WATCH: Trump and Mamdani Take Questions on CNN, MS Now, and Politico’s White House Ban – Trump Slams “Fake News” CNN and “MSDNC”

President Trump and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani both responded to a question about Trump’s decision to ban CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House on Monday after their meeting at the mayor’s residence. 

The President and Mamdani emerged from their hour-long meeting at NYC’s Gracie Mansion on Monday and spoke to reporters for roughly 11 minutes.

During the press conference, a reporter asked Mamdani whether he challenged Trump on the decision to ban the outlets and not-so-subtly accused Trump of “textbook authoritarianism.” She then suggested in her question to the President that he banned the outlets to “distract from the Iran War and high gas prices.”

“I told the president that we’re going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn, and that is something that I believe in, is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique, that we engage,” Mamdani responded, purporting to be unafraid of the press. Ironically, however, only reporters who were called on by name and likely pre-approved by the mayor’s staff were allowed to ask questions.

Notably, Mamdani cowered to Trump and did not dare to criticize the move in front of the President.

Trump responded by trolling the media straight to their faces and highlighting his accomplishments that they refuse to cover fairly. “It’s interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycotted me, so I wasn’t very worried about that. Look at all that press,” Trump said.

“I’m only doing it because I think the press also has an obligation,” he added, noting that he “won the election in a landslide,” despite their overwhelmingly negative coverage of him. 

“You would think that an outlet would write at least reasonably well, but never,” Trump added. “If you look at CNN, it’s fake news. If you look at MS Now, I don’t even know what MS Now is. I guess it’s the MSNBC, what it used to be, or MSDNC, as some people call it. That’s Democrat National Committee. But it’s just biased news.”

“I think that these outlets have an obligation to be fair, and if they’re fake news, I really think I have an obligation not to allow them,” he continued. “And I think I have an obligation not to let fake news. They’re very bad for the country, very bad for national security, so I have that obligation.”

This comes after the banned outlets filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the ban, and Trump responded in a scathing Truth Social post.

WATCH:

Transcript:

Reporter: What’s your response to President Trump banning outlets from the White House grounds? Did you challenge him at all about this in your meeting with him? Historians and legal scholars have called it textbook authoritarianism.

And Mr. President, are you banning outlets like MS Now, CNN, and Politico in order to distract from the Iran War and high gas prices?

Mamdani: I told the president that we’re going to have all of the members of the press here on the lawn, and that is something that I believe in, is everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique, that we engage.

Trump: It’s interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycotted me, so I wasn’t very worried about that. Look at all that press, but no, I’m not— I’m only doing it because I think the press also has an obligation, and you know I won in a landslide. I won the election in a landslide. I’ve done great things. I’ve done a lot of great things. I’ve settled eight wars. We have the best economic numbers for the country, in the history of our country. We have 21 trillion dollars pouring in, the biggest number ever, any country was three. Nobody’s ever done what we’ve done.

I never get anything positive. It’s always negative, even having to do with the war. We’ve done so well. We have total— Look, they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. Let me just put it that way, and they’re not doing well. They’re not doing well. In fact, I have meetings on it today. They’re doing very poorly.

You would think that an outlet would write at least reasonably well, but never. If you look at CNN, it’s fake news. If you look at MS Now, I don’t even know what MS Now is. I guess it’s the MSNBC, what it used to be, or MSDNC, as some people call it. That’s Democrat National Committee. But it’s just biased news.

And I think that these outlets have an obligation to be fair, and if they’re fake news, I really think I have an obligation not to allow them into another very special house. This is a special house, Gracie Mansion. Well, the White House is the most special of all houses, I have to say, and I don’t even think the mayor would argue with that.

And I think I have an obligation not to let fake news. They’re very bad for the country, very bad for national security, so I have that obligation. So, we’ll see how it works there.