Trump says he’ll meet with NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani on Friday in the Oval Office
By Donald Judd, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to host New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani Friday in the Oval Office, the first face-to-face meeting for the two politicians since Mamdani was elected earlier this month.
“Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st. Further details to follow!”
Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor-elect, confirmed the meeting in a statement, saying, “As is customary for an incoming mayoral administration, the Mayor-elect plans to meet with the President in Washington to discuss public safety, economic security and the affordability agenda that over one million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago.”
Shortly before Trump announced the meeting, Mamdani confirmed his camp had reached out to arrange a meeting with the president in an interview with MS NOW.
“We did reach out to the White House – and my team reached out because of a commitment that I made to New Yorkers, that I would be willing to meet with anyone and everyone, so long as it was to the benefit 8.5 million people who call the city home and their struggle to afford the most expensive city United States of America,” he said.
A meeting between Trump and Mamdani would cap off months of acrimony between the two New Yorkers, who have traded barbs on the stump and in the press since Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary in June.
Trump has used the Democratic Socialist Mamdani as a foil, seeking to link his politics to Democrats across the country and deriding him as “my little communist” in remarks from the Oval Office. He also threatened ahead of the election to take federal funding from New York City if Mamdani won.
For his part, Mamdani directly addressed the president in his victory speech moments after clinching the mayor’s race this month, joking, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”
Returning to the White House from his West Palm Beach home Sunday, Trump teased a meeting with Mamdani, telling reporters at Joint Base Andrews, “The mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us, and we’ll work something out. But he, he would like to come to Washington and meet. And we’ll work something out. We want to see everything work out well for New York.”
In the final stretches of the mayoral race, Trump had struck a far more antagonistic tone, throwing his weight behind former Democratic governor and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo in the hopes of stalling Mamdani’s momentum.
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump wrote just two days before Election Day.
Previewing a potential meeting with Trump Wednesday, Mamdani told MS Now, “I want to just speak plainly to the president about what it means to actually stand up for New Yorkers and the way in which New Yorkers are struggling to afford this city, and frankly, cost of living is something that I heard time and time again from New Yorkers about why they voted for Donald Trump.”
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CNN’s Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.
