--- title: Mamdani Launches Public Portal With 170,000 Pages of 9/11 Records description: The New York City mayor is also facing criticism for his planned attendance to an event commemorating the tragedy. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/09/08/mamdani-to-release-9-11-related-documents/ author: Chad de Guzman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-09-08T11:26:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-09-08T15:47:26.050Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mamdani Launches Public Portal With 170,000 Pages of 9/11 Records og:description: The New York City mayor is also facing criticism for his planned attendance to an event commemorating the tragedy. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/09/08/mamdani-to-release-9-11-related-documents/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt507486a856314c1c/6aa023d72c02dd7c86355564/GettyImages-2294151135.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2294151135.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mamdani Launches Public Portal With 170,000 Pages of 9/11 Records twitter:description: The New York City mayor is also facing criticism for his planned attendance to an event commemorating the tragedy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt507486a856314c1c/6aa023d72c02dd7c86355564/GettyImages-2294151135.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mamdani Launches Public Portal With 170,000 Pages of 9/11 Records > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=111d167d-6a46-41d0-a01d-a605c0c337ad&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Sep 8, 2026 11:26 AM UTC  New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on the release of 9/11 related documents at City Hall on Sept. 8, 2026, in New York City. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference on the release of 9/11 related documents at City Hall on Sept. 8, 2026, in New York City. Michael M. Santiago—Getty Images  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Sep 8, 2026 11:26 AM UTC As the 25th anniversary of the [Sept. 11 terrorist attacks](https://time.com/article/2026/09/03/how-9-11-shaped-my-life/) in New York City approaches, Mayor [Zohran Mamdani](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/zohran-mamdani/) has launched a portal giving the public access to about 170,000 pages of documents concerning air quality, health hazards, and the government’s response following 9/11\. Its long-sought documents, which had previously been kept out of the public eye, show that New York City leaders were aware of the dangers posed by toxic contamination around Ground Zero following the attacks, even while they continued to tell New Yorkers that the air was safe to breathe. Some of the pages were reportedly found in 68 boxes stashed in a city office, which advocates argue [had been kept away from the public for years](https://www.911healthwatch.org/press/911-health-watch-files-lawsuit-over-foil-denial-of-request-for-9-11-documents-mayors-office-and-law-department-claim-they-cannot-find-responsive-records/). According to a [press release](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/25-years-later--mamdani-administration-opens-city-s-9-11-records) from the Mayor's Office, the records "were not located until 2025 despite multiple Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests." Another document included in the records is the so-called [Harding memo](https://www.911healthwatch.org/press/911-health-watch-obtains-harding-memo-disproving-law-departments-claim-that-it-does-not-exist/), an October 2001 document showing that city officials had in the weeks after the attacks already anticipated approximately 10,000 legal claims arising from exposure to toxic air. The [new portal](https://sept11documents.cityofnewyork.us/) was announced Tuesday morning at a press conference that was also attended by longtime advocate Jon Stewart and others involved in the yearslong legal effort to obtain the records. In June, the mayor [allocated](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/06/mayor-mamdani--speaker-menin-reach-handshake-agreement-on-balanc) $34.2 million from the city’s $125.8 billion fiscal year 2027 budget to create and maintain the portal. "Now, close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself," Mamdani said at the conference announcing the portal. The World Trade Center Health Program, which provides no-cost monitoring and treatment for covered 9/11-related health conditions, [said](https://www.cdc.gov/wtc/exhibition/) thousands continue to be diagnosed with ailments resulting from their exposure to dust, smoke, debris, and the traumatic events. The city’s Fire Department released a report on Sept. 1 detailing the lasting effects of the 9/11 tragedy on first responders. More than 12,000 FDNY members have been diagnosed and certified with at least one related physical or mental health condition, including cancers, according to the [report](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/mayor-mamdani-and-fdny-release-report-detailing-long-term-health). The mayor’s office has said that additional documents will be added on a rolling basis. "The City expects substantially more documents will be released in the coming year as they are reviewed, and personally identifiable information is removed," the press release said. “For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place," Mamdani said in the press release. "This portal is part of our administration’s enduring commitment to honor those we lost, care for those living with lasting health consequences and give thousands of New Yorkers the answer they’ve been asking for.” Mamdani also announced Tuesday that the city had settled two lawsuits brought by 9/11 Health Watch, ending a multiyear legal battle over records concerning post-9/11 air quality and health risks. ## What do we know about the content of the documents? _The New York Times_ obtained early access to the documents and [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/nyregion/sept-11-air-quality-cancer.html) that they contain information relating to 15 John Street, near the collapsed World Trade Center, which purportedly detected asbestos—at times exceeding acceptable limits—about a year after the attack. Among the pages was also an audit from November 2001, submitted to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which reportedly showed high concentrations of benzene, a cancer-causing substance, in the air near the towers, according to the _Times_. