Newsmax
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., ignited a firestorm Friday after they were seen smiling and giggling during the solemn 25th anniversary ceremony honoring the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
As grieving relatives gathered at ground zero in Manhattan to remember loved ones lost a quarter-century ago, video captured by Real America’s Voice showed Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez standing together, grinning broadly and appearing to laugh during the reading of the names.
The images stood in stark contrast to the solemn scenes unfolding around them as families marked 25 years since Islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and carried out the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, killing nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The footage was quickly shared across social media, where critics — including federal lawmakers — questioned the pair’s demeanor at a gathering centered on mourning and remembrance.
“How the hell do you laugh while the names of those murdered on 9/11 are being read aloud? Why would you do so?” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on X.
Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, called the display an “incomprehensible” level of disrespect, writing on X, “There is a time and a place for politics. This isn’t it. Ground Zero is sacred ground. … For a few hours, on one day, have some damn respect.”
Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., reacted with similar disbelief.
“Why the f— are these two laughing?!?” she wrote.
For Mamdani, who is Muslim, the images added another hot-button layer to an appearance that already angered some 9/11 families before he arrived.
Newsmax reported this week that relatives hand-delivered a petition carrying more than 102,000 signatures to City Hall calling on Mamdani to stay away from the anniversary ceremony.
New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov pointed directly to those objections while blasting the mayor on Friday.
“After thousands of families of victims of terror beg Mamdani not to show up, he stands there and laughs while families weep. This is NYC’s Mayor,” Vernikov wrote on X.
Giovanni Galante, whose wife, Grace, was killed at the World Trade Center, told Newsmax’s “Finnerty” this week that Mamdani’s presence would itself be disrespectful.
“It’s disrespectful to him to show up, even if he decides and thinks it’s the right thing to do,” Galante said. “Regardless of his words, we know his father has written a book about … sympathizing with the terrorists.”
Mamdani rejected the families’ appeal and made clear beforehand that he intended to attend. He said his attention would be on “the first responders who gave everything” and families whose loved ones “were stolen from them 25 years ago.”
Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, appeared alongside Mamdani as attention increasingly turns toward her political future and a possible bid for the White House in 2028.
Newsmax reported in August that the democratic socialist and Squad member has not ruled out a presidential campaign and has reshuffled her political operation amid growing speculation about her national ambitions.
“I’m focused on winning the midterms. I’m running for Congress right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said when questioned about a possible 2028 campaign.
But when pressed on whether she was ruling out a run for president, Ocasio-Cortez left the door conspicuously open.
“I haven’t ruled out the possibility,” she said.