Live: Trump and Mamdani take questions from reporters after ‘great meeting’ at White House
White House buzzing ahead of Mamdani meetingpublished at 19:40 GMT
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News
It’s extremely crowded at the White House, easily on par with what we see when foreign heads of state visit.
There are dozens of cameras outside the West Wing of the Oval Office, and the White House briefing room is full of reporters using the seats as impromptu work spaces.
Down in the basement – where the BBC is located – it’s packed.
We still don’t know for certain whether the event will open up to today’s White House press pool, but most journalists here are working under the expectation that we’ll catch a glimpse of either Trump or Mamdani, or both.
The two men have been extremely critical of each other in the past, and Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of withholding federal funds from New York City if he were to win the election.
Earlier today, however, Trump sounded more conciliatory, telling Fox News Radio that he believes the two men will “get along fine” and that both are “looking for the same thing – we want to make New York strong”.
It remains to be seen whether this more amicable tone would continue in front of the world’s cameras. On occasion, it hasn’t, as South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky found out earlier this year.
