Mamdani says he won't be intimidated by any Trump threats about deploying National Guard

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday he wouldn’t be intimidated by President Donald Trump’s potential threats to deploy the National Guard to his city.

"I think that his threats are inevitable," Mamdani told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

"This has nothing to do with safety. It has to do with intimidation. If it was [about] safety, President Trump would be threatening to deploy the National Guard to the top 10 states of crime, eight out of which are all Republican-led, but because of that party, he won't actually be doing so," he said.

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Zohran Mamdani said he wouldn’t be "intimidated" by President Donald Trump’s potential threats to deploy the National Guard into the Big Apple.

Among the states Trump has sent the National Guard to is GOP-led Tennessee, although he specifically chose the Democratic-led city of Memphis. Other cities he's sent troops to include Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

Mamdani was elected as New York City's next mayor on Tuesday, and his far-left plans place him in stark contrast to the Trump White House. Trump has previously suggested New York could be among the "dangerous" cities that he needs to straighten out.

When asked how he would avoid being "intimidated" by Trump's potential to deploy additional service members to the city, Mamdani pointed to the use of courts.

"You actually utilize the courts. You stop treating things as being law just by virtue of the fact that President Trump is saying them," Mamdani said.

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A member of the Ohio National Guard patrols 14th Street in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 23, 2025. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Stephanopoulos went on to ask about Mamdani’s proposal on tax increases to fund some of his plans, like universal child care and rent freezes, for residents in the Big Apple, noting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s public dismissal of raising taxes on New Yorkers. 

"I think you have to raise taxes on the top 1% of New Yorkers, New Yorkers who make more than a million dollars a year. And you do that by raising taxes on [them] by 2%. And then you also increase the corporate tax of New York state to match that of New Jersey," Mamdani said.

"I've said time and again, I think these are the two most direct and straightforward ways to raise this revenue," Mamdani said. "[Or] if there are other ways to raise these funds, the most important thing is that we actually fund this agenda."

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President Donald Trump speaks during a breakfast with Senate and House Republicans in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Mamdani, 34, will be one of the youngest mayors in the city's history, as well as its first Muslim mayor.

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