Mamdani at Ground Zero Despite Victims' Families Petition - Caught Laughing and Smiling on Camera

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended Friday’s 25th-anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero after a Change.org petition from some victims’ families gathered about 110,000 signatures asking him to stay away and after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said on Newsmax that the mayor’s presence “offends me.” Mamdani said before the day that the focus should be on families and first responders, not politicians. He took his place with Gov. Kathy Hochul, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, and former Gov. George Pataki as family members read the names of those killed in New York, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pa. Vice President JD Vance and former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden were there. President Trump marked the day at the Pentagon.

Before the reading began, Mamdani walked up to Giuliani and extended his hand. Giuliani took it. The former mayor later told the New York Post he said, “I pray for you all the time.” Mamdani replied, “Thank you.” Aides told the Times the words also included that it is a hard job; cameras caught Giuliani’s side as “I’ll pray for you. It’s a really hard job.” Giuliani said both men understood that turning a back would have become the story. “I give him credit for that,” he said. “He stayed until the very end.” On Newsmax Friday night Giuliani separately called Mamdani a “radical Muslim” and said large segments of the city have forgotten what Sept. 11 meant. Mamdani described the exchange only as “pleasantries” and said he was “in awe” of the families.

A live feed of the name-reading cut from a man hunched over the memorial with his face in his arms to a four-second, silent shot of Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez standing together, smiling and appearing to laugh as they spoke. Sen. Ted Cruz posted the clip and asked, “How the hell do you laugh while the names of those murdered on 9/11 are being read aloud?” Rep. Wesley Hunt called Ground Zero “sacred ground.” Meghan McCain and Councilwoman Inna Vernikov condemned the moment. House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford told Just the News it was an “absolute travesty” and said, “You’re spitting on the ground of 2,977 Americans who died that day.” He tied the clip to Mamdani’s association with commentator Hasan Piker and to the mayor’s gift of a ceremonial 9/11 pen to a lawyer who once represented an al-Qaeda defendant. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also circulated the video. A Post source said Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and Sen. Chuck Schumer had already left when the shot was taken and that “nobody wanted to be by him.” Neither Mamdani’s office nor Ocasio-Cortez had issued a detailed statement on the clip by Friday night.

On Thursday evening Mamdani joined only the last stop of the Children of Abraham Peace Walk, an interfaith route that began at Hebrew Union College, paused at Judson Church, and ended at the Islamic Center of New York City. More than 100 people walked. He spoke there about the dead and first responders. On Friday he also attended an FDNY wreath-laying and a service at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church near the site. The ceremony itself followed its usual hours-long form: names, moments of silence at 8:46, 9:03, 9:37, and 10:03 a.m., and no speeches from elected officials.