Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday that his unannounced meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office was productive and expressed optimism about his pitch to build 12,000 units of affordable housing at Sunnyside Yards in Queens with the president’s support.

In a photo posted following the meeting, Trump is seen holding two front pages of the Daily News. One is from 1975, when then‑President Gerald Ford famously told New York City to “drop dead” (as the tabloid put it) after City Hall requested an emergency loan to prevent bankruptcy. The other is a mock-up with the headline, “Trump to City: Let’s Build,” with a subheading noting, “Trump delivers 12,000 homes.”