Retired Officers Ask Mamdani, Hochul to Skip 9/11. The Memorial’s Invitation Rules — Not Their Letter — Will Decide Access.

A Port Authority retirees’ letter demanding that New York’s mayor stay away from the 25th-anniversary ceremony is real. But its accusations are largely assertions without documented specifics, while the official program is designed around victims’ families — and the Trump administration is sending Vice President JD Vance to the New York observance.

Retired Port Authority police officers have formally asked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul not to attend the Sept. 11, 2026, commemoration at the World Trade Center site. The request is real, emotionally grounded and timed for the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

But the key claim embedded in the campaign around the letters needs a clearer accounting: the Port Authority Retired Police Association can urge elected officials to stay away; it does not establish who is entitled to attend a private memorial ceremony. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum controls credentials and access for its annual event, which is centered on victims’ families reading the names of those killed.

That distinction matters as the ceremony risks becoming a proxy fight over New York politics rather than a day of remembrance — particularly when federal officials are also expected at the site. President Donald Trump has said he will mark the anniversary at the Pentagon, while the White House has said Vice President JD Vance will attend the New York observance.

What the letter actually says

The association’s president, John McDevitt, sent a two-page letter dated Aug. 14 to Mamdani’s office. It says retired Port Authority officers “respectfully but unequivocally demand” that the mayor not attend the Sept. 11 ceremony.

The letter documents why the request carries unusual weight. The Port Authority owned and operated the World Trade Center, and 37 Port Authority police officers were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, along with 47 other members of the Port Authority family, it says. It also notes that officers and employees later died or became ill after exposure to toxic conditions at Ground Zero.

Those losses are not in dispute. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum has said the 25th-anniversary program will add a seventh moment of silence for people who died from illnesses connected to the attacks and their aftermath. The institution says 152,000 people are enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program.

The letter’s conclusion, however, is a request rather than an enforceable exclusion order. It says public office does not create an “entitlement” to participate personally in every remembrance, while also acknowledging an important difference between possessing authority to attend and having support from people directly affected by the attacks.

The official memorial’s published instructions make clear that access is controlled through its own credentialing system. The Sept. 11 ceremony is private, begins at 8:30 a.m., and provides Memorial plaza access for 9/11 family members beginning at 7 a.m. The museum has separately said that attending government officials do not give remarks and are kept in a designated area — a policy intended to keep the ceremony from becoming a political program.

The association’s broader allegations are not substantiated in its letter

The retirees’ letter says its members have “profound concerns” about Mamdani’s public statements, political associations and positions. It describes rhetoric or affiliations that members view as hostile to law enforcement or sympathetic to movements antagonistic to the United States.

Those are serious political accusations. But the letter supplies no examples, dates, quotations, records or source material to support them. It does not identify a statement by Mamdani endorsing terrorism, excusing the Sept. 11 attacks or disparaging the Port Authority officers who died. As written, the letter establishes that retired officers hold those views; it does not establish the underlying assertions as fact.

Mamdani has said he plans to attend and “proudly honor” victims’ families, survivors and first responders. That is an attributed promise, not proof of how the day will unfold. Whether his presence will distract from the ceremony is a prediction on which members of the 9/11 community plainly disagree, not a fact that can be resolved in advance.

Fox News reported that a petition seeking to keep Mamdani out had surpassed 95,000 signatures. A large petition demonstrates organized opposition, but it does not establish that it speaks for all victims’ families, survivors, responders or Port Authority personnel. Other family members have publicly defended Mamdani’s inclusion.

Hochul dispute turns on symbolism, not a documented 9/11 policy change

The retirees also wrote to Hochul, according to Fox News, objecting to her decision to illuminate One World Trade Center in green for Muslim American Heritage Month. They characterized the choice as insensitive and alleged political pandering.

The available official record supports a narrower description. On Jan. 2, 2026, Hochul issued New York’s first proclamation recognizing January as Muslim American Heritage Month and directed 16 state landmarks to be lit green, including One World Trade Center. The release described a statewide heritage observance and listed the landmarks; it did not alter the Sept. 11 commemoration, announce an event at the Memorial plaza or offer evidence of the political motive alleged by the retirees.

People who lost relatives or colleagues on Sept. 11 can reasonably find the use of the World Trade Center’s image or lighting emotionally difficult. But “political pandering” is a claim about motive, and the public record cited here does not prove it. Hochul’s office told Fox that she will attend the commemoration and that respecting 9/11 families is compatible with rejecting Islamophobia.

Why Trump’s plans sharpen the question

The dispute arrives as Trump chooses the Pentagon, not Ground Zero, for his own 25th-anniversary appearance. NBC reported that Trump said he would go to the Pentagon; the White House disputed a separate report that he changed plans because Ground Zero organizers would not permit him to speak.

There is no evidence in the supplied reporting that Trump was barred from the New York ceremony. The more concrete fact is that the memorial’s format is not built around speeches by politicians. The program is built around families reading names and seven moments of silence marking the attacks, the collapses of the towers, the Pentagon strike, the Flight 93 crash and the continuing toll of 9/11-related illnesses.

That puts the central accountability question in focus: will officials who attend follow the memorial’s nonpolitical structure, or will outside campaigns turn their presence into the story? The retirees’ letter makes its objection clear. It does not settle the access decision, verify its broader accusations against Mamdani, or speak for every family affected by Sept. 11.

Readers should watch for the Memorial & Museum’s final credentialing and security guidance, confirmation of the officials attending, and whether any public figure attempts to use a family-centered ceremony for speeches, protest or campaign messaging. On Sept. 11, 2026, those choices — more than any letter — will determine whether the 25th anniversary remains focused on the people the ceremony exists to remember.