New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made an unscheduled trip to Washington, D.C. on Thursday to meet with President Trump at the White House.
This is the second face-to-face meeting between Trump and the Democrat mayor.
Mamdani previously visited the White House in November 2025, shortly after he won the mayoral election.
“I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon. I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City,” Mamdani said.
I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon.
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) February 26, 2026
I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City. pic.twitter.com/XnPbt0KXYU
Fox News has more:
The pair shocked both sides of the aisle with their cordial demeanor during the meeting, with Trump downplaying Mamdani’s previous attacks on the president.
“We have one thing in common,” Trump said at the time. “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, you know, a lot of smart people, starting with the early primaries against some very tough people, very smart people. And he beat them, and he beat them easily.
“I congratulated him, and we talked about some things in very strong common, like housing and getting housing built and food and prices.”
“I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy,” Trump said about Mamdani during his State of the Union, according to Gothamist.
“I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy,” President Trump said of Mayor Mamdani during his State of the Union: https://t.co/OyTlyFSBZK pic.twitter.com/2i8ZQkJZHU
— Gothamist (@Gothamist) February 26, 2026
FOX 5 DC shared further:
Mamdani was reportedly seen on a plane bound for the capital Thursday morning, and is already in D.C. as of early Thursday afternoon. The two are scheduled to meet in the Oval Office sometime later this afternoon, according to FOX 5 NY’s Morgan McKay.
It’s unclear what their meeting will be about, but according to a report from the New York Post, the two will discuss housing projects in New York City.
Trump mentioned Mamdani during his State of the Union address earlier this week, calling him “the new communist mayor of New York City.” While the president admitted that he liked Mamdani, in the same breath, he criticized Mamdani’s call for emergency snow shovelers after this weekend’s blizzard, specifically the requirement that applicants show two forms of identification.
“If you apply for that job you need two forms of ID and a social security card, yet they don’t want identification [required] for the greatest privilege of them all: voting in America,” Trump said.
