Updated 12:00 AM EDT / Tue, September 22, 2026
Key takeaways
• Exclusive CNN sitdown: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he believes the Democratic Party has lost sight of what’s important to voters and is hopeful that candidates focusing on affordability will get elected. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, he also doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• NYC meeting: Mamdani’s remarks to CNN followed his third meeting in less than a year with President Donald Trump. The mayor said he is willing to put aside political differences with Trump as long as it gives him a chance to advocate for the city. The full interview will air Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN International and CNN All Access.
• Topics: Mamdani, who hosted Trump at his official residence, said they discussed the safety of immigrants, affordability and building a better New York. Trump said he reminisced about visits to Gracie Mansion and also left the door open to supporting a massive housing development plan backed by the mayor.
10 hr 15 min ago
Recap of what Mamdani told CNN about meeting with Trump, the midterm elections and more
By Aditi Sangal
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani takes part in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, September 21. CNN
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump have an unexpected rapport during their meetings — despite their opposing views — and that was on display in New York City as the president visited the mayor at Gracie Mansion. After the meeting, Mamdani sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Here are the key lines from the chat:
10 hr 52 min ago
Mamdani dismisses conservative "fear mongering" over wave of democratic socialism
By Elizabeth Wolfe
Though Democratic socialists are having a moment in American politics, conservative leaders have decried the movement’s leaders and midterm candidates as an arm of the radical left or, in the words of President Donald Trump, “godless Communists.”
But New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday that he proudly adopts the label of democratic socialist, dismissing the criticism as an attempt to stoke division.
“I think the attempt at fear mongering is a long, sad fact of American political life for many, many years,” Mamdani said.
Since his stunning mayoral race win last year, Mamdani has emerged as a new power broker in the Democratic Party.
Several of the political candidates he has championed have enjoyed campaign successes, including controversial Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Mamdani said he believes many New Yorkers, particularly the working class, are focused more on his ability to deliver on his promises than on the political label.
“I’ve also found that more New Yorkers are less interested in how I describe myself than whether there’s room for them in that description. They want to know, ‘Does that mean you will fight for me?’ Because here in New York City, there has been a fading sense of relevance of politics to the struggles of working people,” the mayor said.
“To me, what democratic socialism is — it’s to transform democracy from an ideal or a value into something material,” he continued. “It’s to extend it from the ballot box into the rest of people’s lives.”
Watch the full interview on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN International and CNN All Access.
10 hr 17 min ago
Mamdani explains why he is willing to meet with Trump despite political differences
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday he is willing to put aside political differences with President Donald Trump as long as it gives him a chance to advocate for the needs of New Yorkers and the city.
Trump has derided Mamdani as “my little communist” and a “lunatic.” Mamdani has called Trump a “despot” and a “fascist.”
But the insults have not stopped them from having surprisingly friendly meetings in person.
Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour he wasn’t exactly surprised that the meetings have been friendly so far.
Well, I think we’ve both said that we’d be willing to have a conversation if it could benefit the people of this city,” Mamdani said. “You can hold very disparate opinions and also be able to sit down because that is what this work demands of us. If I was only willing to speak with people who agreed with me all the time, I would be sitting at home looking in a mirror.”
Mamdani’s aides often describe his meetings with the president as political wins because the mayor has not been forced to compromise any of his political positions. The latest example of that was on display Monday as he shared his disagreement with Trump’s media ban in front of the entire local press corps with the president standing by his side.
The full interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour will air Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN International and CNN All Access.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
10 hr 33 min ago
Mamdani doubles down on criticism of Netanyahu, calling him a "war criminal"
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a war criminal while acknowledging he does not have the power to arrest him as he previously threatened to do during the mayoral campaign.
“When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be — a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people,” Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Monday.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel — allegations that Israel has denied.
During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani said he would direct the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if he traveled to the city. Mamdani, who is an ardent critic of the Israeli government, has since backed away from that pledge, saying he doesn’t have the legal authority to enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant.
“I do believe that that is something that should be honored, because what we want to see, and we’ve been talking about this today, is a faith in our politics, a faith in accountability,” Mamdani said.
As New York City prepares to host the United Nations General Assembly this week, Mamdani said he met with Mayor Jan van Zanen of The Hague, adding the two discussed the importance of the rule of law.
