OAN Staff Cory Hawkins
4:51 PM – Thursday, December 18, 2025
Catherine (Cat) Almonte Da Costa, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s former Director of Appointments, submitted her resignation just one day after being hired by Mamdani — following the resurfacing of antisemitic tweets from 2011–2012.
Mamdani and his transition team claim they were unaware of the social media posts, which resurfaced on Thursday, when they hired Da Costa the day before on Wednesday.
After Mamdani appointed her to lead hiring for the city, Da Costa pledged to recruit a more diverse pool of talent.
“They have to reflect the rich diversity of race, faith, ethnicity that defines this City,” she said at the time.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of New York and New Jersey posted screenshots of Da Costa’s antisemitic social media posts, emphasizing that they “echo classic antisemitic tropes and otherwise demean Jewish people.” Along with the anti-Jewish jabs, Da Costa’s tweets are riddled with derogatory anti-NYPD statements.
Some of the recovered tweets read:
- “Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.”
- “There is a super Orthodox Jew out here in his giant fur hat and everything protesting with the Palestinians….. much respect to him.”
- “Money hungry Jews smh”
- “I’m going to need a couple of piggy banks to pay these off :/ but no I was referring to the nypd piggies!!!!”
- “#DefundNYPD by $1B in FY2021, get cops out of our schools & subways, and invest in our communities!” a post read on June 15th, 2020.
Da Costa apologized for her comments in a statement on Thursday.
“I spoke with the mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements. 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,” Da Costa said.
Mamdani also condemned the old tweets, calling them “unacceptable” while arguing that they “absolutely do not represent him or the values of his administration.”
“Catherine expressed her deep remorse over her past statements and tendered her resignation, and I accepted,” Mamdani said.
In New York City, the five boroughs, Jews make up approximately 11% of the population. According to the UJA-Federation of New York’s 2023 Jewish Community Study, said to be “the most comprehensive recent survey,” there are about 960,000 Jews living in NYC proper out of a total city population of roughly 8.3–8.8 million, based on recent U.S. Census estimates. This yields around 11%. Nearly half of these Jews reside in Brooklyn.
Additionally, many NYPD officers have expressed worry and anger over Mamdani’s history of labeling the NYPD as racist, anti-queer, or a public safety threat, fearing it could lead to demoralization, budget cuts, and reduced disciplinary powers. The NYPD’s largest union has criticized his plans to strip the commissioner of final say on officer discipline, arguing it would embolden criminals and undermine public safety.
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