Trump Shoots Down Ally Elise Stefanik Calling Zohran Mamdani a ‘Jihadist’

During a surprisingly friendly Oval Office press conference with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) on Friday, President Donald Trump threw MAGA faithful Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) under the bus for comments she made while campaigning for governor.

A reporter asked, “Mr. President, Republican Elise Stefanik has campaigned by calling Zohran Mamdani a jihadist. Do you think you’re standing next to a jihadist?”

“No, I don’t,” Trump said without hesitation, adding, “but she’s campaigning and you say things sometimes in a campaign. She’s a very capable person. But you really have to ask her about that.”

Trump continued:

I met with a man who’s a very rational person. I met with a man who wants to see, really, New York be great again, and I can say “again” because New York was great. You know, when I came down to Washington initially, the city was so hot and it was doing great. We were having some telltale signs of problems.

We had a mayor not doing a great job, but still, it was moving along. And it went bad. It really went, you know, pretty bad and he can — I think it’s been at lower points, but it went pretty bad — and I think he can bring it back. Now the question is will he bring it back all the way? Will he bring it back greater than ever before, which I guarantee that’s his wish, and he wants to make it greater than ever before, and if he can, we’ll be out there cheering.

Stefanik released a statement on Mamdani during the New York City mayoral race in October, writing, “I call Zohran Mamdani a jihadist because he is. Zohran Mamdani is a raging antisemite. Mamdani is the definition of a jihadist as he supports Hamas terrorists which he did as recently as yesterday when he refused to call for Hamas terrorists to put down their arms – the same Hamas terrorist group that slaughtered civilians including New Yorkers on October 7, 2023.”

Watch the clip above via Fox Business Network.