“If the International Criminal Court deems someone worthy of an arrest because of a violation of those laws, then who are we to say that anyone should be above that? And I think very clearly that everyone should be held accountable to it,” Mamdani said.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the UN on Thursday. Several demonstrations are scheduled in protest to his visit; Mamdani has said he does not plan to participate in any of the planned demonstrations.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
10 hr 36 min ago
Mamdani on why democratic socialist policies could drive voter turnout in midterm election
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
New York City Mayor Mamdani said the Democratic Party has lost sight of what is important to voters and is hopeful that candidates focusing on affordability — as he did during his mayoral campaign — will get voter support.
“I think this will absolutely translate on a national level, and the reason that I believe that is while we are an exceptional city, as the greatest city in the world, we also know that the struggles that New Yorkers are facing are the struggles that working-class Americans are facing across the country,” Mamdani said during an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“I often say that there’s only one majority in this country; it’s the working class and their inability to afford housing, childcare, even public housing — that is something that goes beyond any one city,” the mayor said.
Mamdani added that at the national level, the Democratic Party had lots its ambition.
“I do think it is a sad fact that to find ambition in the Democratic Party, we often have to look to history books, and I’m hopeful that that is changing in this moment,” he said.
Mamdani said candidates running in the midterms need to look beyond challenging the Trump administration.
“It’s not enough to simply stand up to federal policies we disagree with. We also have to stand up for an entire working class that has been left behind by politics that has come to think of politics as a hobby only certain people can afford,” he said.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
11 hr 3 min ago
Mamdani doesn't commit to midterm campaigning, but stresses importance of election
By Elise Hammond
Several other self-identified democratic socialists are on the ballot in key midterm contests this November, but New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is not committing to traveling to campaign for them, he said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Mamdani said his focus is on “potholes on the road here in New York City,” but acknowledged what is at stake in the upcoming election.
“Whether we have a Democratic House or a Democratic Senate, it has an impact on New York City, and I am hopeful that this November we will see successes across the country,” he said.
The mayor has endorsed progressive candidates who have had success in their primaries, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th Congressional District.
Mamdani also endorsed Brad Lander, a former Democratic Socialists of America member who unseated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the state’s 10th Congressional District.
Elsewhere, progressive candidates are capturing voters’ attention, with candidates like Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for a critical Senate seat in Michigan, but has stressed he does not consider himself a democratic socialist.
10 hr 15 min ago
What Mamdani says about the WBD-Paramount merger
By Aditi Sangal
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “incredibly concerned” with the impending merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance and its potential impacts on the city, he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
He expressed concern for industry workers and rising prices due to corporate consolidation.
“This is part and parcel of why so many Americans have a diminishing faith in media. And it speaks to a larger corporate consolidation across so many sectors and industries that drive up prices, reduce the, you know, the breadth of opinion that is shared on these platforms, and leave us with a population that look to these things as examples of why they can’t trust what it is that they see on TV,” he said.
The mayor questioned the federal government’s approval of the merger and commended efforts from New York Attorney General Letitia James in the fight for worker protections amid the merger.
The deal will combine Paramount’s film and television studios, CBS and the Paramount+ streamer with Warner’s studios, HBO, CNN and other cable networks.
“While the timing is not yet fixed, we expect the merger will close no later than early October,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told staffers in a memo.
Warner Bros. Discovery is CNN’s parent company.
CNN’s Brian Stelter and Andrew Kirell contributed to this post.
10 hr 35 min ago
Mamdani says he told Trump he disagreed with ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
During his meeting with President Donald Trump today, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made it clear he disagreed with the president’s ban of certain media outlets and warned him there would be no restrictions during Monday’s events.
“What I said is that I believe in a free press, and I believe in the importance of engaging in questions from all, no matter whether they are based in a compliment or on a critique,” Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during a sit-down interview Monday. “You saw that we spoke to representatives from CNN, from MS NOW, from Politico, from Crain’s, from The City Reporter, from a wide variety, and that is something that will continue under my administration, because I believe it’s a critical part of the fourth estate being able to do its job.”
The mayor reflected on his own relationship with the press, saying he remains open to all outlets, even ones that are frequently critical of him.
“You know you could pick up a copy of the New York Post almost every day of the week, and you’d find me there on the cover, and I’ll still take questions from the New York Post because I think that that’s also what it means to be in New York City politics — to engage with New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.
