Former mayor of New York CityRudy Giuliani denied accusations that he and his administration covered up evidence regarding dangerous airborne toxins following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the city.
“My administration posted everything,” Giuliani, 82, told the New York Post on Thursday, September 24. “EPA initially said everything was safe. I was at the end of my administration when 9/11 happened. I was told approximately 10 months after I left office that more information was known.”
Giuliani’s claims come after current Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s administration released 170,000 documents relating to the air quality at Ground Zero after the attacks.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani, 34, said on September 8, three days ahead of the 25th anniversary.
Included in the newly-released documents was an October 2001 memo claiming “health advisories caused individuals either to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm) or too late (causing economic hardship),” per CNN.
Mega Agency
Giuliani, of course, served as the mayor of New York City from January 1, 1994, to December 31, 2001.
“For 25 years, four different mayoral administrations kept from the public, the US Congress, and the City Council documents showing what the city actually knew about the danger of the toxic chemicals in Lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn after the World Trade Center collapse — even as city officials continued messaging to the public that the air was ‘safe and acceptable,'” Benjamin Chevat, the executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, told the Post.