NEW YORK (WABC) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is heading home on Saturday after his highly anticipated meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The mayor-elect and the president met for the first time face-to-face in the Oval Office on Friday following a war of words between the two leaders throughout Mamdani’s campaign and election.
While many expected a clash between the two men, their meeting turned out to be relatively pleasant. Mamdani and Trump answered reporters’ questions in a remarkably friendly way after meeting behind closed doors.
“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,” Mamdani said.
WATCH FULL REMARKS | Trump and Mamdani speak of ‘strong’ and ‘safe’ NY after White House meeting
Watch the full remarks from Zohran Mamdani and President Trump after their Oval Office meeting on Friday.
Mamdani said the two spoke about common goals like crime, rent, groceries and utility process. He said he appreciated the time and looked forward to delivering affordability.
“Working people have been left behind in New York. In the wealthiest city in the world, one in five can’t afford $2.90 for the train or bus. As I told Trump today- it’s time to put those people right back at the heart of our politics,” said Mamdani in a post on X after the meeting.
Mamdani stayed on message during the meeting, focusing in on the city and its needs. The president going on to compliment New York’s next mayor on several occasions.
“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,” Trump said.
At every turn, Trump and Mamdani fell over themselves complementing each other during the post-meeting press conference. Trump, who did most of the talking during the 30-minute availability, even leapt to his defense at times, calling Mamdani a “rational” person who wants to make New York great again.
“I think you’re going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor,” Trump said, promising to help Mamdani “make everybody’s dream come true.”
“The better he does, the happier I am,” Trump added.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Washington.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
The president also brushed aside Mamdani’s criticisms of him over his administration’s deportation raids and claims that Trump was behaving like a despot. Instead, Trump said the responsibility of holding an executive position in the government causes a person to change, saying that had been the case for him.
“He’s got views that are a little out there, but people change. I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually,” said Trump, who later seemed to take little umbrage when reporters asked Mamdani to clarify his past statements indicating that he thought the president was acting like a fascist.
When asked if he would feel comfortable living in New York City under the Mamdani administration, Trump said he would be very comfortable, and even more so after the meeting.
He also praised Mamdani for retaining Jessica Tisch, who he called a great police commissioner, noting Tisch is a good friend of his daughter Ivanka Trump.
The president and mayor-elect’s remarks post-meeting, come in stark contrast to their public comments over the past several months, in which Trump has slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the Democratic Socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen, and to pull federal money from the city.
ABC News Political Director Averi Harper analyzes the Oval Office meeting held between Zohran Mamdani and President Donald Trump on Friday.
The two ultimately finding common ground in a meeting focused “not on disagreement but shared purpose.”
“I know there might be difference about ideology, but the place of agreement is the work that needs to be done to make New York City affordable, and that’s what I look forward to,” Mamdani said.
(ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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