While he remains accessible, Mamdani, who holds near daily press conferences, has also placed some of his own limits on access. Often, events are pooled or open to invited media. Sometimes, Mamdani hosts events for “new media,” including social media influencers and bloggers.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
12 hr 25 min ago
Key things we learned after Trump and Mamdani's New York City meeting
By Elise Hammond
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani meets with President Donald Trump in Gracie Mansion in New York City on Monday as seen in this photograph of the meeting released by the mayor's office. Zohran Mamdani/X
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump covered a range of topics at their meeting this afternoon, including a major affordable housing project and immigration.
Mamdani said he invited the president to Gracie Mansion while Trump is in town for the United Nations General Assembly this week. It’s the first time a sitting president has made an official visit to the mansion since the 1980s.
The two took questions after their private discussion.
Here’s what we learned:
CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Aditi Sangal, Elizabeth Wolfe, Molly English, Donald Judd, Avni Trivedi and Julia Benbrook contributed reporting.
Key takeaways
• Exclusive CNN sitdown: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he believes the Democratic Party has lost sight of what’s important to voters and is hopeful that candidates focusing on affordability will get elected. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, he also doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• NYC meeting: Mamdani’s remarks to CNN followed his third meeting in less than a year with President Donald Trump. The mayor said he is willing to put aside political differences with Trump as long as it gives him a chance to advocate for the city. The full interview will air Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN International and CNN All Access.
• Topics: Mamdani, who hosted Trump at his official residence, said they discussed the safety of immigrants, affordability and building a better New York. Trump said he reminisced about visits to Gracie Mansion and also left the door open to supporting a massive housing development plan backed by the mayor.
10 hr 15 min ago
Recap of what Mamdani told CNN about meeting with Trump, the midterm elections and more
By Aditi Sangal
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani takes part in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, September 21. CNN
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump have an unexpected rapport during their meetings — despite their opposing views — and that was on display in New York City as the president visited the mayor at Gracie Mansion. After the meeting, Mamdani sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Here are the key lines from the chat:
- On his meeting with Trump: Mamdani said he made it clear to Trump that he disagreed with the president’s ban of certain media outlets from the White House and warned him there would be no such restrictions during their Monday meeting at Gracie Mansion in New York City. If you’d like a deeper look, we recapped the key highlights from the mayor’s meeting with the president.
- On the US midterm elections: Mamdani said the Democratic Party has lost sight of what is important to voters. He stressed that it is important for candidates to look beyond Trump and said he hopes that candidates focusing on affordability — as he did during his mayoral campaign — will get voter support. While several other self-identified democratic socialists are on the ballot in key midterm contests this November, Mamdani did not commit to campaigning for them and said he is focused on the “potholes on the road here in New York City.”
- On the WBD-Paramount merger: Today, the path cleared for a merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance to take effect. But Mamdani expressed concern on how it would affect New York City, pointing to the many film and media workers who live in the city and the consumers who he said might find prices up and trust down due to corporate consolidation. He also questioned how the federal government allowed the merger to go forward. Warner Bros. Discovery is CNN’s parent company.
- On Benjamin Netanyahu: Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of the Israeli prime minister, calling him a war criminal while acknowledging he does not have the power to arrest him as he previously threatened to do during the mayoral campaign.
10 hr 52 min ago
Mamdani dismisses conservative "fear mongering" over wave of democratic socialism
By Elizabeth Wolfe
Though Democratic socialists are having a moment in American politics, conservative leaders have decried the movement’s leaders and midterm candidates as an arm of the radical left or, in the words of President Donald Trump, “godless Communists.”
But New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday that he proudly adopts the label of democratic socialist, dismissing the criticism as an attempt to stoke division.
“I think the attempt at fear mongering is a long, sad fact of American political life for many, many years,” Mamdani said.
Since his stunning mayoral race win last year, Mamdani has emerged as a new power broker in the Democratic Party.
Several of the political candidates he has championed have enjoyed campaign successes, including controversial Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Mamdani said he believes many New Yorkers, particularly the working class, are focused more on his ability to deliver on his promises than on the political label.
“I’ve also found that more New Yorkers are less interested in how I describe myself than whether there’s room for them in that description. They want to know, ‘Does that mean you will fight for me?’ Because here in New York City, there has been a fading sense of relevance of politics to the struggles of working people,” the mayor said.
“To me, what democratic socialism is — it’s to transform democracy from an ideal or a value into something material,” he continued. “It’s to extend it from the ballot box into the rest of people’s lives.”
Watch the full interview on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN International and CNN All Access.
