According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump has not yet ruled out stripping U.S. citizenship from New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
During Monday's White House press briefing, Leavitt answered a question from Fox News' Peter Doocy, in which he pressed Leavitt on the administration's position on using denaturalization to prevent Mamdani from becoming mayor of New York City. Rolling Stone reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez posted the exchange to Bluesky, in which Leavitt left the door open for Trump to pursue deportation after Doocy's follow-up question.
"He doesn't want this individual to be elected," Leavitt said in response to Doocy asking if Trump wants Mamdani deported.
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"There's this congressman, Andy Ogles, who wants the Attorney General, Bondi, to explore denaturalization proceedings because he thinks Mamdani could have misrepresented or concealed material support for terrorism based on rap lyrics he wrote in 2017," Doocy said. "Does President Trump think this is a worthwhile use of the attorney general's time?"
"Well, I'll let the president speak to that. I have not seen those claims," she said. "But surely, if they are true, it's something that should be investigated."
As Doocy mentioned, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) suggested that the Trump administration should revoke Mamdani's U.S. citizenship shortly after Mamdani was declared the presumptive winner of last week's Democratic mayoral primary in New York City. In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Ogles used an Islamophobic slur and called Mamdani an "antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York" and said that he "needs to be DEPORTED."
Mamdani defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in last week's primary despite Cuomo heavily out-raising and out-spending Mamdani. The Democratic mayoral nominee ran on a platform of rent freezes, new affordable housing construction and making city buses free to ride, and paying for it with new tax increases on the wealthiest New Yorkers.
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Watch the video of the exchange below, or by clicking this link.
Karoline Leavitt indicates the administration is open to a denaturalization-oriented investigation against Zohran Mamdani
— Nikki McCann Ramírez (@nikkimcr.bsky.social)2025-06-30T17:37:33.109Z