Mamdani pitches Trump on housing with mock newspaper in latest White House visit
Washington (AP): New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani presented President Donald Trump with a mock newspaper front page during a visit to the White House on Thursday to discuss massive new housing investments in the city.
It's a tactic designed to appeal to Trump, who is keenly aware of his media coverage and, aside from being an avid viewer of cable news, is known to voraciously consume coverage in the local New York City publications. The Republican president and Democratic mayor have maintained a cordial relationship since their first meeting last fall.
Anna Bahr, Mamdani's communications director, said the mayor's team created a mock front page and headlines for Trump to look at and demonstrate what kind of reaction new federal housing investments could bring. The mock New York Daily News front page says “Trump to City: Let's Build” — a riff on the famous 1975 cover that read “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” referring to Gerald Ford's vow to veto financial assistance to the city.
The mayor posted the photo of their meeting, featuring the front pages, to his social media page.
Bahr said Trump was “very enthusiastic” about Mamdani's proposal, which would allow 12,000 new affordable homes to be built at Sunnyside Yard in Queens by securing more than $21 billion in federal grants to build a deck over the rail yard site. The mayor's office estimates that the project could create 30,000 jobs and would be the biggest housing and infrastructure investment in more than 50 years.
When Trump and Mamdani last met in November, the president encouraged Mamdani to return to him with an idea to build big things together in New York City, Bahr said.
Though Trump repeatedly maligned Mamdani as a “communist” as he ran for New York City mayor, the president appeared charmed by him after their one-on-one meeting at the White House in November.
At the meeting on Thursday – which was previously unannounced and lasted for about an hour – Mamdani also brought up the detainment of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan who was arrested earlier Thursday by federal immigration agents.
The agents had accessed a campus residence by claiming they were searching for a “missing person,” according to Aghayeva's attorneys and Columbia's president. As he met with Trump, Mamdani urged Trump to consider releasing her.
In a phone call not long after their White House meeting, Trump told the mayor that Aghayeva would be released. Mamdani also gave White House chief of staff Susie Wiles a list of four other students targeted by federal authorities and asked for the administration's help with them.
The four students are Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Mohsen Mahdawi and Leqaa Kordia, who were all detained for their roles in pro-Palestinian protests. Of the four, only Kordia remains in custody, although all cases are proceeding through the courts.
“Mayor Mamdani is absolutely right to call on President Trump to release Leqaa Kordia, the beloved daughter of an American citizen," Hamzah Abushaban, Kordia's cousin, said in a statement. “For nearly a year, my cousin Leqaa has been locked away in ICE detention, robbed of precious birthdays, holidays, and irreplaceable moments with her family. She has endured fear, isolation, and even suffered a seizure while trapped behind those walls. This is not justice. This is not humanity.”
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Security forces destroy 23 illegal bunkers, seize 18 IEDs in Manipur
Imphal (PTI): Security forces have destroyed 23 bunkers illegally constructed in Manipur's Ukhrul and seized 18 IEDs in Tengnoupal district in separate operations, a police statement said on Saturday.
The bunkers were destroyed on Thursday in the hill villages of Mongkot Chepu, Shongphel, Mullam, Sirarakhong and Ringue in Litan police station area, it said.
A 12-bore pump action gun, 17 cartridges of different calibres and 111 empty cases of fired bullets were also seized.
At least seven people have been shot dead in different firing incidents and more than 30 houses have been torched since violence broke out between Tangkhul Naga and Kuki communities in Ukhrul district in February this year.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation on Wednesday, security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives in T Bongmol village in Moreh police station area in Tengnoupal district.
Two single-barrel rifles, four 9mm pistols with magazines and 18 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized. The explosives were destroyed on the spot, it added.
