Overview
- After their first face-to-face session, both leaders highlighted overlap on building more housing, lowering costs and improving public safety.
- Trump told reporters, “I expect to be helping him, not hurting him,” and said he would feel comfortable living in New York under Mamdani’s leadership.
- Mamdani said he will cooperate on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers and vowed to resist actions he views as harmful, including expanded ICE operations or cuts to federal support.
- The meeting followed weeks of hostile rhetoric, including Trump’s threats to withhold funds and officials’ signals of increased ICE activity in New York, even as the White House cast Friday’s sit-down as open dialogue.
- Mamdani’s team prepared through outreach to state and national Democrats, while his transition continues to center on an affordability agenda spanning housing, childcare, transit and food access.