Zohran Mamdani says he still believes Trump a ‘fascist’ after meeting: Full interview

And joining me now is the mayor-elect of New York City, Zoran Mamdani. Mr. Mayor-elect, welcome back to Meet the Press and congratulations.

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be back.

Well, it is wonderful to have you here in person, fresh off of your first meeting with President Donald Trump. He praised you. He even said you could do a great job as mayor, despite months of a bitter back and forth. Were you surprised by the warm welcome that you got.

You know I was looking forward to having a meeting with the president to speak about the needs of the eight and a half million people who call the same city we love home and to speak frankly about the affordability crisis that is pushing so many of them out of those five boroughs. And I found in the meeting that I had with the president a productive one and a meeting that came back again and again to the central themes of the campaign that we ran. The cost of housing, the cost of child care, the cost of groceries, the cost of utilities. And it showed that this is an opportunity to now start to deliver so that people can

do more than just aspire to struggle in New York City, but actually to be able to live

there. But did you expect it to be so chummy? What was going through your head when you were standing there?

You know, I thought again and again about what it would mean for New Yorkers if we could establish a productive relationship that would focus on the issues that those New Yorkers stay up late at night thinking about. Because so often in our politics, we try and tell people what they should be worried about, what they should be concerned about. When you actually ask New Yorkers and you listen to them,

you hear it come back to the issues that animated, not just the conversation the president and I had with the press after our meeting, but frankly in the meeting itself. It was a conversation where we spoke about the need to deliver on this agenda,

and I appreciated that when the president, when we had that meeting, it wasn't just in the Oval Office. He also took me into the Cabinet Room, and there we were looking at portraits of presidents of years gone by, and we admired a portrait of FDR. And in many ways, when I think about the candidacy that we've put forward, it looks to Fiorella LaGuardia as the greatest mayor in New York City history.

You can't tell the story of LaGuardia without telling the story of FDR and the story of a relationship with the federal government that finally delivered at the scale of the crisis it was facing.

Well, prior to your meeting, I don't have to tell you this, President Trump repeatedly threatened to cut off federal funding to New York if you won. The president seemed to back away from that yesterday, though, in his public comments

in that joint news conference that you all did. He said, I don't think that's gonna happen. I expect to be helping him, not hurting him. Do you believe him when he says that?

No, I believe the president and the conversation that we had, and I will continue to make the case, both to the president and to the country at large, about the needs of New Yorkers. Because what I found, frankly, is that New Yorkers have grown tired

of being asked to believe in a system that has delivered very little for them. They're tired of politics that expects everything from them while delivering little. And what they want now is a politics that can see the

scale of the crisis in front of it and actually start to work together to deliver on that. You know you ran a campaign though saying that President Trump had not delivered on his promise of affordability. Did anything that happened in that meeting make you think, yes, he can deliver on that promise for Americans, for New Yorkers?

Well, I spoke to the president about the fact that while our campaign technically began on October 23rd last year, for many people, they became aware of it after the president won his election. And when I went out and spoke to New Yorkers, asking them who did they vote for and why in two neighborhoods that

swung most significantly towards the president this was Fordham Road in the Bronx Hillside Avenue in Queens. And I shared with the president that when I asked those New Yorkers why did they vote for the president they told me again and again it was cost of living cost of living cost of living. And when the president I were speaking we were speaking about what is preventing from delivering on that affordability agenda. Sometimes it's a lack of taking on the broken system that we have. And I spoke about in New York City,

for example, zoning regulations. We spoke about ULERP. This is a process by which you either approve or deny zoning changes that are made in New York City. We spoke about the need to change so many of those situations such that a developer doesn't tell you the thing more expensive than labor or materials is waiting. And we also spoke about

the importance of understanding what it is that hurts New Yorkers in their pockets. It's their rent, it's their child care, it's their utilities, and it's their child care. Because the child care, I say twice, because it is the second highest cost after housing, $22,500 a year for a single child.

Well, let me ask you about the other threat that we heard from President Trump, to send troops to New York City to address issues of crime and immigration. We've seen him do this in other major cities. Did you get any assurances in your meeting, Mayor-elect Mamdani, that President Trump will not send troops into New York?

I told the president that the cornerstone of an affordability agenda is public safety, and that it is critically important to me. And for all that has been said and all that has been spoken about, and the tens of millions of dollars looking to make New Yorkers fearful of that question, the truth of it is, in fact, that I'm looking forward to working with the NYPD to deliver on that. And I shared with the president that my decision to retain Police Commissioner Jessica Tish is in large part a recognition of the fact that in her time leading

the NYPD, she has driven down crime across the five boroughs while starting to uproot corruption that was endemic in the top echelons of that department under Mayor Adams.

And I'm going to follow up with you on your decision to keep Commissioner Tish. But to this core question that I think so many New Yorkers are curious to know the answer to, what did President Trump say to you? Did he assure you he will not send troops into New York?

He told me that he cared deeply about public safety. I said I cared deeply about the same. But did he say he wouldn't send troops? that what separates New York City from anywhere else in the country is we have the NYPD. And I trust the NYPD to deliver public safety. And to me, that is something that I know that they can do, that they have done, and they will continue to do under my leadership.

