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9/11 Took Her Son. Then the New York Post Smeared Him as a Terrorist

27 claims checked · Published September 2026 · Checked September 2026

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  1. Claim 1
    Accurate96% confidence▶ 0:30
    “He was a devout Muslim, prayed five times a day.”

    Hamdani prayed five times a day.

    A contemporaneous Washington Post report quoted Hamdani's family as saying that he prayed five times a day and took his religious practice seriously.

    Sources

  2. Claim 2
    Contested50% confidence▶ 0:32
    “He was a NYPD cadet as well as a first responder.”

    Hamdani was an NYPD cadet and a first responder in the broad sense that he went to the World Trade Center to help, but his formal classification as a 9/11 first responder is disputed.

    Hamdani's NYPD-cadet and EMT roles and his presence at the World Trade Center are well documented. However, institutions have disagreed over whether those facts satisfy the formal category of an official 9/11 first responder.

    Concluded by Michigan State University and Hamdani's family have described or advocated recognizing him as a first responder because he was an EMT who went to the World Trade Center to assist.Rejected or unresolved by The NYPD and 9/11 Memorial-related authorities have rejected classifying him as an official first responder because he was no longer an active cadet and did not meet the formal criteria.

    The phrase "first responder" is judged in its formal memorial-recognition sense; in the ordinary descriptive sense of someone who went to assist at the attack site, the evidence supports it.

    Checked twice, independently: the first pass returned Contested and the second Misleading. Recorded as Contested.

    Sources

  3. Claim 3
    Misleading90% confidence▶ 0:45
    “Because maybe he was a part-time worker.”

    Hamdani may not have been recognized as a first responder because he was a part-time worker.

    Hamdani did work part time as an EMT, so the statement has a factual basis. But the NYPD's stated reason was that his cadet service had ended and he was not part of the official response; the memorial also applied formal eligibility criteria.

    Omits: The official explanation also concerned the expiration of Hamdani's NYPD cadet service before September 11, 2001 and the memorial's requirement for formal first-responder credentials, not simply his part-time EMT work.

    Sources

  4. Claim 4
    Misleading50% confidence▶ 1:05
    “25 years after September the 11th, nearly 3,000 families are remembering the people who never came home that day.”

    The 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks involved families remembering nearly 3,000 people who died that day.

    Authoritative sources document nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks, but they do not establish an equivalent number of bereaved families. The wording creates the impression that the number of families is known to match the number of victims.

    Omits: The established figure is nearly 3,000 people killed, not nearly 3,000 separate families; some families may have lost more than one person, so the number of families cannot be inferred from the victim count.

    Checked twice, independently: the first pass returned Accurate and the second Misleading. Recorded as Misleading.

    Sources

  5. Claim 5
    Accurate98% confidence▶ 1:20
    “Talat Hamdani lost her 23-year-old son Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Muslim New Yorker, EMT, and NYPD cadet, who was headed to his research job that morning, but instead went toward the World Trade Center to help.”

    Mohammad Salman Hamdani was a 23-year-old Muslim New Yorker who was an EMT and NYPD cadet, was traveling to a research job, and went toward the World Trade Center to help.

    Rockefeller University and contemporaneous reporting identify Hamdani as a 23-year-old research employee and trained EMT who diverted toward the World Trade Center to assist; other sources identify him as an NYPD cadet and Muslim American.

    Sources

  6. Claim 6
    Accurate98% confidence▶ 1:38
    “Donna campaigning for peace and against anti-Muslim hatred and Talat Hamdani lost her 23-year-old son Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Muslim New Yorker, EMT, and NYPD cadet, who was headed to his research job that morning, but instead went toward the World Trade Center to help.”

    Vanessa Lang Langer was 29, four months pregnant, and worked in the World Trade Center's South Tower when she died on September 11, 2001.

    The transcript's Vanessa statement is supported by contemporaneous and later accounts identifying her as a 29-year-old pregnant victim who worked in World Trade Center Tower II, the South Tower.

    Sources

  7. Claim 7
    Accurate98% confidence▶ 3:06
    “I remember the 29-year-old woman who was going to change our lives. Um she told me very clearly, "You will be called Grandma. No No any other name." Um and she was taken that day.”

    Vanessa was 29 years old and was killed on September 11, 2001.

    Memorial and obituary records identify Vanessa Langer as 29 and place her among those killed at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

    Sources

  8. Claim 8
    Accurate97% confidence▶ 4:23
    “Talat, your son, Salman was 23 years old. He didn't work at the World Trade Center. He was on his way to a research job that morning, but he instead went towards the towers to help and he never came out.”

