NEW YORK—Mayor Bill de Blasio said he met with President-elect Donald Trump for an hour Wednesday at Trump Tower and told him that many New York City residents are “fearful” of what his administration could bring.
“I tried to express to him how much fear there is, how much fear there is in communities all over this city,” de Blasio told reporters after the meeting, adding that there are “a whole range of people in the biggest city in the country who are fearful about this current dynamic.”
“We need to see things that give people more assurance that all New Yorkers and all Americans will be respected,” the mayor said.
The mayor, a liberal Democrat, and the Republican president-elect have clashed repeatedly, with de Blasio saying Trump was “unfit” to hold the presidency and the celebrity businessman declaring that de Blasio was “widely considered” the worst mayor in the United States.
But the men spoke briefly last week and de Blasio described his meeting Wednesday as “respectful” and “candid” with a real “give-and-take.” De Blasio declined to categorize Trump’s responses, and a request for comment from the president-elect’s spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
Friends Read Free