Key Mamdani Appointee Resigns After Past Comments About Jews, White People Come to Light
A key official in New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s administration resigned a day after he named her to the job, following the resurfacing of social media posts she’s published insulting Jews and attacking white people in general.
On Wednesday, Mamdani named Catherine Almonte Da Costa his director of appointments — a job that entails recruiting candidates to serve in the Mamdani government.
However, CBS News reported that the Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey shared screenshots of social media posts Da Costa has made that “echo classic antisemitic tropes and otherwise demean Jewish people.”
On Thursday, The Judge Street Journal, a Substack site focused on New York politics, published screenshots of Da Costa’s controversial posts, including one from 2011 that said, “Money hungry Jews smh [shaking my head].”
In another 2012 post, she wrote, “Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.”
Also, soon after President Donald Trump’s win in November 2016, Da Costa tweeted, “It’s important that white people feel defeated.”
In 2016, Zohran Mamdani’s director of appointments wrote, “It’s important that white people feel defeated.” pic.twitter.com/uVqwNWmhSY
— Matthew Schmitz (@matthewschmitz) December 18, 2025
She previously served as an aide in the administration of former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to The Judge Street Journal.
Her husband, Ricky Da Costa, is the city’s deputy comptroller, according to USA Today. He is also Jewish, according to the newspaper.
On Thursday, Da Costa told the news outlet in a statement, “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.”
Mamdani: Da Costa’s Jew-Bashing Tweets “Played No Role In Hiring Decision. We’d Take Her Either Way!” pic.twitter.com/UZ5WjVa1VJ
— Associated Fress (@AssociatedFress) December 19, 2025
Mamdandi told reporters on Friday that his team will be tightening up its vetting process, according to CBS.
“There are clear changes that need to be made and that’s exactly what we’re doing right now,” the mayor-elect said, the network reported.
He added, “I made clear that these comments were reprehensible. She expressed a deep sense of remorse. She offered to resign, and I accepted it.”
The New York Times reported in June that voters had concerns about Mamdani’s views about Israel and the Jewish people.
During a podcast that month, he refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” instead likening it to the Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Nazis during World War II.
“The blowback was swift,” The New York Times reported, with the ADL, Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York, who is Jewish, and other Jewish leaders condemning the phrase and tying it to recent anti-Semitic violence in Washington and Colorado.
“The Washington-based Holocaust Museum weighed in, too, calling Mr. Mamdani’s remarks ‘outrageous and especially offensive,'” according to the news outlet.
Asked soon thereafter on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he condemns the phrase “Globalize the intifada,” Mamdani, who is Muslim, told host Kristen Welker, “That’s not language that I use.”
Welker pressed him further, noting that many see it as a call to violence.
“I don’t believe that the role of the mayor is to police speech,” Mamdani said.
He did add, “There’s no room for anti-Semitism in this city.”
There are more than a few skeptics about those words coming from Mamdani, but Da Costa’s departure is at least a good sign.
He may not have wanted all the negative press of keeping her on board as he prepares to take office in less than two weeks, but, regardless, the right thing happened.
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