‘You’re a going to be a great one’: Trump tells Mamdani he has ‘potential’ to be a great mayor and floats federal funds to his native Queens

President Donald Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani held a joint press conference at Gracie Mansion on Monday, the first time a sitting president has visited the mayor’s residence in decades. The two discussed Sunnyside Yards, Temporary Protected Status for Haitian New Yorkers, and press access, while trading warm words despite months of public disagreement on policy. And despite that public disagreement, the two Queens boys seem to have had a warm conversation. Trump even shared praise for the young mayor. “I certainly hope he will be a great mayor.

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Scoop News DeskQueens, New York · Published Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 1:51 PM UTCUpdated Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 4:12 PM UTC

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Mamdani and the president discussed Sunnyside Yards, a proposal to deck over the Queens rail yard for 12,000 homes and 30,000 jobs, which the mayor’s office says would require more than $21 billion in federal grants .

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