NEW YORK — US President Donald Trump heaped praise on Monday on New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani as the pair set aside their political differences to discuss immigration enforcement and a multi-billion dollar housing project.
Trump, a Republican, heavily criticized Mamdani before he took office in January — calling him “my little communist” and a “total nut job” — but the two men have since struck a surprisingly warm relationship.
“Hopefully, you’re going to be a great (mayor). I’ll be able to say you’re going to be a great one, and you’re off to a start,” Trump told Mamdani at a news conference.
“We appreciate the president’s commitment to the city,” Mamdani said of Trump, who was visiting his hometown New York ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.
Their closed-door talks in Manhattan, which lasted around an hour, marked the pair’s third public meeting since Mamdani swept the mayoral election last year.
At the news conference following their meeting at Gracie Mansion, Trump and Mamdani appeared friendly as they have in previous meetings.
Mamdani said he and Trump held a “wide-ranging” discussion, which touched on affordable housing and immigration, but did not offer extensive details regarding any disagreements between them.
The 34-year-old said he expressed his “very strong opinions about how we can keep New Yorkers safe” when asked about Trump’s culling of Temporary Protected Status for thousands of immigrants as part of mass deportation plans.
Mamdani said they also spoke about a 12,000-home building proposal in New York, which the pair previously discussed in February and would require an estimated $21 billion in federal government funding.
He said he planned to continue cooperating with Trump, despite acknowledging they have “many disagreements.”
“We’ve both spoken about very different approaches, very different beliefs, and I will continue to have conversations with the president, and frankly with anyone who can deliver relief to the people of this city,” Mamdani said.
Trump’s visit came as top US television networks essentially boycotted coverage of the president in protest of his decision to ban three outlets, CNN, MS NOW and Politico, from the White House.
Asked whether he challenged Trump over his decision to ban the networks from White House grounds, Mamdani said he had told Trump that all members of the press would be welcome at their joint press conference, held in front of the mayor’s official residence.
“I told the president that we’re going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn, and that is something that I believe in,” Mamdani said
“That is something that I believe in, is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique, that we engage,” he told reporters.
Trump, meanwhile, brushed off a suggestion that he had issued the media bans to distract the public from criticism of the war in Iran.
“It’s interesting because they (the media) said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me, so I wasn’t very worried about that,” he said.
The visit to Gracie Mansion, ahead of the president’s speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, was a measure of Trump’s apparent respect for the 34-year-old mayor of his native New York. It was the first presidential visit to the historic riverside residence in 45 years, following Ronald Reagan, who met there with Ed Koch in 1981.
Pressed on why he had invited Trump, Mamdani said he was willing to work with anybody who could “deliver” for New Yorkers, and highlighted their shared interest in building thousands of new housing units at Sunnyside Yard in Queens.
Source: Saudi Gazette