{"id":339443,"date":"2026-09-06T17:08:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339443\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:08:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:08:36","slug":"former-ny-gov-george-pataki-reveals-he-has-9-11-related-illness-days-before-25th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339443\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NY Gov. George Pataki reveals he has 9\/11-related illness days before 25th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Gov. George Pataki, who led the Empire State through the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks<\/a> and its aftermath, revealed he is fighting lung disease related to his exposure at Manhattan\u2019s Ground Zero.<\/p>\n

Pataki, a Republican who served between 1995 and 2006, told The Post in an exclusive interview that he suffers from restrictive airway disease that stems from his exposure to toxins <\/a>at the site of the destroyed World Trade Center\u2019s Twin Towers in downtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n

He was diagnosed with the condition over the last five years, he said.<\/p>\n

Former Gov. George Pataki, who led New York through the 9\/11 attacks, confirmed to The Post that he suffers from a lung condition related to exposure to the Ground Zero site. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

\u201cI just look at it as I\u2019m one of the lucky ones,\u201d Pataki told The Post, humbly deflecting questions about his condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, 25 years later, I feel great. I have this minor residual impact from that time. But compared to so many others, I consider myself very lucky,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A rep for former Big Apple Mayor Rudy Giuliani confirmed that the politician-turned Trump attorney had also been diagnosed with restrictive airway disease after he landed in the hospital in critical condition with a case of pneumonia <\/a>earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The disease, caused by toxic dust and the fine particulate matter that filled the air in southern Manhattan <\/a>after the towers fell, makes more common illnesses such as the flu particularly dangerous.<\/p>\n

Pataki, who had never before revealed his condition, continued pointing the spotlight to those working around him at the time, especially the first responders and other public servants who flocked to lower Manhattan to rebuild after Islamic terrorists intentionally crashed highjacked commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center<\/a>, causing them to collapse.<\/p>\n

Pataki and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani greeting President Bush ahead of his visit to Ground Zero in Manhattan on Sept. 14, 2001. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who were with me at Ground Zero over and over for months after those attacks, many of them have serious illnesses, far more serious than anything I might be experiencing,\u201d Pataki said, noting that he has not been diagnosed with cancer related to Ground Zero.<\/p>\n

Pataki, who previously served in the state Senate and as mayor of the Westchester County city of Peekskill, was the last Republican to win statewide office in New York.<\/p>\n

He recently drew headlines when he suggested democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani should consider staying away from the remembrance ceremony<\/a> at Ground Zero unless he changes course and condemns the antisemitic slogan \u201cglobalize the intifada.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Pataki and Giuliani touring the site of the 9\/11 terror attacks with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton Sept. 12, 2001. AFP FILES\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mamdani, a Muslim and harsh critic of Israel,<\/a> has previously defended use of the statement, saying disagrees the rallying cry is an incitement of violence against Jews. The American Jewish Committee says the phrase calls for \u201crising up\u201d against Israel.<\/p>\n

Pataki also suggested Mamdani should made a clean break from commentators who praise the attacks like left-wing superstar Hasan Piker.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf he says he will have nothing to do with Hasan Piker, and if he says he will condemn the statement, \u2018globalize the intifada,\u2019 then I would have no problem with him being here,\u201d Pataki told The Post.<\/p>\n

Bush and Pataki speaking with first responders at Ground Zero AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s not optimistic that will happen before Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of respect for those who died and out of the respect for their families and the first responders, he should make the decision not to go,\u201d Pataki said.<\/p>\n

Still, Pataki said that the ceremony should be void of politics and should \u201cgo off without any disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think basically just ignoring his presence might be the best,\u201d Pataki said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Gov. George Pataki, who led the Empire State through the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and its aftermath,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5301,113412,68,18088,57,9,24,55,54,56,14738,58],"class_list":["post-339443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-9-11","tag-9-11-25th-anniversary","tag-exclusive","tag-george-pataki","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-rudy-giuliani","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339443","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=339443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}