Topline
President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met at Gracie Mansion on Monday, later telling reporters they spoke about housing, affordability and immigration in New York City.
Trump and Mamdani are meeting Monday afternoon.
Photo by ANGELA WEISS,SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Mamdani opened the press conference explaining he and Trump spoke about building more housing in New York and agreed to coordinate further discussions on Sunnyside Yard—a proposal to build about 12,000 affordable housing units in the neighborhood of Queens.
Neither Mamdani or Trump gave details on how the city or the federal government may be involved in developing the proposal, though Mamdani noted he and Trump’s discussion revolved around “how we can make it easier to afford life in this great city that we call our own.”
Trump said he spoke to the mayor about his administration’s decision to cancel temporary protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants, with Mamdani calling Haitian people in New York “critical” members of the city.
The Department of Homeland Security announced last month “Operation Rotten Apple” resulted in 2,200 arrests in New York State as Mamdani rejected claims from federal officials that many of those detained were “criminals.”
Mamdani noted he and Trump were “frank” about their disagreements.
The gathering marks Trump and Mamdani’s third meeting since Mamdani became mayor almost one year ago.
Key Background
Trump and Mamdani’s relationship has flip-flopped between intense and cordial, with each of their in-person meetings being far more mild than the callouts they have made against each other on social media. After Mamdani became mayor last year, he met with Trump at the White House in an unexpectedly friendly discussion in which the two agreed “on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said. Prior to Mamdani signing off on his pied-a-terre tax, which enforced a tax on secondary homes worth $5 million or more in New York City, Trump said the mayor’s tax policies were “SO WRONG” and, months later, floated federal intervention, though he has yet to follow up with an attempt to block the policy.
TANGENT
Trump will not be accompanied by a TV press pool on his trip to New York City, after no broadcasters making up the pool stepped in to replace CNN’s scheduled pool duties for Monday, meaning there will be no shared camera or other production component for broadcasters. This resulted in Trump’s speech at the unveiling of the White House helipad being completely inaudible Monday, as the standard boom microphone poolers use was not present. Trump abruptly banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, prompting backlash and leading to Monday’s pool vacancy. The outlets have since sued in response to the move.
Further Reading
Trump Floats Mamdani’s Arrest As He Ratchets Up Threats: Here’s What He’s Said (Forbes)
Trump Says He’s ‘Okay’ With Mamdani Considering Him A Fascist In Friendly Meeting (Forbes)
Trump Suddenly Blasts Mamdani Over Pied-À-Terre Tax—A Surcharge On $5 Million Secondary Homes (Forbes)
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