A California district attorney posted images of 9/11 on social media along with comments condemning the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City's first Muslim mayor. Despite the gory images and harsh condemnation of Mamdani, Dan Doe insists he has no problem with the Muslim community in San Luis Obispo County, where he is the top prosecutor.
He has “strong ties” to the community, Dow said in a statement emailed to The Times on Thursday.
But his posts have sparked backlash, and a Muslim rights group is calling for an apology and an investigation.
On Wednesday Dow retweeted the post on X from a popular right-wing account that appeared to show a photo just after flames burst from the South Tower, the second of the Twin Towers hit by a plane on September 11, 2001.
A second visual tweet, More clearly than the first, shots are shown from two angles, where the plane crashes into one of the towers. The message was posted by the leader of an activist organization some have called a hate group that claims to “combat threats from Islamic supremacists, the radical left and their allies.”
Each was published after the New York mayoral election, which was won by 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Mamdani.
The messages were retweeted and subtweeted days later, 3,000 miles away, Doe drew rebukes from some local residents, in a story first published by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Dow responded to a Times email seeking comment, saying his problem was not with the county's Muslim population, which numbers about 500 people. according to Assn. archives of religious data.
“I shared these posts because in my opinion Mamdani is going to destroy New York as a self-proclaimed socialist,” Doe responded. “I support the Muslim community and have strong ties to our Muslim community in San Luis Obispo.”
The first post Doe retweeted was from the account @EndWokeness, which vows to its nearly 4 million followers that it “fights, exposes and ridicules wokeness.”
The second message came from Amy Mekelburg, founder of Rise, Align, Ignite and Reclaim (RAIR), which is listed as a hate organization. Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Los Angeles Council Office demanded on Thursday evening that Doe apologize and “retract his recent anti-Muslim posts on social media.” CAIR-LA is also asking for an independent investigation into Doe's conduct and “his suitability to continue to serve as district attorney.”
The organization is outraged by his retweet of Meckelburg, whom they call a “known anti-Muslim extremist.”
Meckelburg wrote a lengthy message for the video post, in which she said she “gave her all” to warn the world “about the threat of Islam after 9/11.”
“And now… to see New York – my city – stand at this moment where someone like Zohran Mamdani could even get elected,” she wrote. “Oh my God, New York, what have you done?”
CAIR-LA said Meckelburg “wrongly equated Mamdani's election with 9/11, reinforcing the harmful stereotype that Muslims are inherently associated with terrorism simply because of their faith.”
Doe followed up this particular post on Twitter with a message that began by describing his 32 years of service in the U.S. Army and four overseas tours.
“I remember like it was yesterday when our country was attacked by Islamic extremists on September 11, 2001,” he wrote. “I love this country and in no way share the views of 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani.”
He added in a tweet: “I am very sad to see the Big Apple being torn apart by the election of an un-American socialist who wants to trample on the values and freedoms that millions of Americans fought and died for.”
“Dow’s decision to repost content that weaponizes bigotry and baselessly links an elected Muslim official to terrorism is appalling and reflects the deep-seated dehumanization and fear-mongering in this country that American Muslims have had to endure for decades,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.
Doe's messages also struck a nerve with one of his Muslim allies in San Luis Obispo, Dr. Rushdie Kader, who called the district attorney a “personal friend” in the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Fall told the Tribune the posts were “highly inflammatory and put Muslims at risk of harm, especially hijabi-wearing Muslim women like my wife Nisha, whom Dan himself described as a “kind and gentle woman” whom he “prayed to be blessed with peace.”
Khader added that he believed Doe's “ugly post was due to “disagreement with Mamdani's policies” rather than any direct attack on Islam.”
Doe's tweets drew other criticism.
San Luis Obispo County Second District Supervisor Bruce Gibson called Doe a “Christian nationalist.”
He “occupies a powerful public office that requires integrity and discipline,” Gibson said of Doe. “This post is another example of how he has neither.”
San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart sent The Times an email saying the city welcomes all community members.
“Dan Doe, as the county's district attorney, is by definition expected to be objective and fair,” she wrote. “For someone in his position to express racism is unacceptable.”
Doe also had its defenders.
Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer works with Dow for the California District Attorneys Association. Spitzer is the organization's secretary-treasurer and Dow is president.
Spitzer found no fault with Doe's social media posts.
“Elected officials have a platform to share their views and be valued by their constituents,” he wrote in an email. “It is unfortunate to see a man who expresses such antisocial and anti-Semitic sentiments elected mayor of New York City, and we, as elected defenders of public safety, have the right to express this.”
