Watch: 'Hard' to send money to New York City if Mamdani wins mayoral race, Trump says
US President Donald Trump has said he would be reluctant to send federal funding to his hometown of New York City if left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of America's biggest city this week.
"It's gonna 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," Trump said in a television interview.
The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects primarily located in Democratic-run areas.
Opinion polls indicate Mamdani is ahead of his main rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the eve of Tuesday's vote.
Trump did not elaborate on his remark about funding should Mamdani win. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this fiscal year.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said that a Mayor Mamdani would make left-wing former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "look great".
"I got to see de Blasio, how bad a mayor he was, and this man will do a worse job than de Blasio by far," the president said of Mamdani.
Trump, who grew up in the New York borough of Queens, also effectively endorsed Cuomo, a Democrat, in the interview.
"I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I'm gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you," the Republican president said.
Mamdani, who would run a world financial hub, is a self-described democratic socialist, though he has rejected accusations he is a communist, joking in one television interview that he was "kind of like a Scandinavian politician", only browner.
Getty Images
Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary
Mamdani won the Democratic primary, while Cuomo came second. The 34-year-old state assemblyman has called the former New York governor a puppet and parrot of Trump.
"The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create its mirror image here in City Hall," Mamdani said on Monday.
"It is to create an alternative that can speak to what New Yorkers are so desperate to see in their own city and what they find in themselves and their neighbours every day - a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home."
Cuomo has sought to parry that line of attack by presenting himself as the only candidate experienced enough to deal with the Trump administration.
He was governor of New York during the Covid-19 pandemic when many states clashed with the Trump administration, though Cuomo himself came under scrutiny after state investigators found nursing home deaths were significantly understated during the outbreak.
"I fought Donald Trump," Cuomo said during a debate. "When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop."
Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of a crime crackdown, while seeking to strip funding from jurisdictions that limit their co-operation with federal immigration authorities.
The mayor’s race in New York will gauge voters’ desire for a left-wing shift, and Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia again made fighting the president central to their bids.
Results from The POLITICO Poll for the Nov. 3, 2025 story "America is bracing for political violence — and a significant portion think it’s sometimes OK"
He fatally shot 13 people in Pennsylvania in September 1982 in what was then one of the nation’s worst mass shootings. Five of the victims were his own children.
Watch: Moment part of medieval tower collapses in Rome
Part of a medieval tower in the heart of Rome's tourist district has collapsed, trapping one man and leaving another critically injured.
A section of the Torre dei Conti, on the edge of the famous Roman Forum and close to the Colosseum, gave way just after 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT).
"It's a very complex situation for the firefighters because there is a person trapped inside," Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini said. The man is conscious and communicating with rescue workers.
The tower has been closed to the public for many years, and was undergoing conservation work when a section collapsed.
While rescue efforts were still under way, a second section of the 29m (90ft) high tower began crumbling again, with bricks raining down, creating a huge cloud of dust.
The firefighters were unharmed, pausing their rescue work for a time, but then continuing their search for the missing man.
After the initial collapse, firefighters "put up some protection" around the trapped man, so when the second collapse happened, "they obviously shielded him", Lamberto Giannini said.
"It will be a very long operation because we have to try to save the person, but we also have to try to mitigate... the enormous risks faced by the people trying to carry out the rescue," he added.
A police chief has said there is no imminent danger that the tower will disintegrate.
One worker was taken to hospital in a critical condition, local and foreign news agencies report.
Another worker, 67-year-old Ottaviano, who was inside at the time of the collapse but escaped from a balcony uninjured, told AFP news agency: "It was not safe. I just want to go home."
Rome's mayor and the country's culture minister have visited the scene. A crane and drone are also being used to assist with the rescue operation.
The 13th Century tower is part of the Roman Forum, a major tourist attraction right in the heart of the city, but it is separated from the main visitors' area by a road. The streets all around have been taped off by police as a precaution.
The medieval tower was built by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his brother.
As Trump has imposed steep tariffs on China, American importers are buying much less. But China has offset the decline from the United States with breathtaking speed.
