Conservative firebrand Laura Loomer issued a pointed warning to Vice President JD Vance this week, urging him to avoid being photographed shaking hands with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Friday’s 9/11 memorial ceremony.
“I’m saying this from a place of concern,” Loomer wrote on X Tuesday night. “Mr. Vice President, do not shake Zohran Mamdani’s hand when you attend the 9/11 ceremony in New York. It will be a photo you live to regret forever. Take my advice. It’s the best advice you will get all week.”
Loomer’s comments came in response to remarks from New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, who has been sharply critical of Mamdani after some 9/11 family members asked the mayor not to attend the ceremony at all. Mamdani drew controversy last week after signing a pair of 9/11-related executive orders and handing a ceremonial pen to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who passed it along to the city’s chief legal counsel, Ramzi Kassem. Kassem previously served as an attorney for al-Qaeda operative Ahmed al-Darbi.
Loomer expanded her warning to all politicians attending Friday’s ceremony, writing that she would “rather chop my hand off” than be photographed with Mamdani and calling it the “worst photo opp” imaginable. She also pointed to Mamdani’s past association with far-left streamer Hasan Piker.
In a separate post, Loomer went further, calling on Vance to refuse a handshake as “the most America First thing” he could do on the anniversary, describing Mamdani as a “jihadist” who campaigned alongside Piker.
Vance is set to attend the New York ceremony this year, while President Donald Trump will instead speak at the Pentagon. Reports have suggested Trump is skipping the New York event because he was told he would not be permitted to give a speech there, though White House officials pushed back on that characterization, saying the president and vice president simply split coverage of the day’s commemorations between the two sites given the significance of the Pentagon attack as well.
