Trump and Mamdani meet to discuss housing
By Kaitlan Collins, Katherine Koretski, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump met with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday.
“I had a productive meeting with President Trump this afternoon,” Mamdani posted on X along with an image of him standing in the Oval Office beside Trump, who’s pictured holding a fake Daily News front page with the headline: “Trump to City: Let’s Rebuild.”
Mamdani added: “I’m looking forward to building more housing in New York City.”
Shortly after, Mamdani posted on X that he spoke with Trump by phone about the Columbia student detained Thursday morning after federal immigration agents allegedly used deception to gain entry into a campus residential building, according to university officials.
“In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning,” Mamdani wrote. “He has just informed me that she will be released imminently.”
CNN has reached out to the White House. The student later posted on social media that she’d been released.
The meeting comes days after Trump mentioned the mayor in his State of the Union address, calling him a “nice guy.” Mamdani responded during a Wednesday press conference, saying that whenever the two speak, it always focuses on how to keep the city moving forward.
Thursday’s meeting was not announced in advance by either leaders’ office. CNN had reported earlier in the day that the two were set to meet, according to two people familiar with the plans, and that they expected to discuss housing, according to one of those people — a topic that also came up during their last White House meeting in November.
The New York Post first reported that Mamdani was traveling to Washington.
During their last meeting, Trump heaped praise on Mamdani, suggesting he and the man he often falsely referred to as a “communist” during the mayoral campaign actually had quite a bit in common. The two talked real estate, debated complicated zoning code and mulled over how to get a utility giant to bring down electricity rates, among other topics.
This headline and story have updated with additional developments.
Gloria Pazmino contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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