‘TONE DEAF’: Mamdani hands ceremonial 9/11 pen to al Qaeda defense lawyer
ANCHOR: Stay safe.
Let’s turn now to this.
Just days before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, New York City’s mayor is facing backlash for handing a symbolic pen to a former al-Qaeda defense lawyer.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed executive orders designating September 11 as a Day of Remembrance and Service, then passed the pen to his chief counsel — a lawyer who once represented a convicted al-Qaeda member whose brother-in-law was a 9/11 hijacker on American Airlines Flight 77.
City Hall says he received the pen because he drafted the orders. That explains the handoff. It doesn’t excuse it.
Retired NYPD Inspector Paul Mauro joins us.
PAUL MAURO: The mayor understands he had to sign this for a certain segment of the population here — a segment that is waning. It was 25 years ago. I’m among that generation.
But I think he also wanted to do something that spoke to many members of his base. It was extremely contrived. There was no reason he had to hand the pen to anybody.
The excuse they came up with is that this guy helped draft the executive order. These are not laws. They’re executive orders. I don’t see why he needed the top lawyer in the city to draft a simple order designating September 11 a day of remembrance.
The other clue that it was contrived is what he did with the police commissioner. He handed the pen to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch so she could hand it to this attorney — who, as you said, has experience representing members of al-Qaeda.
I think it was an effort to recalibrate what he sees as the relationship between himself and Jessica Tisch.
ANCHOR: Seems a little tone-deaf to me.
Before we run out of time this hour: you stood watch on 9/11. That day led to a career in counterterrorism. Here we are approaching the 25th anniversary. What are your thoughts?
PAUL MAURO: I’m very thankful to still be here, because so many people are not.
Anybody who was in New York that day has a story. Then, subsequently, we’ve lost more people to the various illnesses than we actually lost on 9/11 itself. Every now and then it reimposes itself on you.
I just hope that, as the saying goes, we all pledge to never forget. That’s why I went into counterterrorism — to remind myself of that every day.
That’s also why I participated in Notes from Ground Zero, which is on Fox Nation. While I was going through it all, I was just trying to represent the street cops. I didn’t do anything unique. So many others were part of it. I was writing down little notes. Those notes eventually became an article I wrote, and that’s what they used as the basis for the show.
ANCHOR: I know your heart will be heavy. The Fox Nation special is—
