Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is sharing posts praising his response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s release of more than 170,000 pages of municipal records, which reveal that city officials from back in the day seemingly “lied” about the air quality impact.“Close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself… The devastating truth is that the suffering did not end once the smoke cleared and the dust settled. People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” the current NYC Mayor Mamdani said in a press conference.Rudy Giuliani was the city’s mayor from 1994 to 2001. Now, amid Mamdani’s announcement of the public documents and an online portal with open access for survivors, Giuliani is reposting netizens praising his efforts in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.“America’s Mayor. Rudy is who held our country together. God Bless Him for his steady calmness and leadership. No other Mayor in our country could have kept our nation calm. Thank you, Rudy,” an X user wrote alongside a minute-long footage of Rudy walking down the streets of Manhattan on that fateful day.Rudy Giuliani’s staff responded to the post by writing:“The safest evacuation of over a million people out of lower Manhattan led by @RudyGiuliani. Posted by staff.”Another X user wrote:“Thank you, Rudy, for going straight to the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 to see if you could help first responders coordinate rescue efforts and help save as many victims as possible, with your Brave Leadership! [thumbs up emoji] us.”Rudy Giuliani replied with a “Thank you” and praying hands emoji. A follow-up post called him “the best Mayor in New York City History”, to which the 82-year-old former attorney wrote:“We will never forget the cowardly terrorist attack on innocent Americans. God bless the families of the victims.”Rudy Giuliani also thanked reality TV star Spencer Pratt for his praise. Pratt unsuccessfully ran for the Los Angeles mayorship, coming in third in the primary election earlier this year.Exploring Mamdani and other officials’ statements about 9/11 records amid Rudy Giuliani’s pushbackOn Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani stood alongside 9/11 survivors and victims’ families, including comedian, TV host, and progressive political commentator Jon Stewart, at a press meet to announce the release of the city’s records. The release follows the settlement of two lawsuits filed by 9/11 Health Watch seeking access to the long-withheld documents.“For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place… Administration after administration has ignored those calling for answers and clarity. We will do no such thing… It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way. It could not be further [from what occurred].”The current mayor hinted that then-city officials seemingly downplayed the health risks to the public, and the documents reveal asbestos was found “nearly everywhere” near Ground Zero, the World Trade Center collapse site.The air quality records from the time include an internal memo that states that the city weighed the potential liability related to air quality. Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) stated:“My colleagues and I who represented Ground Zero and the surrounding communities immediately warned local and federal officials of the health risks posed by toxins in the air at the time. Our warnings were not heeded, and now we and the public know that city hall, led by former mayor Rudy Giuliani, predicted that thousands of responders and community members would face devastating long-term health impacts from these toxins.”Gale Brewer, a NYC council member, echoed similar sentiments.“For 25 years, first responders, survivors, families, and people who lived, worked and went to school in lower Manhattan have lived with the health consequences of 9/11 while critical pieces of the city’s own record – HOW they got sick – remained out of reach.”Brewer added that the online portal is a “great first step” toward giving the public both access and clarity, which were “denied” by past administrations.Since the 9/11 attacks, Rudy Giuliani has been succeeded by Michael Bloomberg (I), Bill de Blasio (D), and Eric Adams (D) as the NYC Mayor, before Mamdani took office earlier this year.The mayor’s office also released the fiscal 2027 budget and allocated $34 million to “create and maintain” the online portal of 9/11 records. When a reporter asked Mamdani whether Rudy Giuliani “lied” about the air quality, the city’s leader responded:“I leave it to New Yorkers to make their judgments. What we want to do is finally allow them the documents that they have long been demanding.”Ahead of the 25th anniversary ceremony of 9/11, Rudy Giuliani previously stated:“Frankly, whatever he’d like to say, he doesn’t agree that September 11th was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America. Having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming.”In July, Mamdani released a statement, which read:“I will proudly honour the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration.”At this week’s press conference, Mamdani added:“I’m proud to be the mayor of this city. I love this city. I love this country.”He also mentioned that the “focus” of the memorial should be on the New Yorkers who died that day and the first responders who “gave their everything”, and not on politicians.The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the passengers and crew on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. According to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, over 400,000 individuals were exposed to toxic air in Manhattan alone, near Ground Zero and 49,000 emergency personnel and survivors were diagnosed with WTC Health-certified cancers.Nearly 140,000 people from all 50 states were enrolled in the WTC Health Program as of December 2024. It was launched under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2011 during the Obama administration.