Pals Mamdani and Trump meet again

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani quietly traveled to Washington D.C. Thursday to meet with President Donald Trump in person for a second time. At the summit, which was not on his public schedule, Mamdani pitched a 12,000 unit, federally supported housing project, his Press Secretary Joe Calvello told reporters. The mayor later shared a photo that showed him and the president together with a mock-up Daily News front page that read “TRUMP TO CITY: LET’S BUILD.” 

Mamdani also advocated for five university students who had open cases with federal authorities, Calvello said, including one student who had been detained by federal agents at Columbia University early Thursday morning. After the meeting, the president called Mamdani to let him know that that student, Elmina Aghayeva, would be released, the mayor said in a statement on X. The other four students the mayor advocated for were Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Mohsen Mahdawi and Leqaa Kordia.

Plans for the meeting were kept private at the president’s request, the mayor’s team said. News of the mayor’s trip was first reported by the New York Post, and news of the meeting with Trump was first reported by The New York Times. The housing development the mayor is proposing would be developed over Sunnyside Yards in Queens, Politico New York reported.

The Republican president and the democratic socialist mayor have established a surprisingly amicable relationship since Mamdani took office two months ago. While the two fired barbs at one another prior to his election – Mamdani vowing to fight against the president’s agenda, Trump calling him names and wrongfully questioning his immigration status – the reality of their relationship has been far more measured. The two met in-person for the first time during an Oval Office press conference in late November.

At Trump’s State of the Union Address Tuesday, he called Mamdani a “nice guy” and said “I speak to him a lot.” Asked about those comments Wednesday, Mamdani said, “We have conversations that are always focused on how to keep the city moving forward.”

While other Democratic New York elected officials have strongly condemned the Republican president, convened press conferences and attended anti-Trump protests, Mamdani has avoided using the president’s name – and he’s reserved most of his criticism for social media posts. 

Former Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, faced much scrutiny over his relationship with the president – especially because the Trump administration dismissed his federal indictment, which spurred allegations of a quid pro quo. The president doesn’t have the same sort of potential leverage over Mamdani. This has likely so far spared him the same degree of condemnation that Adams garnered for his refusal to criticize Trump.