Socialist NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Sparks Outrage After Appointing Lawyer Who Defended al-Qaeda Terrorist and Columbia Activist as City’s Top Legal Counsel

New York City’s incoming Democratic Socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has ignited a fierce political firestorm after announcing the appointment of controversial attorney Ramzi Kassem as the city’s chief legal counsel, despite Kassem’s past defense of an al-Qaeda terrorist and other radical activists.

The city that was terrorized by Islam 24 years ago will now have an Islamist serving as its chief counsel.

Mamdani confirmed on Tuesday that Kassem — a City University of New York law professor and longtime civil rights lawyer — will serve as the city’s Chief Counsel, the highest legal advisory role in the incoming administration.

“I am delighted to announce that I am naming Ramzi Kassem as Chief Counsel. Ramzi will be joining the administration from CUNY, where he serves as a professor of law. Government service is no novel concept for Ramzi, who served as a senior policy advisor for President Biden from 2022 to 2024 and has deep experience arguing in court, including before the Supreme Court.

I will turn to Ramzi for his remarkable experience and his commitment to defending those too often abandoned by our legal system. 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 veterans 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.

The city I want to build, the prosperity I intend to deliver, and the leadership that has too long been lacking.”

NEW: Zohran Mamdani announced the nomination of Ramzi Kassem as Chief Counsel of New York City.

Kassem returned to America from the Middle East in 2001, inspired by 9/11 to defend an Al Qaeda terrorist.

“I found myself pulled in the direction of doing rights work domestically… pic.twitter.com/Duxc04q3b3

— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) December 31, 2025

The Office of the Chief Counsel oversees various city functions and initiatives, acting as a primary liaison and advisor on a wide range of municipal legal matters.

• Providing legal guidance to the Mayor and City Hall policymakers.
• Overseeing operations and liaising with several agencies, including the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, the Office of Labor Relations, and the Business Integrity Commission.
• Advising on legislative and policy matters, compliance, ethics, and transparency.

More from Fox News:

“Kassem served as lead counsel in al-Darbi’s defense. In 2014, al-Darbi pled guilty before a U.S. military commission to conspiracy in connection with an al Qaeda terrorist plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Limburg off the coast of Yemen. One civilian was killed in the attack and several others were injured. He was convicted of the crime in 2017 and was transferred by the Trump administration in 2018 to Saudi Arabia’s custody.

“While it may not make him whole, my hope is that repatriation at least marks the end of injustice for Ahmed,” Kassem said at the time of the transfer, adding he had “16 long and painful years in captivity.”

In 2025, Kassem represented anti-Israel activist and Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil who was arrested by ICE for his alleged role in leading antisemitic demonstrations on campus. Khalil has since been released, though his legal case is ongoing.

[…]

Kassem is the founder of the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) law clinic, a project that, according to its website, has a mandate “to support Muslim and all other client, communities, and movements in the New York City area and beyond that are targeted by local, state, or federal government agencies under the guise of national security and counterterrorism.”

State Assemblyman Kalman Yeger, a Brooklyn Democrat, blasted Kassem’s appointment, accusing Mamdani of sending a clear signal to “America haters” that they are welcome in his City Hall, the New York Post reported.

“In a city as great as New York, there are any number of brilliant legal minds willing and able to serve who have not previously defended terrorists as an Al Qaeda lawyer,” the former councilman said.

“The mayor-elect probably realized he couldn’t nominate him as Corporation Counsel, as that is subject to City Council confirmation, and even the City Council doesn’t hate America that much,” he added.

Ramzi Kassem is set to begin his new job as New York City’s chief counsel on January 1, 2026, when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani takes office.

Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, a member of the Republican Party representing District 19 in Queens, New York City, also weighed in, stating:

“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.”

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