So he didn't rule it out in your meeting?

I made it very clear what we wanted to do was to deliver public safety and affordability,

and the NYPD would be the ones to do so. Trump, a reporter asked you whether you believe that President Trump is in fact a fascist, a word that you've used in the past. You were about to answer, then President Trump sort of jumped in and he said, quote, that's okay, you can just say yes, it's easier than explaining it. So Mr. Mayor-elect, just to be very clear, do you think that President Trump is a fascist?

And after President Trump said that, I said yes. And so you do? And that's something that I've said in the past, I say it today. And I think what I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement about the politics that has brought us to this moment.

And we also wanted to focus on what it could look like to deliver on a shared analysis of an affordability crisis for New Yorkers. You've also said in the past that President Trump has engaged in a, quote, attack on our democracy. You've called him a despot.

Do you still believe President Trump is a threat to the democracy?

Everything that I've said in the past, I continue to believe. And that's the thing that I think is important in our politics, is that we don't shy away from where we have disagreements, but we understand what it is that brings us to that table. Because I'm not coming into the Oval Office to make a point or make a stand. I'm coming in there to deliver for New Yorkers. And a few weeks ago, I was asked by a reporter three words to describe myself. I said, New York City. And that's what animated that conversation.

How do we deliver for the people of New York City? Some of your supporters would be curious to know, you say you stand by your past statements that yes, he's a threat to the democracy. How do you square working with someone who you still think is a threat to the democracy?

I think working for the people of New York City demands that you work with everyone and anyone and that you always look to find those areas of agreement while not overlooking the places of disagreement. And I think this was something that came up in our meeting. We spoke about immigration. We spoke about the fact that in New York City, we have sanctuary city policies that allow for the city

to work with the federal government on around 170 serious crimes. The concern for so many New Yorkers comes about anything beyond that. And I spoke about the importance of us being able to protect New Yorkers

and some of the incidents that we see, they do not do that.

You raised the issue of sanctuary cities, so I want to speak to you more broadly about the issue of immigration. This is one that is so critical to New York, the rest of the country as well. One of your top supporters, Senator Bernie Sanders,

recently weighed in on President Trump's record at managing the border. He compared it to former President Biden. I want you to take a listen to what he had to say. I'll get your reaction on the other side.

Trump did a better job. I don't like Trump, you know, but we should have a secure border and it ain't that hard to do. Biden didn't do it. Those before him did not do it.

We should have a secure border, period.

Do you agree with Senator Bernie Sanders that President Trump has done a better job securing the border than former President Biden?

I haven't thought much about comparing presidents on the question of securing the border. I think it's important that it's secure, and I also think it's important that we have an immigration system that is humane. And that's what I spoke about with the president,

is that New Yorkers want to see humanity in the policies that are being implemented.

Do you give President Trump some credit for the work that he's done to make the border in Senator Sanders' estimation more secure?

What I give President Trump credit for is the meeting that we had yesterday was one that was focused on how we could work together for New Yorkers. And the place that we could do so most effectively, frankly, is ensuring every New Yorker can afford the city they call home.

Well, you take me to my next question, which is about really the central issue of your campaign, affordability. You have said that you want to raise $9 billion in new taxes, increasing taxes on the wealthy, on businesses, in order to fund your key policies like universal child care, which you mentioned. You would need Governor Kathy Hochul to be on board with this. You'd need her signature.

She has never publicly committed to increasing taxes. I know you just spoke with her. Mr. Mayor-elect, did Governor Hochul commit to you that she will support and sign on to your plan to increase taxes?

The governor and I had a productive conversation and what we both committed to is working together for the affordability agenda. And one thing I appreciate of the many about Governor Hochul is that she's been focused not just on affordability, but specifically on universal childcare for quite some time.

And now is the time to bring a partner forward in City Hall. And I've said plainly and openly that I believe that these are two tax proposals that make sense, increasing the personal income taxes on New Yorkers making a million dollars or more by just 2%, increasing the top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey. And what I've also said is more important than how we fund something is that we fund something. And if there are additional or alternate revenue streams to do so, I will accept them and I

will celebrate them, because the most important thing is to actually deliver for the New Yorkers who right now can't even conceive of having a family in New York City because of how expensive we've made childcare

across the five boroughs.

Well, and your entire agenda is incredibly ambitious, universal childcare, free buses, among other things, lowering rent. Can you deliver on this agenda without Governor Hochul agreeing to increase taxes?

I'm thankful that I'm not going to have to engage in the hypothetical because I am confident of the two of us working together to deliver on this agenda and ensure that finally, and this goes back to just that portrait of FDR, we look at what politics has been in the past. It has been there in the moments of such transformation, meeting the scale of the crisis. We can do that again. So just yes or no, you think she'll raise taxes. I think she'll work with me to deliver on affordability

I think raising taxes make the most sense. If there's any alternative that raise the same amount of money. I'm open

All right. Let's talk about another major issue which you referenced police so many major crime. There are a lot of major issues I know five years ago. You were calling for defing the police. Now you are in charge of the largest police department in the country. You have tapped Commissioner Jessica Tish to stay on in her job. She has accepted. She wants to put thousands more police officers on the streets of New York. Will you do that, Mr. Mayor-elect?

