Donald Trump (00:11):
Well, thank you very much. We've just had a great meeting, a really good, very productive meeting. We have one thing in common. We want this city of ours that we love to do very well, and I wanted to congratulate the Mayor. He really ran an incredible race against a lot of smart people, starting with the early primaries against some very tough people, very smart people, and he beat him and he beat them easily. And I congratulated him and we talked about some things in very strong common like housing and getting housing built and food and prices and the price of oil is coming way down.
(00:52)
Anything I do is going to be good for New York. If I can get prices down, it's good for New York, and we've got them down, way down from last year. As you know, I've been saying to a lot of people, Walmart said that Thanksgiving this year is exactly 25% less than last year. So that's good for New York, good for everybody. But I just want to congratulate… I think you're going to have hopefully a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am, I will say. There's no difference in party. There's no difference in anything. And we're going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true. Having a strong and very safe New York, and congratulations, Mr. Mayor.
Zohran Mamdani (01:32):
Thank you, Mr. President.
Donald Trump (01:32):
Thank you.
Zohran Mamdani (01:32):
I appreciate it.
Donald Trump (01:33):
Please.
Zohran Mamdani (01:34):
I appreciated the meeting with the President and as he said, it was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers, the eight and a half million people who call our city, their home, who are struggling to afford life in the most expensive city in the United States of America. We spoke about rent, we spoke about groceries, we spoke about utilities. We spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out, and I appreciated the time with the President. I appreciated the conversation. I look forward to working together to deliver that affordability for New Yorkers.
Donald Trump (02:07):
Thank you very much. Any questions? Please.
Steven Nelson (02:10):
President Trump. Steven Nelson from The New York Post. I've got a question for you and then also one for the mayor-elect. For you, you've referred to Mr. Mamdani as a communist. Can you describe why you feel that way? And also, will you do anything to stop him from arresting Prime Minister Netanyahu, if he visits New York?
Donald Trump (02:27):
Well, we didn't discuss your second part of the question. And on your first part, I mean, he's got views a little out there, but who knows? I mean, we're going to see what works or… He's going to change also. We all change. I changed a lot, changed a lot from when I first came to office. It's now quite a while ago. It's quite a while. My first term was great. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We're doing even better now. We're doing much better now than we did even the first term. And I can tell you some of my views have changed and we had discussions on some things. I'm not going to discuss what they were, but that I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he's going to surprise some conservative people actually. And some very liberal people, he won't surprise him because they already like him.
Steven Nelson (03:15):
And Mr. Mamdani, it sounds like you had a productive discussion, but just days ago you referred to President Trump as a despot who betrayed the country. You said you'd be his worst nightmare and accused him of having a fascist agenda. Are you planning to retract any of these remarks in order to improve your relationship?
Zohran Mamdani (03:34):
I think both President Trump and I, we are very clear about our positions and our views. And what I really appreciate about the President is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers. And frankly, that is something that could transform the lives of the eight and a half million people who are currently struggling under a cost of living crisis with one in four living in poverty. And the meeting came back again and again to what it could look like to lift those New Yorkers out of struggle and start to deliver them a city that they could do more than just struggle to afford it, but actually start to live in it.
Donald Trump (04:07):
And I've been called much worse than a despot, so it's not that insulting, but maybe I think he'll change his mind after we get to working together. Yes, please.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Mr. President, Anthony Marschak from MTV Lebanon.
Donald Trump (04:17):
Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I would like to ask you a question about the Middle East regarding-
Donald Trump (04:23):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
You said that Hezbollah in Lebanon is not in a good position. And Lebanon now is the final unresolved after Gaza and Syria. Given your assessment, what do you say for the Lebanese today? It's Independence Day in Lebanon, and what is your next move to push toward the disarmament?
Donald Trump (04:43):
Sure. Well, we are pushing for total disarmament of Hamas and frankly everybody else. And we actually have peace in the Middle East. As you know, the King of Saudi Arabia just left yesterday. We had some great meetings and he's made a contribution toward the United States of more than a trillion dollars. We have now over $20 trillion coming in. No country has ever had anything like that. Not even close. If you go to 2 trillion or 1 trillion, it's a lot. We have 20 or $21 trillion. I think that Hezbollah has been a problem. And Lebanon, big problem. We're working with Lebanon. We're working with everybody in the Middle East. That's another thing I think we have in common. We want to see peace in the Middle East. And we actually have now for the first time peace in the Middle East after 3000 years. And now we're going to refine it. And I think you're going to see some very positive things happen.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Is there is the potential to invite the Lebanese President to meet you to the White House?
