Laura Loomer warns JD Vance he’ll ‘regret’ it if he shakes Zohran Mamdani’s hand at 9/11 ceremony

Laura Loomer warns JD Vance he’ll ‘regret’ it if he shakes Zohran Mamdani’s hand at 9/11 ceremony ‘It will be a photo you live to regret forever if you shake his hand at the 9/11 memorial,’ Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur, wrote on X - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer publicly urged Vice President JD Vance to refuse a handshake with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at an upcoming 9/11 anniversary ceremony. Loomer, an ally of President Donald Trump with a large social media following, made the plea Tuesday in a series of X posts laced with anti-Muslim rhetoric. “I'm saying this from a place of concern: Mr. Vice President…Do not shake [Mamdani's] hand when you attend the 9/11 ceremony in New York,” she wrote. “It will be a photo you live to regret forever if you shake his hand at the 9/11 memorial.” In a separate post, she wrote that the “most America First thing” Vance can do “on 9/11 is refuse to shake the dirty Muslim Mayor's hand.” She also baselessly characterized Mamdani as a “jihadist.” “I'd rather chop my hand off than be caught in that photo,” Loomer added in a third post hours later. “I can't think of a worse photo opp.” Vance is scheduled to travel to New York City Friday for a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Like past mayors, Mamdani will be in attendance. Mamdani, a democratic socialist and New York's first Muslim mayor, has faced calls from prominent Republicans to skip the anniversary event. On Sunday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was in office in 2001, told Newsmax that he opposes Mamdani attending the downtown event. “It offends me that he's coming,” Giuliani said before baselessly claiming that Mamdani supports a plot to “take us over” and compared him to al-Qaeda terrorists. Earlier this month, former New York Governor George Pataki, who was in office during the attacks, told City & State that Mamdani should skip the event. "With respect to the mayor, I think anyone who doesn't intentionally distance themselves from Hasan Piker, who has said that America deserved the attacks of September 11th, should not be there," Pataki told the outlet. Piker, a far-left streamer, is a vocal supporter of the mayor. Conservative critics have also challenged Mamdani's appointment of Ramzi Kassem as the city's chief legal counsel, citing Kassem's past representation of a man whose brother-in-law was one of the 9/11 hijackers. The controversy intensified after The New York Post reported Saturday that, following the mayor's signing of an executive order designating September 11 as a "Day of Remembrance and Service," the ceremonial pen was handed to Kassem. Mamdani, who has condemned the 2001 attacks as “horrific,” said he still plans to attend Friday's ceremony. “I will proudly honor 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, reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home and, frankly, by all of us who call this country home,” he told City & State. Also this week, he released over 170,000 pages of internal records that show officials misled people about the safety of the air around Ground Zero after the September 11 terror attacks. “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said during a news conference. One prominent official who will not be in attendance on Friday is President Donald Trump. According to The New York Times, the Republican president had initially planned to be there, but changed his mind after he was informed that no political speeches were allowed. After the story was published, Trump claimed that reporter Maggie Haberman had “made up the story.” The president will instead commemorate 9/11 by attending a service at the Pentagon alongside first lady Melania Trump. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] REALD REAL AMERICA'S AMERICA'S VOICE VOICE LD NOTHI