Press Gaggle: Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani Speak to Reporters at Gracie Mansion - September 21, 2026

Good afternoon, everyone. This afternoon, President Trump and I met at Gracie Mansion to discuss the city we both are so fortunate to serve, New York City. Each time the president and I speak, it is about the same topics: how to improve the lives of New Yorkers and how to use the power of government to take on the cost of living crisis, to grow our economy, and to build a better, stronger New York.

Each day, millions of New Yorkers struggle to get by in a city where a decent life costs too much, where a future of possibility and prosperity feels forever just one paycheck out of reach, where dignity is not accorded to all but only afforded by some. I have said time and again that I will work with anyone, no matter what party they belong to, no matter how much we may disagree on other topics, whoever has the power and the will to lift that weight off New Yorkers' backs.

At a time where hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are asking the questions of how they can afford this city, I appreciate the conversation the president and I have had on the subject of how we can make it easier to afford life in this great city that we call our home. With that, we will take questions just before -- if the president, if you wanna add any remarks.

Okay. Sure. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I've been at Gracie Mansion. We were discussing quite a few times over the years, a lot. And it sort of feels like a home and it's a special place, a very special, uh, a beautiful place when you go inside. And I've seen it with numerous different mayors and I said some great ones and some not so great ones.

So hopefully you're gonna be a great one. I'll be able to say you're gonna be a great one and you're off to a start. So I just, uh, wanna thank the mayor for the invitation. I'm in New York to do the United Nations tomorrow. I have a lot of meetings right now today for very important meetings with heads of different countries.

But, uh, this is like a little bit of old home week for me 'cause so many things, we've done so many things from the beautiful home, or house, or building standing right behind me. Uh, and if you have any questions, we'd love to take them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We're gonna start with N.J. Burkett and please wait for the microphone. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, Mr. President, Mr. Mayor, there aren't too many Democrats who would roll out the red carpet for Donald Trump. You did that today. What tangible reach- -- results, achievements could you point to from your relationship with the president?

You know, one of the focuses of the conversation the president and I have been having is about the possibility of building more housing here in New York City. We've spoken about Sunnyside Yard and it's a real pleasure that just today we've agreed to set up a new level of that conversation between our housing and operations team at City Hall and the White House team.

Because what we're speaking about is 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs, the prospect of an entire new neighborhood in a city where housing is the number one cost. And I appreciate the president, his interest in this. And we also know the president not just as the leader of the country, but also as someone who has built quite a lot of housing here in our city.

I don't know, Mr. President, you wanna add anything?

Well, I can tell you that Sunnyside's a big job. I've been watching that for 35 years. Everybody's wanted to do something with Sunnyside Yards. Well, we met at the White House a couple of times, but we met at the White House. Uh, the mayor brought that up, the possibility of doing Sunnyside Yards. It's a very, uh, I would say that was a very federal-oriented job.

You're gonna need a lot of federal approvals and probably some federal money to do it. But, uh, it's always been a great location. I owned a building in Sunnyside. It was a great building. I know it very well. So when he mentioned Sunnyside Yards, they've been talking about developing that for 50 years. So maybe they have a shot at doing it. Go ahead.

Thank you. Next, we'll go to Jared in the first row. Please wait for the microphone.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. President, this is the first time that a sitting president has visited Gracie Mansion in decades. Mr. President, on the way here, you posted that this is one of your favorite places in the world. Why is that? And Mr. Mayor, what did you show the president and what did you wanna see?

Well, I can say from my standpoint, I love New York and this represents New York. This is where the mayor live and, uh, continues to live. And, uh, we were discussing it a long time ago when you first got elected. I said, "Well, you're gonna move because you, you were maybe having some doubts about moving in because it is a little bit on the luxurious side." And I said, "When you're the mayor, you have to live there." So, uh, and he's done that.

And it was very nice inside, beautifully kept. And, but it's a very, very, uh, representative place of New York. Very important place.

You know, we, we appreciate the president's commitment to the city. And today, you know, the, the president shared many of his memories of having been to Gracie Mansion before, having been out here, uh, as well on the lawn. And we appreciated the conversation of how we can work together to deliver a lower cost of living for New Yorkers.

Thank you. We'll go to Gloria next.

Thank you. Uh, so Mr. President, you spoke about Sunnyside Yards. Are you committing to supporting that project? And it sounds like you also talked about affordability. You have dismissed that in the past, uh, but that is one of Mayor Mamdani's key, uh, agenda items. So did you talk about affordability and did you, is there anything you can do for affordability, uh, for New Yorkers?

