Zohran Mamdani meets with Trump for a second time at White House

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday for their second sit-down since Mamdani was elected in November.

“I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon,” Mamdani wrote in a post on X. “I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”

The post included a photo of Mamdani with Trump in the Oval Office, where the president is holding up two copies of the New York Daily News. One is a 1975 issue of the paper with President Gerald Ford and the headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” the other is a recreated copy of that issue with the headline “Trump to City: Let’s Build.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

NBC News had reported on the planned meeting earlier Thursday, citing a White House official and two people familiar with the plans.

The purpose of the meeting, which was first reported by The New York Times, was not immediately clear. The New York Post first reported that Mamdani would travel to Washington.

Mamdani said in a separate post that he and Trump discussed Mamdani’s concerns about Columbia University student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security at her campus residence after DHS agents made what the school’s acting president called “misrepresentations to gain entry to the building.”

He added that Trump “just informed me that she will be released imminently.” Aghayeva was released about an hour later.

Republicans have publicly bashed Mamdani, trying to frame the mayor as a radical Democrat who would hurt New York City. At the same time, Trump and Mamdani had a friendlier than expected meeting at the White House in November, just days after Mamdani was elected the city’s next mayor.

At the time, Trump called Mamdani “a very rational person” and that he believed Mamdani was “focused on New York City.”

“We agree on a lot more than I would have thought,” Trump said in November. “I want him to do a great job, and we’ll help him do a great job.”

Since that meeting, the extent of Trump’s and Mamdani’s ongoing relationship is unclear. Asked by a reporter Wednesday how often he speaks with the president, Mamdani said that he would keep those conversations “private.” When the conversations do take place, Mamdani said, they center on bettering New York City.

Trump brought up Mamdani during his State of the Union address, calling him a “communist” but also referring to him as “a nice guy.”

“I think he’s a nice guy, actually,” Trump said. “I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy.”

In recent weeks, Trump has railed against a project to build another tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey underneath the Hudson River. He has emphasized that he did not want the federal government to be responsible for cost overruns, but Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week that the multibillion-dollar project would resume after the Trump administration released $127 million in frozen funds.