His meteoric rise to become New York City’s chief law enforcement officer was later tarnished after he pleaded guilty to federal corruption and tax crimes.

Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City's police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned, has died. He was 69. FBI Director Kash Patel said that Kerik's death Thursday came after an unspecified "private battle with illness."

Kerik had been commissioner for just one year before he was faced with the biggest terroristic attack ever on U.S. soil on Sept. 11, 2001. He heroically led the NYPD through the devastating rescue