New York City’s socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has announced his Transition Committee on Legal Affairs, which includes Ramzi Kassem, a City University of New York (CUNY) law professor and former Biden White House Senior Policy Advisor. Kassem is known for founding CLEAR (Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility), a CUNY legal project that provides legal representation to Muslims accused by the federal government of ties to terrorism. Notably, CLEAR represented radical pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil. Kassem has participated in events with the pro-Hamas group Within Our Lifetime (WOL), where he provided guidance on avoiding legal risks during protests. WOL distributed a toolkit for organizing protests, including propaganda templates and slogans such as “Globalize the Intifada,” criticized by many as incitement to violence and genocide. In past remarks, Kassem controversially stated that the September 11 attacks reflected “the resentment these terrorists felt” and argued that “the legacy of 9/11 ought to be recounted primarily through the stories of Muslims.” He was honored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group linked to allegations of ties to terror-related investigations, and was a recipient of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in Legal Studies. Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations. Mamdani’s transition team also includes other controversial figures, such as Alex S. Vitale, a police-abolition theorist, and Tamika Mallory, a former Women’s March leader accused of antisemitism and financial mismanagement.
Controversial Appointments Spark Concerns as NYC Mayor-Elect Announces Legal Affairs Committee Members
