WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump met with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House, saying that he felt “confident” that Mamdani can do a “good job.”
Speaking to the media after the talks, Trump said it was a “great meeting” and “the better he does, the happier I am, ” adding that his administration would be “helping him to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.”
Mamdani also thanked Trump for the “productive meeting, ” and said it focused “not
on places of disagreement, which there are many, but focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers.”
Trump added that he believed Mamdani is “going to surprise some conservative people.”
“I expect to be helping him, not hurting him — a big help…I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.”
On immigration crackdown, Trump said he discussed the issue with Mamdani and the administration would focus on murderers, drug dealers and “some very bad people.”
“I think we're going to work them out. And I think that if we have known murderers and known drug dealers and some very bad people…we want to get him out, and the mayor wants to have peace. We discussed this at great length. Actually, maybe more than anything else, he wants to have a safe New York…So we're going to work together. I think he wants to get them out, maybe more than I do, ” he added.