Bernard Kerik, Trump ally and NYPD commissioner during 9/11, dies at 69
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik arrives the Manhattan Federal Courthouse in downtown Manhattan
By Zachary Cohen and Clay Voytek, CNN
(CNN) — Former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who led the department during the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, has died at the age of 69, according to the New York Police Department and a source close to Kerik.
The department mourned Kerik in a Thursday post on X. “For nearly two decades, Kerik served and protected New Yorkers in the NYPD, including helping rebuild the city in the aftermath of 9/11. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” the NYPD said.
FBI Director Kash Patel also remembered Kerik in a post on X.
“Today, we mourn the loss of Bernard B. Kerik, a warrior, a patriot, and one of the most courageous public servants this country has ever known. Bernie passed away tragically on May 29, 2025, after a private battle with illness,” Patel wrote.
Kerik, a Trump ally who once served three years in federal prison for charges including tax fraud and lying to officials, was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020.
Kerik teamed up with former New York City mayor and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election to search for evidence of voter fraud.
An attorney for Kerik later said in a letter to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol that “Mr. Kerik was hired by former-President Donald Trump’s legal team, to act as an investigator tasked to look into claims of election fraud.”
Kerik was once a bodyguard and driver for Giuliani in 1993. He was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Corrections from 1998 to 2000 before he was appointed commissioner of the city’s police department in August 2000.
“I am heartbroken over the loss of my dear friend,” Giuliani wrote in a post on X. “He was a decorated police officer, Corrections commissioner and NYC police commissioner during the worst terrorist attack on American soil.”
He was nominated to be Homeland Security secretary by President George W. Bush in 2004 but later withdrew from consideration due to potential tax violations and a former household employee’s questionable immigration status.
Kerik pleaded guilty to misdemeanor ethics violations related to gifts he received while leading the city corrections department in 2006. He was fined for accepting $165,000 in gifts from a construction firm. In November 2007, Kerik was indicted on federal corruption charges, and he pleaded not guilty to 16 counts, including conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements.
In 2009, he pleaded guilty to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials and was later sentenced to 48 months in prison. Kerik was released from federal prison for good behavior after serving three years, and he released a memoir in 2015.
Kerik was also heavily involved in advising Navy SEAL chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher during his military case in 2019.
Gallagher was convicted of bringing discredit to the armed services after posing next to a dead ISIS fighter’s body, which is against regulations. He was then demoted in rank – a decision Trump later reversed.
He was born on September 4, 1955 in Newark, New Jersey and served in the US Army from 1974 to 1977.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Paula Reid and Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
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