Republican New York City Council member accuses Mayor Zohran Mamdani of ‘performative’ attempt to ‘deflect’ from 9/11 victims and their families with release of health documents related to terror attacks’ aftermath
Republican New York City Council Member Joann Ariola criticized Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s release of thousands of documents detailing the health impacts and aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, calling the move “performative” and accusing him of trying to “deflect” from what she described as a lack of concern for 9/11 victims and their families.
Ariola made the comments during a gathering outside City Hall, where she and others called on Mamdani not to attend September 11 memorial events and later in an interview with Newsweek.
“He knew that there would be a press conference today with the 9/11 families, of loved ones who passed,” she told Newsweek.
“So he did everything he could, from being performative and signing two executive orders the other day to today making an announcement to release the papers regarding the air quality at Ground Zero, because what he wanted to do was eat up the air time of the media and every reporter in Room 9 was going through all the documents and in my opinion that was because he wanted the focus to be on that and not what was happening outside of City Hall with the families,” she said.
Background on the 9/11 attendance dispute
Several Republican lawmakers, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have said Mamdani should not attend the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Speaking on Newsmax, Giuliani said he would be offended if Mamdani attended and made additional claims that critics have described as baseless, including suggesting the mayor does not believe the attacks were acts of terrorism.
Former Republican Governor George Pataki has also criticized Mamdani over people from whom he says the mayor has not sufficiently distanced himself. Pataki told City & State New York earlier in September, “With respect to the mayor, I think anyone who doesn’t intentionally distance themselves from [left-wing streamer] Hasan Piker, who has said that America deserved the attacks of September 11th, should not be there.”
Mamdani condemned Piker’s comments about 9/11 during a 2025 mayoral debate and Piker has since disavowed them.
An online petition opposing Mamdani’s presence, organized by Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was among the nearly 3,000 people killed in the World Trade Center attack, had more than 102,000 signatures. Family members delivered the petition to City Hall that day, urging Mamdani to stay away from the 25th anniversary ceremony.
City Council member’s criticism continues
Ariola said she “stood on the steps of City Hall with the loved ones of many victims of the 9/11 terror attacks” and “demanded that Mayor Mamdani stay away from this year’s ceremonies.”
She said the group handed the petition to a member of Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem’s staff, adding, “Mayor Mamdani, apparently, was too cowardly to come out and meet the families to receive the petition himself.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul pushed back against the effort to exclude Mamdani.
“Division should not prevail over the spirit of unity that brought us together after Sept. 11,” Hochul wrote. “On this 25th anniversary, we should honor those we lost by coming together again as New Yorkers and Americans. The mayor of New York City will be there, as he should be.”
Some 9/11 family members have also defended Mamdani’s attendance. Elizabeth Miller, whose father died in the attacks and who has attended the annual ceremony for years, said: “Mayor Mamdani has assured 9/11 families that he wants to be there to honor our loved ones and I think he should be allowed to do that.”
Democratic leaders, along with Mamdani’s Republican rival in the 2025 mayoral race, Curtis Sliwa, have supported his attendance. Mamdani has repeatedly said he will attend the September 11 ceremony.
New York City mayors have traditionally attended the annual September 11 remembrance at Ground Zero.
When did NYC officials release the report?
New York City officials launched a searchable online portal containing about 170,000 pages of records from various city agencies. The documents include air quality reports, health records and other materials related to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
City officials said the portal would provide greater public access to records concerning the city’s response and the long-term health and environmental consequences of the attacks.
“For too long, information about the aftermath of September 11th has not been provided to the public. For years, families, city workers and survivors have been crying out for more transparency from their government,” 83rd Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said in a statement on the portal’s website.
The statement continued, “That is why the Mamdani administration has made a significant investment to give the public access to information and documents related to City government’s response to the September 11 attacks – documents that were never previously made available to the public.”
Officials said additional documents would be added on a rolling basis in the coming months. The mayor’s 2027 fiscal year budget includes $34 million to create and maintain the portal.
At a September 8 press conference, Mamdani said, “For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place. This portal is part of our administration’s enduring commitment to honor those we lost, care for those living with lasting health consequences and give thousands of New Yorkers the answer they’ve been asking for.”
Comedian Jon Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 first responders sickened by exposure to toxins at Ground Zero, joined Mamdani at the press conference and criticized officials’ handling of air quality concerns after the attacks.
“Everyone knew and now it’s very clear that the city knew as well,” Stewart said. “And rather than take the steps to ameliorate the damage that it would cause to its citizens and to the people that were down there, they instead covered it up to get back to business as usual. But unfortunately, after 9/11, business will never be usual again.”
Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, who represented his New York City district during the attacks, also praised the release.
“The release of City Hall’s files related to the aftermath of 9/11 is a long-overdue reckoning. My colleagues and I who represented Ground Zero and the surrounding communities immediately warned local and federal officials of the health risks posed by toxins in the air at the time. Our warnings were not heeded and now we and the public know that City Hall, led by former Mayor Giuliani, predicted that thousands of responders and community members would face devastating long-term health impacts from these toxins.”
Ariola told Newsweek the records “should have been released a long time ago,” but called the timing “deliberate” and “scripted.”
Regarding records showing continued health concerns after officials deemed the air safe, Ariola said she was “not surprised because so many people have died over the years. Obviously, it was not safe; we did not have the proper PPE (personal protective equipment) and people are now suffering from 9/11 cancers and other diseases.”
What did Ariola say about Mamdani?
At the gathering, which Ariola said drew about 50 people, she cited the petition’s updated signature count and argued that people had signed it “because Mayor Mamdani has done everything he can to suck the oxygen out of the room for this particular event we’re holding today.”
She pointed to his “performative” executive orders and the release of “information regarding the air quality down at 9/11, at Ground Zero,” as alleged attempts at deflection.
She continued, “What he’s trying to do is deflect, as he always does from the real issue, which is that he does not care about 9/11 or the tragedies that took place because he surrounds himself with people who believe that America deserved what it got. And he does not disavow them. He does not step away from them. That’s really why he shouldn’t be there,” she said of the annual memorial service at Ground Zero.
Ariola said, “Other politicians will be there, no one will speak — it is about the survivors and about those who were murdered that day.”
She told Newsweek the gathering was inspired by people “who are hurting because of the loss of their loved ones during a terrorist attack on our city and asking the mayor to take their feelings into consideration.”
She added that the protesters were upset about “his actions now, the people he associates himself with now like Hasan Piker and [Chief Counsel to the Mayor] Ramzi Kassem,” while emphasizing that the opposition to Mamdani’s attendance was not based on his Islamic faith. Mamdani is New York City’s first Muslim mayor.
The petition was organized by Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace Catherine Galante, was among those killed in the World Trade Center attack. Council members Vickie Paladino and Joann Ariola joined the families in calling on Mamdani to stay away. The council members had planned to hold a joint press conference with Galante at City Hall on September 8.
Ariola told Newsweek her office has “amplified it because we are in complete alignment with the families and their feeling that because of who Mayor Mamdani associates with and refuses to unassociate [sic] himself with, that he does not deserve a seat at the 9/11 memorial. It is about the families. It shouldn’t be about him. He has yet to denounce BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), yet to denounce ‘Globalize the Intifada.’”
Mamdani told reporters, “I want this week to be a focus on…the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11. And a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.”
Asked about Giuliani’s comments, Mamdani said, “I don’t have much more to add.”