New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, during an unannounced trip to Washington. After the meeting, Mamdami took to X to say, “I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon.” He said, “I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”
‘Trump Delivers 12,000+ Homes’: Mock newspapers
Mamdani also shared a photo of himself with Trump, showing the US President holding two printouts of New York Daily News front pages, “one real and one fake,” the New York Times reported.
The one in his left hand shows a real front page from 1975, with the infamous headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” published after President Gerald Ford refused to bail out New York City, which was nearing bankruptcy, the report added.
In his other hand, Trump could be seen holding a fake front page that read “Trump to City: Let’s Build.” In smaller type beneath that headline, the page read “Backs New Era of Housing.” And in even smaller type, it reads “Trump Delivers 12,000+ Homes; Most Since 1973.”
Anna Bahr, a spokeswoman for City Hall, was quoted by the New York Times as saying that Mamdani had provided the printouts to Trump, and that the 12,000-unit number referred to an actual proposal.
Mamdani’s office declined to elaborate on the mayor’s housing proposal, but Bahr said Trump was “very enthusiastic” about it.
Anna Bahr said the mayor’s team created a mock front page and headlines for Trump to look at and demonstrate what kind of reaction new federal housing investments could bring.
According to the New York Timesthe proposal was possibly a reference to Sunnyside Yards, the massive rail yard in Queens over which the city has long dreamed of building 12,000 units of housing.
What else happened during Trump, Mamdani meeting?
At the meeting on Thursday – which was previously unannounced and lasted for about an hour – Mamdani also brought up the detention of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student.
In another post on
She said that Trump later informed him that she would be “released imminently.”
“Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Madani posted on X.
After the meeting, the student posted on Instagram that she had been released. While both men have been critical of each other’s policy positions in the past and hold radically different worldviews, their previous meeting in November was unexpectedly friendly.
Mamdani also gave White House chief of staff Susie Wiles a list of four other students targeted by federal authorities and asked for the administration’s help with them.
The four students are Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Mohsen Mahdawi and Leqaa Kordia, who were all detained for their roles in pro-Palestinian protests. Of the four, only Kordia remains in custody, although all cases are proceeding through the courts.
Second meeting between Trump, Mamdani
It marked the second meeting between Trump and Mamdani since Mamdani’s mayoral election win late last year. Mamdani is a Democrat and Trump is a Republican.
When Trump and Mamdani last met in November, the president encouraged Mamdani to return to him with an idea to build big things together in New York City, Bahr was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
In their first meeting too, Mamdani and Trump had spoken about bringing down the price of housing. A former real estate developer, Trump had brightened at Mamdani’s call for more housing in New York.
Making housing more affordable has been one of Trump’s pledges ahead of the midterm elections in late 2026 as prices for housing remain significantly higher than they were a few years ago.
Cost of living and affordability were also issues at the heart of Mamdani’s mayoral victory.
