During the press conference with President Donald Trump by his side, the press peppered New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani with questions about why he was cooperating with the president.
“There aren’t too many Democrats who would roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump. You did that today,” one reporter said before asking Mamdani what the relationship had accomplished. “Do you think you should be criticized for taking time to meet with the president?” another asked. “I think a lot of people see your strategy around the president as curbing your criticism of him. I feel like you don’t often launch personal attacks on him…Do you still think this tactic is worth it?” said another.
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Each time, Mamdani gave the same answer. That he would “meet with anyone, work with anyone who could deliver for New Yorkers.”
Trump said he ultimately wants what’s best for New York. “If I had the choice of him being a bad mayor or a horrible mayor, I don’t want that. I want him to be a great mayor. And he’s certainly got potential. Got great potential,” the president said.
The meeting marked the third time Trump and Mamdani have met in person. Despite their stark political differences, their conversations have repeatedly centered on what they agree on—fixing affordable housing in New York City.
Mamdani has a proposal on the table to develop Sunnyside Yard in Queens, estimated to cost $21 billion. “We’ve agreed to set up a new level of that conversation between our housing and operations team at City Hall and the White House team,” the mayor said, adding that meant the conversation would now become technical as the White House team and Mamdani’s team examined the engineering and legal authorization needed to make the project a reality.
“I can tell you that Sunnyside is a big job. I’ve been watching it for 35 years,” Trump said. “I would say that was a very federally oriented job. You’ll need a lot of federal funding and probably federal approvals.”
Trump also said affordable housing would need to be a major part of any development.
“I know a lot about affordability because I did that housing,” he said. “I did a lot of low-income and moderate-income housing over the years. I think Sunnyside would have to have a pretty substantial component of that.”
Towards the end of the conference, Mamdani revealed a politically savvy move. The mayor said he remembered that, in past conversations, Trump had shared fond memories of visiting Gracie Mansion and invited him to the mansion for the meeting. On the way there, Trump even shared on social media that Gracie Mansion was one of his favorite places in the world.
“I just want to thank the mayor for the invitation,” Trump added. “I love New York, and this place represents New York. It’s a very important place. The two leaders also addressed their continuing disagreements, including over immigration and the administration’s decision to bar several news organizations from White House grounds.
“I told the president that we are going to have all the members of the press here on the lawn, and that is something that I believe in,” Mamdani said.
Trump responded by pointing to the reporters gathered at Gracie Mansion.
“It’s interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they’ll never boycott me,” Trump said. “Look at all that press.”
Trump argued that news organizations have an obligation to report fairly and defended his decision to exclude outlets he accused of pushing “fake news.” Mamdani said that while he disagrees with the president on immigration, their last meeting led to a Columbia University student being released from ICE custody hours later.