FULL: Mamdani, Trump speak after Gracie Mansion meeting — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:04Good afternoon, everyone.
2. 0:06This afternoon, President Trump and I
3. 0:08met at Gracie Mansion to discuss the
4. 0:10city we both are so fortunate to serve,
5. 0:13New York City.
6. 0:14Each time the President and I speak, it
7. 0:16is about the same topics.
8. 0:18How to improve the lives of New Yorkers
9. 0:20and how to use the power of government
10. 0:22to take on the cost of living crisis, to
11. 0:24grow our economy, and to build a better,
12. 0:27stronger New York.
13. 0:29Each day, millions of New Yorkers
14. 0:30struggle to get by in a city where a
15. 0:32decent life costs too much, where a
16. 0:34future of possibility and prosperity
17. 0:37feels forever just one paycheck out of
18. 0:39reach, where dignity is not accorded to
19. 0:41all, but only afforded by some.
20. 0:44I have said time and again that I will
21. 0:46work with anyone, no matter what party
22. 0:48they belong to, no matter how much we
23. 0:50may disagree on other topics,
24. 0:52whoever has the power and the will to
25. 0:54lift that weight off New Yorkers' backs.
26. 0:56And at a time where hundreds of
27. 0:58thousands
28. 0:59of New Yorkers are asking the questions
29. 1:01of how they can afford this city,
30. 1:04I appreciate the conversation the
31. 1:06President and I have had on the subject
32. 1:08of how we can make it easier to afford
33. 1:10life in this great city that we call our
34. 1:12home.
35. 1:13With that, we will take questions just
36. 1:15before if the President, if you want to
37. 1:16add any remarks.
38. 1:18>> Well, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
39. 1:20I've been at Gracie Mansion, we were
40. 1:21discussing quite a few times over the
41. 1:23years, a lot.
42. 1:25And it sort of feels like a home.
43. 1:27And it's a special place, a very special
44. 1:30uh
45. 1:31a beautiful place when you go inside and
46. 1:33I've seen it with numerous different
47. 1:35mayors and I said some great ones and
48. 1:37some not so great ones. So, hopefully
49. 1:39you're going to be a great one. I'll be
50. 1:40able to say you're going to be a great
51. 1:42one and you're off to a start. So, I
52. 1:44just uh
53. 1:46want to thank the mayor for the
54. 1:47invitation. I'm in New York to do the
55. 1:49United Nations tomorrow. I have a lot of
56. 1:51meetings right now, today, for very
57. 1:53important meetings with heads of
58. 1:55different countries, but
59. 1:57uh this is like a little bit of old home
60. 1:59week for me cuz so many things we've
61. 2:02done so many things from
62. 2:04the beautiful home or house or building
63. 2:07standing right behind me.
64. 2:08Uh, and if you have any questions, we'd
65. 2:10love to take them. Thank you.
66. 2:12>> Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr.
67. 2:13Mayor. We're going to start with NJ
68. 2:14Burkett and please wait for the
69. 2:16microphone. Thank you.
70. 2:17>> Thank you. Um, Mr. President, Mr. Mayor,
71. 2:20there aren't too many Democrats who
72. 2:21would roll out the red carpet for Donald
73. 2:23Trump. You did that today. What tangible
74. 2:27results, achievements could you point to
75. 2:30from your relationship with the
76. 2:31president?
77. 2:33>> You know,
78. 2:34one of the focuses of the conversation
79. 2:36that the president and I have been
80. 2:37having is
81. 2:39about the possibility of building more
82. 2:41housing here in New York City. We've
83. 2:43spoken about Sunnyside Yard. And it's a
84. 2:45real pleasure that just today we've
85. 2:47agreed to set up a new level of that
86. 2:49conversation between our housing and
87. 2:52operations team at City Hall and the
88. 2:54White House team because what we're
89. 2:56speaking about is 12,000 homes, 30,000
90. 2:59jobs, the prospect of an entire new
91. 3:01neighborhood in a city where housing is
92. 3:03the number one cost. And I appreciate
93. 3:05the president his interest in this. And
94. 3:09we also know the president not just as
95. 3:11the leader of the country, but also as
96. 3:13someone who has built quite a lot of
97. 3:14housing here in our city. I don't know,
98. 3:15Mr. President, you want to add anything?
99. 3:17>> Well, I can tell you that Sunnyside's a
100. 3:19big job. I've been watching that for 35
101. 3:22years. Everybody's wanted to do
102. 3:24something with Sunnyside city yards. So,
103. 3:25we we met at the White House a couple of
104. 3:27times, but we met at the White House.
105. 3:29Uh, the mayor brought that up, the
106. 3:31possibility of doing Sunnyside Yards.
