President Donald Trump was planning to meet New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani behind closed doors in the Oval Office on Friday, despite claiming he could open up the crunch talks to the public if he wanted to.
Trump, 79, frequently invites reporters into the Oval Office for a front-seat view as he sits down with U.S. and world leaders, but, according to his schedule, the media was barred from his first meeting with Mamdani, the Democratic socialist 45 years his junior.
Their first face-to-face comes after Trump lobbed a series of nasty attacks on the political upstart who mounted an underdog campaign and went on to win the race to lead the largest city in the U.S.
Trump has blasted Mamdani as a “communist lunatic” and “not very smart.” He falsely accused him of being in the country illegally, threatened to arrest him, and warned that he would cut off money to New York if he won.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting.”
In a radio interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Friday morning, Trump said he did not know what to expect from their sit-down, but he shied away from his previous attacks and even praised Mamdani’s campaign.
“He’s got a different philosophy. He’s a little bit different. I give a lot of credit for the run. They did a successful run, and we all know that runs are not easy, but I think we’ll get along fine,” Trump said.
Trump said he thought their meeting would be “quite civil” and said, “I think so” in response to a question about whether he would open it up to the press after their talks.
“I mean, it’s fine with me, I would think so, he’s a politician, so I don’t think he has a problem,” Trump said.
Typically, the press is called in at the top of Trump’s Oval Office meetings.
Mamdani, who referred to himself as “Trump’s worst nightmare” during his campaign, said his team had reached out to the White House for the meeting.
Speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday, the 34-year-old said he was doing it to fulfill his campaign promise to meet with “anyone and everyone so long as it was to the benefit of the eight and a half million people who call this city their home.”
Mamdani said he was looking to address the affordability crisis facing his city.
During his election night victory speech earlier this month, Mamdani put Trump on blast with a direct message.
“So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!” he declared to rancorous cheers.
He went on to deliver a series of scathing rebukes against the president and his policies before stating, “So hear me President Trump when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
“Well, I was hitting him a little hard too, in all fairness. Hard to be totally friendly toward the opponent,” Trump said when a short clip of the speech was played back for him during the radio interview Friday. “I don’t know exactly what he means by ‘turn the volume up.’”
“I said ‘what does that mean?’ Turn the volume up. Does that mean let’s go at it?” Trump asked. “I don’t think so, I mean, he was very nice in calling.”
Both men have been masters of wielding social media to communicate with their dramatically different bases and have not shied away from addressing their White House sitdown.
Mamdani posted a selfie of himself smiling on a plane Friday morning as he made his way to Washington, D.C. He was also spotted taking selfies and shaking hands with people after he arrived at Washington’s Reagan airport.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 21, 2025
The White House did not address the Daily Beast’s question on Friday about the meeting being held behind closed doors and instead referred it to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments at her Thursday briefing.
“I won’t get into the president’s thinking on it. I think you’ll all hear from him directly,” she said.
The press secretary said the meeting speaks to the fact that Trump is willing to meet with anyone to do what’s right on behalf of the American people, but she didn’t let it go without attempting a dig at the mayor-elect and Democratic Party.
“I will just add, it speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House because that’s who the Democrat Party elected mayor of the largest city in the country,” she said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Mamdanio for comment.
The post Trump, 79, Chickens Out of Public Showdown With Mamdani, 34 appeared first on The Daily Beast.
