Mamdani Names Al-Qaeda Defense Attorney As New York City’s Chief Counsel | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Virginia Kruta.

    New York City's Democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has named Ramzi Kassem - an attorney who previously represented Al Qaeda terrorists - to serve as the city's chief counsel in his administration.

    "I will turn to Ramzi for his remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system," Mamdani said of Kassem, adding, "City Hall will be stronger with him in it, and our work of building a more prosperous city for all will have a powerful advocate."

    "My sincere hope is that New Yorkers who have long felt on the margins of this city, the homeless veteran straining to survive, the patient searching for the care that they need, an immigrant trying to get by will feel that they now have leaders in their corner who understand their struggles and care to fight for them," Mamdani continued. "That is the city I want to build. The prosperity I intend to deliver and the leadership that has too long been lacking."

    Kassem said that the appointment, to him, represented a chance to give back to the city he loved: "I grew up in war-torn countries in the Middle East, authoritarian regimes, and New York City was really my first stable and permanent home. This is an opportunity for me to repay that debt. I've been trying to repay that debt ever since I came to this country, ever since I immigrated."

    Critics argued that Kassem, who once represented al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court, was a strange choice to be chief counsel in a city that was devastated by an al Qaeda-linked terrorist attack on 9/11, 2001. Al-Darbi pleaded guilty in 2014 in connection with a plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. He was convicted in 2017, and in 2018, President Donald Trump's administration transferred him to the custody of Saudi Arabia.


    He also represented Mohammad Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani, who allegedly attempted to assist in the 9/11 hijacking and was held in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for two decades. Kassem, who was teaching law at City University of New York at the time, had been working with students over the course of a decade to get him returned to Saudi Arabia. They succeeded in doing so in 2022.

    In more recent history, Kassem represented pro-Hamas Columbia University agitator Mahmoud Khalil - and prior to that, he served in President Joe Biden's White House Domestic Policy Council as a senior policy adviser.

    New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino responded to the appointment, saying, "Less than 25 years after thousands of New Yorkers were killed on 9/11, the Chief Counsel of New York is going to be an Islamist lawyer who came to this country after 9/11 specifically to defend the very Al Qaeda terrorists we were fighting against. The fact that our immigration system post 9/11 even allowed him to step foot into the country is a monumental failure. Disgraceful isn't a big enough word for what's happening here. The federal government must get a LOT more involved in New York. We cannot allow these people to go unchecked."

poll#218

Now that President Trump is picking his cabinet and immediate staff to insulate him from the poor judgement of the Bureaucratic Class, while moving quickly to transition this Constitutional Republic unto a wise and sustainable direction: What is your immediate impression as to how our nation will prosper?

  We are headed toward a Golden Age in America's self-governed society.

  This will all wind up in a clustered mess since Trump is a Fascist, and thought to be the second coming of Adolf Hitler by our best journalists.

  This is a time where critical days lay ahead, where only wise and responsible decisions must be made to sustain US.

  I generally do not pay attention, but expect only the best to occur ... and that is what I always expect.

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poll#201

Considering what real news is available for all to witness, and in great specificity, should one pursue what is true outside of the channeled realm of the corrupt corporate /legacy media, and: Is Institutionalized Corruption real, and is it a hindrance to sustaining our Constitutional Republic now, and for future generations of American citizens?

  Yes

  No

  Not sure

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poll#223

In the shadow of the political assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning USA, a stain now exists upon our nation's collective conscious, a condition that must be exorcised, or our nation will not function properly as one of a self-governed people. Understanding these long standing truths: What would you suggest as a quick, and, or proper corrective measure?

  Destroy the Fascist Donald Trump and all of MAGA, because America must never be Great Again.

  Our self-governed people, and their properly restored institutions, under President Trump, must discover the root causes to properly correct, and save our Constitutional Republic.

  I thought we had to shut down Free Speech we don't like to save our "democracy," so I am totally confused now.

102 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?