Donald Trump (05:38):
Oh, sure. Oh, I would do that, absolutely. And if the Mayor would like to be here for that meeting because I know he feels very strongly. I think you feel very, very strongly about peace in the Middle East.
Zohran Mamdani (05:49):
We desperately want it. And that's something that I shared with the President that when I spoke to New Yorkers who had voted for the President last November on Hillside Avenue and Fordham Road, I asked them why. I heard again and again, two major reasons. One was that they wanted an end to forever wars. They wanted an end to the taxpayer dollars we had funding violations of human rights, and they wanted to address the cost of living crisis. And I appreciated the chance to discuss both of those things.
Donald Trump (06:13):
He said a lot of my voters actually voted for him.
Zohran Mamdani (06:15):
One in ten.
Donald Trump (06:15):
And I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
And Mr. Trump, I have a [inaudible 00:06:19] as well.
Donald Trump (06:19):
I'll do that. I'll sign it. Give it to me. I'll sign it in a minute. That's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President.
Donald Trump (06:24):
Yeah, please.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You threatened to send federal troops to New York City. You both have differences when it comes to ICE agents in New York City. Mr. Mamdani, you called ICE a rogue government entity. I wonder how you reconcile your differences on both of those issues.
Donald Trump (06:41):
Well, I think we're going to work them out, and I think that if we have known murderers and known drug dealers and some very bad people, we want to get them out. And the Mayor wants to have… We discussed this at great length actually, maybe more than anything else. He wants to have a safe New York. Ultimately a safe New York is going to be a great New York. If it's not safe, no matter how well we do with pricing and with anything else, we can talk about anything you want, if you don't have safe streets, it's not going to be a success. So we're going to work together. We're going to make sure that if they're horrible people there, we want to get them out. I think he wants to get them out maybe more than I do. So we'll work together. We discussed it at great length. Yes, please.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah. Two questions if I may. One for you, Mr. President, from BBC in a second, but first of all, for the mayor-elect, you are both from different parts of the political spectrum. You're both populists though. And I just wonder to what extent the President's campaign style, his techniques, his social media inspired any part of your campaign.
Zohran Mamdani (07:42):
Well, I actually told the President that so much of the focus of our campaign has been on the cost of living crisis. And when we asked those New Yorkers who had voted for the President, when we saw an increase in his numbers in New York City, that came back to the same issue. Cost of living, cost of living, cost of living. And they spoke about the cost of groceries,
Zohran Mamdani (08:00):
… is the cost of rent, the cost of Con Ed, the cost of child care. And too often politicians are looking to lecture to New Yorkers what they should care about as opposed to listen. And when we spoke to those voters who voted for President Trump, we heard them speak about cost of living. We focused on that same cost of living. And that's where I am really looking forward to delivering for New Yorkers in partnership with the president on the affordability agenda.
Donald Trump (08:23):
And I think we have to work a little bit, we talked about Con Edison. We have to work a little bit on getting the prices because we've gotten fuel prices way down, but it hasn't shown up in Con Edison. And we're going to have to talk to them if we are sending them fuel at a much lower price than it was a year ago, which is true, we have to get Con Edison to start lowering their rates.
Zohran Mamdani (08:44):
Absolutely.
Reporter 1 (08:46):
And if I may, last week you told me you were pushing ahead with your plans to see if you can save approximately $5 billion. You were going to speak to Prime Minister Starmer as well. Is there any progress or any updates from those issues?
Donald Trump (08:56):
Well, we get along very well with the Prime Minister. We made a deal with UK. I like him. He's a fine person and I think they have some big energy problems. They've got windmills all over the place. They're going to have to start using other methods because their energy is out of control talking about in the UK, it's out of control. And he's got that problem. He's got a big immigration problem, as you know, and he's got a big energy problem and we talk about it. He's a good man. Prime Minister is a good man.
Reporter 1 (09:26):
Have you had a chance to speak this week?
Donald Trump (09:28):
I haven't spoken this week.
Reporters (09:29):
Mr. President.
Reporter 2 (09:29):
Mr. President have you spoken to President Zelenskyy, have you attended-
Donald Trump (09:33):
To who?
