Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was upgraded from critical to serious condition yesterday — and doctors are now hoping to hear her speak her first words since a bullet ripped through her brain.
“The congresswoman continues to do well. She is breathing on her own,” doctors at University Medical Center in Tucson said in a statement.
“Congresswoman Giffords has been upgraded . . . because she is no longer on a ventilator.”
More details are expected at a news conference with doctors today.
Giffords is already able to move both sides of her body, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said yesterday on “Meet the Press.” The New York Democrat is a close friend of Giffords.
“She’s doing great,” Gillibrand said. “She’s using both sides of her body. She’s able to breathe on her own. She’s able to open her eyes and to show people she understands what she’s hearing and seeing.”
Giffords’ progress came as new details emerged about the rampage victim arrested Saturday for shouting a threat during a town-hall meeting.
James Eric Fuller, 63, who was shot in the knee, had told The Post on Friday, the day before his arrest, that top Republican figures should be tortured — and their ears severed.
“There would be torture and then an ear necklace, with [Minnesota US Rep.] Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin’s ears toward the end, because they’re small, female ears, and then Limbaugh, Hannity and the biggest ears of all, Cheney’s, in the center,” Fuller said.
Also on Friday, Fuller stopped by the home of gunman Jared Lee Loughner and told a neighbor he was going to forgive the shooter, The Associated Press said.
On Saturday, Fuller was carted away for a psychiatric exam after disrupting the town-hall meeting by taking a photo of Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries and shouting, “You’re dead!”
Additional reporting by Nick Martin in Tucson