Well, I know a lot about affordability because I did that housing. I did many, many, uh, low-income and moderate-income buildings over the years and had great success with it. We have, uh, we really were, it was very important. I would think that Sunnyside would have to have a, a component, at least a pretty substantial component of exactly that.

So yeah, we discussed that. If, if you do Sunnyside, I think you're gonna have to have that kind of a component.

Thank you. We're gonna go to Laura, and this will be the last question for the president.

Thank you. Mayor, to you first, what's your response to President Trump banning outlets from the White House grounds? Uh, did you challenge him at all about this in your meeting with him? Historians and legal scholars have called it textbook authoritarianism. And Mr. President, are you banning outlets like MS NOW, CNN, and, uh, Politico in order to distract from the Iran war and high gas prices?

Yeah, I, I, I told the president, uh, that we're gonna have all of the members of the press here on the lawn, and that is something that I believe in, is, is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique that we engage. And I don't know, Mr. President.

Yeah, it's interesting because, uh, they said they were gonna boycott me, but they never boycott me. So I wasn't very worried about that. Look at all that press. But, uh, no, I'm not, I'm only doing it because I think the press also has an obligation. And, you know, I won in a landslide. I won the election in a landslide.

I've done great things. I've done a lot of great things. I've settled eight wars. Uh, we have the best economic numbers for the country in the history of our country. We have $21 trillion pouring in, the biggest number ever, any country was three. Nobody's ever done what we've done. I never get anything positive.

It's always negative. Uh, even having to do with the war. We've done so well. We have to, look, they're not gonna have a nuclear weapon, let me just put it that way and they're not doing well. They're not doing well. In fact, I have meetings on it today. They're not, they're doing very poorly. Uh, you would think that an outlet would write at least reasonably well, but never.

If you look at CNN, it's fake news. If you look at MS NOW, I don't even know what MS NOW is. I guess it's the MSNBC, what it used to be, or MSDNC, as some people call it. That's Democrat National Committee. But it's just biased news. And I think that these outlets have an obligation to be fair. And if they're fake news, I really think I have an obligation not to allow them into another very special house.

This is a special house -- Gracie Mansion. Well, the White House is the most special of all houses, I have to say. And I don't even think the mayor would argue with that. And I think I have an obligation not to let fake news, they're very bad for the country, very bad for national security, so I have that obligation.

So we'll see how it works out.

Thank you. That's all the time the president has. Thank you all so much.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Can you talk about TPS, which affects so many [Inaudible] Haitians who have their TPS removed?

The mayor will stay to take a few questions.

I'll, I'll answer.

Um --

[Inaudible] do you want to talk about TPS? A lot of New Yorkers are here on protected status and it's been removed.

Well, the mayor feels very strongly about it, I can tell you, and he did bring it up, but he feels very, very strongly about it.

How do you feel? When --

Thank you.

I feel strongly about a lot of things. I feel strongly about taking care of people, and that's what we do. We're doing a good job of it.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Mr. President --

All right, the mayor will have time for a few more questions. Um, we can go to NY1, got Kelly Mena over here.

Hi, right over here.

Hi.

How are you? The president is still here. The president is still here. I wanna follow up on what he said about the mayor s- -- the mayor. You said, Mr. President, that the mayor is --

Sorry, just before you go, the president is saying he can answer a couple more questions.

Oh, okay. Great.

Yeah.

Um, so for both of you then, um, Mr. Mayor, the president said that he hopes that you'll be a great mayor. I wonder, um, what your thoughts are about that. Also, tell us what the conversation was around TPS and immigration overall. And o- -- also question for the president. What made you think about today's, um, I guess, uh, discussion and your time with the mayor that made you think he was gonna be a great mayor or that you hope he's gonna be great when you've had so many criticisms for him in the past?

You know, I'll, I'll leave it to New Yorkers on your first question to make their judgments. Um, on, on your second question, as the president said, uh, I shared my, my very strong opinions about how we can keep New Yorkers safe, how we can keep immigrant New Yorkers safe, and how important immigrant New Yorkers, especially Haitian New Yorkers, are, not only to the fabric of our city, but also to our city's economy, to so many of the industries that build our city and the stability that is in the president's hands.

And I appreciate the conversation that we had and, and the consideration to that end. And I'll, you had your third question for the president.

No, I, I certainly hope he will be a great mayor. You have to understand, I want what's good for New York, I want what's good for the country. So if I had a choice of having him be a bad mayor or a horrible mayor, I don't want that. I want him to be a great mayor, and he's certainly got potential, got great potential.

Thank you so much. That's all the time we have. Thank you all. All right.

[Inaudible] Thank you, sir.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, everybody.

Mr. President, you're --

Cheers, Mr. President.

You talked about ISIS --