New York City Zohran Mamdani tried to get some headlines over the weekend, and he was far from the only one.
He held a press conference after the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, claiming that he called Donald Trump to express his opinion (which I am sure the president appreciated).
Mamdani also claimed he had been briefed on the arrest, framing it as though he was in the federal loop, but he just confessed that it was not the case.
After Maduro’s arrest, Mamdani stated, “I called the president and spoke with him directly to register my opposition to this act.”
He then claimed he told Trump that he was “opposed to a pursuit of regime change, to the violation of federal and international law.”
When he was asked about Trump’s response, he stated, “I registered my opposition, I made it clear, and we left it at that.”
I think we can all imagine how that conversation went from Trump's perspective, and rest assured, it would not have been pleasant for Mamdani.
With Mamdani making his announcement, there is no way New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was going to be left out, so she announced that she had also called Trump.
Hochul claimed to have told him, “You’ve got to go to Congress. You’ve got to get authority. It’s kind of important to do things like that.”
She then claimed she told the president of Maduro, “He’s a bad guy, but you’ve got to get authority.”
I would say that Trump probably greeted her phone call much the same way he took Mamdani’s. I would imagine the voice on the other end of the phone was not very pleased to hear the governor's comments.
So, when Mamdani first made his announcement, it was framed as though he was somehow in the loop of this operation, stating, “I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City.”
When Mamdani weighed in, I commented that he was trying to make a briefing from his own team sound like one from the Trump administration, a discrepancy that was later exposed. A reporter asked Mamdani, “You don’t have federal security clearance yet, and has anyone from a federal agency reached out to you or members of your team to begin the vetting to get federal security clearance?”
Mamdani then responded, “That briefing, yes, was conducted by my team.”
So, someone read the news, then called Mamdani and told him what happened. If that is the case, from now on, whenever I hear about a breaking story, I will announce that I have been briefed on the matter and will be calling the president to give my two cents. And yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, but that is my point. The mayor of New York has ZERO input in these matters, and he needs to get knocked off that little pedestal he has put himself on.
