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VINnews · Sep 5, 2026

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🇺🇸-Mamdani Hands Symbolic 9/11 Pen To Aide Who Represented Al-Qaeda Operative Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed 9/11 executive orders at City Hall on Friday, one week before the 25th anniversary of the attacks. After signing, he handed the ceremonial pen to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and whispered for her to pass it along. Tisch then gave it to Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem, who arrived late to the Blue Room press conference and left quickly after receiving it. Video shows Kassem smirking as he takes the pen. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda operative convicted in the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker. That plot was part of al-Qaeda’s post-9/11 campaign against the oil trade. Al-Darbi’s sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers on the plane that hit the Pentagon. The mayor’s office said Kassem was there because his team wrote the two executive orders, including a Day of Remembrance and a measure to strengthen security against future terror threats. 9/11 families and City Council members called the handover tone-deaf. Dennis Warchola, whose brother Michael, a Ladder 5 firefighter, was killed in the North Tower, called it “bulls–t.” Council Member Joann Ariola said families who lost loved ones “have every right to be outraged” and that City Hall should have honored their sacrifice with dignity. VINnews’s Take: A 9/11 remembrance moment at City Hall should stay focused on the victims. This one did not.

*🇺🇸-Mamdani Hands Symbolic 9/11 Pen To Aide Who Represented Al-Qaeda Operative* Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed 9/11 executive orders at City Hall on Friday, one week before the 25th anniversary of the attacks. After signing, he handed the ceremonial pen to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and whispered for her to pass it along. Tisch then gave it to Chief Counsel Ramzi Kassem, who arrived late to the Blue Room press conference and left quickly after receiving it. Video shows Kassem smirking as he takes the pen. Kassem previously represented Ahmed al-Darbi, an al-Qaeda operative convicted in the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker. That plot was part of al-Qaeda’s post-9/11 campaign against the oil trade. Al-Darbi’s sister was married to Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers on the plane that hit the Pentagon. The mayor’s office said Kassem was there because his team wrote the two executive orders, including a Day of Remembrance and a measure to strengthen security against future terror threats. 9/11 families and City Council members called the handover tone-deaf. Dennis Warchola, whose brother Michael, a Ladder 5 firefighter, was killed in the North Tower, called it “bulls–t.” Council Member Joann Ariola said families who lost loved ones “have every right to be outraged” and that City Hall should have honored their sacrifice with dignity. *VINnews’s Take:* A 9/11 remembrance moment at City Hall should stay focused on the victims. This one did not.

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