I've said over the course of the campaign that I think the number we have had budgeted of 35,000 officers is a sufficient number. What we have to do, however, is allow those officers to focus on policing. And what I mean by that is that in 2020, the response time for the NYPD was less than 11 minutes.

Today, it's closer to 16 minutes. Large part of that is because officers are now having to deal with 200,000 mental health calls a year. And so our proposal is create a Department of Community Safety, task it with the mental health crisis, the homelessness crisis, and allow officers to focus on serious crimes so we can get back to the work of delivering on this, as opposed to being trapped in a political discourse without addressing the systemic crisis.

But you know, violent crime is substantially down under Commissioner Tish's watch. Do you acknowledge that her approach is working and therefore do you need to listen to her when she says, I need more cops on the street?

The reason I made the decision to retain Commissioner Tish is because of the importance of outcomes. The fact that she has been able to deliver on rooting out corruption while lowering crime is something to be celebrated. And I think the commissioner and I have been very clear that what brings us together is a shared importance of public safety I think we can do that with the officers

We have would you rule out putting more police officers on the street?

What I will tell you is that the 35,000 we have budgeted that's the amount that I think we need

Okay, let me ask you again. Just going back to that press conference with President Trump as reporters We're leaving you were answering a question that I think was hard for a lot of people to hear about your response to protests outside of a Manhattan synagogue. Your initial response to that incident did receive some criticism, as you know. What is your message to Jewish New Yorkers who feel you won't be tough enough in your response to anti-Semitic incidents?

That I am looking forward to being the next mayor of New York City and fulfilling the commitment I've made to Jewish New Yorkers over the course of this campaign, which is a commitment to not only protect them across the five boroughs, but to celebrate and cherish them. And what that looks like is rooting out anti-Semitism. It looks like increasing funding for hate crime prevention programs by 800%.

And it also looks like ensuring that we have NYPD protection outside of synagogues and temples, especially on the High Holy Days. And I want to just say, recently on Yom Kippur, there was a horrific anti-Semitic attack in Manchester. A rabbi in New York City reached out to me and said, could you ensure that there's additional police protection outside of the synagogue for today? I said, absolutely.

And I also asked, what if that rabbi did not know the next mayor of New York City? We have to make it so that it doesn't matter who you know, it matters that you will get that safety and security because you're a New Yorker. That's the administration I'm

gonna put together. All right, I do want to talk a little bit about the future of the Democratic Party. A number of Republicans are casting you as the face of the Democratic Party. Mr. Mayor-elect, I wonder, do you think that Democratic socialists can win across the country, in battleground states, for example?

I think a focus on the importance of dignity for working people is something that appeals to people across this country. I will not venture into the world of national politics and punditry, but what I will tell you is that in New York City, we saw so many of the same dynamics

we'd seen elsewhere. We'd seen a shift towards the right. We'd seen obituaries being written about the Democratic Party's ability to speak to young people, to speak to Asian voters, speak especially to young men.

And I actually shared this with the president that the very constituencies that he had won over that were a critical part of his increased vote share in New York City were the ones that we then looked at as who we should focus on to bring back into the party. And I think that when you speak to those constituencies with the same respect you'd speak to any other, you will see that they will then engage in the process. We saw an increase in voter

turnout amongst 18 to 29 year olds by more than 300 percent. And that's because we spoke to them as New Yorkers who are facing an affordability crisis, not as young people we have to finger wag to participate in democracy. Two more quick questions.

If Democrats win the midterms, do you want to see Leader Jeffries become the Speaker of the House?

Yes.

OK. That was a firm, quick answer. So you leave plenty of time for my final answer.

I should.

Let me go back and give a little more. Look, former President Obama called you after your victory, and he offered to be a sounding board for you as you take on this role of mayor of New York City. What advice did he give you about how to lead effectively in these years ahead?

You know, one thing I really appreciated about the conversations I've had with the president have been the importance of what it looks like not only to inspire hope, but to sustain

it and then to deliver on it. have been the importance of what it looks like, not only to inspire hope, but to sustain it

and then to deliver on it. And time and time again, that comes back to the city hall that you're putting together. And even right now, we have about 40 odd days of a transition. Transitions are typically a time of pageantry and pomp.

We want it to be a time of substance, a time of purpose. And so we ensured that the first day after the election, we announced our four incredible co-chairs of our transition, our executive director. And then the week after that, the first deputy mayor, the chief of staff, we're moving much faster than typical because we want January 1st to be a day where we start to deliver, not start to prepare. And I appreciate President Obama's emphasis of what it looks like to prepare in advance

so that you can deliver.

All right, Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Real pleasure.

We thank you for watching, and remember, stay updated on breaking news

and top stories on the NBC News app and top stories on the NBC News app

or watch live on our YouTube channel.