The administration of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has released over 170,000 pages of records pertaining to the city's response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including documents detailing air quality concerns around Ground Zero. This release has prompted sharp criticism from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's team, who accuse Mamdani of seeking to make "cheap partisan political points."
Ted Goodman, a spokesperson for Giuliani, stated that Mamdani is misdirecting blame toward local officials who responded to the attacks, instead of focusing on the terrorists responsible for the nearly 3,000 deaths. "Now would be a good time to remind Mayor Mamdani that cowardly terrorists acting in the name of Islam are 100 percent responsible for all of the death and destruction on September 11, 2001, and for all of the suffering and illness that have continued since that day," Goodman said in a statement.
The newly released documents include 68 boxes of records from the Department of Environmental Protection that were not located until 2025, and records concerning 7 World Trade Center. Among the documents are materials from Giuliani's tenure, including a memo to Deputy Mayor Robert Harding that warned of potential lawsuits from New Yorkers claiming inadequate protection from toxic exposure and insufficient cleanup at the sites.
Mamdani stated at a press conference announcing the release that the documents demonstrate officials across multiple administrations possessed information about hazardous conditions but failed to adequately inform the public. "The truth is that, as we have heard, this goes across a multitude of those that New Yorkers have trusted, and we are here to release these documents today because, for a long time, New Yorkers have known the truth, and yet they have been unable to see the truth in any document that's been presented to them," Mamdani said.
His administration noted that the city settled two lawsuits with 9/11 Health Watch as part of the record release and has created a public portal to house the documents. "People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air. And then, when they began to contend with the symptoms of the illnesses that followed, the government that had not hesitated to send them into harm's way was nowhere to be found," Mamdani added.
Thousands of first responders and others exposed to the World Trade Center site have since developed illnesses recognized by the World Trade Center Health Program as 9/11-related. The program continues to offer treatment and monitoring for those suffering from certified conditions.
Giuliani's team pointed to the federal government's role in communicating air quality information post-attack. Goodman highlighted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued public assurances about conditions near Ground Zero. An EPA Inspector General review later concluded that the data available at the time did not fully support these broad assurances.
Christie Todd Whitman, then EPA Administrator, issued a press release on September 18, 2001, stating air monitoring results indicated the air near the World Trade Center was safe to breathe. She later apologized in 2016 for the assurances, expressing regret for those who became sick or died and stating the EPA did its best with available information. Former Republican New York Governor George Pataki, who was governor at the time of the attacks, has publicly stated he was diagnosed with restrictive airway disease, which he attributes to his exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.
The newly released records also detail environmental hazards identified in the years following the attacks, including asbestos findings at multiple locations in Lower Manhattan. Health authorities emphasize that there is no known safe level of asbestos exposure.
The document release follows a petition signed by over 100,000 9/11 victims' family members requesting Mamdani not attend the Ground Zero memorial ceremony. Charles Wolf, who lost his wife on 9/11, was quoted as saying, "This mayor is not serving us. He's serving himself."