Reporter 2 (09:33):
President Zelenskyy about your plan to meet with him?
Donald Trump (09:37):
I've spoken with their people. We have a plan. It's horrible what's happening. It's a war that should have never happened. It would've never happened if I was president. And it's a shame and I thought they should have acted quicker, but it's a cold winter and you talk about utilities, but a lot of the big energy producing plants have been under attack. To put it mildly. To put it nicely. Yeah, we have a way of getting peace or we think we have a way of getting peace. He's going to have to approve it. Just so sad last month they lost 25,000 soldiers. We haven't seen anything like this since the Second World War and they're averaging 6 or 7,000 a week between the two of them, dead soldiers. And it goes on and on. And I think they're getting reasonably close, but I don't want to predict.
(10:32)
I would've said that would've been one of my early ones. I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan. In fact, they're coming here in a week or two. Go to the Congo and Rwanda. That was 10 million people dead and we worked something out on that. But so many, and the one I thought would've been for me because I have a very good relationship with President Putin. I thought that would've been maybe quicker, but it does take two to tango and now you just see all the death and it doesn't affect us other than the fact that we don't want to see all those people dead really it's on the other side of the ocean. It's a war that should have never happened. It did happen. I blame the person also sitting right behind this desk. This is a war that should have never happened and it wouldn't have happened if I were president, but we're trying to save a lot of lives here. They're losing 25, think of that 25,000 lives over the last short period of time that's Ukrainian and Russian and it's a shame.
Reporters (11:36):
Mr. President.
Reporter 3 (11:37):
Mr. President, I want to ask the mayor-elect about a house resolution just passed overwhelmingly to condemn socialism, including with 86 Democrats, all of House Dem leadership and the minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, despite his endorsement of you. What's your reaction to that?
Zohran Mamdani (11:53):
I have to be honest with you I focused very little on resolutions. Frankly, I've been focusing-
Reporter 3 (11:58):
Do you condemn socialism?
Zohran Mamdani (11:59):
I understand. I think the focus is on the work at hand. I can tell you I am someone who is a democratic socialist. I've been very open about that. And I know there might be differences about ideology, but the place of agreement is the work that needs to be done to make New York City affordable. That's what I look forward to.
Reporter 3 (12:13):
And I want to clarify your answer to Stephen Nelson, he asked about your comment calling the president a fascist. And your answer was, "Both President Trump and I have been clear about our positions and our views." Are you affirming that you think President Trump is a fascist?
Zohran Mamdani (12:28):
I've spoken about-
Donald Trump (12:29):
That's okay. You can just say yes.
Zohran Mamdani (12:29):
Okay. All right.
Donald Trump (12:34):
It's easier. It's easier than explaining it. I don't mind.
Reporter 3 (12:36):
And Mr. President I wanted to ask you also about this Ukraine plan. President Zelenskyy said today that his country would risk either giving up a partner or giving up its dignity. There's been criticism that this deal-
Donald Trump (12:50):
You mean he doesn't like it?
Reporter 3 (12:51):
It's unclear. He was sort of-
Donald Trump (12:55):
He'll have to like it and if he doesn't like it, then they should just keep fighting. I guess.
Reporter 3 (12:58):
The suggestion that you made though was that if he doesn't accept it, that the US would pull back its support for Ukraine. Is that accurate?
Donald Trump (13:05):
Well, at some point he's going to have to accept something and he hasn't accepted. You remember right in the Oval Office, not so long ago, I said, "You don't have the cards. Don't forget I inherited this war. This war never would've happened. I inherited this war," and I thought he should have made a deal a year ago, two years ago. The ultimate deal would've been if it never started. That would've been a good deal. That could have been done too, if you had the right president, but you didn't have the right president.
Reporters (13:32):
Mr. President.
Reporter 4 (13:33):
Mr. President. The cost of living is something that you and Mr. Mamdani seem to agree on.
Donald Trump (13:40):
Right.
Reporter 4 (13:41):
Democrats have run New York City for a long time, Mr. Mamdani. Do you see Democrat policy specifically as being a problem? And I'd like that to be a question that both of you could answer, in New York City.
Zohran Mamdani (13:55):
Look, I think that there are many things in our city where we have to own the responsibility of it. Things that existed long before the president was the president, and those are also part of the message of our campaign, was to take on a broken politics of the past. And I ran against a number of candidates who represented different versions of that past. And what we found time and again is that working people were left behind in the politics of our city. And what we're looking to do is put those people right back at the heart of our politics so that we don't have a situation where we're in the wealthiest city in the history of the world and yet one in five can't even afford $2.90 for a metro card.
