The attorney for a group of homeowners seeking to delay the rollout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax isn’t interested in President Donald Trump’s assistance with the litigation.
“I’m not asking for the help of anyone besides the courts of New York state,” attorney Randy Mastro said in an interview with Bloomberg Law on Wednesday when asked if he needed or wanted Trump’s help.
Asked if the federal government could play any role in the litigation, Mastro said: “No,” adding, “I’m representing real New Yorkers aggrieved by what the Mamdani administration has done to them.”
Mastro’s comments come after Trump on Tuesday said he would examine whether the federal government can stop the tax. “I am looking to see if the Federal Government has any legal right to avert this disaster, before it is too late, for the millions of people who cherish New York and want to see it thrive, as opposed to becoming a filthy, crime ridden, decrepit place of mockery and scorn,” Trump posted on social media.
Mastro, a former top aide to Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Eric Adams, has become a top legal adversary for Mamdani. The rollout of the pied-à-terre tax was temporarily blocked by a state court judge on Staten Island after Mastro filed suit.
In addition to the suit challenging the pied-à-terre tax, Mastro recently filed a separate complaint on behalf of a group of New York City landlords who sued to void a rent freeze approved in June.
“There are few things more certain in New York City than death, taxes and Randy Mastro filing a lawsuit against this administration,” Mamdani said earlier this week.
Mastro said in the interview that “it’s a kind of compliment that I’m on the mayor’s mind.”
The case is O’Brien v. City of New York, N.Y. Sup. Ct., 85217/2026, 8/12/26.