New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC that he still believes US President Donald Trump is a fascist and a threat to democracy, despite promising to work with him to achieve the goals of New Yorkers, Axios reports.
Even in recent months, Trump has threatened to arrest Mamdani and deprive New York of federal funding. By Friday, they had united around rent and grocery costs in the Oval Office.
When asked if Trump had assured him he wouldn't send troops to the city, Mamdani said he had made it "very clear that what we want to do is provide public safety and accessibility, and the NYPD will do that."
The comments came after Mamdani's first visit to the Oval Office as mayor-elect, where he and the president emphasized their shared positions on addressing the city's accessibility crisis.
Mamdani, the city's first elected Muslim mayor, called Trump a threat to both the city and the country.
On Saturday, Trump said he would still deploy the National Guard to New York "if they need it," but added that for now, "other places need it more." her".