{"id":187721,"date":"2026-04-06T22:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187721\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T22:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:33:08","slug":"nyc-council-grills-mamdanis-department-of-investigation-commissioner-nominee-over-campaign-activities-and-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/187721\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Council grills Mamdani\u2019s Department of Investigation commissioner nominee over campaign activities and donation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>\u2019s pick to run the city\u2019s Department of Investigation (DOI), a corruption watchdog, faced pointed questions from City Council members Monday over her own support for his campaign.<\/p>\n

Legislators peppered Nadia Shihata about her past political support for Mamdani, including making $700 in donations and a stint canvassing on his behalf, and pressed her on whether she could independently investigate the administration that selected her.<\/p>\n

During the April 6 hearing<\/a> before the Council\u2019s Committee on Rules, Privileges, Elections, Standards and Ethics, chaired by Linda Lee (D-Queens), Shihata was also quizzed about her relationship with senior figures in City Hall and whether she would recuse herself from future investigations involving the mayor or his inner circle.<\/p>\n

Shihata, a former federal prosecutor nominated by Mamdani on Feb. 12 to serve as DOI commissioner, acknowledged during the confirmation process that she had donated four times to Mamdani\u2019s mayoral campaign, for a total of $700. She also said she once canvassed for him, knocking on doors for about an hour.<\/p>\n

Council members used those disclosures to challenge Shihata on whether New Yorkers would trust her to investigate the mayor and top administration officials without fear or favor. In the hearing, Shihata defended her record and said any investigation under her watch would be guided by facts, law and evidence rather than politics or personal relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Queens Council Member Nantasha Williams homed in on the nominee\u2019s political support for Mamdani, arguing that canvassing for a candidate can signal a deeper level of commitment than making a donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an elected official myself, it\u2019s so easy to get someone to donate a couple of dollars, but when it comes to actually having people physically knock doors, I find that the people who have canvassed really, really are committed to what I\u2019m doing versus the people who donate money,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shihata said she has donated throughout her life to several campaigns, mainly federal, and would not do so if she were Commissioner. On her support for Mamdani\u2019s campaign in particular, Shihata said, \u201cThis was a particularly important election,\u201d and \u201clike many New Yorkers I think affordability is an issue in this city,\u201d noting that the issue drove her to support his candidacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Later in the hearing, Council Member Chris Banks pressed Shihata more broadly on whether New Yorkers could trust her to act independently as DOI commissioner despite her ties to the mayor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Banks asked why the public should believe she could lead the watchdog agency independently, whether she would commit to recusing herself from any investigation directly involving Mamdani or senior mayoral officials, and whether her prior financial support for the mayor created a conflict of interest in the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think anyone who knows me or who has worked with me knows my level of professionalism and integrity over my 20-year career, and that I will approach every investigation, including any that may involve the mayor or any senior officials in his administration,\u201d Shihata said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In later questioning, she said she would approach the job as she had her work as a federal prosecutor: \u201cwithout fear or favor, following the evidence and the law and nothing else.\u201d But she stopped short of promising blanket recusals in every hypothetical case, saying instead that she would seek the advice of counsel and follow that advice if conflicts arose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also said she did not believe her prior financial support for Mamdani created a conflict.\n<\/p>\n

Ties to mayor\u2019s chief counsel<\/p>\n

Lawmakers also questioned Shihata about her relationship with Ramzi Kassem, the mayor\u2019s chief counsel. Shihata said Kassem reached out to gauge her interest in the DOI post before she applied. He reportedly reached out to her days after former DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber tendered her resignation in early January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also indicated she would not automatically step aside from matters involving Kassem, saying recusal would depend on the circumstances and guidance from agency counsel.<\/p>\n

Under the City Charter, the DOI commissioner oversees investigations into corruption, fraud, waste and abuse across city agencies and among those doing business with the city. The previous DOI leadership investigated misconduct at high levels of municipal government, heightening scrutiny over who will take over the post and how independent that person will be.<\/p>\n

Mamdani introduced Shihata\u2019s nomination in February<\/a> as part of a broader promise to restore trust in city government. At the time, he described her as a veteran prosecutor with experience in public corruption and organized crime cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shihata spent more than a decade in the U.S.\u00a0Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she worked on major racketeering and public corruption matters, including serving as a lead prosecutor in the R. Kelly case. She later co-founded a boutique law firm focused on criminal defense, civil rights cases and internal investigations.<\/p>\n

City Hall pushed back on the criticism after the hearing. \u201cThe Mayor was proud to nominate Nadia Shihata for DOI Commissioner because of her demonstrated integrity, her extensive experience as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and her track record of rooting out corruption throughout her career,\u201d spokesperson Dora Pekec said.<\/p>\n

During Monday\u2019s hearing, council members also widened the discussion beyond her personal ties to City Hall. They asked about DOI\u2019s budget and staffing levels, the agency\u2019s independence, and its oversight of the New York City Housing Authority, where members raised concerns about procurement issues, contractor accountability and whether investigations are leading to lasting reforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shihata said DOI\u2019s current headcount is a little over 400 and down by more than 100 positions from about five years ago, and said the agency currently has 26 vacancies she would want to fill. She described herself as a \u201crelentless advocate\u201d for DOI\u2019s budget and said ensuring the agency has the resources it needs would be a top priority if she is confirmed.<\/p>\n

On NYCHA, Shihata said one of her first priorities would be assessing whether DOI\u2019s dedicated squad has the resources it needs. She said the agency should avoid duplicating federal monitors, use complaint patterns to guide proactive investigations and follow up to ensure accepted recommendations are actually implemented. She also said DOI should focus not just on reacting to wrongdoing, but on preventing it by identifying systemic risks and using data more effectively.<\/p>\n

Shihata also said DOI\u2019s independence depends in part on maintaining confidentiality around ongoing investigations and not sharing sensitive details beyond what is legally required. She said she was open to considering whether DOI\u2019s budget should be pegged to a percentage of the city budget, saying such a structure could help protect both the agency\u2019s independence and the appearance of its independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s pick to run the city\u2019s Department of Investigation (DOI), a corruption watchdog, faced pointed questions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[42784,36610,56791,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-187721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-first-100-days","9":"tag-mayor-mamdani","10":"tag-nadia-shihata","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}