Reporters (14:29):
Mr. President.
Donald Trump (14:32):
We had some interesting conversations and some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have, but a big thing on cost. The new word is affordability. Another word is just groceries. It's sort of an old-fashioned word, but it's very accurate. And they're coming down. They're coming down high. Both of us, we had the highest inflation in the history of our country the last four years under the Biden administration. And we've got inflation down now to a normal number. It's going to go even a little bit lower than that. Katie, do you have something?
Katie (15:05):
Yes, Mr. President. Thank you so much. Mr. Mamdani often talks about New York City being covered by international law that they will follow international law doesn't often talk about the US Constitution. What is your response to that?
Donald Trump (15:17):
Well, I don't know what you're referring to in terms it could be covered by international law, local law. It's covered by a lot of laws, but it's covered by US law. Are you referring to anything in particular?
Katie (15:30):
He just said that New York City endorses and enforces international law. Is that at odds with-
Donald Trump (15:37):
No, I don't know. Do you want to respond to this?
Zohran Mamdani (15:42):
Yeah. I think what I've shared with the president is our desire to not only follow the laws of our own city laws that protect New Yorkers, but also a desire for consistency in our politics across the board. And that's something that we've talked about and something that I know many New Yorkers want.
Katie (15:54):
So you work with ICE then? Do you work with ICE then?
Zohran Mamdani (15:58):
We discussed ICE and New York
Zohran Mamdani (16:00):
… York City, and I spoke about how the laws that we have in New York City allow for New York City government to speak to the federal administration for about 170 serious crimes. The concerns that many New Yorkers have are around the enforcement of immigration laws on New Yorkers across the five boroughs, and most recently, we're talking about a mother and her two children, how this has very little to do with what that is.
Speaker 10 (16:21):
Mr. Mamdani-
Donald Trump (16:22):
What we did is, we discussed crime. More than ICE, per se, we discussed crime. And he doesn't want to see crime, and I don't want to see crime, and I have very little doubt that we're not going to get along on that issue. He wants to … And he said some things that were very interesting, very interesting, as to housing construction, and he wants to see houses go up. He wants to see a lot of houses created, a lot of apartments built, et cetera. We actually, people would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing.
Speaker 10 (16:53):
Mr. Mamdani, anti-
Donald Trump (16:53):
Yes-
Speaker 10 (16:53):
Israel protesters.
Donald Trump (16:56):
Jack.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I want to know, one of the policies as well that Mayor-elect Mamdani talked a number of times about on the campaign was shifting the tax burden for property taxes from what he called minority communities to white-based communities, and putting more taxes on white people. I also noticed that in your acceptance speech you didn't mention anything about America or Christians or white people in general, and so, I didn't know if that was one of the policies that you guys had spoken about?
Zohran Mamdani (17:26):
We focused on affordability. We focused on the cost-of-living crisis. What I will say is that I am very much interested in property tax reform because what we see right now in New York City is a system that is so inequitable that it can't even stand up in court. And the president and I spoke about the importance of not only building more housing but also making sure that regulation of housing is something that is manageable to actually get through and not the cause of yet another wait that we see in our city.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
But to be clear, you're continuing this idea of race-based property taxes.
Zohran Mamdani (17:55):
No. To be very clear-
Speaker 4 (17:56):
It's what you said.
Zohran Mamdani (17:57):
No, the use of the term was a description of neighborhoods, not a description of intent.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
So you intend to tax the whiter neighborhoods more?
Zohran Mamdani (18:04):
No, we intend to create a fair property tax system, because we want a New York City that is not only fair and equitable, but also one that every New Yorker can afford.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
You're the one-
Speaker 5 (18:16):
Mr. Mamdani, anti-Israel protesters just targeted a synagogue-
Speaker 6 (18:18):
[inaudible 00:18:18]
Donald Trump (18:18):
Please, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Mr. Mamdani, anti-Israel protesters just targeted a synagogue in New York. Are you concerned about Jewish New Yorkers feeling welcome and safe in the city?
(18:24)
And President Trump, you threatened to cut off federal funding to New York City. What policies would prompt you to do that? Would that be city-run grocery stores? Would it be something else?
