Trump surprised by Mamdani in friendly meeting at White House: 'We're gonna work together'

Donald Trump hosted Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office. Once the meeting was over, the president and the mayor-elect of New York City answered questions from the press. Trump claimed to be surprised, even though he agreed with many of Mamdani's points. At the same time, he assured that, ultimately, he wants the city to do well.

The progressive arrived in Washington, D.C. after winning the mayoral election last November 4, when he comfortably defeated Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa. During the campaign, he referred to Trump as a "fascist" and a "despot." For his part, the president called to vote for Cuomo to prevent a "communist" who would be very harmful to the Big Apple.

In this context, the two set aside their old rhetoric and pledged to work together to tackle the city's major problems, such as crime, cost of living and housing.

"We have one thing in common, we want this city of ours that we love to do very well"

At the start of the press conference, Trump congratulated Mamdani on the campaign and his election victory, and said he was available to work together to strengthen New York.

"We just had a great meeting, a really good and very productive meeting. (...) The better he does the happier I am. I will say there's no difference in party, there's no difference in anything and we're going to be helping him to make everybody's dream come true having a strong and very safe New York," the president expressed.

At the same time, he pointed out that they share common goals but not the means to achieve them. One of them was crime reduction: "We discussed this at great length, actually, maybe more than anything else. He wants to have a safe New York. Ultimately, a safe New York is gonna be a great New York. If it's not safe, no matter how well we do with pricing and with anything else, we can talk about anything you want. If you don't have safe streets, it's not gonna be a success. So we're gonna work together."

One of the most viral moments of the meeting was when a reporter asked Mamdani about his past comments about Trump, particularly when he called him a "fascist." When the mayor-elect started to respond, the president stopped him and said, "It's OK, you can say yes. It's easier than explaining it." Thereupon, he slapped him on the arm a couple of times.

"I want New York City to be great. Look. I love New York City. It's where I come from. I spent a lot of years there. Now I'm right here. We took a big setback with a man that we had named (Bill) De Blasio. I thought it was a tremendous setback for the city. I think this mayor could do some things that are gonna be really great," Trump finished.