Rudy Giuliani rejects Mamdani accusation of lies over Ground Zero toxins

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani rejected current Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s allegations this week that successive mayoral administrations lied in the aftermath of 9/11 by claiming toxic Ground Zero air was safe.

A statement issued by Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman blamed "cowardly terrorists acting in the name of Islam," the federal government’s later-repudiated air quality assurances, and an attempt by Mamdani "to score cheap partisan political points."

"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," the statement said.

On Tuesday, heeding the longstanding demands of 9/11 survivors and their advocates, Mamdani ordered the release of long-secret files that suggest the mayoral administrations of Giuliani and successor Mike Bloomberg misled the public in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams later refused to release the documents. 

The files — more than 170,000 pages posted on a city government web portal — "show how asbestos was found nearly everywhere that inspectors tested," despite assurances the air was safe and people should return to work and school, Mamdani said at a news conference Tuesday.

The number of people with 9/11-related illnesses has surpassed 97,000 — stomach ailments, respiratory troubles, numerous cancers. More people have died of 9/11-related illness than in the actual attacks, in which terrorists hijacked two commercial flights and crashed the jets into the World Trade Center.

Among the revelations in the documents were results of tests, some done under Giuliani’s tenure, showing that asbestos, among other toxins, was in the air, even as he and others assured the public that the air was safe to breathe.

Bloomberg spokesperson Stu Loeser has declined to comment.

Asked about the Giuliani statement, Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec referred to what Mamdani said Tuesday when asked whether Giuliani's legacy should be reappraised given what the documents revealed.

"I will leave that to New Yorkers to make that judgment," Mamdani said. 

One city-commissioned audit from November 2001 found an "increasing" trend of dangerous compounds in the air. A week after the attacks, Christine Todd Whitman, then the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the public in these areas "are not being exposed to excessive levels of asbestos or other harmful substances." Todd Whitman, 15 years later, apologized for her statements. 

Giuliani's statement doesn't address what's in the files but blames Islam and the EPA.

"The EPA, a federal agency, issued press releases and public statements declaring that air samples showed the air quality near Ground Zero was safe in September 2001. The agency later apologized for those statements, saying it did the best it could with the knowledge available at the time," the statement said. "It is a shame that Mayor Mamdani is now attempting to score cheap partisan political points by seeming to blame the local officials who rushed to the scene, rather than radical Islam, for September 11."

The terrorists who committed the attacks justified attacking America on the grounds of Western and American meddling in the Middle East, the killings of Muslims and Palestinians and backing for Israel.