Adams, Cuomo demand Columbia records of Mamdani; Sliwa rejects it as sideshow

The mayor of New York, Eric Adams, and former governor Andrew Cuomo call for a complete investigation into allegations that Zohran Mamdani falsely identified as African-American on his request from Columbia University.

However, the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa says that the controversy is a distraction of the socialist agenda of Mamdani and only transforms him, energizing his supporters and swings indecisive voters.

Adams and Cuomo warned that Mamdani’s alleged false racial declaration could report deeper deception – with the Adams campaign calling “perhaps fraudulent” movement and Cuomo’s campaign warning, it could be “just the tip of the iceberg”.

A New York Times report on Thursday discovered that the hope of mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani had identified as black on his request to the prestigious University of Columbia in 2009. (Getty Images)

Curtis Sliwa promises to stay in the New York mayor race while donors plot to stop Mamdani

Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for the mayor of New York, identified as “black or African-American” at his request from Columbia University 2009, even if he now says that he does not consider himself black, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Mamdani, then a high school student, also checked “Asian” and would have written in “Ugandan” in space for additional training. He was not finally accepted in Columbia, even if his father is a teacher at the elite school. He was not an American citizen at the time.

Mamdani told Times that he identifies himself as “an American who was born in Africa”, and said that checking several boxes was an effort to reflect his “complex background” and not win an advantage in the competitive admission process.

However, Adams condemned Mamdani’s actions as “an insult to each student who entered college in the right way”.

“African-American identity is not a convenience check box,” said Adams. “It is a story, a struggle and a lived experience. For someone to exploit this for a personal gain is deeply offensive.”

New York mayor Eric Adams called for an investigation into allegations. (AP / Julia Demaoree Nikhinson)

Rich Azzopardi, spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign, echoes calls from the Adams camp.

“It should not be surprising that Mamdani – its proposals, its funding and its history – have absolutely received no control,” said Azzopardi. “This question must be fully investigated because, if it is true, it could be fraud and just the tip of the iceberg.”

Adams presents himself as independent, having been elected Democrat at the end of 2021, while Cuomo weighs an independent path towards Gracie Mansion, having lost Mamdani in the Democratic primary.

Ackman supports Adams to arrest the socialist Mamdani, calls on Cuomo to abandon

Sliwa, on the other hand, takes the high road and considers controversy as a political distraction which will only contribute to the cause of Mamdani.

“There is so much that we can criticize Zoran for … for me, what are we doing here?” Sliwa told Fox News Digital. “We make him a martyr. We victims Zohran and we move away from the reasons why his election would be a threat to New York.

“He is attacked as a Muslim, he laughs at the way he eats in a video. Stop this. You enrage people who could otherwise disagree with him on the problems. You galvanize his support.”

Mamdani’s victory provoked a political earthquake in the Big Apple, hitting fear in moderates, independent, conservatives – and even parts of the Democratic Party – who believe that its socialist policies could have devastating and lasting consequences on the financial capital of the world. Mamdani ran on a platform that included economic policies aligned with progressives and socialists of the Democratic Party, such as a minimum wage of $ 30, tax increases on businesses and rich and other policies, such as the creation of grocery stores belonging to the City and the taxation of a rent of rents for stabilized tenants.

The founder of Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, considers controversy as a political distraction that will only contribute to the cause of Zohran Mamdani. (Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

Sliwa has warned the criticisms that criticisms give Mamdani a political gift.

“Even people who do not agree with him on the problems will join his defense when they think that attacks are unfair or excessive,” added Sliwa. “Let’s go back to the problems where there are clear differences between the way Zohran Mamdani wants to direct the city and the way I want to direct this city – or Eric Adams or Andrew Cuomo. Stop this, you just victimize it.”

The Adams campaign calls on Columbia University to publicly publish Mamdani’s admission files in 2009, to be specified whether its non -citizen status influenced admission or financial decisions and carry out an official exam to determine whether university policies have been raped.

“We need answers,” said Adams spokesperson Todd Shapiro. “Because the residents of New York deserve whether the man asking for his vote has built his career on a perhaps fraudulent basis.”

Fox News Digital contacted Mamdani’s campaign on the controversy and adaptations of his opponents, but did not immediately receive an answer.

The former governor of New York Andrew Cuomo weighs an independent race for his functions. His campaign also called for an investigation into the request for college of Zohran Mamdani. (Yuki Iwamura / AP Photo / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Mamdani told Times that outside of these college forms, he does not remember never having identified as black or African-American. His parents are both of Indian origin. His father, the professor of Columbia, Mahmood Mamdani, has lived in East Africa for generations, but Mamdani said that there had been mixed marriages in the family with indigenous African groups.

Mamdani looked into his South Asian and Muslim identity on the campaign track.

During a June speech at the National Action Network in Al Sharpton, he also underlined his African roots, saying: “I was born in Kampala, Uganda … I received my second first name, Kwame, by my father, who appointed me the first Prime Minister of Ghana.”

Jasmine Baehr of Fox News contributed to this report.