Mamdani Gave the 9/11 Pen to an al-Qaeda Lawyer Then Laughed With AOC at Ground Zero

New York City's mayor just handed the ceremonial 9/11 pen to a lawyer who spent years defending al-Qaeda detainees.

That happened days before the 25th anniversary ceremony at Ground Zero.

On Friday, cameras caught him laughing with AOC as families of the dead read their names aloud.

What Mamdani and AOC Did at the 9/11 Ceremony

More than 110,000 people signed a petition begging Mamdani to stay home.

The families of the nearly 3,000 Americans murdered on September 11, 2001, didn't want him there.

They had their reasons – and those reasons had been accumulating for months.

At a City Hall ceremony that week, Mamdani signed a 9/11 executive order, then quietly passed the pen to his chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem.

Kassem isn't a random aide.

He represented Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda operative whose brother-in-law hijacked the plane that slammed into the Pentagon.

He also represented Mohammed al-Qahtani – the so-called 20th hijacker – spending a decade working to get him transferred out of Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia before finally succeeding in 2022.

Mamdani handed the pen to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and had her pass it along – he couldn't even do it himself.

Kassem showed up right as the signing was wrapping up, took the pen, and walked out.

Joyce Cohen Day, whose mother died in the South Tower, called it exactly what it was: Mamdani deliberately handing a 9/11 pen "to an al-Qaeda lawyer."

Mamdani showed up at Ground Zero anyway.

Cameras caught him grinning and laughing with AOC as a young man nearby wept over the shadow "fountain" marking where the towers once stood.

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov said the families who begged Mamdani to stay away got exactly what they feared – him laughing while they wept.

"Why the f— are these two laughing?" Meghan McCain demanded.

Rep. Wesley Hunt said 9/11 isn't a photo op or a networking event, adding plainly that "Ground Zero is sacred ground."

Ramzi Kassem and Mamdani's 9/11 Pattern

Apologists claim the camera caught them mid-greeting.

Fine.

Take that at face value.

It still doesn't explain why the mayor of New York City – who knew 110,000 people didn't want him there, who knew the whole country would be watching – couldn't maintain composure at the ceremony itself.

It doesn't explain why, in the same recycled 9/11 tribute Mamdani has posted nearly every year since 2019, he describes victims only as people "who died" – never once naming Islamic terrorists as the ones who murdered them.

This is the man who posed grinning for a photo with imam Siraj Wahhaj – a figure with documented terrorism links who has called for gay people to be put to death – and shared the picture himself.

One Mamdani-backed state senate candidate, Aber Kawas, faced backlash after a resurfaced clip that critics say suggested America deserved 9/11 – a characterization Kawas denies.

These aren't isolated data points.

They form a pattern – and New York City voters installed it in Gracie Mansion.

GOP Senators Blast Mamdani. Where's Hakeem Jeffries?

Senate Republicans didn't hold back.

Sen. John Kennedy suggested Mamdani should show up wearing a paper bag over his head.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune was blunter: "I mean I can't defend anything that guy says or does."

Sen. Tim Sheehy said Mamdani's worldview doesn't match how most 9/11 families feel.

Now name one prominent Democrat who said the same thing about the pen handoff, or about the laughing.

Not Chuck Schumer.

Not Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader from Brooklyn and Queens.

Not Kirsten Gillibrand.

Silence.

They know what Mamdani is.

They know what his associations mean.

They know why 110,000 Americans signed that petition.

And they calculated that defending him costs less than condemning him.

Mamdani handed the 9/11 pen to an al-Qaeda lawyer.

Then he laughed at the memorial while families wept.

Not one Democratic leader has called either moment what it is.

That's not a gaffe, and it's not a coincidence.

That's the Democratic Party in 2026.

Sources:

• Charles Creitz, "AOC, Mamdani interaction caught on cam at 9/11 memorial sparks online fury," Fox News, September 11, 2026.
• Robert Schmad, "Mamdani heads to 9/11 memorial despite 110,000-signature push from victims' families to stay away," Fox News, September 11, 2026.
• "Mamdani draws outrage by handing 9/11 pen to attorney who helped defend al Qaeda terrorist," The Washington Times, September 6, 2026.
• Virginia Kruta, "Mamdani Marks 9/11 With Slap In The Face Move Tied To Al-Qaeda Terrorist," The Daily Wire, September 6, 2026.
• "AOC and Mamdani take heat for laughing as 9/11 victims' names are read off," Denver Gazette, September 11, 2026.
• "GOP senators throw support behind 9/11 families petition to keep Mamdani from 25th anniversary ceremony," Fox News, September 2026.
• "Muslim Mamdani-backed socialist primary winner suggested America deserved 9/11 in unearthed video," Fox News, June 2026.
• Al Perrotta, "Mamdani's Sick, Sly Slap in the Face to 9/11 Families," The Daily Signal, September 8, 2026.
• "Radical Groups Tied to Mamdani Associates Pulled in Millions of Taxpayer Dollars," Open the Books, 2026.