WASHINGTON (WABC) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with President Donald Trump at the White House Thursday afternoon to discuss building housing in New York City.
The mayor went to the White House to pitch the president on a possible project in New York City that could be the biggest federal investment in housing in the last 50 years, the mayor’s team told Eyewitness News. The project would deliver 12,000 units.
The president was “very enthusiastic” about the idea pitched by Mamdani.
The mayors office mocked up newspaper front pages and gave them to Trump in the Oval Office.
After the meeting, Mamdani took to social media, saying he had a productive meeting with Trump, and is “looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”
Sandra Bookman has the details on Mayor Mamdani’s meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office.
The mayor also asked the president directly to release the Columbia University student detained on Thursday, as well as four additional students being detained by the administration.
Shortly after departing the White House, Mamdani received a call from Trump, letting him know the student detained Thursday morning would be released.
Those were the two “major” issues discussed.
The meeting was attended by the president, the mayor, and both of their chiefs of staff.
The latest developments come after the president again praised the New York mayor as being a “nice guy” who he claimed to speak with “a lot” during his State of the Union address.
“And even the new communist mayor of New York City, I think he’s a nice guy, actually, speak to him a lot,” Trump said of Mamdani on Tuesday, while promoting a policy of nationwide voter ID.
Mamdani told reporters on Wednesday when asked about his conversations with Trump, “I’ll keep the conversations that I have with the president private. I will tell you, however, that whenever they do happen, they always focus on how to better our city.”
Later, when asked how frequently he talks with Trump, he did not answer directly but said, “We have conversations that are always focused on how to keep the city moving forward.”
During their first meeting in November, the two talked about reforming the city’s land use process to make building in New York City easier.
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