Mayor Mamdani Holds Press Availability at Gracie Mansion

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 want to add any remarks. >> Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I've been at Gracie Man. 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 going to be a great one. I'll be able to say you're going to be a great one and you're off to a start. So I just uh want to thank the mayor for the invitation. I'm in New York to do the United Nations tomorrow. Tomorrow I have a lot of meetings right now today, very important meetings with heads of different countries. But uh this is like a little bit of old home week for me because 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 going to start with NJ Briquette 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 results, achievements, could you point to from your relationship with the president? You know, one of the focuses of the conversation that 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 want to 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 going to 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. >> 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? What did you want to see? >> Well, I can say from my standpoint, I love New York and this represents New York. This is where the mayor lived and uh continues to live. and we were discussing it a long time ago when you first got elected. I said, "Well, you're going to 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 Mandani'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 going to have to have that kind of a component. >> Thank you. We're going to 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? 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 going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn and that is something that I believe in is as is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique that we engage. And Mr. President, >> it's interesting because uh they said they were going to 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. We have the best economic numbers for the country in the history of our country. We have 21 trillion dollars 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 going to have a nuclear weapon. Let me just put it that way. And they're not doing well. They're not doing in fact I have meetings on it today. They're 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 is 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. And so we'll see how it works out. >> Thank you. That's all the time the president has. Thank you all so much. >> Talk about TPS which affects so many who have their TPS. >> The mayor will stay to take a few questions. Um >> 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? Will you change anything? >> I feel strongly about a lot of things. I feel strongly about taking care of people and that's what we do and 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. >> All right. The mayor will have time for a few more questions. Um we can go to New York one. Got Kelly Mana over here. >> Hi. Right over here. How are you? The president is still here. >> The president is still here. I want to follow up on what he said about the mayor. The mayor you said, Mr. presidential mayor. Before you go, the president is saying he can answer a couple more questions. >> Oh, okay. Great. 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 also a 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 going to be a great mayor or that you hope he's going to be great when you've had so many criticisms for him in the past? >> You know, I 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 horrible mayor, I don't want that. I want him to be a great mayor. And he certainly got potential. Got great potential. >> Thank you so much. That's all the time we have. Thank you all. >> Thank you very much. Thank you very much. You talk All right, we're going to start with Miles from Bloomberg. We have time for a few more. >> And this time, let's wait for the microphone, please. >> Good to see you yell without the mic, no matter who it's for. Mr. Mayor, uh can you tell us can you tell us um just you know now he's not here. So um what was your what was your reaction to um some of the things he said up there specifically about TPS? Um what was the conversation about TPS? Were you in there with Steven Miller? What was what was his and Susie Wilds's thought on on TPS, a big issue that's happening in this in this city? >> So I appreciated the conversation. It was a productive conversation. Steven Miller was was not a part of the conversation. And it was myself, uh, the president, Susie Wilds, my chief of staff, El Bisgard Church. And the what I made the case about is just how critical this is to so many New Yorkers. And how I hear about this not just from those New Yorkers, not just from their families, but also from their pastors, from developers, from executives in healthcare and hospitality. the especially when we're talking about Haitian New Yorkers, we are talking about one of the most critical communities in our city. And when we're talking about the status, we're talking about something that can either deliver or deny stability in their lives and the lives of those who love them. And so I I made very clear this is a priority for me, a priority for our city, and I appreciated the consideration. >> Thank you, Miles. We're going to go next to Sahaley from City and State. >> Okay, never mind. We're gonna go to Morgan Mai. Thank you so much. >> Hi, Mr. Mayor. >> Hey, Morgan. How's it going? >> I'm good, thank you. Um, I just want to know what went into this meeting. Did you reach out to him? Was this part of your conversation from the last time? Um, and and what did you guys do inside? Did you show them around? Uh, did you show them what's new? Did they test out the beds? No. Um, then also, um, I just had to ask as well, uh, that did you guys also discuss, um, federal funding when it comes to, um, the, uh, counterterrorism funding for the NYPD and the missing funding? Hogal had said that she was hoping that you would talk about it. >> We we had a wide-ranging conversation. It extended from a conversation around the importance of our police department. It went to TPS. Uh it also extended to Sunnyside Yard. And to your the first part of your question, I appreciated not only having that conversation with the president, making the case on behalf of New Yorkers, the president also has many memories of Gracie Mansion. He's been here a number of times. I shared with the president also that I recently learned that he actually got married in the blue room at city hall um which is where many of us spend a lot of our