    Salman Hamdani was 23, did not work at the World Trade Center, was traveling to a research job, diverted to the towers to help, and died there.

    Independent accounts identify Hamdani as a 23-year-old research worker who went toward the World Trade Center to assist and whose remains were later identified in the wreckage.

    Sources

    • 1September 11th Archives | StoryCorps

      SupportsOn September 11, 2001, Salman Hamdani was a 23-year-old emergency medical technician, NYPD cadet, and aspiring medical student who rushed to the World Trade Center that morning to help.

    • 2World Memorial: EMS Personnel Who Died on 9/11

      SupportsHe got on the train to go to his research job at Rockefeller University, but then disappeared. No one was sure what became of Salman Hamdani until six months later, on March 20, 2002, when his remains were positively identified at the site of the World Trade Center.

  9. Claim 9
    Accurate99% confidence▶ 5:35
    “a NYPD cadet as well as a first responder, a certified EMT.”

    Salman Hamdani was an NYPD cadet and a certified EMT.

    A congressional record describes Hamdani as a certified FDNY EMT and a member of the NYPD Cadet Corps; New York City records also identify him as an EMT and NYPD cadet.

    Sources

  10. Claim 10
    False94% confidence▶ 5:57
    “And instead of going to his job at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which was his first year of uh uh medical school, he went down there to help.”

    The man being discussed was working at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute during his first year of medical school and went to the World Trade Center to help.

    The available reporting supports that Hamdani went toward the World Trade Center to help, but it describes him as a research assistant and medical-school applicant, not someone already in his first year of medical school.

    Sources

  11. Claim 11
    Accurate99% confidence▶ 7:11
    “You don't go to war when 19 hijackers come into your nation or were bred in your nation and attack, no matter how big the attack, you explore every every avenue.”

    Nineteen hijackers entered or were present in the United States and carried out the September 11 attacks.

    The FBI identifies 19 men who hijacked and crashed the four planes, and states that all 19 were in the United States by early July 2001. The wording is unusual, but its factual core is accurate.

    Sources

  12. Claim 12
    Accurate50% confidence▶ 7:49
    “There were people claiming maybe he was involved.”

    People suggested that Salman Hamdani might have been involved in the attacks because he was Muslim and his first name was Mohammad.

    Contemporary and later accounts document suspicion directed at Hamdani after his disappearance, including a New York Post story and official or media inquiries. The specific causal attribution to his Muslim identity and first name is reported by his family and later commentators.

    Sources

  13. Claim 13
    Accurate99% confidence▶ 8:07
    “Yes, there was an article in New York Post which said with this picture, "Missing or Hiding?"”

    The New York Post published an article about Salman Hamdani with the headline “Missing or Hiding?”

    Independent reporting confirms that the New York Post published a story about Hamdani under the headline “Missing or Hiding?”

    Sources

  14. Claim 14
    Accurate86% confidence▶ 8:19
    “So, in the article he wrote uh he was seen at the Midtown Tunnel at 11:00 a.m. and he carried the Quran with him.”

    The New York Post article reported that Salman Hamdani was seen at the Midtown Tunnel at 11:00 a.m. carrying the Quran.

    Available accounts of the October 12, 2001 article say it claimed that someone saw Hamdani at the Midtown Tunnel at 11 a.m. and that he had a Quran. This verifies what the article reported, not that the sighting itself was accurate.

    Sources

  15. Claim 15
    Accurate92% confidence▶ 8:19
    “He was a devout Muslim, prayed five times a day.”

    Salman Hamdani was a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day.

    A later interview with Talat Hamdani repeats that Salman was a devout Muslim who prayed five times daily. The statement is attributed to his mother, rather than established through an independent religious-practice record.

    Sources

    • 1Talat Hamdani

      SupportsSalman was a devout Muslim who prayed five times a day, Talat said.

  16. Claim 16
    Accurate99% confidence▶ 9:00
    “And just now the second tower is coming down.”

    The second World Trade Center tower was collapsing at that moment.

    The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. on September 11, 2001, followed by the North Tower at 10:28 a.m.; thus the second tower did come down during the attacks.

    Sources

  17. Claim 17
    Accurate99% confidence▶ 9:38
    “He's not He's not acknowledged as a first responder at all.”

    Hamdani was not recognized in the 9/11 Memorial's first-responder category.

    His name is engraved at the 9/11 Memorial, but it is listed among World Trade Center victims rather than under first responders. The Memorial defines first responders as those who received the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor.

    The phrase "at all" is judged in the context of formal first-responder recognition at the 9/11 Memorial, not as a claim that Hamdani received no recognition whatsoever.

