- House Republicans, led by Rep. Andy Biggs, demanded DHS deny Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a security clearance over alleged radical ties and anti-American rhetoric.
- The timing—sent the day Mamdani met President Trump—raises stakes for federal-city cooperation and could set a precedent politicizing clearances.
In a sharp rebuke to New York City’s incoming mayor, a coalition of House Republicans led by Freedom Caucus firebrand Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona has fired off a letter to the Trump administration, demanding that Zohran Mamdani be barred from receiving a federal security clearance.
The move, which came on the very day Mamdani is scheduled to sit down with President Donald Trump for an introductory meeting, underscores deepening GOP anxieties over the progressive Democrat’s past associations and inflammatory statements on Israel, terrorism, and immigration.
The letter, obtained by this outlet and signed by seven GOP lawmakers, paints Mamdani as a clear and present danger to national security.
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Addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, it accuses the mayor-elect of harboring “radical ties, anti-American rhetoric, and support for violent movements” that render him “unfit” for access to classified briefings on terror threats – a standard perk for the nation’s largest city’s top executive.
“DHS must deny Zohran Mamdani a security clearance. The federal government has a constitutional duty to defend the nation against threats both foreign and domestic,” the lawmakers wrote in the pointed missive.
“Mamdani’s record of radical ties, anti-American rhetoric, and support for violent movements makes him unfit. Granting him access to classified information would be reckless and would endanger NYPD officers and federal agents.”
The timing could not be more charged.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old Queens native and former state assemblyman who stunned the political world with his upset victory in the November 4 mayoral election, arrived in the nation’s capital Friday morning for a private breakfast with Trump at the White House.
Sources close to the transition say the meeting is meant to foster early goodwill between the two New Yorkers, with discussions expected to touch on urban crime, federal funding for the NYPD, and joint efforts to combat subway violence.
Yet the Republican letter, sent just hours before the sit-down, threatens to cast a long shadow over what was intended as a diplomatic overture.
A Trail of Controversial Ties
At the heart of the GOP’s case against Mamdani lies his college activism and public commentary, which critics have long flagged as veering into extremism.
As a student at Bowdoin College in Maine, Mamdani co-founded a local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the pro-Palestinian group that has faced widespread condemnation for its response to Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, assault on Israel – an attack that killed more than 1,200 people and sparked a devastating war in Gaza.
The letter doesn’t mince words on this front: “He has blamed the FBI for radicalizing al Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, undermining counterterrorism efforts. He has appeared alongside clerics who prayed for the annihilation of Israel’s supporters and praised Hamas fighters.”
Those remarks, drawn from Mamdani’s social media history and public appearances, have fueled a firestorm since his primary win in June.
In one resurfaced 2021 tweet, Mamdani wrote that the FBI’s surveillance of al-Awlaki – the U.S.-born cleric who became a key al-Qaeda propagandist before his 2011 drone strike death – was a “classic case of self-fulfilling prophecy” that “radicalized” him.
In another instance, footage from a 2022 Queens rally shows him sharing the stage with an imam who invoked prayers for the “destruction of the Zionist entity.”
The lawmakers argue that such views don’t just clash with mainstream American values – they pose a tangible risk.
“His hostility toward immigration enforcement would make federal coordination unsafe and undermine national security,” they contend, warning that a cleared Mamdani could “empower agitators, escalate threats, and put more of these brave agents’ lives in danger.”
This isn’t the first time Mamdani’s record has drawn Republican ire.
Just last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia went further, calling in a floor speech for the mayor-elect to face denaturalization proceedings and deportation over his “anti-Israel stance” – a hyperbolic escalation that even some moderate conservatives dismissed as overreach.
Mamdani, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Uganda to Indian parents, has dismissed such attacks as “xenophobic smears” aimed at derailing his agenda for affordable housing and police reform.
Mamdani’s Pivot: From Firebrand to City Hall?
Mamdani’s meteorsic rise from a socialist organizer to City Hall frontrunner has been marked by controversy, but also by a calculated softening of his edges.
During the campaign’s final stretch, he repeatedly pledged to serve as a “mayor for all New Yorkers,” emphasizing unity on issues like homelessness and transit safety while downplaying his sharper critiques of Israel and law enforcement.
In a post-election interview with The New York Times, Mamdani said he would “work tirelessly to build bridges with Washington,” including on counterterrorism.
“New York is the front line against hate and violence from all sides,” he stated.
“I’m committed to protecting every resident, period.”
His team has also been mum on the security clearance question, but insiders suggest it’s a non-negotiable for effective governance – without it, the mayor’s office would be sidelined from vital FBI and DHS intel on everything from ISIS plots to cyber threats.
As of Friday afternoon, neither Mamdani’s transition office nor the Department of Homeland Security had responded to requests for comment.
But the White House, speaking on background, indicated that Trump’s meeting with the mayor-elect would proceed as planned, with a spokesperson noting the president’s “history of straight talk with tough customers.”
Broader Implications for Trump-GOP Unity
For House Republicans, the letter represents more than a targeted hit on Mamdani – it’s a litmus test for the incoming Trump administration’s tolerance for ideological adversaries in blue strongholds.
Biggs, a staunch Trump ally who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee’s conservative faction, has positioned himself as a guardian against “woke infiltration” of federal processes.
Joining him in the signature are Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and three other Freedom Caucus stalwarts.
If Noem heeds the call, it could set a precedent, potentially complicating relations between Washington and other progressive-led cities like San Francisco or Chicago.
Legal experts, however, note that security clearances are discretionary and rarely politicized to this degree, though Trump’s first term saw heightened scrutiny for officials with controversial pasts.
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