- News
- World
- Americas
- US politics
Trump will meet New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office today
Mike Bedigan,Ariana Baio,Rachel Dobkin,Joe Sommerlad,Brendan RasciusFriday 21 November 2025 07:20 GMTComments
CloseMamdani confirms Trump meeting, says he will work with anyone to benefit New Yorkers
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Get our free Inside Washington email
Email*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
Democrats have voiced their concerns about growing political violence after president Donald Trump accused Congress members of “seditious behavior, punishable by death”.
The president was responding to several senators and representatives who put out a video calling for the military to disobey illegal orders.
Representatives Jason Crow of Colorado, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Chris DeLuzio of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, as well as Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, were featured in the video.
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home,” the lawmakers said in the video released Tuesday.
In a Truth Social post Thursday morning, Trump railed against the lawmakers: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
He added: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He also reshared a post that read: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
Meanwhile, Trump is expected to meet New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office Friday after months of trading attacks.
Recommended
Trump calls for arrest of ‘seditious’ Democrats who told troops their duty is to uphold the Constitution
Trump called Epstein moments after defeating Clinton in the 2016 election, pedophile’s brother claims
Mike Johnson serves up word salad when asked about Trump’s call for Congress members to face death penalty
Bush hails his former VP Dick Cheney as ‘devoted to protecting the interests of the US’ at funeral where Trump and Vance were not invited
US economy added a surprising 119,000 jobs in September, two-months-late jobs report reveals
Key Posts
- Eric Trump says no one showboats better than the president ahead of Mamdani meeting
- Trump calls for arrest of ‘seditious’ Democrats who told troops their duty is to uphold the Constitution
- Mike Johnson responds to Trump's posts about sedition, death penalty
Watch: Trump says Mamdani’s NYC mayoral acceptance speech was ‘angry toward me’ and ‘very dangerous’
Trump says Mamdani’s NYC mayoral acceptance speech was ‘angry toward me’ and ‘very dangerous’Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 07:00Democrats fear political violence after Trump accuses Congress members of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’
Democrats have voiced their concerns about growing political violence after President Donald Trump accused Congress members of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”
Trump’s comments came after a group of six Democratic senators and representatives released a video calling on members of the military to “refuse illegal orders.”
“Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home,” the lawmakers said in the video released Tuesday.
More here.
Democrats fear political violence after Trump accuses lawmakers of sedition
Capitol Police said the lawmakers Trump targeted were going to be on ‘24/7 security,’ Senator Elissa Slotkin saidAlisha Rahaman Sarkar21 November 2025 06:59Full story: Trump calls for arrest of ‘seditious’ Democrats who told troops their duty is to uphold the Constitution
President Donald Trump lashed out at a group of Democrats who called for troops to uphold their oaths to the Constitution by demanding that the legislators be arrested and tried for posting a social media video where they urged military members to refuse unspecified unlawful orders.
Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump accused senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, plus Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, New Hampshire Representative Maggie Goodlander and Pennsylvania’s Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of engaging in “seditious behavior at the highest level” and called the senators and representatives — all of whom are military or intelligence community veterans — “traitors to our country” who should be “arrested and put on trial.”
“Their words cannot be allowed to stand - We won’t have a Country anymore!!!” he added.
In a second post written after he’d deleted the previous one, Trump called the Democrats’ statements “really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”
Trump then added: “Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”
Read on...
Trump calls for arrest of Democrats who told troops to refuse illegal orders
The US has no statute criminalizing speech as ‘sedition’ and members of Congress enjoy broad immunity for official actsAndrew Feinberg and Eric Garcia21 November 2025 06:30Watch: Mamdani on his meeting with Trump: 'I will work with anyone'
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday ahead of his meeting with President Donald Trump, “I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than eight and a half million people who call this city home.”
Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 06:00Full story:Trump to meet NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani on Friday after calling him a ‘Communist’ and threatening to withhold funding
Donald Trump has announced that he plans to meet with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, whom the president has repeatedly labeled a “communist.”
“Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting. We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday night. “Further details to follow!”
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, won the New York City mayoral race earlier this month, soundly defeating Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Andrew Cuomo.
Shortly before Trump’s Truth Social post, the mayor-elect told MS NOW’s Chris Hayes that his team had reached out to Trump's.
Read on...