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that exposure to these contaminants increases the risk of developing health conditions, such as illnesses concerning the airways and digestive systems. The CDC [added](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/ss/ss7004a1.htm) that after the attacks, around 400,000 people were exposed to these contaminants and other factors that increased their risk for such conditions. Taking questions at the conference on Tuesday, Mamdani addressed what people can expect to learn from the documents that they might not have already known. "I think that there is going to be a lot to learn from these documents," he said, adding that it's important that "those who faced such sustained pushback for years are finally told by the city of New York: 'You were right.'" ## Why Mamdani is under pressure The release of the documents coincides with Mamdani drawing calls from families of victims of the tragedy and some Republican politicians not to attend the 9/11 remembrance event in New York City on Friday. In July, 9/11 widower Giovanni Galante [began a petition](https://www.change.org/p/please-sign-to-support-honoring-the-memory-of-those-lost-on-september-11th-with-dignity) against Mamdani’s attendance, citing concerns over “Mamdani's public positions, associations, and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile.” The petition cites Mamdani’s [refusal to condemn those who say “globalize the intifada” as one of the issues.](https://time.com/7298770/zohran-mamdani-mayor-democrat-aoc/) The petition also references Mamdani’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem, who worked for the Biden Administration, as chief counsel to the mayor. Kassem served as [legal counsel](https://www.mc.mil/Portals/0/pdfs/alIraqi/Al%20Iraqi%20%28AE096A%29.pdf) for Ahmed al-Darbi, who [plead guilty](https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/1342802/dod-announces-sentence-for-detainee-ahmed-mohammed-ahmed-haza-al-darbi/) to charges stemming from a 2002 al-Qaeda tanker bombing plot and who is the [brother-in-law](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/national/2007/12/22/charged-detainee-is-hijackers-brotherinlaw/92772a49-e51c-4ece-8e44-d518657ce938/) of one of the hijackers in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Former New York Gov. George Pataki told a [local CBS affiliate](https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/pataki-nyc-mayor-needs-to-reject-piker-condemn-globalize-the-intifada-before-911-mamdani-george-pataki-hasan-ground-zero-media-coverage-theories-freedom-tower-memorial-first-responders-toxic-air-national-unity-radical-islamists-ceremony) on Thursday that Mamdani should first reject [Hasan Piker](https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/7299127/hasan-piker/), who previously earned public ire over a comment that the U.S. “[deserved](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-blocks-visits-by-left-wing-us-commentators-cenk-uygur-hasan-piker-2026-06-01/)” the attack. Mamdani has already [denounced Piker’s comment](https://abcnews.com/Politics/mamdani-emotional-speech-decries-islamophobia-new-york-city/story?id=126846079). Rudy Giuliani, who was the mayor of New York in 2001, told [right-leaning news organization Newsmax](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd4jnvBunVs) that Mamdani should skip the event. “Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he's coming,” Giuliani said. The former mayor also attacked Mamdani’s religion, Islam, and baselessly suggested the mayor was supportive of Muslim extremist ideology. Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor who was nine years old when the attack happened, has long faced [Islamophobic comments](https://time.com/7301271/zohran-mamdani-muslim-islamophobia-trump/). Speaking to the [_Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/nyregion/mamdani-sept-11-muslim.html) last year, Mamdani lamented how the 2001 attacks had made anti-Muslim prejudice “a fact of life” for Muslim-Americans, claiming: “It was this horrific day that was also, for many New Yorkers, the moment at which they were marked an ‘other.’” Before Giuliani’s comments, Mamdani [signed city executive orders](https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/09/transcript--mayor-mamdani-signs-executive-orders-related-to-sept) designating Sept. 11 a New York-wide "Day of Remembrance and Service" and updating emergency preparedness procedures. But the signing caught the ire of some critics after Mamdani [handed the 9/11 ceremonial pen to Kassem](https://www.wsj.com/opinion/free-expression/mamdanis-pen-is-a-message-of-contempt-a0a3e9b0). Despite the pushback, Mamdani still plans to attend the commemoration on Friday. “I’m proud to be the mayor of this city,” Mamdani [said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4omoNoNgftE). “I love this city. I love this country. And what I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th, and a focus also on the first responders who gave everything they could to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/08/mamdani-to-release-9-11-related-documents/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/08/mamdani-to-release-9-11-related-documents/"},"headline":"Mamdani Launches Public Portal With 170,000 Pages of 9/11 Records","datePublished":"2026-09-08T11:26:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-09-08T15:47:26.050Z","description":"The New York City mayor is also facing criticism for his planned attendance to an event commemorating the tragedy.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/09/08/mamdani-to-release-9-11-related-documents/","keywords":["9/11","News Desk","New York City","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt507486a856314c1c/6aa023d72c02dd7c86355564/GettyImages-2294151135.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chad de Guzman","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt507486a856314c1c/6aa023d72c02dd7c86355564/GettyImages-2294151135.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-2294151135.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Michael M. 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