New York City lost 2,977 people on September 11, 2001.
Zohran Mamdani signed two executive orders Friday ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
And Ron DeSantis torched Zohran Mamdani after he handed the 9/11 ceremonial pen to a man who defended al-Qaeda.
The Man Who Got the Pen
Ramzi Kassem is not some obscure bureaucrat who happened to draft the paperwork.
He is Mamdani's hand-picked chief counsel – the top lawyer in the New York City government.
He is also the man who spent years defending Ahmed al-Darbi, a convicted al-Qaeda operative who pleaded guilty before a U.S. military commission to terrorism charges connected to the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen.
Al-Darbi's sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar – one of the five hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that flew into the Pentagon and killed 184 people.
When the Trump administration transferred al-Darbi to Saudi custody in 2018, Kassem publicly mourned his client's "16 long and painful years in captivity."
The NYPD Commissioner handed off the pen. Kassem smirked as he accepted it.
"It Was Calculated"
City Hall told reporters that Kassem attended because his team drafted both executive orders.
Retired NYPD detective Michael Alcazar wasn't buying it.
"It was calculated," Alcazar told the New York Post.
Dennis Warchola, whose brother Michael – a firefighter with FDNY Ladder 5 – was killed in the North Tower, called it what it was.
"How can you defend a guy like that who wants to do Americans or any innocent person harm?" Warchola said.
Queens City Council Member Vicki Paladino put it even more directly: "Ramzi Kassem said he was inspired by 9/11 – not to join the fight against terrorism, but to defend the terrorists themselves."
"His participation in anything related to 9/11 is an insult to every New Yorker who survived that day, and indeed all Americans," she added.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/2096419097613312111?s=20
Joyce Cohen Day, whose mother died in the South Tower, said Mamdani deliberately gave the pen "to an al-Qaeda lawyer."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis asked the question the rest of America was thinking: "Was this 'tone deaf' or intentional?"
This Is Who Mamdani Built His Government Around
Mamdani announced Kassem as his chief counsel on December 30, 2025 – before he even took office – knowing exactly who Kassem was and what he had done.
Kassem founded CLEAR, a CUNY legal clinic whose mission is to support Muslim communities "targeted by local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism."
That clinic has taken on 15 Guantánamo detainees.
He also represented Mahmoud Khalil – the Columbia University anti-Israel agitator detained by ICE in March 2025 – and in October 2025, CAIR gave Kassem its "Defender of Truth" award.
This is the man running New York City's legal office.
Thousands of 9/11 families signed a petition urging the mayor to stay away from the 25th anniversary ceremony at the World Trade Center site.
He showed up anyway.
The Only Question That Matters Now
It can't be tone deaf.
https://twitter.com/foxnewspolitics/status/2096631806619701465?s=20
You don't accidentally hire a man who defended al-Qaeda operatives, give him the most powerful legal position in the New York City government, and then accidentally hand him the ceremonial pen at a 9/11 commemoration.
Each one of those decisions required thought.
The 9/11 families watching that video – the one where Kassem smirks as he takes the pen – know exactly what message was sent.
So does every mayor, school board member, and city council member in America who is considering hiring someone with the same résumé: the federal government is watching, the families are watching, and the video will go viral.
That's not tone deaf.
That's a declaration.
Sources:
- "Mamdani under fire after giving 9/11 ceremony pen to top aide," Fox News, September 7, 2026.
- "Mamdani draws outrage by handing 9/11 pen to attorney who helped defend al Qaeda terrorist," The Washington Times, September 6, 2026.
- "9/11 ceremony sparks outrage after Mamdani hands pen to lawyer who defended terrorist," Israel National News, September 6, 2026.
- "Zohran Mamdani Just Insulted Every 9/11 Victim, Survivor, and American With This Despicable Gesture," Townhall, September 8, 2026.
- "Mamdani taps controversial lawyer who defended al Qaeda terrorist for top role," Fox News, December 30, 2025.
- "Ramzi Kassem – Mamdani Monitor," Mamdani Monitor, May 28, 2026.
