle was rear-ended by a Honda HR-V driven by a 19-year-old woman, according to a New Hampshire State Police statement. Both vehicles collided with the highway median and sustained “heavily damaged,” as per the statement.

Goodman and the 19-year-old suffered “non-life-threatening injuries” and were taken to hospitals for treatment, the agency said.

Giuliani was taken by ambulance to a nearby trauma center for treatment of a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple lacerations and contusions, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg, according to a statement posted on X by Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security. The thoracic vertebrae are part of the spine.

State police said the cause of the crash was under investigation. No charges were filed.

Before the accident, Giuliani and Goodman said on Tuesday’s shows, a woman flagged them down shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday. She told them she was being abused or attacked by a man in her company and asked to get in their car, they said.

“She was clearly distressed, but she was under control” and didn’t appear injured, Giuliani said.

Goodman said the woman was with someone who was holding up a flashlight that obscured that person’s face.

Uneasy about the situation but wanting to help, Giuliani and Goodman told the woman to stay put while they pulled up a bit further along the road and called police. While they were on the phone with authorities, the woman approached their car and asked for their phone, saying she could call her sister to collect her, Giuliani said. They refused and offered her a ride instead, but she went away, the two said.

Giuliani said that after police and an ambulance arrived, a state trooper told him that the woman had badly beaten the man.

A message seeking comment and further details was sent to state police.

Goodman eventually got back on the road, and the collision happened a few minutes later, he and Giuliani said.

Investigators said the reported domestic violence and the crash were believed to be unrelated.

“We got hit in the back, I would say, the hardest I’ve ever been hit in my whole life,” said the ex-mayor, who said both he and Goodman were wearing seatbelts. He said he could barely move afterward because “I felt more pain than I ever felt.”

The former mayor said that he had been instructed not to bend, lift or twist for the time being but that doctors were “very confident” he’d heal.

The onetime Republican presidential candidate was dubbed “America’s mayor” in light of his leadership in New York after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Giuliani later became a vocal proponent of Trump’s allegations of fraud in the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. Trump and his backers lost dozens of lawsuits claiming fraud, and numerous recounts, reviews and audits of the election results turned up no signs of significant wrongdoing or error.

Two former Georgia elections workers later won a $148 million defamation judgment against Giuliani.