Watch: Moment part of medieval tower collapses in Rome
Part of a medieval tower in the heart of Rome's tourist district has collapsed, trapping one man and leaving another critically injured.
A section of the Torre dei Conti, on the edge of the famous Roman Forum and close to the Colosseum, gave way just after 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT).
"It's a very complex situation for the firefighters because there is a person trapped inside," Rome Prefect Lamberto Giannini said. The man is conscious and communicating with rescue workers.
The tower has been closed to the public for many years, and was undergoing conservation work when a section collapsed.
While rescue efforts were still under way, a second section of the 29m (90ft) high tower began crumbling again, with bricks raining down, creating a huge cloud of dust.
The firefighters were unharmed, pausing their rescue work for a time, but then continuing their search for the missing man.
After the initial collapse, firefighters "put up some protection" around the trapped man, so when the second collapse happened, "they obviously shielded him", Lamberto Giannini said.
"It will be a very long operation because we have to try to save the person, but we also have to try to mitigate... the enormous risks faced by the people trying to carry out the rescue," he added.
A police chief has said there is no imminent danger that the tower will disintegrate.
One worker was taken to hospital in a critical condition, local and foreign news agencies report.
Another worker, 67-year-old Ottaviano, who was inside at the time of the collapse but escaped from a balcony uninjured, told AFP news agency: "It was not safe. I just want to go home."
Rome's mayor and the country's culture minister have visited the scene. A crane and drone are also being used to assist with the rescue operation.
The 13th Century tower is part of the Roman Forum, a major tourist attraction right in the heart of the city, but it is separated from the main visitors' area by a road. The streets all around have been taped off by police as a precaution.
The medieval tower was built by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his brother.
Watch: 'Hard' to send money to New York City if Mamdani wins mayoral race, Trump says
US President Donald Trump has said he would be reluctant to send federal funding to his hometown of New York City if left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of America's biggest city this week.
"It's gonna 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," Trump said in a television interview.
The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to cut federal grants and funding for projects primarily located in Democratic-run areas.
Opinion polls indicate Mamdani is ahead of his main rival, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the eve of Tuesday's vote.
Trump did not elaborate on his remark about funding should Mamdani win. New York City received $7.4bn (£5.7bn) in federal funding this fiscal year.
In a wide-ranging interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said that a Mayor Mamdani would make left-wing former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "look great".
"I got to see de Blasio, how bad a mayor he was, and this man will do a worse job than de Blasio by far," the president said of Mamdani.
Trump, who grew up in the New York borough of Queens, also effectively endorsed Cuomo, a Democrat, in the interview.
"I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I'm gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you," the Republican president said.
Mamdani, who would run a world financial hub, is a self-described democratic socialist, though he has rejected accusations he is a communist, joking in one television interview that he was "kind of like a Scandinavian politician", only browner.
Getty Images
Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary
Mamdani won the Democratic primary, while Cuomo came second. The 34-year-old state assemblyman has called the former New York governor a puppet and parrot of Trump.
"The answer to a Donald Trump presidency is not to create its mirror image here in City Hall," Mamdani said on Monday.
"It is to create an alternative that can speak to what New Yorkers are so desperate to see in their own city and what they find in themselves and their neighbours every day - a city that believes in the dignity of everyone who calls this place home."
Cuomo has sought to parry that line of attack by presenting himself as the only candidate experienced enough to deal with the Trump administration.
He was governor of New York during the Covid-19 pandemic when many states clashed with the Trump administration, though Cuomo himself came under scrutiny after state investigators found nursing home deaths were significantly understated during the outbreak.
"I fought Donald Trump," Cuomo said during a debate. "When I'm fighting for New York, I am not going to stop."
Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of a crime crackdown, while seeking to strip funding from jurisdictions that limit their co-operation with federal immigration authorities.
The filing appeared to be an effort to construct a narrative that James B. Comey had leaked information to the news media without actually tying such assertions to the claims made in the indictment against him.
James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, has argued that the charges he is facing should be thrown out as an act of vindictive prosecution by the Trump administration.
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