Zohran Mamdani’s pick to lead the city’s anti-corruption watchdog faced pointed questions Monday about whether she can independently investigate the very administration that nominated her, as City Council members pressed Nadia Shihata on her ties to the mayor and his inner circle.
The Rules Committee hearing grew tense at moments as council members grilled the former federal prosecutor over $700 in donations she made to Mamdani’s mayoral campaign and her relationship with Ramzi Kassem, the mayor’s chief counsel. Shihata, who would lead the Department of Investigation if confirmed, vowed to act “without fear or favor” and insisted she would remain impartial.
The stakes are not abstract. Under Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, the Department of Investigation contributed to probes that produced criminal charges against Adams himself, his chief advisor, his buildings commissioner, and the official who oversaw city leases. The department’s oversight function depends almost entirely on its perceived independence from whoever sits in Gracie Mansion.
Councilmember Shaun Abreu, a Democrat representing Upper Manhattan, went straight at that credibility question. He noted that in her council questionnaire, Shihata had disclosed that Kassem personally asked her to apply for the DOI position. Shihata pushed back, calling that characterization inaccurate. She said Kassem had only reached out to ask if she “might be interested,” a distinction she treated as meaningful.
She acknowledged knowing Kassem since shortly after law school, socializing with him occasionally over the years, and seeking his professional advice in 2022 when she left the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office to start her own firm. But she drew a line at calling it a close friendship. “We have kept in touch over the years, kept in touch periodically,” she said, adding, “It has not been a close friendship.”
Abreu pressed further, asking whether she would remove herself from any DOI investigation that targeted Kassem. Shihata said recusal would likely be appropriate under those circumstances, but said she would ultimately follow guidance from the department’s general counsel on the question.
Councilmember Nantasha Williams, a Democrat from Southeast Queens, drilled into the donation history. Shihata made four contributions to Mamdani’s campaign totaling $700, spread across several months. Williams noted that while Shihata had donated to federal candidates before, this represented a different kind of choice. Giving money to the campaign of someone who would later control your nomination signals something, Williams suggested, that goes beyond ordinary civic participation.
The question running beneath the whole hearing is one that any confirmation process for this particular job has to answer: can someone who came to the position through the mayor’s network, who donated to his campaign, and who counts his chief counsel as a professional contact credibly hold that same administration accountable when it matters? Shihata’s answers Monday were careful. She has a serious prosecutorial background and knows how to handle a hearing room. But careful answers are not the same as settled doubts.
Council members were not hostile to her qualifications. Several acknowledged her federal prosecution experience. The tension in the room was not about her competence. It was about the structural problem of appointing an investigator who arrived at the door partly because of the people she may one day have to investigate.
The Department of Investigation operates best when every corner of City Hall treats it as a genuine threat. That reputation took years to build and can erode quickly if the agency is seen as reluctant to move on the people who put it in place.
Shihata has time before a confirmation vote to make a stronger case for her independence. What the council made clear Monday is that her word alone will not be enough. The record she builds, or declines to build, once she takes the job will matter far more than anything she said in that hearing room.
The committee has not yet scheduled a vote.