Donald Trump (18:33):
Well, I think if we didn't get along, whether it's cut off or just make it a little bit difficult or not give as much, we want to see, I use the term, we don't want good money going after bad. We don't want that to happen. I don't think that's going to happen.
(18:48)
I did say, subject to what policies are being set. We had a meeting today that actually surprised me. He wants to see no crime. He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down, all things that I agree with. Now we may disagree on how we get there. The rent coming down, I think one of the things I really gleaned very, very much today, he'd like to see them come down ideally by building a lot of additional housing. That's the ultimate way. He agrees with that, and so do I.
(19:19)
But, if I read the newspapers, and the stories, I don't hear that. But I heard him say it today. And I think that's a very positive step. Now, I don't expect … I expect to be helping him, not hurting him. A big help, because I want New York City to be great.
(19:36)
Look, I love New York City. It's where I come from. I spent a lot of years there. Now I'm right here. We took a big step back with the mayor that we had, named de Blasio. I thought it was a tremendous setback for the city.
(19:49)
I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
[inaudible 00:19:52]
Donald Trump (19:51):
Okay, how about you, you.
Speaker 8 (19:56):
Thanks.
Donald Trump (19:56):
Go ahead, please.
Speaker 9 (19:58):
Mr. President, you're a billionaire. You have a different address nowadays than you used to. You used to call New York City home. Would you feel comfortable living in New York City under a Mamdani administration?
Donald Trump (20:07):
Yes, I would, I really would, especially after the meeting. Absolutely.
Speaker 9 (20:11):
What makes you comfortable?
Donald Trump (20:13):
We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I think he's … I want him to do a great job, and we'll help him do a great job. He may have different views, but in many ways, you know, we were discussing, when Bernie Sanders was out of the race, I picked up a lot of his votes, and people had no idea, because he was strong on not getting ripped off in trade and lots of the things that I practiced, and been very successful on. Tariffs, a lot of things.
(20:39)
Bernie Sanders and I agreed on much more than people thought, and when he was put out of the race, I think quite unfairly if you want to know the truth, many of the Bernie Sanders voters voted for me, and I felt very comfortable frankly in seeing that and saying that. And you know, it just turned out to be a statistical truth. But, no, I feel very comfortable. I would feel very, very comfortable being in New York, and I think much more so after the meeting. Yes, please.
Speaker 11 (21:14):
Thank you, Mr. President. I have a question for you. But a very quick one for the mayor. Why did you fly here? Aren't trains greener?
Zohran Mamdani (21:18):
I will use every form of transit, and I want to make sure that they're all affordable in New York City, and that's why making buses fast and free is a centerpiece of our campaign.
Donald Trump (21:24):
Did you-
Speaker 11 (21:25):
There is a bus-
Donald Trump (21:26):
Well … I know, but if he flew, that's a lot quicker, too. I mean, he's working very hard, and for him to be … That's a long, that's a very … That's a very long drive. I'll stick up for you. You know, the plane takes you 30 minutes and driving takes you longer.
Speaker 11 (21:40):
And Mr. President, I just wondered if you could clear up some confusion around a Washington Post report. There is this explosive report that the Coast Guard is no longer going to characterize swastikas and nooses as hate symbols. DHS called that a lie and fake news. Can you clear up?
Donald Trump (21:55):
I don't know anything about it. When was this written?
Speaker 11 (21:58):
Yesterday.
Donald Trump (21:59):
Well, look, the Coast Guard it's an incredible group of people. I know them very well. We just ordered a lot of new Coast Guard cutters. Beautiful. They make the most magnificent ship. They look like yachts with lots of guns on them. So I don't know. I haven't seen any report like that, but certainly we want them to remain a great force, and they are.
Speaker 12 (22:18):
Mr. President-
Speaker 13 (22:18):
Mr. President-
Speaker 14 (22:20):
Mr. President, you did the peace in all the nine months around the world. I would like to ask Mr. Mamdani. You've accused the US government of committing genocide in Gaza while President Trump is working on this. Why that?
Zohran Mamdani (22:33):
I've spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide, and I've spoken about our government funding it. And I shared with the president in our meeting about the concern that many New Yorkers have of wanting their tax dollars to go towards the benefit of New Yorkers and their ability to afford basic dignity.
