New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stated Thursday that he’s “not involved” his upcoming assembly with President Donald Trump may very well be a political entice, vowing as a substitute to middle the Oval Workplace sit-down on how they may work to make the town extra reasonably priced.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, is about to journey to Washington for a gathering with Trump on Friday, a probably explosive pairing of polar-opposite politicians who’ve been at odds for months.
At a information convention exterior New York Metropolis Corridor, Mamdani stated he hopes to “share the info concerning the affordability disaster within the metropolis” whereas waving off the concept that the president might use the assembly to embarrass him.
“I’ve many disagreements with the president and I imagine that we needs to be relentless and pursue all avenues and all conferences that may make our metropolis reasonably priced for each single New Yorker,” he stated.
Mamdani gained a surprising victory in New York Metropolis’s mayoral race this month with a marketing campaign closely targeted on the town’s affordability disaster, promising to show the facility of presidency towards serving to the working class whereas additionally preventing again in opposition to a hostile Trump administration.
Trump has railed in opposition to Mamdani for months, warning that his hometown would slide into chaos underneath the younger progressive’s management and recommended he would withhold federal cash from the town if Mamdani gained. Trump has additionally incorrectly known as him a communist and has threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda however grew to become a naturalized American citizen in 2018.
The president introduced the assembly in a social media publish Wednesday night time, placing Mamdani’s center identify Kwame in citation marks whereas incorrectly referring to him because the “Communist Mayor of New York Metropolis.”
Mamdani dismissed the concept that he was strolling into an adversarial sit-down with Trump, telling reporters Thursday: “I’m not involved about this assembly. I view this assembly as a chance to make my case, and I’ll make that case to anybody.”
When pressed additional, Mamdani stated he’d make it clear to the president that he was there as an emissary of the town, not merely a political newcomer.
“For me, it’s not about myself. It’s a few relationship between New York Metropolis and the White Home, the president, and the federal administration. And I’ll look to clarify my curiosity goes past any certainly one of a person nevertheless it’s for the folks I look to signify,” he stated.
When requested if he meant to deliver up the president’s threats of stepped-up immigration enforcement in New York, Mamdani tried to pivot again to his affordability argument.
“I feel affordability was on the core of our marketing campaign, and in addition it was affordability based mostly on the worth of defending every New Yorker,” he stated. “Meaning defending them from value gouging of their lives, nevertheless it additionally means defending them from ICE brokers and making it clear that I’ll look to representing each single individual.”
Mamdani will take workplace as mayor subsequent yr, succeeding present Mayor Eric Adams, who has been touring overseas and posted an image on X Thursday morning of himself alongside an Uzbek official.