    Sources

  18. Claim 18
    Accurate98% confidence▶ 9:43
    “Even though he was a Even though he was an EMT and NYPD cadet, and he did rush into that Ground Zero.”

    Mohammad Salman Hamdani was an EMT and an NYPD cadet who went to the World Trade Center to help.

    Newsday identifies Hamdani as an NYPD cadet and part-time EMT, and reports that he dashed into the Twin Towers to try to rescue people.

    Sources

  19. Claim 19
    Unverifiable50% confidence▶ 10:11
    “He didn't get a medal from President Bush or some such thing, you know.”

    Hamdani did not receive the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor from President George W. Bush.

    Memorial officials reportedly used receipt of the 9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor as part of the first-responder listing criteria, but the specific attribution of that explanation to Bloomberg is not independently confirmed.

    Checked twice, independently: the first pass returned Accurate and the second Unverifiable. Recorded as Unverifiable.

    Sources

  20. Claim 20
    Accurate97% confidence▶ 10:23
    “Wow, 25 years you've been fighting just to get your son's recognition.”

    Talat Hamdani had been fighting for her son's recognition for approximately 25 years.

    A 2026 Newsday report, published for the 25th anniversary of the attacks, says Hamdani was still fighting to obtain proper recognition for her son.

    Sources

  21. Claim 21
    Misleading50% confidence▶ 11:01
    “when there was the controversy over the Ground Zero mosque, quote unquote, which wasn't at Ground Zero and wasn't a mosque.”

    The so-called Ground Zero mosque was neither located at Ground Zero nor actually a mosque.

    The location statement is correct, but saying the project was not a mosque omits that the proposed cultural center was designed to include a mosque or Muslim prayer space. The commonly used label was therefore inaccurate as a description of the whole project, but not because no mosque component existed.

    Omits: The project was a larger Islamic cultural center that included a mosque or dedicated Muslim prayer space; it was about one-tenth of a mile from Ground Zero rather than on the site itself.

    Checked twice, independently: the first pass returned Accurate and the second Misleading. Recorded as Misleading.

    Sources

  22. Claim 22
    Accurate98% confidence▶ 13:00
    “Talat, Donald Trump famously and baselessly claimed years after the attack that he saw thousands and thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the World Trade Center coming down. Obviously, that never happened.”

    Donald Trump claimed that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating as the World Trade Center collapsed, but there was no evidence that such a large-scale celebration occurred.

    Trump did make this claim in 2015. Fact-checkers found no evidence of thousands of people celebrating in New Jersey; reports and footage of celebrations elsewhere were distinct from the claim about New Jersey.

    Sources

  23. Claim 23
    Accurate100% confidence▶ 13:10
    “He's now president again for a second time.”

    Donald Trump is serving as president for a second, nonconsecutive term.

    Trump was sworn in as the 47th president on January 20, 2025, beginning his second, nonconsecutive presidential term.

    Sources

  24. Claim 24
    False99% confidence▶ 14:16
    “to try and ban New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is Muslim, uh from the commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero”

    Eric Adams was a Muslim mayor of New York City.

    Eric Adams was mayor of New York City during the period referenced, but the religious description is false: Adams has publicly identified as Christian. The first Muslim mayor of New York City was Zohran Mamdani, who took office in 2026.

    Sources

  25. Claim 25
    False50% confidence▶ 14:48
    “He is the mayor of the city that won't be shut down, that won't be told it is”

    Eric Adams was the mayor of New York City in the present-tense context of the 25th anniversary in 2026.

    As of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 in September 2026, Eric Adams was no longer New York City's mayor. Zohran Mamdani had held the office since January 1, 2026.

    The judgment uses the transcript's apparent 2026 context, signaled by the references to "25 years later" and the 25th anniversary. Adams was mayor before January 1, 2026, but not during the 2026 anniversary.

    Sources

  26. Claim 26
    Accurate99% confidence▶ 15:18
    “He will be there. He's planning to go.”

    Zohran Mamdani planned to attend the 9/11 commemoration.

    Contemporary reporting stated that Mamdani planned to attend the 25th-anniversary 9/11 memorial, and later reporting confirmed that he attended the ceremony on September 11, 2026.

    Sources

  27. Claim 27
    Unverifiable90% confidence▶ 16:29
    “She was 15 years older than my older son”

    Vanessa was 15 years older than Donna Marsh O'Connor's older son.

    Available public records confirm that Vanessa Lang Langer was 29 years old, but the sources located do not establish the age of O'Connor's older son or independently verify the claimed 15-year age difference.

    Sources