A trove of newly released documents about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City shows that officials knew the air around ground zero was toxic, but that they “lied” to residents and first responders that it was safe, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday.More than 170,000 pages of government documents were published online Tuesday as part of New York City’s settlement with 9/11 health advocacy groups, revealing what four different mayoral administrations knew about the long-term risks and dangers to the public after the twin towers crashed down in lower Manhattan.“We are here to release these documents today, because, for a long time, New Yorkers have known the truth and yet they have been unable to see the truth in any document that’s been presented to them,” Mamdani said at a press conference three days before the 25th anniversary of the attacks.New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks about the release of 9/11-related documents at City Hall on Tuesday.Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said, while emphasizing that more people have died from related health issues than they did in the 2001 attack.Additional documents will be added to the public portal over the next six months after more than $34 million was devoted to opening and maintaining it, the mayor said.The documents’ release follows a lawsuit against the city by the nonprofit organization 911 Health Watch, which in a statement accused city staffers of “forcibly” disappearing public records in the tragedy’s aftermath and behaving “more like members of an authoritarian regime than public servants.”“Not even sitting members of the City Council or the U.S. Congress could access these records,” the organization said.People are coated with dust and debris after the collapse of the World Trade Center south tower in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.via Associated PressThe documents include a collection of emailed complaints about asbestos and other contaminants found inside and around neighboring residential buildings and offices, and how current cleaning methods were ineffective and dangerous. City officials had held building owners responsible for cleaning up their own buildings, including the interiors and exteriors. Guidance on how to do this, including on how to remove “asbestos-containing material,” was publicly shared with New Yorkers, though a later study by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that most residents did not follow the city’s recommended cleaning practices, according to a 2003 report included in the files by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.“The increased risk that residents placed themselves in by cleaning residences themselves is not known,” the EPA said.