Mamdani, Trump talk about $21 BILLION in federal grants for NYC housing

The visit was Mamdani's second time at the White House. Mamdani posted about the meeting on Thursday with a picture alongside the president, and said, "I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon. I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City."

https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/2027113267710021738?s=20

The photo included two copies of the New York Daily News, one from 1975, where the headline talked about Gerald Ford, and said, "Ford to City: Drop Dead." The other issue is a mock-up of the same vintage paper, with a picture of Trump and the headline "Trump to City: Let's Build."

Mamdani pitched the president on a plan to add 12,000 more housing units in the Big Apple at Sunnyside Yard in Queens. The plan would include 6,000 Mitchell-Lama-style homes and new parks, per the New York Post. The plan will require $21 billion in investment in federal grants.

“The first time the president and the mayor met, the president asked him to come back with some big ideas how we can build things together here in New York City, and that’s what he did today,” Mamdani’s press secretary Joe Calvello said. “The mayor took him up on his offer and went to DC.”

At the same time, Mamdani also convinced the president to release Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE earlier on Thursday. The native of Azerbaijan was living illegally in the US.

The White House did not have the meeting on its public schedule, and the White House did not comment on the matter when Post reporters reached out. Trump gave Mamdani a shoutout at the State of the Union on Tuesday, saying that he frequently speaks to the mayor of the Big Apple.

“The new communist mayor of New York City, I think he’s a nice guy, actually,” Trump said. “I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy.”