New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump met for a second time Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C. — and it looks like the president’s unlikely affection for Mamdani hasn’t abated.
The mayor confirmed the sit-down with the president on social media, sharing a photo of the two of them in the Oval Office with Trump smiling broadly.
In the photo, which seems heavily filtered, the president holds a pair of Daily News front pages. One is the iconic “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline from 1975, referring to President Gerald Ford’s vow to veto any federal bailout of New York City. The other is a fake cover featuring Trump that reads “Trump to City: Let’s Build.” The Trump-themed front page includes additional text hinting at the theme of the day’s meeting, including “Backs New Era of Housing” and “Trump Delivers 12,000+ Homes, Most Since 1973.” Mamdani’s office confirmed that the mayor pitched a housing project with 12,000 units to Trump and that it was Mamdani and his team who brought the newspaper mock-ups to the meeting.
Mamdani said he also raised the matter of Elmina Aghayeva, the Columbia University student who was arrested by Homeland Security agents in her university residence early Thursday morning. “Just got off the phone with President Trump,” Mamdani posted later on Thursday. “In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning,” he said. “He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.” Aghayeva was indeed freed shortly after his announcement. The Associated Press reports that Mamdani sought the administration’s help with other federal immigration cases involving students and provided Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, with a list that included Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, and Leqaa Kordia, who is still currently being detained.
Mamdani’s meeting with Trump was not included on the mayor’s public schedule, which is published daily. The New York Post first reported that Mamdani was traveling to Washington, D.C., and was spotted on a Delta flight, and the mayor’s office later confirmed his travel.
The two leaders first met in November for a highly anticipated Oval Office visit that many observers said would mark the first major political test for the then-incoming mayor. While Trump had long railed against Mamdani and actively boosted his opponent during the election, the president seemed won over by him and expressed hope about their future collaboration. “I feel very confident that he can do a very good job,” the president said at the time.
Trump even snuck in some Mamdani praise this week during his historically long-winded State of the Union address Tuesday night as he referenced the mayor’s use of emergency snow shovelers during the recent blizzard. “Even the new communist mayor of New York City — I think he’s a nice guy actually, speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy,” he said.
