{"id":316796,"date":"2026-08-08T17:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/316796\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:12:15","slug":"nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-vows-to-be-at-25th-anniversary-ceremony-of-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/316796\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani vows to be at 25th-anniversary ceremony of 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to defy 9\/11 victims\u2019 families<\/a> by attending the 25th-anniversary ceremony of the terror attacks at Ground Zero, but he ditched this year\u2019s ceremony for the victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.<\/p>\n

Instead of attending the solemn ceremony on Feb. 26 at Ground Zero, he chose to pitch a housing project to President Donald Trump in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Mamdani \u2014 who was photographed last year\u00a0grinning ear-to-ear with a Brooklyn imam <\/a>who was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing that killed six people<\/a> and injured more than 1,000 \u2014 sent one of his deputies to the memorial instead.<\/p>\n

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony of the 9\/11 terror attacks at Ground Zero \u2014 despite rejections from victims\u2019 families. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

That day, the socialist mayor met privately with the president to try to convince him <\/a>to provide more than $21 billion in federal funds for a 12,000-unit affordable housing project at a massive railyard in Queens.<\/p>\n

Mamdani \u201cblew us off and passed on it because he does not give a s\u2013t,\u201d raged Andrew Colabella, whose 41-year-old cousin John DiGiovanni was one of the six people murdered when radical Islamic terrorists detonated a bomb in an underground parking garage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing he cares about is his ego and his so-called political future,\u201d added Colabella, a Republican legislator representing Westport, Conn.<\/p>\n

Colabella and some other family members of the 1993 victims accused Mamdani of blowing off the 33rd annual memorial service because it lacked major media coverage. <\/p>\n

The mayor was quick to visit Ground Zero in April to greet King Charles III because plenty of cameras<\/a> were rolling, they added.<\/p>\n

Colabella accused the mayor of meeting with Trump on a pie-in-the-sky housing proposal to avoid being booed at Ground Zero over his \u201clongtime association\u201d with individuals who\u2019ve defended Islamic terror, including vile left-wing influencer Hasan Piker<\/a>, who once said \u201cAmerica deserved\u201d the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.<\/p>\n

Mamdani made an unannounced trip to DC to discuss housing project for NYC with the president on Feb. 26. NYC Mayor’s Office<\/p>\n

Monica Rodriguez Smith, who was seven months pregnant when she was killed in the 1993 WTC terrorist bombing, is pictured on her wedding day with her husband Edward Smith. Facebook \/ National September 11 Memorial & Museum\u00bf<\/p>\n

Colabella said he\u2019s among the more than 79,000 who\u2019ve signed a surging petition<\/a> <\/a>demanding Mamdani skip the victims\u2019 tribute at Ground Zero on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n

Edward Smith \u2014 whose 35-year-old wife Monica Rodriguez Smith was seven months pregnant when she was killed in the 1993 WTC bombing \u2014 said Mamdani did him and other family members a huge favor by skipping the February service.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is best he didn\u2019t show up, but it\u2019s even crazier that New York would elect him mayor in the first place,\u201d added Smith, a native New Yorker now living in Scottsdale, AZ.<\/p>\n

Andrew Colabella\u2019s 41-year-old cousin John Giovanni was one of the six people murdered by Islamic terrorists in the 1993 WTC Bombing. Michael Falco<\/p>\n

A banner reading \u201cMamdani, Stay Away from Ground Zero!\u201d is seen flying near Lower Manhattan on Friday. X \/ Burton Brink Fighting for California<\/p>\n

Smith, who plans to attend the 9\/11 ceremony, said he\u2019s not signing the petition to keep Mamdani away because it \u201cempowers\u201d the mayor, adding he\u2019d prefer people opposing his presence to \u201cboo him or turn their backs on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia Kerson, deputy of mayor of operations, went to the ceremony at the September 11 Memorial plaza in February in Mamdani\u2019s place.<\/p>\n

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Dan Flynn and City Council Speaker Julie Menin were also in attendance, according to Eyewitness News ABC-7 video of the event. \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

John DiGiovanni was one of the six people murdered during the 1993 bombing. Michael Falco<\/p>\n

Several hundred people attended the Feb. 26, 2026, ceremony marking 33 years since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Michael Appleton \/ Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n

Most NYC mayors since the 1993 bombing \u2013 including Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg and Eric Adams \u2013 have attended at least some of the annual ceremonies in person or sent a deputy. <\/p>\n

Mamdani claimed his meeting with Trump in February was \u201cproductive,\u201d\u00a0but the White House has yet to comment on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reps for the mayor did not return messages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to defy 9\/11 victims\u2019 families by attending the 25th-anniversary ceremony of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34583,7080,153,57,12363,9,24,55,54,56,94584,87,58,7037,82],"class_list":["post-316796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-9-11-memorial","tag-bombings","tag-donald-trump","tag-metro","tag-michael-bloomberg","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-petitions","tag-politics","tag-us-news","tag-world-trade-center","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316796","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=316796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}