10 hr 17 min ago
Mamdani explains why he is willing to meet with Trump despite political differences
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Monday he is willing to put aside political differences with President Donald Trump as long as it gives him a chance to advocate for the needs of New Yorkers and the city.
Trump has derided Mamdani as “my little communist” and a “lunatic.” Mamdani has called Trump a “despot” and a “fascist.”
But the insults have not stopped them from having surprisingly friendly meetings in person.
Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour he wasn’t exactly surprised that the meetings have been friendly so far.
Well, I think we’ve both said that we’d be willing to have a conversation if it could benefit the people of this city,” Mamdani said. “You can hold very disparate opinions and also be able to sit down because that is what this work demands of us. If I was only willing to speak with people who agreed with me all the time, I would be sitting at home looking in a mirror.”
Mamdani’s aides often describe his meetings with the president as political wins because the mayor has not been forced to compromise any of his political positions. The latest example of that was on display Monday as he shared his disagreement with Trump’s media ban in front of the entire local press corps with the president standing by his side.
The full interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour will air Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET on CNN International and CNN All Access.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
10 hr 33 min ago
Mamdani doubles down on criticism of Netanyahu, calling him a "war criminal"
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling him a war criminal while acknowledging he does not have the power to arrest him as he previously threatened to do during the mayoral campaign.
“When it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, I have described him as I believe him to be — a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people,” Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Monday.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in 2024, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel — allegations that Israel has denied.
During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani said he would direct the New York Police Department to arrest Netanyahu if he traveled to the city. Mamdani, who is an ardent critic of the Israeli government, has since backed away from that pledge, saying he doesn’t have the legal authority to enforce the ICC’s arrest warrant.
“I do believe that that is something that should be honored, because what we want to see, and we’ve been talking about this today, is a faith in our politics, a faith in accountability,” Mamdani said.
As New York City prepares to host the United Nations General Assembly this week, Mamdani said he met with Mayor Jan van Zanen of The Hague, adding the two discussed the importance of the rule of law.
“If the International Criminal Court deems someone worthy of an arrest because of a violation of those laws, then who are we to say that anyone should be above that? And I think very clearly that everyone should be held accountable to it,” Mamdani said.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the UN on Thursday. Several demonstrations are scheduled in protest to his visit; Mamdani has said he does not plan to participate in any of the planned demonstrations.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
10 hr 36 min ago
Mamdani on why democratic socialist policies could drive voter turnout in midterm election
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
New York City Mayor Mamdani said the Democratic Party has lost sight of what is important to voters and is hopeful that candidates focusing on affordability — as he did during his mayoral campaign — will get voter support.
“I think this will absolutely translate on a national level, and the reason that I believe that is while we are an exceptional city, as the greatest city in the world, we also know that the struggles that New Yorkers are facing are the struggles that working-class Americans are facing across the country,” Mamdani said during an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“I often say that there’s only one majority in this country; it’s the working class and their inability to afford housing, childcare, even public housing — that is something that goes beyond any one city,” the mayor said.
Mamdani added that at the national level, the Democratic Party had lots its ambition.
“I do think it is a sad fact that to find ambition in the Democratic Party, we often have to look to history books, and I’m hopeful that that is changing in this moment,” he said.
Mamdani said candidates running in the midterms need to look beyond challenging the Trump administration.
“It’s not enough to simply stand up to federal policies we disagree with. We also have to stand up for an entire working class that has been left behind by politics that has come to think of politics as a hobby only certain people can afford,” he said.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
11 hr 3 min ago
Mamdani doesn't commit to midterm campaigning, but stresses importance of election
By Elise Hammond
Several other self-identified democratic socialists are on the ballot in key midterm contests this November, but New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is not committing to traveling to campaign for them, he said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Mamdani said his focus is on “potholes on the road here in New York City,” but acknowledged what is at stake in the upcoming election.
“Whether we have a Democratic House or a Democratic Senate, it has an impact on New York City, and I am hopeful that this November we will see successes across the country,” he said.
The mayor has endorsed progressive candidates who have had success in their primaries, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th Congressional District.
Mamdani also endorsed Brad Lander, a former Democratic Socialists of America member who unseated incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in the state’s 10th Congressional District.
Elsewhere, progressive candidates are capturing voters’ attention, with candidates like Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for a critical Senate seat in Michigan, but has stressed he does not consider himself a democratic socialist.
