9/11 Victim’s Brother To Mamdani: Stay Away From Ground Zero

The brother of a man killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks has a blunt message for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Don’t bother showing up at the Ground Zero memorial.

Dennis McGinley, whose brother Daniel Francis McGinley died on the 89th floor when terrorists struck the World Trade Center in 2001, tore into Mamdani during a fiery sit-down with NewsNation anchor Katie Pavlich, accusing the socialist mayor and his political peers of hijacking the tragedy’s legacy for their own narratives.

Daniel, then 40, was a senior vice president at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods when he was murdered alongside nearly 3,000 others that morning. His brother has since become one of the most outspoken advocates for victims’ families, frequently sparring with leftist politicians he believes have lost sight of who actually suffered that day.

Asked by Pavlich how to confront a younger generation that seems increasingly willing to rationalize the atrocity, McGinley didn’t pull punches. He suggested the critics in question lack real-world experience, saying, “These people, they don’t seem very bright to me. From what I’ve read, I don’t think they’ve ever had a job. They just go to like an Ivy League school for like 10 years.”

He wondered aloud whether their tune would change if someone they loved had faced the horrifying choice so many victims confronted that day.

“I do think that if one of their relatives or loved ones had shown up to work, and within an hour after arriving at work, they had to decide, do I jump from the 100th floor of this building or do I burn alive?” he added.

McGinley said he wouldn’t wish the past quarter-century of grief on anyone — but argued that anyone seeking public office, especially in New York, owes the city’s residents more compassion than he believes has been shown.

Then he tore into politicians, noting that they traditionally pose for photos behind the rope line at the annual Ground Zero ceremony before vanishing.

“Being that it’s a political season and campaign season, and that’s usually when the politicians show up down at Ground Zero for the memorial every year — you know, they’re behind their ropes and they’re laughing, smiling, taking their photo ops, and then they take off,” McGinley said. “We certainly hope that none of these politicians show up down there for their photo op. We do not want them there, and that goes for Mayor Mamdani as well.”

"We certainly hope that none of these politicians show up down there for their photo op – we do not want them there – and that goes for Mayor Mamdani as well."

WATCH: Dennis McGinley – whose brother Daniel was murdered in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 – joins Katie… pic.twitter.com/DS46Q65hvG

— Katie Pavlich Tonight (@KatiePavlichNN) June 27, 2026

This follows months of controversy surrounding how Mamdani discusses the terror attack. Speaking last September, he focused on Islamophobia, saying, “It became a fact of life. It was this horrific day that was also for many New Yorkers the moment at which they were marked an ‘other.’”

A month later, he invoked an aunt he said stopped riding the subway after the attacks out of fear for wearing a hijab.

Conservative commentators bitterly criticized Mamdani. CNN contributor Scott Jennings blasted the remarks online, writing, “There was one big thing missing from Zohran Mamdani’s emotional remarks about 9/11: Any mention of the VICTIMS of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil. What are we to infer from this?”

There was one big thing missing from Zohran Mamdani's emotional remarks about 9/11:

Any mention of the VICTIMS of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil.

What are we to infer from this? pic.twitter.com/qNXxR03a0m

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) October 25, 2025

On air, Jennings doubled down, declaring:

I think if you’re going to run for mayor of New York City, have any position in New York City and you’re going to talk about 9/11 or invoke 9/11, you darn sure better start with the people who died in the Twin Towers. That’s what I think. And he didn’t do that and he made it about his experience and his aunt and all this. … That moment in our history, you cannot lose sight of what happened. People died in those Twin Towers. They did not deserve to die. We did suffer a terrorist attack and we can’t really forget the moment, making it about him and his family. There were almost 3,000 people that died there. It’s a big deal.

For McGinley and other grieving relatives, the message is simple: 9/11 remembrance belongs to the dead and those who loved them, not to politicians chasing a sympathetic storyline.