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Elon Musk New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday criticized new New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for choosing a woman with no fire safety experience to lead the New York City Fire Department (FDNY).
“People will die because of this,” wrote a billionaire provocateur who worked in President Donald Trump’s administration on X. “Verified experience matters when lives are at stake.”
Mamdani who will take office Jan. 1, this week appointed FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore, a 31-year FDNY veteran who led emergency services operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She retired in 2022.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Lillian Bonsignore are pictured during a press conference announcing her appointment as future FDNY commissioner on Tuesday. (Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“The first woman to receive a 4-star rating in FDNY history, she will join us as FDNY Commissioner to bring her crisis leadership and operational experience to this administration,” Mamdani wrote on Program X on Tuesday.
Bonsignore will be only the second woman to hold the position and the first openly gay.
Elon Musk criticized New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for his selection as FDNY commissioner this week. (Brendan Smelowski/AFP via Getty Images)
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Mamdani quickly responded to Musk's X, writing on Saturday: “Experience matters, so I appointed someone who has worked in EMS for over 30 years. Do you know, these are the employees who handle at least 70% of all calls received by the FDNY?”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the FDNY and Mamdani's team for comment.
“I am honored, honored and humbled to stand before you as the new fire commissioner,” Bonsignore said at a news conference Tuesday. “This appointment represents a significant responsibility, which I accept with humility, dedication and a deep sense of commitment to the city and its residents.”
Outgoing Mayor of New York Eric Adams This week he also named his own FDNY commissioner, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Mark Guerra.
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“Under our administration, keeping New Yorkers safe and secure has always been our North Star, and having principled, qualified public servants leading our critical public safety agencies is critical to achieving that goal; there is no one who lives up to those high standards, Commissioner Mark Guerra,” Adams said Tuesday.
“Lillian's light cannot be dimmed by anything else that is going on,” Mamdani said in response, according to FOX 5. “The mayor is free to remain mayor for the rest of this year and make decisions as such.”
