President Trump weighed in on the closely watched race for New York City mayor in an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes, again suggesting he may withhold federal funding to New York if Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is elected.The 34-year-old Queens assemblyman has proposed policies he says address affordability in the city, like free child care, a rent freeze and free buses. The president said he thinks the young politician is a “communist” and “far worse than a socialist.” “Some people have compared him to a left-wing version of you, charismatic, breaking the old rules. What do you think about that?” O’Donnell asked. “Well, I think I’m a much better looking person than him, right?” the president joked. Mamdani has said that if his opponent, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, wins, he would be a “puppet” for Trump.”I think what scares me in this moment is the prospect of Donald Trump’s puppet becoming the [mayor],” the young mayoral hopeful told NBC News. “He has a narrow path to City Hall and has taken that to mean that he should fund it and pave it with the money from Donald Trump’s billionaire donors.”In an interview with PBS, Cuomo alleged that President Trump would “take over” New York City and send in the U.S. military if Mamdani won the election.”He will be President Trump and Mayor Trump… he’s going to take over New York [City] and send tanks down Fifth Avenue,” Cuomo said. Trump bristled when O’Donnell read the quote back to him. “Oh, that’s so crazy,” he told O’Donnell. “When I left New York, we were at the epitome. It was a great city… but there were some bad sides because we had a guy named [Former mayor Bill] de Blasio, the worst mayor in history.”President Trump has threatened to stop federal funds from going to New York City if Mamdani wins the election.”What if Mamdani becomes mayor?” O’Donnell asked.”It’s going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” the president said. Mamdani has insisted that the city will continue to receive federal funding if he is elected mayor.”We will continue to receive funding from the federal government, and it’s not because of President Trump’s generosity. That’s because it is the law,” he told reporters about three weeks ago. President Trump told 60 Minutes that while he is not a “fan” of Andrew Cuomo, the former governor is definitely his preferred candidate.”I’m not a fan of Cuomo… but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time.”The video above was produced by Will Croxton. It was edited by Nelson Ryland.
