Mamdani: NYC leaders ‘lied’ about post-9/11 air quality

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Tuesday released records related to the city government’s response to worsened air quality after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying city leaders “lied” about how safe it was to breathe.

Mamdani’s office released 170,000 pages of records, with the mayor’s fiscal 2027 budget including $34 million to “create and maintain” a portal where the public can access those documents, according to a release .

“Close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself,” Mamdani said at a press conference alongside family members of those who died on Sept. 11.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and comedian Jon Stewart, a longtime advocate for Sept. 11 families and first responders, joined the mayor at the presser.

“It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way,” Mamdani added, noting that “could not be further” from what occurred.

“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” the mayor continued.

In releasing the records, the Mamdani administration resolved two lawsuits brought by 9/11 Health Watch against New York City.

Ben Chevat, the executive director of the group, thanked Mamdani in a statement “for being the Mayor, after 25 years, who finally begins to answer the question, ‘What did the City know about the dangers from the toxic cloud at Ground Zero and when did it know it?’”

Prior to Mamdani, former mayors Rudy Giuliani (R), Michael Bloomberg (I), Bill de Blasio (D) and Eric Adams (D) led New York City since the attacks. Bloomberg’s party affiliation has changed since he was mayor, but he was in office as a Republican and Independent.

The Sept. 11 attacks killed 2,977 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on board United Airlines Flight 93 that crash landed in Pennsylvania.

The health effects of the attacks have lingered on, as more than 400,000 individuals were exposed to toxic substances as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan, per the 9/11 Memorial and Museum .

As of December 2024, roughly 140,000 people from all 50 states were enrolled in the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, per the memorial. The health program was established under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which former President Obama signed into law in 2011.

The memorial also notes that 49,000 first responders and survivors of the attacks were diagnosed with WTC Health-certified cancers.

When a reporter asked Mamdani about whether Giuliani lied about air quality after Sept. 11, the incumbent mayor said, “I leave it to New Yorkers to make their judgements.”

Mamdani added, “What we want to do is finally allow them the documents that they have long been demanding.”