Catherine Almonte Da Costa, middle, a decide for the Zohran Mamdani administration, made antisemitic social media posts, the ADL stated on Dec. 18, 2025.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
At some point after her appointment, a prime decide for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s administration resigned after posts on her social media account riddled with antisemitic and anti-police statements got here to gentle.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa, whom Mamdani simply introduced as director of appointments on Dec. 17, handed in her resignation hours after the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey put a highlight on vile, antisemitic and anti-NYPD posts revamped a decade in the past.
In among the horrific posts, Da Costa — who, in keeping with the New York Occasions, is 33 and married to a deputy metropolis comptroller who’s Jewish — wrote about “money-hungry jews” and “the Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.” ADL representatives who uncovered the listing of bigoted posts acknowledged that they had been created in 2011 and 2012.
“Her social media footprint includes posts from more than a decade ago that echo classic antisemitic tropes and otherwise demean Jewish people,” the group stated. “Tweeting about ‘money hungry Jews’ is indefensible.”
After the ADL surfaced the posts, Da Costa introduced late Thursday afternoon that she was stepping down from the administration.
“I spoke with the mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements,” she stated in a media assertion. “These statements are not indicative of who I am. As the mother of Jewish children, I feel a profound sense of sadness and remorse at the harm these words have caused. As this has become a distraction from the work at hand, I have offered my resignation.”
Mamdani accepted the resignation.
“Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and I accepted,” he stated.
Sources near the marketing campaign informed New York News that the antisemitic posts by no means surfaced when Da Costa was vetted.
Da Costa, who additionally labored in former Mayor Invoice de Blasio’s administration, stated when describing a promotion in 2011, that she can be “working alongside these rich Jewish peeps.”
The NYPD, in the meantime, was not spared from her offensive “defund the police” rhetoric. In accordance with an article within the New York Submit, the appointee ridiculed the division on her X web page. In a 2012 put up, she is alleged to have written, ‘I’m going to want a few piggy banks to pay these off, however no, I used to be referring to the NYPD piggies!!!!”
When New York News clicked on the put up, a message appeared stating that the put up had both been deleted by the writer or the account had been eliminated.
The controversy comes as Mayor-elect Mamdani continues his efforts to earn the belief of Jewish New Yorkers, lots of whom have questioned his dedication to their neighborhood.
Mamdani, whose historical past consists of making anti-Israel statements, sought to reassure Jewish New Yorkers throughout his marketing campaign that he would function a “mayor for all New Yorkers.”
Whereas the ADL and different New Yorkers had been outraged following the emergence of the antisemitic posts, some applauded the mayor-elect’s immediate motion to just accept Da Costa’s resignation.
“Glad to see that Catherine Almonte Da Costa has resigned,” Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, stated in a press release. “The views she expressed are unacceptable and intolerable. Especially at a time of rising antisemitism, she had no place in the mayor’s office of the city with the largest Jewish population in the world.”
Thursday’s incident was not the primary time a Mamdani staffer has been known as out for offensive remarks made on social media. In accordance with the New York Submit, Hassaan Chaudhary, a Muslim outreach director for the mayor-elect, allegedly described Israel as a “barbaric nation” and made comparable remarks.
A spokesperson for Mamdani on the time stated within the article that the feedback had been “reprehensible and in no way reflect the views of the mayor-elect.” It’s unclear whether or not Chaudhury remained a employees member following the invention of the posts.
