Mayor Mamdani presented President Trump with a pitch to build 12,000 housing units in New York City at a White House sit-down Thursday, and they marked the moment with a chummy picture featuring Trump smiling ear-to-ear as he clutched a fake Daily News front page given to him by the mayor.
“I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon,” Mamdani said on social media. “I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”
The confab marks the latest development in the odd relationship between Trump and Mamdani — the two men have been highly critical of one another and occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum but have maintained an amicable relationship and shared remarkably friendly meetings.
Shortly after the meeting, Mamdani posted the picture of them together. In his left hand, Trump held the famous 1975 Daily News front page reading “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” published after President Gerald Ford refused to bail out New York City.
In his right hand, the president held a fake front page of The News created by Mamdani’s team that read:
“Trump to City: Let’s Build.”
In smaller type, the page reads “Backs New Era of Housing;” “Trump Delivers 12,000+ Homes;” “Most Since 1973.”
The mayor’s gift comes as the Trump administration is actively looking to halt two prominent Gotham construction projects — the Hudson River Tunnel and an extension of the Second Avenue Subway. The MTA said Wednesday that the ongoing federal funding interference is keeping them from awarding a contract to build stations in a section of tunnel built in the 1970s.
Mamdani’s press secretary, Joe Calvello, said that at the mayor’s last meeting with the president, Trump asked him to “come back with some big ideas” about building more housing in the five boroughs.
“The mayor took him up on this offer and went to D.C. today to pitch him about a possible project in New York City that could deliver one of the biggest federal investments in housing of the past 50 years,” Calvello said. “… The President was very enthusiastic about this idea.”
Spokespeople for the mayor not immediately share details about the mayor’s proposal. However, a source told The News that Mamdani pitched the president on a plan to build 12,000 affordable apartments at Sunnyside Yards in Queens.
Both the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations formed plans to reimagine the site, with the latest iteration a 2020 proposal by the city’s Economic Development Corporation to build thousands of homes on a deck above the rail yard. It was estimated to cost $14.4 billion at the time.
The meeting with the president was unannounced and did not appear on the mayor’s public schedule, but was on the books since at least Tuesday, Calvello said, adding that that was because the president requested a private meeting.
The mock pages were printed by Mamdani’s team and presented to the president, Calvello said, and the photo was taken by the White House and sent to City Hall. In addition to Mamdani and Trump, their respective chiefs of staff, Susie Wiles and Elle Bisgaard-Church, attended the hour-long meeting, the spokesman said.
Also at the meeting, Mamdani pushed Trump to release Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia student detained by federal immigration enforcement agents who made “misrepresentations” about their identity to enter a school residence and arrest her. Shortly after the meeting, Trump called Mamdani to say Aghayeva would be released, Calvello said.
On the campaign trail last year, Mamdani slammed Trump as a “despot” and said he’d be the president’s “worst nightmare” if elected. But since being elected, Mamdani has made few public attacks on the president, striking a more convivial tone.
The pair’s first sit-down, shortly after Mamdani’s general election victory in November, sparked an unlikely bromance: Despite their many political disagreements, Trump spoke glowingly of the then-mayor-elect and said he’d be “cheering” for him.
Since that meeting, the two have stayed in contact, including over text. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump again praised Mamdani, though with a caveat.
“I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy,” Trump said Tuesday.
The mayor traveled to Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning. The D.C. meeting and the mayor’s travel were not advised and did not appear on his public schedule.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The original “Ford to City” Daily News cover was about the funding President Ford didn’t give New York City during the fiscal crisis for a number of initatives— including the Second Avenue Subway. Trump is working to defund the same project now.
With Evan Simko-Bednarski
