Politics 5 min read By Arthur Ellington
Mamdani Invites Press to Gracie Mansion as Trump Defends Ban on Three Outlets
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted President Donald Trump at Gracie Mansion with full press access, hours after CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued over their exclusion from White House grounds. The two also discussed Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani welcomed President Donald Trump to Gracie Mansion on Monday with the press in full view, hours after three major outlets sued the White House over being banned from its grounds. Standing beside Trump on the lawn of the mayoral residence, Mamdani said he had told the president that reporters would be present. «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,» he said.
The scene contrasted sharply with events at the White House, where on Friday Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW and Politico would be barred from the grounds over what he called «constant 'reporting' [of] FAKE NEWS.» By Monday morning the three outlets had filed a joint First Amendment lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., arguing the ban amounted to viewpoint discrimination and violated their due-process rights. Other networks declined to provide White House pool coverage that day in solidarity, as CNN normally handles that rotation.
Trump, asked about his private conversation with Mamdani, joked that the press would never boycott him and repeated his criticism of the three outlets. «If you look at CNN, it's fake news. If you look at MS NOW, I don't even know what MS NOW is,» he said. «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.»
The ban is not Trump's first clash with the press. In 2018 the White House revoked the press pass of then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta until a federal judge ordered it restored. In February 2025 he barred the Associated Press from the Oval Office and small-pool events after the agency refused to adopt «Gulf of America» instead of «Gulf of Mexico.» A judge initially ordered access restored, but the D.C. Circuit overruled that decision in June 2025.
During the Gracie Mansion visit, Mamdani said he and Trump discussed possibly restoring Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants, framing the issue in economic terms and citing concern from «pastors, developers, executives in healthcare and hospitality.» He added that Trump, by controlling who receives TPS, «can either deliver or deny stability» for people who have built lives in New York.
TPS is granted to nationals of a designated country already living in the United States, regardless of how they arrived, when the Department of Homeland Security determines that war, natural disaster or other extraordinary conditions make return unsafe. Recipients can live and work in the U.S. but have no pathway to permanent residency. Haiti has held TPS since the 2010 earthquake, but the administration moved to end it, with then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem arguing it was «returning TPS to its original status: temporary.»
Trump's relationship with the Haitian community has shifted over the years. As a 2016 candidate he called himself Haitians' «biggest champion» during a visit to Miami's Little Haiti, yet his first administration tried to end TPS for Haitian immigrants in 2017. Haitian TPS holders sued in Brooklyn, and a federal judge agreed in April 2019 that the decision was motivated by political bias. Trump tried again in 2025, and the Supreme Court ruled in June 2026 that DHS could proceed with cutting protections for an estimated 330,000 to 350,000 Haitians. A new lawsuit alleges the decision was racially motivated, though the termination remains in effect.
The end of TPS cut off work authorization for hundreds of thousands of Haitians as of July 24, and New York City Hall was forced to let go of Haitian employees with no other legal path to work. New York has the country's second-largest Haitian population after Miami, more than 160,000 people, concentrated in Brooklyn's Flatbush and East Flatbush. Many work in healthcare: New York State alone has roughly 7,000 Haitian TPS holders working as nursing assistants and home caregivers, in a citywide healthcare workforce that is 57% immigrant and nearly three-quarters immigrant among home health aides, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
After Trump left, Mamdani disclosed that he had personally invited the president to the mayor's residence, after the two discussed Trump's own fond memories of Gracie Mansion. Trump, for his part, said the mayor «feels very strongly» about TPS. «I feel strongly about a lot of things. I feel strongly about taking care of people, and that's what we do. We're doing a good job of it,» he said before departing.
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