President Donald Trump has apparently rescinded his plans to deploy National Guard troops to New York City.
Speaking with reporters at the White House Saturday, Trump was asked if he was still seeking to deploy the National Guard to his home state.
Trump has faced scrutiny for sending troops in recent months to Democratic-led cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, where they’ve triggered violent raids and brutal arrests.
“If they need it, [I will send troops]. Right now, other places need it more, but if they need it,” Trump responded. “We had a very good meeting yesterday.”
The right-wing leader added, “We talked about that, but if they need it, I would do it.”
Trump’s comments followed his Friday meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House. The political pair had hurled insults at each other from a distance in interviews and on social media before eventually meeting in person.
Before the meeting was arranged, Trump and Mamdani’s contentious relationship heated up even further after the president threatened to starve New York City of funding should Mamdani win the mayoral race.
Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, beat out Trump’s ex-foe, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), whom Trump endorsed, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the New York City mayoral election earlier this month.
Though Trump and Mamdani had a surprisingly cordial meeting, Mamdani didn’t reverse course on referring to Trump as a fascist as he also did during his mayoral campaign.
When asked by a reporter during Friday’s meeting if he still views Trump as a fascist, the president interjected before Mamdani could answer, blurting out, “That’s OK, you can just say yes. It’s easier than explaining it, I don’t mind.”
“OK, yes,” the mayor-elect responded with a smile as Trump gave him a seemingly friendly pat on his arm.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mamdani was asked again if he still stands by his previous comments about Trump.
“That’s something that I’ve said in the past. I say it today,” he replied. “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.”
Mamdani added: “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.”