At a tense White House briefing, New York City Mayor Mamdani was confronted by a barrage of pointed questions after his earlier remark suggesting that U.S. policy under President Trump may have contributed to the ongoing Gaza bloodshed. Reporters pressed him to clarify whether he believed Trump was directly responsible for the escalation of violence.
00:00Mamdani, you've accused the U.S. government of committing genocide in Gaza while President Trump was working on peace. Why that?
00:08I've spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide and I've spoken about our government funding it.
00:13And there's a desperate need not only for the following of human rights, but also the following through on the promises we've made New Yorkers.
00:19Do you agree that President Trump did do a peace and he worked hard to make the peace?
00:23I appreciate all efforts towards peace and I shared with President Trump we have to follow through on the international human rights.
00:30And I know that still today those are being violated and that continues to be work that has to be done no matter where we're speaking of.
00:35Mamdani, you've accused the U.S. government of committing genocide in Gaza while President Trump was working on peace. Why that?
00:43I've spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide and I've spoken about our government funding it.
00:48And I shared with the President in our meeting about the concern that many New Yorkers have of wanting their tax dollars to go towards the benefit of New Yorkers and their ability to afford basic dignity.
00:58And what we see right now is we're in the ninth consecutive year of more than 100,000 schoolchildren being homeless in our city.
01:04And there's a desperate need not only for the following of human rights, but also the following through on the promises we've made New Yorkers.
01:11And I appreciated the meeting we had and the work that we can do.
01:14Do you agree that President Trump did do a peace and he worked hard to make the peace?
01:18Because he worked hard to do the peace in the Middle East and everywhere.
01:21What do you agree with that?
01:23I appreciate all efforts towards peace.
01:25And I shared with President Trump that when I spoke to Trump voters on Hillside Avenue, including one of whom was a pharmacist that spoke about how President Trump's father actually went to that pharmacy not too far from Jamaica Estates,
01:35that people were tired of seeing our tax dollars fund endless wars.
01:38And I also believe that we have to follow through on the international human rights.
01:43And I know that still today those are being violated.
01:46And that continues to be work that has to be done no matter where we're speaking of.
01:49It said that Hezbollah in Lebanon is not in a good position.
01:53And Lebanon now is the final unresolved after Gaza and Syria.
01:57Given your assessment, like, what do you say for the Lebanese today?
02:01It's the Independence Day in Lebanon.
02:03And what is your next move to push toward disarmament, the disarmament of Hezbollah?
02:08Well, we are pushing for total disarmament of Hamas and, frankly, everybody else.
02:13And we actually have peace in the Middle East.
02:15As you know, the King of Saudi Arabia just left yesterday.
02:18We had some great meetings.
02:20And he's made a contribution toward the United States of more than a trillion dollars.
02:25We have now over 20 trillion dollars coming in.
02:27No country has ever had anything like that, not even close.
02:31If you go to 2 trillion or 1 trillion, it's a lot.
02:34We have 20 or 21 trillion dollars.
02:36I think that Hezbollah has been a problem in Lebanon, a big problem.
02:43We're working with Lebanon.
02:44We're working with everybody in the Middle East.
02:46That's another thing I think we have in common.
02:47And we want to see peace in the Middle East.
02:49And we actually have now, for the first time, peace in the Middle East after 3,000 years.
02:54And now we're going to refine it.
02:56And I think you're going to see some very positive things happen.
02:59There is a potential to invite the Lebanese president to meet you to the White House.
03:03I would do that, absolutely.
03:05And if the mayor would like to be here for that meeting, because I know he feels very strongly.
03:10I think you feel very, very strongly about peace in the Middle East.
03:13We desperately want it.
03:14And that's something that I shared with the president, that when I spoke to New Yorkers who had voted for the president last November on Hillside Avenue and Fordham Road, I asked them why.
03:24I heard, again and again, two major reasons.
03:26One was that they wanted an end to forever wars.
03:28They wanted an end to the taxpayer dollars we had funding violations of human rights.
03:33And they wanted to address the cost of living crisis.
03:36And I appreciated the chance to discuss both of those things.
03:38You said a lot of my voters actually voted for him.
03:40One in ten.
03:41And I'm okay with that.
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