time with press conferences and Q&As's um and with the president sharing the historic nature of this building not only as it has been home to mayor Fieruardia but also that it has so much of the history of this country there's a cannonball from the revolutionary war there's a fireplace uh from from the residence where Aaron Burr died after his duel with Alexander Hamilton. Uh so that is all a part of this building as well. >> All right, we're going to have time for a few more. We're going to go to cranes. Uh Jack on the other end there. >> If you could just wait for the microphone. Thank you. >> Hi, Mr. Mayor. Um back to Sunnyside Yards. Um or Sunnyside Yard. Uh 21 billion was the number that uh you all put out before. Is that something you actually think that the federal government will put forward? Did you talk about the kind of dollar amount? And then also, um, this is the kind of thing that can get kicked down the road. Um, are you able to give us any kind of timeline of when you would like to see actual movement on the Sunnyside Sideyard project? >> We are sincerely interested and committed to this as an idea, which is why it's been the focus of the conversations I've had with the president, not only in this meeting, but also in the prior meeting at the White House. And again, what we're talking about is something very rare in our city. It's the possibility of constructing an entirely new neighborhood. Uh and again, it's only possible with federal partnership because of not only the scale of funding required, but also the authorization in constructing a platform that would then serve as the foundation for about 12,000 homes, about 30,000 jobs. And it would be transformative, not only in terms of working people uh who could create this, but also and and be paid enough to be able to afford to live in the city, but also working people who could actually live in a neighborhood that today is a trainard. Thank you. We've got time for two more. We're going to go to Jeff Maze and we'll finish with Joe and Nuda. >> Just wait for the microphone. >> How you doing, Jeff? >> Half a tan suit. >> So, yeah. I mean, you know, I had to wear before summer was over. Well, summer is over. Summer's done. >> I'm still wearing it anyway. Um, >> I want to ask a little bit about how this meeting came about. Um, could you tell us a little more? Did you invite him? um you know did you expect to have certain things uh addressed while here? Did you have a sort of agenda before uh meeting him uh when he came here? And then the second question is Hakeim Jeff was strongly criticized for meeting with Jared Kushner, president's adviser. Um do you think you should be criticized for taking time to meet with the president? Look, I think the I I said this in my opening remarks that I committed over the course of the campaign as well as while being in office that I would meet with anyone, work with anyone that could deliver for New Yorkers. And in the previous meetings I've had with President Trump, we've been able to secure the release of a New York City college student who had been detained by ICE. Uh we've been able to move forward what has been a long-standing dream uh about the construction of Sunnyside Yard. And we know we have significant way to go, but these meetings do truly assist in in that path. And to me, the question always is how can we deliver for the city? How can we deliver for the people of the city? And so having a conversation about potentially building 12,000 homes, about the importance of of our Haitian neighbors here in this city, those are conversations that are worthwhile to have. And to the first question, uh, this was part of a conversation I was having with the president and I invited the president um to to come to Gracie Mansion and he had also remarked to me in prior conversations about how much how many memories he has of of this as as a home for prior mayors and I thought it would be a good location for a continuation of the conversation of how to deliver for the people who are being priced out of the city. >> Last question will go to Joe. >> Mr. Anuda, >> Mr. Mr. Mayor, how are you >> doing? Well, how are you? >> Um, I'm well. Two questions. Um, you said that you're taking the conversation about Sunnyside Yard to the next level. Can you give us any detail about what that means? I mean, you've already brought the plan to him before. So, what does the next level mean? >> So, the the conversations have been continuing uh about this project. What today we made an agreement on was that the conversation would now be elevated to a place where it's going to also be technical between our housing teams, our operations teams and the White House. And that is critically important because as you heard earlier from the question from cranes, yes, there's an aspect of this that is about financing. There's also an aspect of this about technical and and legal authorization of the construction of a platform. That's what this kind of a conversation facilitates. >> Okay. And then my second question, um I think a lot of people see your strategy around the president curbing criticism of him. I I feel like you don't often launch personal attacks against him. Um you don't talk about how often you speak or what you speak about u when we typically ask you at press conferences. And I think a lot of people see that as a way to kind of uh avoid incurring his wrath in a way uh especially with immigration enforcement. But we've seen since January that uh ICE arrests have increased um since you became mayor. So I'm wondering, do you still think that this tactic is worth it to sort of take a softer touch with the president in exchange for maybe sparing New York City more enforcement? And is there a point where this no longer makes sense for you? >> You know, the president and I have both been very frank about the many disagreements that we have and immigration is one of those places. uh we've both spoken about very different approaches, very different beliefs and I will continue to have conversations with the president and frankly with anyone who can deliver relief to the people of the city. And to me, you know, in in the past meeting at the meeting we spoke about Sunnyside Yard, we introduced that conversation. 30 minutes after the last meeting, he he called me to let me know that the list of students that we had put forward to him that he was going to release one of them. Soon after that, he released another one of them. And frankly, if if a meeting can be the difference between detention and dignity, it's a meeting worth taking. Uh all while being honest about the disagreements that we do have. >> Thank you. That's all the time we have. Thank you.