New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pulled back the curtain on his relationship with President Donald Trump with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes during a town hall that aired Friday evening.

“One of the few things the president and I have in common is that we are both New Yorkers,” Mamdani told Hayes during the town hall, which was taped Thursday at the Bronx Children’s Museum. “For all of our political disagreements, we have one agreement of chief importance, which is that we love this city.”

Mamdani, who has met with Trump at least twice since November, said he was “honest” and “direct” with the president during their discussions. The 34-year-old democratic socialist said he always tried to “bring it back to what would actually benefit the city,” adding that his “relationship with the president is important to deliver for New Yorkers.”

At the pair’s Oval Office meeting in late February, Mamdani said Trump was receptive to partnering with New York City on a project to build affordable housing in Trump’s home borough of Queens. 

Still, Mamdami, who marked his 100th day in office earlier this month, told Hayes he did not shy away from confronting Trump about issues they have disagreed on.

“When I’m sitting there with the president and I’m talking about the opportunity to work together to deliver more housing than we’ve seen in a single housing development since the early 1970s, I’m also speaking about the fact that I think that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids are cruel and inhumane,” he said.

Mamdani noted that during the same February meeting, he advocated the release of Ellie Aghayeva, a Columbia University student from Azerbaijan who was arrested by federal immigration authorities who misrepresented themselves to gain access to her residential building, the university said. (The Department of Homeland Security has disputed Columbia’s allegation about misrepresentation.)

“I gave the president a list of five names of people who were detained in or around Columbia,” Mamdani said during the town hall on Thursday. “He called me 30 minutes after the meeting and said, I’ve made the decision to release the student that you brought up.”

Last week, Trump publicly criticized Mamdani after the mayor and Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., unveiled a new proposal to implement a tax on the second homes of the city’s ultrawealthy. The surcharge would apply to all second homes owned by non-New York City residents valued at more than $5 million and would generate an estimated $500 in revenue annually, according to the mayor’s office.

In a post on Truth Social, the president, a Florida resident who owns a multimillion-dollar penthouse triplex in Trump Tower in Manhattan, said Mamdani was “DESTROYING New York.”

“The TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG,” he wrote. “People are fleeing. They must change their ways, AND FAST. History has proven, THIS ‘STUFF’ JUST DOESN’T WORK.”

Mamdani responded to Trump’s criticisms at the town hall, telling Hayes, “The president knows exactly where I stand on these issues, and I know where the president stands on these issues.”

“I ran a campaign speaking very plainly about the fact that in the wealthiest city, in the wealthiest country in the world, it’s unacceptable that one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty,” he added.“And as we’re facing a generational fiscal deficit, I believe it’s only right to ask those who don’t live in New York City, but who own a second home in New York City, and that second home is worth more than $5 million in New York City, to pay a little bit more so that everyone can afford to live here.”

According to Mamdani, that $500 million in revenue will help fund some of his other campaign promises, including his pledge to expand universal, affordable childcare. In March, the mayor announced a major step toward that goal, rolling out his first wave of expansion, starting with 2,000 seats for 2-year-olds this coming fall.

In addition to addressing those bigger priorities, Mamdani stressed the importance of taking on more tangible issues and making real change that New Yorkers could see and feel, such as fixing the city’s infrastructure.

He told Hayes the city’s residents judge how their government is delivering by measuring “the way that they experience government on a day-to-day basis,” adding, “That’s why we’re focusing on the little things while also pursuing the big ones.”

“That trust starts when you fill in those pot holes, because you can’t tell someone to trust city government in its ability to deliver free childcare for 2 year olds for the first time in its history, if they can look out the window and see the same pothole unfilled as it was the day before, the week before, the month before, the year before,” he said. “So at the same time that we’ve been pursuing this agenda that would transform the lives of New Yorkers — delivering a pathway to universal child care on Day Eight — we’ve also filled in 102,000 potholes.”

“All of this comes back from a belief that there’s no problem too big, no task too small,” Mamdani added. “And we call this pothole politics.”

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