10 hr 15 min ago
What Mamdani says about the WBD-Paramount merger
By Aditi Sangal
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is “incredibly concerned” with the impending merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance and its potential impacts on the city, he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
He expressed concern for industry workers and rising prices due to corporate consolidation.
“This is part and parcel of why so many Americans have a diminishing faith in media. And it speaks to a larger corporate consolidation across so many sectors and industries that drive up prices, reduce the, you know, the breadth of opinion that is shared on these platforms, and leave us with a population that look to these things as examples of why they can’t trust what it is that they see on TV,” he said.
The mayor questioned the federal government’s approval of the merger and commended efforts from New York Attorney General Letitia James in the fight for worker protections amid the merger.
The deal will combine Paramount’s film and television studios, CBS and the Paramount+ streamer with Warner’s studios, HBO, CNN and other cable networks.
“While the timing is not yet fixed, we expect the merger will close no later than early October,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told staffers in a memo.
Warner Bros. Discovery is CNN’s parent company.
CNN’s Brian Stelter and Andrew Kirell contributed to this post.
10 hr 35 min ago
Mamdani says he told Trump he disagreed with ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico
By Gloria Pazmino and MariaSole Campinoti
During his meeting with President Donald Trump today, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made it clear he disagreed with the president’s ban of certain media outlets and warned him there would be no restrictions during Monday’s events.
“What I said is that I believe in a free press, and I believe in the importance of engaging in questions from all, no matter whether they are based in a compliment or on a critique,” Mamdani told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during a sit-down interview Monday. “You saw that we spoke to representatives from CNN, from MS NOW, from Politico, from Crain’s, from The City Reporter, from a wide variety, and that is something that will continue under my administration, because I believe it’s a critical part of the fourth estate being able to do its job.”
The mayor reflected on his own relationship with the press, saying he remains open to all outlets, even ones that are frequently critical of him.
“You know you could pick up a copy of the New York Post almost every day of the week, and you’d find me there on the cover, and I’ll still take questions from the New York Post because I think that that’s also what it means to be in New York City politics — to engage with New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.
While he remains accessible, Mamdani, who holds near daily press conferences, has also placed some of his own limits on access. Often, events are pooled or open to invited media. Sometimes, Mamdani hosts events for “new media,” including social media influencers and bloggers.
CNN’s Ana Bickford and Claire Calzonetti contributed to this post.
12 hr 25 min ago
Key things we learned after Trump and Mamdani's New York City meeting
By Elise Hammond
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani meets with President Donald Trump in Gracie Mansion in New York City on Monday as seen in this photograph of the meeting released by the mayor's office. Zohran Mamdani/X
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump covered a range of topics at their meeting this afternoon, including a major affordable housing project and immigration.
Mamdani said he invited the president to Gracie Mansion while Trump is in town for the United Nations General Assembly this week. It’s the first time a sitting president has made an official visit to the mansion since the 1980s.
The two took questions after their private discussion.
Here’s what we learned:
- Mamdani said he is willing to “work with anyone no matter what party they belong to” and reiterated that his focus is on delivering for New Yorkers.
- The Sunnyside Yards project was a key part of the conversation, both Trump and Mamdani said. The massive development plan would create thousands of housing units atop a 180-acre railyard in Queens where the city has long sought to build housing.
- Mamdani said he and Trump agreed to “set up a new level of that conversation between our housing and operations team at City Hall and the White House team” on the project, which would require billions of dollars in federal funding.
- Trump, for his part, suggested he would consider backing the Sunnyside Yards plan, telling reporters, “maybe they have a shot at doing it.” The president said it would require “a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But it’s always been a great location.”
- Immigration was another key discussion point, with Mamdani saying he shared “very strong opinions” with Trump on keeping immigrant New Yorkers safe. The mayor said he discussed the importance of immigrants, especially Haitian New Yorkers, to the “fabric of our city and to our city’s economy.”
- Mamdani also said he raised the issue of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and made it clear the program was a priority for the city.
- Following Trump’s ban of CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, Mamdani said he told Trump that he is going to have all members of the media present at Gracie Mansion today. Trump, however, called the ban an “obligation.”
- Trump reminisced about past visits to Gracie Mansion during his time with Mamdani inside the historic mayoral home, Mamdani told reporters. The president thanked Mamdani for the invitation and said he hopes he will be a “great” mayor.
CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, Aditi Sangal, Elizabeth Wolfe, Molly English, Donald Judd, Avni Trivedi and Julia Benbrook contributed reporting.
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