Mamdani and Giuliani Shake Hands at 9/11 Ceremony
Left 40%
Center 0%
Right 60%
2 left · 0 center · 3 right
What happened
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani shook hands briefly with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday during the 25th-anniversary commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at Ground Zero, then the two men parted ways. Giuliani, who was mayor during the attacks, had said earlier in the week that Mamdani should not attend and that his presence would "offend him." An online petition led by family members of people killed that day, signed by more than 100,000 people, had also called on Mamdani not to appear. Mamdani attended the ceremony nonetheless.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 5 articles
2 of 4 articles cite a named source for the story. It started with unnamed sources; a named source appeared 4 hours later.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 2 of 4
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Meghan McCain, Ted Cruz, Inna Vernikov and Robert De Niro
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 4
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: video
- Credits another outlet 1 of 4
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Just The News
- Unnamed sources 0 of 4
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- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 11, 16:18 UTC by The Hill, with no named source. First named source 4 hours later, from Breitbart. First document 4 hours later, from Breitbart (video).
- Not counted 1
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage frames the handshake as two politicians ending a personal spat, and leaves out the family campaign that made attendance the real fight. The Hill presents the greeting as a "show of unity" after Giuliani called on Mamdani not to attend. Fox News reports that 9/11 families gathered more than 100,000 signatures asking the mayor to skip the memorial. Right-leaning coverage is more complete on who objected. A reader of the left accounts cannot tell the objection was a mass request from victims' relatives rather than one former mayor's complaint.
The same greeting is described in opposite terms. Left-leaning coverage treats it as reconciliation. The Washington Examiner reports the pair appeared cordial even though Giuliani had said Mamdani's presence would "offend him."
None of the coverage says who initiated the handshake, or how families who signed the petition reacted once it happened.
Bottom line
Read The Hill on the handshake and you never learn Fox News had 9/11 families above 100,000 signatures asking Mamdani not to come. That is a unity photo versus a mayor showing up against a family campaign.
The receipts — 6 facts one side's coverage lacks
- A petition from 9/11 victims' family members gathered more than 100,000 signatures asking Mamdani not to attend the Ground Zero memorial
- Mamdani's administration released more than 170,000 pages of records on the city's 9/11 response
- Mamdani said people got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air
- Charles Wolf, who lost his wife on 9/11, said the mayor is not serving us and asked that he not show up
- Mamdani gave a ceremonial 9/11 remembrance pen to chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, who had represented convicted al Qaeda member Ahmed al-Darbi
- Then-EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said on Sept. 18, 2001 that air monitoring indicated air near the World Trade Center was safe to breathe
The Left View
Left-leaning coverage treated the handshake as the news and as a gesture that cut against the preceding snub. The Hill called it "a show of unity" after Giuliani’s request that Mamdani stay away. Politico framed the moment as unexpected, asking in a headline whether the two men had shaken hands. Those reports centered the image of the current and former mayors greeting each other rather than the disputes over Mamdani’s record that had preceded the ceremony.
The Right View
Right-leaning sources presented the greeting as happening over families’ and Giuliani’s objections rather than resolving them. Fox News reported that days earlier Mamdani’s administration had released more than 170,000 pages of 9/11-response records; Mamdani said officials across administrations "misled the public" and that "People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air." Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman accused Mamdani of seeking to "score cheap partisan political points" and said "cowardly terrorists acting in the name of Islam are 100 percent responsible" for the deaths and later illness. Charles Wolf, who lost his wife on 9/11, said, "This mayor is not serving us" and "He's serving himself." Outlets tied the backlash to Mamdani’s 2020 call to "defund the police," his description of the NYPD as "racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety," his praise of Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj — "named as an alleged co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing" — campaign ties to Hasan Piker, and his giving a ceremonial 9/11 pen to chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, who had represented convicted al Qaeda member Ahmed al-Darbi. Actor Robert De Niro said Mamdani should attend because "He’s the mayor" and "I don’t see why he shouldn’t come," while calling the defund comments "ridiculous"; Fox quoted critics saying De Niro lacked "a clue about the mayor's past comments, his toxic associations."
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is that the handshake itself, after a public request that Mamdani stay away, is evidence of ordinary civic coexistence at a memorial; The Hill’s phrase "a show of unity" rests on that image. The right’s strongest argument is that victims’ families and Giuliani had given concrete 9/11-specific reasons to object — the petition drive, Wolf’s "not serving us" charge, Mamdani’s NYPD rhetoric, documented associations with Wahhaj, Piker, and Kassem, and a records release Goodman called an attempt to "score cheap partisan political points" — so a brief greeting did not erase the underlying dispute. The central unresolved tension is whether the sitting mayor’s place at Ground Zero is a nonnegotiable institutional duty or a presence that families and a former 9/11-era mayor can legitimately treat as an affront.
5 sources
- Mamdani and Giuliani shake hands at 9/11 commemoration
- At 9/11 ceremony, Giuliani and Mamdani … shake hands?
- Giuliani blasts Mamdani’s 9/11 toxic air blame as buried city records come to light
- Mamdani greets America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani despite calls to skip 9/11 memorial
- De Niro calls controversial Mamdani police comments 'ridiculous' as he defends mayor going to 9/11 service
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