Catherine Almonte Da Costa, center, a pick for the Zohran Mamdani administration, made antisemitic social media posts, the ADL said on Dec. 18, 2025.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
One day after her appointment, a top pick for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s administration resigned after posts on her social media account riddled with antisemitic and anti-police statements came to light.
Catherine Almonte Da Costa, whom Mamdani just announced 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 spotlight on vile, antisemitic and anti-NYPD posts made over a decade ago.
In some of the horrific posts, Da Costa — who, according to the New York Times, is 33 and married to a deputy city comptroller who is Jewish — wrote about “money-hungry jews” and “the Far Rockaway train is the Jew train.” ADL representatives who uncovered the list of bigoted posts stated that they were 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 organization said. “Tweeting about ‘money hungry Jews’ is indefensible.”
After the ADL surfaced the posts, Da Costa announced 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 said in a media statement. “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 said.
Sources close to the campaign told amNewYork that the antisemitic posts never surfaced when Da Costa was vetted.
Da Costa, who also worked in former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, said when describing a promotion in 2011, that she would be “working alongside these rich Jewish peeps.”
The NYPD, meanwhile, was not spared from her offensive “defund the police” rhetoric. According to an article in the New York Post, the appointee ridiculed the department on her X page. In a 2012 post, she is alleged to have written, ‘I’m going to need a couple of piggy banks to pay these off, but no, I was referring to the NYPD piggies!!!!”
When amNewYork clicked on the post, a message appeared stating that the post had either been deleted by the author or the account had been removed.
The controversy comes as Mayor-elect Mamdani continues his efforts to earn the trust of Jewish New Yorkers, many of whom have questioned his commitment to their community.
Mamdani, whose history includes making anti-Israel statements, sought to reassure Jewish New Yorkers during his campaign that he would serve as a “mayor for all New Yorkers.”
While the ADL and other New Yorkers were outraged following the emergence of the antisemitic posts, some applauded the mayor-elect’s prompt action to 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, said in a statement. “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 first time a Mamdani staffer has been called out for offensive remarks made on social media. According to the New York Post, Hassaan Chaudhary, a Muslim outreach director for the mayor-elect, allegedly described Israel as a “barbaric nation” and made similar remarks.
A spokesperson for Mamdani at the time said in the article that the comments were “reprehensible and in no way reflect the views of the mayor-elect.” It is unclear whether Chaudhury remained a staff member following the discovery of the posts.
