UPDATE: After the Mamdani 9/11 smear, a cover-up

As Popular Information first reported last week, a New York Post headline falsely declared on its July 26 cover: “Thousands of 9/11 families demand Mamdani be banned from 25th-Anniversary.” Reporter Rich Calder reported in the New York Post print edition, which has a circulation of about 120,000, that the petition “has collected 3,515 signatures in a little over a week, most from victims’ family members.”

This was false, according to the version of the story that was posted online. That article claimed that the petition “has collected over 1,100 signatures in a little over a week, including from at least 300 victims’ families.”

A Popular Information interview with petition organizer Giovanni Galante on July 27 revealed that the lower number was also unsubstantiated. Galante admitted that he did not maintain a list of victims’ families who signed the petition, and the 300 figure was simply an estimate of how he believed the petition spread. “We don’t have a list,” Galante said. “If you know 10 people and they give it to 10 more people they know that lost. That’s how we got the 300 number.” Galante added that he does not “go through the list” of people who signed the petition “and look at the names.” The interview was published by Popular Information on July 28.

In response to this reporting, the New York Post did not issue a correction. Instead, it quietly edited the article for a third time. On July 28 at 3:20 PM, according to the article’s metadata, the New York Post article was altered to say the petition “is circulating widely among 9/11 families and Galante estimated that between 3,000 and 7,500 of the signers are relatives of victims.”

Two things are notable. First, the New York Post is now distancing itself from the accounting, framing it instead as an estimate from Galante. Second, Galante dramatically increased his estimate from 300 to “3,000 to 7,500” less than 24 hours after his interview with Popular Information.

It is an apparent effort by the New York Post to surreptitiously justify the original July 26 cover and its baseless claims that “thousands” of 9/11 families signed the petition to exclude Mamdani from the 9/11 anniversary ceremony.

The New York Post did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the New York Post has continued to promote the anti-Mamdani petition. Since its initial piece it has published seven more articles about the petition in print and online.

The most consequential piece, which involved the efforts of at least ten New York Post reporters, is headlined, “More 9/11 families urge defiant Mamdani to stay home for 25th memorial ceremony: Here are their stories.” The piece is framed as a response to “Mamdani apologists” who “have criticized the petition’s creators and alleged The Post overestimated the number of victims’ families who don’t want Hizzoner at the solemn remembrance.”

The piece identifies a total of ten individuals who lost a family member on 9/11 who signed the petition. The views of these individuals should not be discounted, but ten is a lot less than 3,000, the minimum number of victims’ family members that the New York Post currently claims signed the petition. According to the story, the New York Post connected with “dozens of relatives” who “said they support the petition but declined to go on the record.”

Meanwhile, a group of 250 family members of 9/11 victims known as September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows issued a statement supporting Mandani’s attendance. This group was dismissed by the New York Post as a “far-left group… trying to silence 9/11 families.”

“Mayor Mamdani has consistently affirmed his intention to bear witness and honor the families, survivors, and first responders, whose lives were forever changed by the attacks,” September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows said in a statement. “In doing so, he will be carrying out the same responsibility that New York City mayors before him have undertaken: to stand with all New Yorkers in remembrance and honor those we lost. We strongly condemn the anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment underlying the effort seeking to prevent him from being at Ground Zero.”

In response to the statement, Galante told the New York Post that the petition has “nothing to do with Islam or Mamdani being Muslim.” In his interview with Popular Information, Galante described Mamdani as “a Muslim that has thoughts to get rid of all Jewish people, and to agree with 9/11.”

From the New York Post to CBS News

The New York Post’s reporting was quickly picked up by CBS News New York, which published an article on the evening of July 27. The piece began: “Thousands of 9/11 victims’ families are asking New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend this year’s solemn remembrance ceremony.” After Popular Information contacted the listed author of the piece, that line was struck from the piece and the headline was changed that evening to: “Petition asking NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend 9/11 remembrance ceremony purportedly draws thousands of signatures.”

No disclosure was added to the piece noting the initial error or correction.

On July 28, the headline was changed a third time to: “Petition from 9/11 families asks NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend remembrance ceremony.” This version, which remains in plase today, falsely suggests that the petition represents the view of 9/11 families as a group.

On July 28 at 3:08 p.m., the CBS News New York story was picked up by the main CBS News Instagram account, which has 3.3 million followers.