FFormer New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he told Mayor Zohran Mamdani that he “prays for him all the time” during a 9/11 memorial ceremony, despite their public feud.
Giuliani, 82, and Mamdani, 34, shook hands and exchanged a few words while attending a ceremony at the Ground Zero memorial Friday morning.
Their meeting came just days after Giuliani said he was “offended” by the prospect of Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, attending the city’s 25th anniversary memorial service for those killed in the terrorist attacks.
Giuliani has since revealed what was said during the awkward conversation, including praising Mamdani for staying at the ceremony throughout, according to the New York Post.
“We ended up facing each other. I said, ‘I pray for you all the time,'” the former GOP mayor told the Post.
Mamdani, whose face was hidden from view, appeared to say something in response before letting go of Giuliani’s hand and turning to greet others present.
According to Giuliani, the mayor simply replied, “Thank you.”
“We realized that if one of us turned on the other, it would be history,” Giuliani told The Post.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he told Zoran Mamdani that he “prays for him all the time” during a 9/11 memorial ceremony.
Their meeting came just days after Giuliani said he was “offended” by the prospect of Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, attending the city’s 25th anniversary memorial service for those killed.
Giuliani has since revealed what was said during the exchange, including praising Mamdani for remaining at the ceremony throughout, The New York Post reported.
Speaking about Mamdani remaining at the ceremony, Giuliani told The Post: “I give him credit for that. The whole event would be different. It’s about respect for families and the solemnity of the event.”
“I give him credit for that. The whole event would have been different,” he added. “It’s about respect for families, the solemnity of the event.”
While acknowledging that their differences are “strong and have not changed,” Giuliani nonetheless again praised Mamdani for staying “until the very end.”
However, Giuliani said he remains “troubled that he’s associating with guys who say 9/11 was our fault,” the outlet reported.
The former mayor was also greeted by Vice President J.D. Vance when they arrived at the ceremony Friday morning, with the pair shaking hands and exchanging a few short, unintelligible words.
Giuliani was nicknamed “America’s Mayor” for his leadership of New York City after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Earlier this week, he launched a war of words with Mamdani ahead of the anniversary, accusing the Big Apple’s current mayor of “harassing the people who are the most important people in this celebration.”
“He directly supports the movement that killed their children,” he told Newsmax.
Mamdani referred to remarks he made Tuesday morning, insisting that 9/11 memorial services should focus on “the New Yorkers killed that day, their families, survivors, first responders” rather than politicians.
Giuliani was also greeted by Vice President J.D. Vance as they arrived at the ceremony Friday morning.
Giuliani was nicknamed “America’s Mayor” for his leadership of New York City after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Earlier this week, Giuliani accused Mamdani of “disturbing the people who are the most important people in this celebration” if he attended the 9/11 memorial.
Mamdani insisted that 9/11 memorial services should focus on “the New Yorkers killed that day, their families, survivors, first responders” rather than politicians.
Mamdani released nearly 200,000 never-before-seen records that appear to show that the Giuliani administration was aware of the toxic danger posed by air quality after 9/11.
He then released some 170,000 never-before-seen records that appeared to prove the Giuliani administration was aware of the toxic danger posed by post-9/11 air quality.
Announcing the release of the documents through the city’s online portal, Mamdani said people got sick after 9/11 because leaders they trusted lied to them by telling them it was safe to breathe toxic air.
Giuliani responded with a strongly worded statement through his spokesman, saying the terrorists behind the attacks “bear 100 percent responsibility” for all the “suffering and illness” suffered by New Yorkers, NBC reported.
“It’s a shame that Mayor Mamdani is now trying to score cheap partisan political points by blaming 9/11 on local officials who rushed to the scene rather than on radical Islam,” his spokesman said Wednesday.
He also pointed the finger at the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the agency declared the air samples safe and then “apologized” and said “it did the best it could based on its knowledge at the time.”
Mamdani also faced criticism from former Republican Gov. George Pataki and relatives of 9/11 victims, who pointed, among other things, to past remarks by some of his political allies about the attacks.
But Mamdani, who was in elementary school in Manhattan when the attacks occurred, said this week that he loves the city and the country and called 9/11 a “horrible act of terrorism.”
Twenty-five years ago, 2,977 people died when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, causing two of them to crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
Mamdani said people got sick after 9/11 because leaders they trusted lied to them, telling them it was safe to breathe toxic air.
Giuliani responded through a spokesman, saying the terrorists behind the attacks “bear 100 percent responsibility” for all the “suffering and illness” suffered by New Yorkers.
Twenty-five years ago, 2,977 people died when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, causing two of them to crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
President Donald Trump was noticeably absent from the memorial service in New York, instead speaking at the Pentagon after being blocked from giving a speech in Manhattan.
Mamdani was an elementary school student in Manhattan when the September 11 attacks occurred.
One crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while the passengers and crew of the fourth plane fought back against the hijackers, eventually bringing the plane down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks, joined Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden at the National Sept. 11 Memorial in New York to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks on Friday.
Other administration officials gathered at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.
President Donald Trump was noticeably absent from the memorial service in New York, instead delivering a speech at the Pentagon.