107. 3:33It's a very
108. 3:34uh, I would say that was a very federal
109. 3:37oriented job. You're going to need a lot
110. 3:39of federal approvals and probably some
111. 3:41federal money to do it, but uh, it's
112. 3:43always been a great location. I owned a
113. 3:45building in Sunnyside. It was a great
114. 3:47building. I know it very well.
115. 3:48So, when he mentioned Sunnyside Yards,
116. 3:50they've been talking about developing
117. 3:51that for 50 years. So, maybe they have a
118. 3:54shot at doing it.
119. 3:56>> Thank you. Next, we'll go to Jared in
120. 3:58the first row. Please wait for the
121. 3:59microphone.
122. 4:05>> Mr. Mayor, Mr. President, this is the
123. 4:07first time that a sitting president has
124. 4:09visited Gracie Mansion in decades. Mr.
125. 4:12President, on the way here, you posted
126. 4:14that this is one of your favorite places
127. 4:15in the world. Why is that? And Mr.
128. 4:17Mayor, what do you show the president
129. 4:19and what do you want to see?
130. 4:21>> Well, I can say from my standpoint, I
131. 4:23love New York and this represents New
132. 4:25York. This is where the mayor live
133. 4:27and
134. 4:28continues to live and
135. 4:30we were discussing it a long time ago
136. 4:32when you first got elected. I said,
137. 4:34"Well, you're going to move cuz you you
138. 4:35were maybe having some doubts about
139. 4:37moving in because it is a little bit on
140. 4:39the luxurious side." And I said, "When
141. 4:41you're the mayor, you have to live
142. 4:42there."
143. 4:43So, and he's done that and it was very
144. 4:46nice inside, beautifully kept.
145. 4:48And but it's a very very
146. 4:51representative place of New York, very
147. 4:53important place.
148. 4:56>> And we we appreciate the president's
149. 4:59commitment to the city. And today, the
150. 5:03the president shared many of his
151. 5:04memories of having been to Gracie
152. 5:05Mansion before, having been out here
153. 5:08as well on the lawn. And we appreciated
154. 5:11the conversation of how we can work
155. 5:13together to deliver a lower cost of
156. 5:14living for New Yorkers.
157. 5:16>> Thank you. We'll go to Gloria next.
158. 5:19Thank you. Uh so, Mr. President, you
159. 5:21spoke about Sunnyside Yards. Are you
160. 5:24committing to supporting that project?
161. 5:27And it sounds like you also talked about
162. 5:29affordability. You have dismissed that
163. 5:32in the past, uh but that is one of Mayor
164. 5:35Adams'
165. 5:36key agenda items. So, did you talk about
166. 5:38affordability and did you is there
167. 5:40anything you can do for affordability
168. 5:44uh for New Yorkers?
169. 5:45>> Well, I know a lot about affordability
170. 5:47because I did that housing. I did many,
171. 5:49many
172. 5:50low-income and moderate-income buildings
173. 5:53over the years.
174. 5:54And had great success with it. We have
175. 5:57We really were It was very important. I
176. 5:59would think that Sunnyside would have to
177. 6:00have a a component, at least a pretty
178. 6:02substantial component of exactly that.
179. 6:05So, yeah, we discussed that. If If you
180. 6:08do Sunnyside, I think you're going to
181. 6:09have to have that kind of a component.
182. 6:12>> Thank you. We're going to go to Laura,
183. 6:13and this will be the last question for
184. 6:14the president.
185. 6:17>> Thank you. Mayor, do you first. What's
186. 6:19your response to President Trump banning
187. 6:21outlets from the White House grounds?
188. 6:24Did you challenge him at all about this
189. 6:26in your meeting with him? Historians and
190. 6:29legal scholars have called it textbook
191. 6:30authoritarianism. And Mr. President, are
192. 6:33you banning outlets like MSNBC, CNN, and
193. 6:37Politico in order to distract from the
194. 6:40Iran war and high gas prices?
195. 6:43>> Yeah, I I I told the president that
196. 6:46we're going to have all of the members
197. 6:47of the press here on the lawn, and that
198. 6:50is something that I believe in is is
199. 6:52everyone, no matter the opinion or the
200. 6:53critique, that we engage. And I don't
201. 6:55know, Mr. President.
202. 6:56>> Yeah, it's interesting because they said
203. 6:59they were going to boycott me,
204. 7:01but they never boycott me. So, I wasn't
205. 7:03very worried about that. Look at all
206. 7:04that press.
207. 7:06But, no, I'm not I'm only doing it
208. 7:08because
209. 7:09I think the press also has an
210. 7:10obligation.
211. 7:12And you know, I won in a landslide. I
212. 7:13won the election in a landslide. I've
213. 7:15done great things. I've done a lot of
214. 7:17great things. I've settled eight wars.
