President Donald Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani held a joint press conference at Gracie Mansion on Monday, the first time a sitting president has visited the mayor’s residence in decades.
The two discussed Sunnyside Yards, Temporary Protected Status for Haitian New Yorkers, and press access, while trading warm words despite months of public disagreement on policy.
And despite that public disagreement, the two Queens boys seem to have had a warm conversation. Trump even shared praise for the young mayor. “I certainly hope he will be a great mayor. You have to understand, I want what’s good for New York. I want what’s good for the country,” he said.
“So, if I had a choice of having him be a bad mayor or horrible mayor, I don’t want that. I want him to be a great mayor, and he certainly got potential, had great potential.”
The president, standing alongisde Mamdani as press and the two politicians stood in the garden of Gracie Mansion, said he was hosted many times at the famed house. “I’ve been at Gracie Mansion, we were discussing, quite a few times over the years, a lot. And it sort of feels like a home, and it’s a special place, a very special, a beautiful place when you go inside. And I’ve seen it with numerous different mayors.”
“And I said, some great ones and some not so great ones,” Trump continued before turning to Mamdani. “So hopefully you’re going to be a great one. I’ll be able to say you’re a going to be a great one. And you’re off to a start.”
Trump also recalled encouraging Mamdani to move into the mansion after his election, saying Mamdani had hesitated over its size: “Well, I can say, from my standpoint, I love New York, and this represents New York. This is where the mayor lived, and continues to live. And we were discussing it a long time ago when you first got elected. I said, ‘Well, you’re going to move,’ because you were maybe having some doubts about moving in because it is a little bit on the luxurious side,” Trump said with a smirk.
Building housing in Queens
Mamdani and the president discussed Sunnyside Yards, a proposal to deck over the Queens rail yard for 12,000 homes and 30,000 jobs, which the mayor’s office says would require more than $21 billion in federal grants. Mamdani said that the two had a very productive conversation.
“What we’re talking about is something very rare in our city. It’s the possibility of constructing an entirely new neighborhood, and again, it’s only possible with federal partnership,” he explained.
The Queens-native president didn’t say whether he would send federal funds the city’s way, but said it would absolutely be costly without any.
“Sunnyside’s a big job. I’ve been watching that for 35 years,” he said, likely referring to the 1980s when he owned the New Jersey Generals football team and toyed with the idea of bringing an arena to the area, dubbed at the time the “Trumpdome.”
“The mayor brought that up-the possibility of doing Sunnyside Yards,” he continued. “You’re going to need a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But it’s always been a great location.”
Following the joint press conference, which also included remarks about TPS and the banning of several media outlets from the White House, the mayor took additional questions regarding the conversation and the budding relationship the two seem to have formed.
“The president and I have both been very frank about the many disagreements that we have, and immigration is one of those places,” Mamdani said. “We’ve both spoken about very different approaches, very different beliefs, and I will continue to have conversations with the president, and frankly, with anyone who can deliver relief to the people of the city.”