New York City Releases Declassified 9/11 Documents Revealing Toxic Air Cover-Up

NEW YORK — In a landmark disclosure on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the release of 170,000 pages of previously hidden records detailing the toxic air quality at Ground Zero.

Mayor Mamdani stated flatly that New Yorkers were “lied to” by previous city administrations regarding the safety of the air downtown.

The newly unsealed documents suggest that officials were fully aware of severe environmental hazards—including widespread asbestos—but chose to suppress the data to limit the city’s financial and legal liability.

“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said during a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday.

He noted that in the two and a half decades since the tragedy, the death toll from 9/11-related illnesses has surpassed the number of people killed on the day of the attacks.

The release follows the settlement of two major lawsuits, ending a years-long legal battle by successive mayoral administrations to keep the documents under wraps.

Mamdani emphasized that the data, which confirms asbestos was found almost everywhere inspectors tested, will finally help survivors and first responders access the healthcare they deserve.

Comedian and advocate Jon Stewart joined Mayor Mamdani for the announcement, taking a sharp swipe at the decades of bureaucratic silence. Referring to an internal October 2001 memo, Stewart noted that officials knew the air was toxic within weeks of the attacks. “So, to be fair to them, they only buried that information for 25 years,” Stewart said. “Everyone knew, and now it’s very clear that the city knew as well.”

The 2001 terrorist attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,753 people in New York and left a catastrophic cloud of debris across Lower Manhattan. In the decades since, thousands of first responders, recovery workers, and residents have developed severe illnesses.

According to the city’s latest health report, more than 10,000 members of the Fire Department alone suffer from certified 9/11-related physical health conditions.