Both the current mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city’s then-leader, Rudy Giuliani, will attend the major ceremony in Manhattan on Friday, when it marks exactly a quarter of a century since al-Qaeda’s terrorist attack.
But Giuliani, who is now a close ally of President Trump, does not like the successor to the office appearing on "9/11", as the day is called in American date notation.
"Having lost friends there and having close connections to many of the (affected) families, I feel offended that he is coming," the former mayor told the right-wing channel Newsmax the other day.
Love the city
The 82-year-old Giuliani explains his dislike by saying that Mamdani is Muslim, and in the interview draws parallels between the new mayor’s faith and that of the extremist perpetrators.
Mamdani has not directly addressed Giuliani’s accusations, but is making clear that he intends to attend.
"I am proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country," he said on Monday, according to The Guardian.
I want this week to focus on the families whose loved ones were taken from them 25 years ago in that terrible act of terrorism.
President Trump is another well-known political figure from New York, but has attended the city’s major anniversary ceremony only a few times since 2001. This year, all living presidents – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Joe Biden and Barack Obama – will be in Manhattan. But not Trump. He will stay in Washington to attend a ceremony at the Pentagon.
“So offensive”
That choice is attracting attention in his hometown of New York, but is overshadowed by controversy surrounding what he himself did that day in 2001. This year, he has repeated previously disputed claims that he helped on the scene.
"I was building a big building in New York, and I moved the whole crew down to the site right when it happened," the president said, according to ABC.
Media in the US have condemned the story as absurd, and are supported by Fred Trump. "His claim that he brought a work team there to help is so offensive that I must speak out," writes the nephew.
Fred Trump points out that his uncle had no such construction going on at the time. And that the employees he would have been able to bring with him were "secretaries and accountants" who would not be of much use during a terrorist attack.