(22:47)
And what we see right now is, we're in the ninth consecutive year of more than 100,000 school children being homeless in our city, and there is a desperate need not only for the following of human rights but also the following through on the promises we've made New Yorkers, and I appreciated the meeting we had and the work that we can do.
Speaker 14 (23:03):
Do you agree that President Trump did do a peace and worked hard to make the peace, because he worked hard to do the peace in the Middle East and everywhere? Do you agree with that?
Zohran Mamdani (23:12):
I appreciate all efforts toward peace, and I shared with President Trump, that when I spoke to Trump voters on Hillside Avenue, including one of whom was a pharmacist that spoke about how President Trump's father actually went to that pharmacy not too far from Jamaica Estates, that people were tired of seeing our tax dollars fund endless wars. And I also believe that we have to follow through on the international human rights, and I know that still today, those are being violated, and that continues to be work that has to be done no matter where we're speaking of.
Speaker 15 (23:38):
Mr. President-
Speaker 16 (23:38):
Mr. President, a question on-
Speaker 17 (23:40):
Thank you, Mr. President. Do you view the mayor-elect as a true leader of the Democratic Party, and do you think Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries have to follow his lead?
Donald Trump (23:49):
Well, look, I hope they have great leaders. This is a man that right now I think is focused on New York City. I really think he has a chance to do a great job. We're going to help him. But I really think he has a chance
Donald Trump (24:00):
… do a great job. But I'll let you answer that. Do you consider yourself the leader of the Democrats? I think it's more appropriate for him.
Zohran Mamdani (24:06):
I consider myself the next mayor of New York City and I keep my horizons firmly on New York City and I appreciate the meeting with the president, which focused, again, on the five boroughs and whether New Yorkers could afford to live there.
Donald Trump (24:17):
By the way, being the Mayor of New York City is a big deal. I always said one of the things I would've loved to be someday is the Mayor of New York City. Being the Mayor of New York, and especially now because I think you're at really a turning point, one way or the other. It could go great or it can go in a different direction and I think you really have a chance to make it great. [inaudible 00:24:41]
Zohran Mamdani (24:40):
Appreciate [inaudible 00:24:42]
Speaker 18 (24:43):
Mr. President, you say you love New York City. Mr. Mamdani, does New York City love President Trump?
Zohran Mamdani (24:46):
New York City loves a future that is affordable and I can tell you that there were more New Yorkers who voted for President Trump in the most recent presidential election because of that focus on cost of living. And I'm looking forward to working together to deliver on that affordability agenda.
Donald Trump (24:59):
I got a lot of votes. One more. Go ahead. One or two more. Go ahead.
Speaker 20 (25:02):
One more and-
Donald Trump (25:04):
I'll tell you, the press has eaten this thing up. I've had a lot of meetings with the heads of major countries. Nobody cared. This meeting that you people have gone… Outside, you have hundreds of people waiting. This is just a small little group. For some reason, the press has found this to be a very interesting meeting. The biggest people in the world, they come over from countries, nobody cares, but they did care about this meeting and it was a great meeting. Go ahead.
Speaker 20 (25:31):
Yeah, Mr. President, I was going to ask you exactly that. Why do you think there's so much excitement around this [inaudible 00:25:37]
Donald Trump (25:36):
Because I think he's different. All right. I think he's different and that can be in a very positive way, but I think he's different than your typical guy. Runs, wins, becomes mayor maybe, and nothing exciting because he has a chance to really do something great for New York. New York is at a very critical point and he does need the help of the federal government to really succeed and we're going to be helping him. But he's different than your average candidate. He came out of nowhere. I said, "He has a great campaign manager standing over there." He came out of nowhere. What'd you start off a one and two? And then I watched, I say, "Who is this guy?" He was at one, then he was at three, then he was at five, then he was at nine. Then he went up to 17 and I said, "Hmm, that's getting a little bit of trust there." And then all of a sudden he wins a primary that nobody expected he was going to win. It's a great tribute and it's an amazing thing that he did.
Zohran Mamdani (26:38):
Sorry. I'll just add one thing to what the president said is one thing I also appreciated is in our meeting to appreciate a portrait of FDR and the incredible work that was done with the New Deal, and also in thinking about what it can look like when the federal government and New York City government work together to deliver on affordability. It can be transformative.
Donald Trump (26:59):
We have a great portrait of FDR that I found in the vaults that was missing for years. I found it and I put it up. He's a Democrat, to the best of my knowledge. He's a Democrat. And when the mayor saw that portrait, he said, "Sir, do you mind if I have a picture taken by that…" it's an amazing portrait.