Trump to meet NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani on Friday after calling him a ‘Communist’
The mayor-elect said he hopes to ‘speak plainly’ with the president about the ‘stakes’ for New YorkersKelly Rissman21 November 2025 05:30Watch: Eric Trump says no one showboats better than the president ahead of Mamdani meeting
Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump told Fox News Thursday night that no one showboats better than his father ahead of an Oval Office meeting between the president and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 05:01Larry Summers honeymooned with wife on Epstein’s island with Maxwell decades ago: report
Larry Summers and his wife flew to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island for part of their 2005 honeymoon, according to a report.
Ten days after Summers, the former treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and the former president of Harvard, and his wife Elisa New got married in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in December 2005, they headed to Little Saint James, the Harvard Crimson reported.
To reach the island, the pair boarded Epstein’s plane in Bedford, Massachusetts, traveling to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, where they then took a helicopter to reach the disgraced financier’s private island, flight logs seen by the outlet show.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse girls with Epstein, was also on board, according to the flight logs.
Read on...
Larry Summers honeymooned with wife on Epstein’s island decades ago: report
Ghislaine Maxwell was also aboard the couple’s flight, logs showKelly Rissman21 November 2025 04:40Eric Trump on Mamdani meeting: 'My father I think performs probably better than anybody in that moment'
President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump spoke to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Thursday night about his father’s upcoming meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
“A lot of people have gone into the White House before and tried to make a scene and tried to have a big PR event and I think most of the people got laughed out of it,” Eric warned. “We saw that with Zelensky.”
An Oval Office meeting between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in February ended with the Ukrainian president being asked to leave after Trump berated him for being “disrespectful.”
“I can probably name 25 people who went into the White House trying to be tough guys and it didn't end up all that well for them. My father I think performs probably better than anybody in that moment,” Eric said.
Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 04:22Democrats fear political violence after Trump accuses Congress members of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’
Democrats have voiced their concerns about growing political violence after President Donald Trump accused Congress members of “seditious behavior, punishable by death.”
Trump’s comments came after a group of six Democratic senators and representatives released a video calling on members of the military to “refuse illegal orders.”
One of the senators Trump targeted, Mark Kelly, wrote on X that his wife, former Representative Gabby Giffords “nearly lost her life in an act of political violence. Words have consequences, especially when they come from the President of the United States.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that he requested Capitol Police give “special protection” to the lawmakers that Trump targeted.
“I have asked the Capitol Police to give special protection and keep an eye on [Senator Elissa] Slotkin and Kelly as well because you gotta worry after the president says these things,” he said.
Read on...
Democrats fear political violence after Trump accuses lawmakers of sedition
Capitol Police said the lawmakers Trump targeted were going to be on ‘24/7 security,’ Senator Elissa Slotkin saidRachel Dobkin and Eric Garcia21 November 2025 04:03Did Democrats engage in 'seditious behavior' and is it 'punishable by death' as Trump put it?
Earlier Thursday, President Donald Trump raged at a group of Democratic lawmakers who called for the military to refuse illegal orders.
Trump claimed that the Democrats engaged in “seditious behavior,” which he said was ”punishable by death.” But the president’s claims are baseless, according to U.S. law.
While the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires service members to obey “all lawful orders,” the definition of “lawful orders” as commonly understood excludes orders to commit crimes, target civilians or noncombatants, or perform civilian law enforcement activities that have long been banned under U.S. law.
It’s unclear what, if any, legal grounds would exist to prosecute the representatives and senators for urging service members not to follow illegal orders, as legislators enjoy broad immunity for statements and other acts taken in their official capacities.
Not only does the First Amendment provide broad protection for political speech, the United States has not had laws criminalizing speech against the government as “sedition” on the books since Congress repealed the First World War-era Sedition Act in 1920.
While there is a section of the U.S. criminal code that prohibits “seditious conspiracy” — a rarely used charge last employed against pro-Trump rioters who participated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — that provision only applies to conspiracies to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy” the government by force, “levy war against them” or “prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law” of the U.S. by force and so on.
And despite Trump’s claim that “seditious behavior” is a capital offense, in fact, the U.S. criminal code only provides for a punishment of imprisonment for “not more than 20 years.”
Read more on how the White House has defended Trump’s social media activity on the matter:
White House defends Trump calling for death to members of Congress over video
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the Democratic legislators of attempting to undermine Trump’s authority over America’s armed forcesAndrew Feinberg and Rachel Dobkin21 November 2025 03:30Newer1 / 5OlderMore about
Donald TrumpChuck SchumerJustice DepartmentJoe RoganAlex JonesJeffrey EpsteinSenateMAGADemocratsTruth Socialclimate changetiffany trumpKennedy CenterJoin our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments
