Mamdani tells Trump banned White House outlets are welcome at NYC meeting

The remarks came during a press conference at Gracie Mansion, where a reporter asked Mamdani whether he had challenged Trump on his decision to bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico.

"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, as everyone, no matter the opinion or the critique that we engage in," Mamdani said.

"It's interesting because they said they were going to boycott me, but they never boycott me. So I wasn't very worried about that. Look at all that press," Trump said.

He then explained why he chose to engage with the outlets at Gracie Mansion despite what he described as their failure to fairly cover his accomplishments, including winning the election, settling wars and improving economic numbers.

"I'm only doing it because I think the press also has an obligation," he said.

"We have the best economic numbers for the country in the history of our country. We have $21 trillion pouring in, the biggest number ever... Nobody's ever done what we've done," he added.

"I never get anything positive. It's always negative, even having to do with the war. We've done so well," he said, referring to Iran.

"You would think that an outlet would write at least reasonably well, but never. If you look at CNN, it's fake news," he added.

"They're very bad for the country, very bad for national security. So I have that obligation. So we'll see how it works out," he said.