New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani publicly apologized on Fox News for language he has used in the past to criticize the New York Police Department, saying Wednesday that he is “looking to work with these officers” if he is elected.
Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, also used the interview to send a direct message to President Donald Trump, looking into the camera to tell the Republican that he is willing to “speak at any time to lower the cost of living,” hitting on one of the defining themes of his campaign.
For Mamdani, leveraging a Fox News appearance to address Trump and the city’s police department — two looming and major hurdles to his potential mayoralty — came as he works to broaden support and build relationships ahead of next month’s election.
The state Assemblymember and self-described democratic socialist has been dogged on the campaign trail by comments he made in 2020 in which he called to “Defund this rogue agency” when referencing the city’s police department. His stance came during the national uproar over the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, and at the time, he described the NYPD as “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.”
Since then, Mamdani has distanced himself from those positions, arguing that they do not represent his current agenda. He’s now pledging to maintain the police department’s staffing levels, while creating a “Department of Community Safety” that would deploy mental health care teams to handle certain calls.
Asked about his previous comments, Mamdani, 33, has said he has worked to make amends with officers in private, though his comments Wednesday on Fox’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum” represented his most public attempt to repair his relationship with the department.
Mamdani told MacCallum that he had apologized privately to a group of officers “for the language that I used.” She then asked if he would also apologize publicly.
“Absolutely, I’ll apologize to police officers right here,” Mamdani said. “Because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers. And I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers, and I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day.”
He went on to explain his prior comments: “In 2020, the year all of these tweets are referring to, it was the year George Floyd was killed and it felt like safety and justice had never been further apart.”
At one point in the interview, Mamdani also turned directly to the camera to address Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal money from the city and arrest Mamdani if he wins the mayoral election.
“I want to take this moment because you spoke about President Trump and he may be watching right now and I just want to speak directly to the president,” Mamdani said, adding he will be “a mayor who’s ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living.”
Pressed repeatedly during the interview about his past criticisms of Israel, Mamdani said he was primarily focused on issues that matter to New Yorkers, but maintained his pledge to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he steps foot in the city.
He said it was too early to know if the cease-fire in Gaza would work, but said Trump deserved credit if it “proves to be something that is lasting, something that is durable.”
A spokesperson for Trump said the president was not watching the interview when it aired Wednesday.
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AP writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this story