New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participate in a memorial on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani Democratic represenative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez found themselves in the middle of controvorsey on Friday after a camera briefly captured them sharing a light moment at the 9/11 memorial. This comes after relatives of 9/11 victims garnered more than one lakh signatures, asking Mamdani to not attend the Friday event, citing him appointing Ramzi Kassem as the New York’s chief legal counsel. I was standing next to them the whole time”, tweeted Ragusa, according to WPIX-11. The Pittsburgh Republican Committee pointed to the moment on X as an example of why 9/11 victims’ families had objected to Mamdani’s presence in the first place, and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt also weighed in publicly.
Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the exchange “disgraceful,” adding that “AOC and Mamdani look happy. Closer to home, City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, R-Brighton Beach, said she was angered by what she saw, arguing that Mamdani showed up despite thousands of families of terror victims asking him to stay away, only to be seen laughing as families around him wept. “This is NYC’s Mayor,” she said. Republican representative Randy Fine, a frequent critic of democratic socialists and of opponents of Israel, went further still, referring to the mayor as “Jihad Mamdani” and arguing that neither he nor Ocasio-Cortez belonged anywhere near Ground Zero.
The footage shows a young man sobbing at the memorial while names of the victims were being read, then it cuts to Mamdani and Cortez who appear to be grinning during a conversation. However, their conversation wasn’t audible. Kassem had represented Al-Qaeda operative Ahmed al-Darbi, who pleaded guilty to war-crimes charges. Steve Guest, a former senior staffer for Sen. However, Michael Ragusa, a member of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s security detail pushed back on the framing of the clip. “The videos of [them] laughing are not true. “The camera just caught her greeting him hello. Multiple other politicians were laughing and joking behind me. Republicans and Democrats”, he added. Former Trump White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson posed a simpler question: “What exactly is funny? The context of Mamdani and Cortez’s conversation remains unknown. Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.