'We agree on a lot': Trump meets NYC mayor-elect Mamdani in cordial Oval Office meeting

President Trump and Mr Mamdani took questions from the press after their meeting.

Despite the two men trading barbs during Mamdani's campaign, Mr Trump was cordial to his guest and said that they "agree on a lot more than [he] thought".

Trump had previously called Mr Mamdani a "100% Communist lunatic" and a "total nut job".

In response, the mayor-elect called Mr Trump's administration "authoritarian" and described himself as "Donald Trump's worst nightmare".

The president and the Mayor-elect discussed housing affordability and the cost of groceries and utilities, as Mr Mamdani successfully used frustration over inflation to get elected, just as the president did in the 2024 election.

The president, with Mr Mamdani standing beside him in the Oval Office, told reporters: "We're going to be helping him, to make everybody's dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York."

Mr Mamdani added: "What I really appreciate about the president is that the meeting that we had focused not on places of disagreement, which there are many, and also focused on the shared purpose that we have in serving New Yorkers."

The president brushed aside Mr Mamdani's criticisms of him over his administration's deportation raids and claims that Mr Trump was behaving like a despot.

Instead, the President said the responsibility of holding an executive position in the government causes a person to change, saying that had been the case for him.

"I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually," said Mr Trump, who later seemed to take little umbrage when reporters asked Mr Mamdani to clarify his past statements indicating that he thought the president was acting like a fascist.

Mr Mamdani, a democratic socialist who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Mr Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable.

Mr Trump has said he may want to help him out - although he has also falsely labelled Mr Mamdani as a "communist" and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown.

The president loomed large over the mayoral race this year, and on the eve of the election, endorsed independent candidate and former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, predicting the city has "ZERO chance of success, or even survival" if Mr Mamdani won.

He also questioned the citizenship of Mr Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalised American citizen after graduating from college, and said he'd have him arrested if he followed through on threats not to co-operate with immigration agents in the city.

Mr Mamdani beat back a challenge from Mr Cuomo, painting him as a "puppet" for the president, and said he would be "a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver".

He declared during one primary debate that "I am Donald Trump's worst nightmare", adding, "as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in".

The president, who has long used political opponents to fire up his backers, predicted Mr Mamdani "will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party".

As Mr Mamdani upended the Democratic establishment by defeating Mr Cuomo and his far-left progressive policies provoked infighting, Mr Trump has repeatedly cast Mr Mamdani as the face of the Democratic Party.

For Mr Mamdani, a sit-down with the president of the United States offered the Mayor-elect, who until recently was relatively unknown, the chance to go head-to-head with the most powerful person in the world.

The meeting gave Mr Trump a high-profile chance to talk about affordability at a time when he's under increasing political pressure to show he's addressing voter concerns about the cost of living.

"Some of his ideas are really the same ideas that I have," the president said of Mr Mamdani about inflationary issues.