1 hour ago
2
President Trump arrived Monday afternoon at Gracie Mansion for a meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — making the first presidential visit to Hizzoner’s official residence since Ronald Reagan visited Ed Koch in 1981 to tout federal investments in a local roadway project.
The populist president, who is in town for the annual UN General Assembly, was greeted off-camera by the socialist mayor before a private discussion.
“While in New York City, I’m on the way to one of my favorite places in the World, Gracie Mansion,” Trump wrote on Truth Social as his motorcade zoomed through Manhattan to the Upper East Side.
“I spent lots of hours there over the years, with some great Mayors, some average Mayors, and some bad Mayors. It will be interesting to see how it looks now, invited by Mayor Mamdani. Look forward to it. MAKE NEW YORK CITY GREAT AGAIN!”
The leaders struck up an unlikely friendship at their first meeting last November at the White House — despite trashing each other previously as a “fascist” and a “communist.” They met again privately in the Oval Office in February and have kept in contact swapping text messages and calls.
Mamdani, a former state lawmaker from Queens, has sought to forge common ground with Trump, who was born in the borough — leaning into Trump’s construction background and asking for $21 billion in federal grants deck over rail tracks to build affordable housing in Sunnyside Yard.
The mayor appeared to soften his anti-Israel stance in the run-up to the meeting — though he and Trump remain at odds over whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed war crimes in Gaza.
Mamdani insisted last week that “I have never encouraged” residents to protest Netanyahu, a close Trump ally, when he arrives to address the UN — seeming to back off his July remarks that “one of the bedrocks of our city is protest” when asked about it.
Mamdani said over the summer that he lacks the power to have the NYPD arrest Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza — after running last year promising to lock up the Jewish state’s leader.
Trump, meanwhile, has been candid in his criticisms of Mamdani — noting he wants the mayor to do more to fight crime and deport violent illegal immigrants. He has condemned high taxes in his city of birth — as Mamdani implements a new levy on second homes.
“The city is looking not good. You got to clean up Manhattan, clean it up, make it sparkle, number one, and you got to lower taxes, or everyone’s leaving,” Trump bluntly told The Post in April as he appraised Mamdani’s first 100 days in office.
English (US)