215. 7:19And we have the best economic numbers
216. 7:21for the country in the history of our
217. 7:22country. We have $21 trillion pouring
218. 7:25in. The biggest number ever any country
219. 7:27was three. Nobody's ever done what we've
220. 7:30done. I never get anything positive.
221. 7:32It's always negative.
222. 7:33Even having to do with the war. We've
223. 7:36done so well. We have told Look, they're
224. 7:38not going to have a nuclear weapon. Let
225. 7:39me just put it that way. And they're not
226. 7:41doing well. They're not doing well. In
227. 7:43fact, I have meetings on it today.
228. 7:44They're That They're doing very poorly.
229. 7:46Uh you would think that an outlet would
230. 7:48write
231. 7:49at least reasonably well, but never. If
232. 7:52you look at CNN, it's fake news. If you
233. 7:54look at MS now, I don't even know what
234. 7:56MS now is. I guess it's the MSNBC what
235. 7:59it used to be or MSDNC as some people
236. 8:01call it. That's Democrat National
237. 8:03Committee.
238. 8:04But it's just biased news. And I think
239. 8:07that these outlets have an obligation to
240. 8:09be fair. And if they're fake news, I
241. 8:11really think I have an obligation not to
242. 8:13allow them into another very special
243. 8:14house. This is a special house, Gracie
244. 8:16Mansion. Well, the White House is the
245. 8:18most special of all houses, I have to
246. 8:20say. And I don't even think the mayor
247. 8:22would argue with that. And I think I
248. 8:24have an obligation not to let fake news.
249. 8:27They're very bad for the country, very
250. 8:29bad for national security. So, I have
251. 8:31that obligation. So, we'll see how it
252. 8:32works out.
253. 8:33>> Thank you. That's all the time the
254. 8:34president has. Thank you all so much.
255. 8:41The mayor will stay to take a few
256. 8:43questions. Um
257. 8:48>> Well, the mayor feels very strongly
258. 8:50about it, I can tell you. And he did
259. 8:51bring it up, but he feels very, very
260. 8:53strongly about it.
261. 8:56I feel strongly about a lot of things. I
262. 8:58feel strongly about taking care of
263. 9:00people. And that's what we do. We're
264. 9:02doing a good job of it.
265. 9:08>> All right, the mayor will have time for
266. 9:10a few more questions. Um we can go to
267. 9:12New York 1. Got Kelly Mena over here.
268. 9:16>> Hi, right over here. How are you? The
269. 9:17president is still here.
270. 9:19The president is still here. I want to
271. 9:21follow up on what he said about the
272. 9:23mayor
273. 9:24the mayor. You said, Mr. President, that
274. 9:25the mayor
275. 9:26>> you go, the president is saying he can
276. 9:28answer a couple more questions. Yeah.
277. 9:30>> Um so, for both of you then,
278. 9:32Mr. Mayor, the president said that he
279. 9:35hopes that you'll be a great mayor. I
280. 9:37wonder um what your thoughts are about
281. 9:39that. Also, tell us what the
282. 9:41conversation was around TPS and
283. 9:42immigration overall. And not also
284. 9:44question for the president, what made
285. 9:46you think about today's
286. 9:49I guess discussion and your time with
287. 9:51the mayor that made you think he was
288. 9:52going to be a great mayor or that you
289. 9:54hope he's going to be great when you've
290. 9:55had so many criticisms for him in the
291. 9:58past.
292. 9:59>> You know, I'll I'll leave it to New
293. 10:00Yorkers on your first question to make
294. 10:02their judgments.
295. 10:03On on your second question, as the
296. 10:05president said,
297. 10:06I shared my my very strong opinions
298. 10:08about how we can keep New Yorkers safe,
299. 10:10how we can keep immigrant New Yorkers
300. 10:12safe, and how important immigrant New
301. 10:14Yorkers, especially Haitian New Yorkers,
302. 10:15are not only to the fabric of our city,
303. 10:17but also to our city's economy, to so
304. 10:19many of the industries that build our
305. 10:21city, and the stability that is in the
306. 10:24president's hands, and I appreciate the
307. 10:25conversation that we had and and the
308. 10:27consideration to that end. And I'll You
309. 10:29had your third question for the
310. 10:30president.
311. 10:32>> No, I I certainly hope he will be a
312. 10:34great mayor. You have to understand, I
313. 10:35want what's good for New York, I want
314. 10:37what's good for the country. So, if I
315. 10:39had a choice of having him be a bad
316. 10:42mayor or horrible mayor, I don't want
317. 10:44that. I want him to be a great mayor,
318. 10:46and he's certainly got potential. Got
319. 10:47great potential.
320. 10:49>> Thank you so much. That's all the time
321. 10:50we have. Thank you all.
322. 10:56>> Thank you very much. Thank you very
323. 10:57much, everybody.