New York’s Last Republican Governor Has 9/11-Related Illness

Former Governor George Pataki (R-NY) revealed that he is suffering from lung disease related to the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks.

Just days before the United States marked the 25th anniversary of those deadly attacks, Pataki told The New York Post that he was diagnosed approximately five years ago with restrictive airway disease as a result of the time he spent breathing in toxic dust at Ground Zero.

“I just look at it as I’m one of the lucky ones,” he told the outlet. “You know, 25 years later, I feel great. I have this minor residual impact from that time. But compared to so many others, I consider myself very lucky.”

“The people who were with me at Ground Zero over and over for months after those attacks, many of them have serious illnesses, far more serious than anything I might be experiencing,” he added, comparing himself to many others who have been diagnosed with graver illnesses and even cancers as a result of prolonged exposure.

Pataki, who served as the state’s last Republican governor between 1995 and 2006, is just one of many who have felt the lasting impact of toxic dust exposure at the site where the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also a Republican, revealed a similar condition when he was hospitalized months earlier with pneumonia. At the time, his spokesperson explained that the restrictive airway disease — that impacted so many who had spent time at Ground Zero — made even routine illnesses like influenza and the common cold far more dangerous.

The former governor also joined a number of others who have called for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — a self-described Democratic socialist — to keep his distance from the 9/11 25th anniversary ceremonies and memorials. Pataki cited Mamdani’s own previous comments — as well as associations with radical Muslims and antisemitic political figures — and suggested that he would not be well-received unless he made a sharp turn.

“If he says he will have nothing to do with Hasan Piker, and if he says he will condemn the statement, ‘globalize the intifada,’ then I would have no problem with him being here,” he explained.

Mamdani appears to be headed in the opposite direction, however. After declaring that he still intended to attend the memorials, he raised eyebrows in a Friday signing ceremony. After signing declarations officially recognizing 9/11 as a Day of Remembrance and addressing security in the event of a future terror attack, the mayor handed the ceremonial pen to a city official with direct ties to terrorists linked to the 9/11 attacks.