Zohran Mamdani (27:16):
It is.
Donald Trump (27:16):
I hope the picture comes out good.
Zohran Mamdani (27:17):
It is.
Donald Trump (27:18):
But it's an amazing portrait in the Cabinet Room. So he's a big fan of the New Deal, I guess, and of FDR. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 19 (27:25):
Thank you, Mr President. You said that you both spoke about crime. There are many police officers set to come off the rolls at the end of this year in New York City. Are you going to allow those police to be replaced with police officers, actual cops, and are you going to require that that happens? Would there be some consequences in-
Donald Trump (27:44):
Well, I hope it happens, but again, that's going to be ultimately the mayor's decision.
Speaker 19 (27:49):
What's your answer?
Zohran Mamdani (27:49):
Is that I look forward to delivering public safety with the NYPD. And I've said over the course of our campaign that we have the number of police officers today, they are the ones-
Speaker 19 (27:57):
What's that number?
Zohran Mamdani (27:58):
It's budgeted about 35,000 headcount. And I think the key thing is that we have to make it easier for police to focus on police work, not ask them to respond to 200,000 mental health calls a year.
Speaker 19 (28:08):
So is that a reduction from what you're at right now? Are you committing to maintaining the same level of cops?
Zohran Mamdani (28:15):
I've committed over the course of the campaign to maintain the 35,000. That's the headcount that we had through the campaign.
Speaker 19 (28:19):
And not replace them with caseworkers social work?
Zohran Mamdani (28:22):
No, I've said that's the headcount that we want. What we need to do is make sure they can focus on serious crime.
Donald Trump (28:26):
And he just retained a great police commissioner, I believe, right?
Zohran Mamdani (28:29):
Yes. Yes, we did. Commissioner Tisch.
Donald Trump (28:31):
If the newspapers are correct.
Zohran Mamdani (28:32):
That one they're correct about.
Donald Trump (28:34):
He retained, I think, somebody that is a good friend of some of the people in my family, of Ivanka, and they say she's really good, really competent, and he just retained her. So that's a good sign.
Speaker 21 (28:45):
Mr. President. Are there small topics that you see the two of you disagreeing on in the future future and do you think you'll have more meetings like this?
Donald Trump (28:52):
There will be topics that we disagree on. I think we'll probably come to a conclusion and ultimately he'll convince me or I'll convince him. It's for the good of New York. Ultimately it's for the good of New York. I don't care about affiliations or parties or anything else, I want to see… If this city could be unbelievable, if he could be a spectacular success, I'd be very happy.
Speaker 21 (29:13):
Do you think you guys will meet more in the future too?
Donald Trump (29:13):
Too?
Speaker 21 (29:20):
Do you think you'll meet again in the future throughout the administration?
Donald Trump (29:20):
I think we will. Yeah, I think we will. I hope we do. I enjoyed the meeting. We had a great meeting. Please.
Speaker 22 (29:24):
Mr. President, Republican, Elise Stefanik has campaigned multiple times by calling Zohran Mamdani a jihadist. Do you think you're standing next to a jihadist right now in the Oval Office?
Donald Trump (29:32):
No, I don't. But she's out there campaigning and you say things sometimes in a campaign. She's a very capable person-
Speaker 22 (29:43):
Isn't that [inaudible 00:29:44]
Donald Trump (29:43):
But you really have to ask her about that. But I met with a man who's a very rational person. I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again. And I can say again because New York was great. When I came down to Washington initially, the city was so hot, it was doing great. We were having some telltale signs of problems. We had a mayor that was not doing a great job, but still it was moving along and it went bad. It really went pretty bad. And I think it's been at lower points, but it went pretty bad. I think he can bring it back. The question is, will he bring it back all the way? Will he bring it back greater than ever before? Which I guarantee that's his wish. I think he wants to make it greater than ever before. And if he can, we'll be out there cheering. I'll be cheering for him. Okay. Thank you very much everybody.
Speaker 23 (30:41):
[inaudible 00:30:45]
Donald Trump (30:45):
Thank you very much.
Zohran Mamdani (30:47):
Oh, no. I care very deeply about Jewish safety and I look forward to rooting out anti-Semitism across the five boroughs and protecting Jewish New Yorkers and every New Yorker who calls the city home.