Trump and Zohran sitting in a tree…

FRIENDS WITH (SNAP) BENEFITS: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled the latest perk of his chummy relationship with President Donald Trump, announcing a deal today that will give stores across the country more time to comply with changes to federal food assistance rules.

New rules from the Department of Agriculture, which took effect last week, required retailers to stock a greater diversity of products in order to continue receiving SNAP benefits.

Just before they kicked in, Mamdani signed onto a bipartisan letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins urging the Trump administration to delay implementing the new requirements. He warned the rules would threaten the viability of the city’s more than 10,000 bodegas and corner stores, as well as the New Yorkers who rely on them, if the stores could not meet the mandates in time and lost the ability to accept SNAP payments.

Now, after negotiations with Rollins and foe-turned-bro Trump, Mamdani secured a 90-day extension for small retailers to comply with the rules — not just in New York City, but nationwide. The extension starts Friday.

Mamdani said he personally escalated the extension request to President Trump after City Hall reached out to the federal government.

“What I told the president was that this is a rule that, if allowed to be implemented on the timeline as it was scheduled, would be one that would throw the lives of so many working New Yorkers into a real place of anxiety and chaos,” he said. “And the president took that concern seriously.”

Mamdani declined to share how often he chats with Trump — “I’ll keep the cadence of that between the two of us,” he said — but he emphasized their conversations are ongoing.

As the two executives approach the one-year anniversary of their unexpected bromance, today’s announcement serves as a reminder that Mamdani’s Trump strategy has largely paid off.

After a seemingly love-struck Trump emerged from the duo’s first Oval Office meeting on Nov. 21, the threat of an immigration enforcement surge on par with Minneapolis largely evaporated, eliminating a potentially explosive situation that at the time loomed over the mayor’s early days in office.

In February, Mamdani successfully petitioned Trump to release a Columbia University student who had been taken into the custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and, as POLITICO reported this week, Mamdani has continued to make those requests privately to the president. The two have also discussed the federal government’s involvement in a massive development project that would span the Sunnyside Yard rail depot in Queens.

The price for these spoils has so far been one Mamdani’s base is willing to accept.

The mayor rarely, if ever, criticizes Trump directly. He demurs when asked by reporters about their private phone calls. And during a joint appearance outside Gracie Mansion in late September, when asked about Trump’s short-lived White House media ban, Mamdani only said that he himself supported having a variety of news outlets covering City Hall. — Molly Reinmann and Joe Anuta

From the Capitol

NVIDIA AND BEYOND: Gov. Kathy Hochul isn’t worried that the scandal engulfing former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will impact the broader semiconductor sector.

“It’s a resilient industry,” she said today. “We’ve already planted the flag in places from Malta and all the way to Syracuse. New York’s economy will continue to be sound and continue to grow. This will not have an effect on meeting our obligations to continue the investments and create more jobs.”

New York has placed a massive, long-term bet on the industry, which has toeholds in the Syracuse area and the Saratoga County town of Malta, where Hochul appeared today to tout the groundbreaking of a new chip manufacturing facility.

Huang resigned amid allegations of multiple affairs, including a relationship with a woman who may be a potential Chinese spy.

The tech boom has helped lift Wall Street and swell New York’s coffers. A slowdown may spell trouble for the economy. — Nick Reisman 

LEADERSHIP MOVES: State Sen. Liz Krueger told Playbook today she isn’t angling to chair the body’s housing committee.

“I’m not going to be the housing chair and I’m not lobbying to be the housing chair,” the Manhattan lawmaker said. “Several other people have voiced active interest and I think that’s great.”

“I actually think that whoever is willing to be the housing chair should recognize they need to probably make a six-year commitment to this assignment,” she added. “And I’m not actually planning necessarily to make an additional six-year commitment to the Senate.”

One member who has voiced interest in the role is state Sen. Julia Salazar, a democratic socialist who represents north Brooklyn. The committee is currently chaired by outgoing state Sen. Brian Kavanagh.

“I’m a huge Julia Salazar fan,” Krueger said. “I think she’s an underestimated young talent in the Senate.”

Decisions on chairmanships will be up to Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, as the Senate navigates leadership turnover and the largest Democratic majority in 150 years.

Krueger has chaired the Senate finance committee since Democrats took control of the chamber in 2019. She suffered a stroke earlier this year but has recovered and was recently elected to serve another full term.

“The finance committee has about three times the workload of any committee,” Krueger noted. “I have told Andrea if she would like me to stay on in finance, I would be happy to do so, but I would need some kind of vice-chair or co-chair arrangement.”

She added: “If nobody wants to give me any chairmanships because we have too many mouths to feed, that’s okay also. This will be my 25th year [in the senate]. I feel like people either know who I am and respect what I try to do or not, and it’s irrelevant what the title is on my door.” — Janaki Chadha

FROM CITY HALL

HE’S NO SCHU-IN: Mamdani pointedly declined to back Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s bid to continue leading the caucus when asked about it at a press conference this morning.

“The American people made their voices very clear. They sent a message that they want Democratic leadership across the board that will deliver material improvements for the working class. And as the mayor of New York City, that's exactly what I want to see for New Yorkers across our five boroughs,” Mamdani said. “So I care less about who it is, and I care more about what they do.”

Schumer is facing a leadership challenge from Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who has the support of Mamdani allies like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan.

Mamdani’s hand-off approach to the Senate leadership race stands in stark contrast to the House, where the mayor has backed Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ bid to become speaker. — Joe Anuta

JOGGER PROBE: The New York City Law Department is launching an independent review of the school system’s hiring and background check procedures following revelations that the suspect in the recent high-profile murder of a Brooklyn jogger had worked at an elementary school.

At the request of schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, the Law Department will conduct a review that will include an examination of employee screenings and verifications, how information is shared between government agencies and what safeguards are in place after an individual is hired.

“The Law Department stands ready to conduct a review, follow the facts, and make recommendations based on what we find in order to make sure New York City Public Schools, and all collaborating agencies, continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff,” Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said in a statement.

Details of the review and the full scope are currently being developed, according to the Department of Education.

Read more in POLITICO Pro from Madina Touré

ULRICH TRIAL LATEST: As former New York City Correction Department Commissioner Louis Molina took the stand today in the trial of former Buildings Department Commissioner Eric Ulrich, a series of wiretapped calls and emails gave a behind-the-scenes peek at how patronage works within municipal government.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has accused Ulrich of using his position as a senior adviser to former Mayor Eric Adams to obtain perks like cash payments and season tickets to the Mets. The former Queens City Council member has pleaded not guilty and is in the midst of a bench trial in Manhattan criminal court.

As part of the case, prosecutors summoned Molina to the stand today to discuss how exactly the daughter of Ulrich’s close friend came to be hired as a policy analyst at the Department of Correction.

“In my mind, it was her job if she wanted it,” Molina told Assistant District Attorney Guy Tardanico at one point during the proceedings.

Shortly after Adams took office in 2022, Ulrich came to Molina with a candidate for open positions at the department. He impressed upon the correction commissioner that the candidate’s father, Michael Mazzio, who is on trial alongside Ulrich, was a friend of the mayor and that hiring his daughter was a top priority.

Molina said that context spurred him to give her an interview and offer her a job — something that might not have happened had she applied via traditional routes.

Defense attorneys for Ulrich and Mazzio, however, cross examined Molina and sought to show that recommendations for jobs from senior City Hall staffers were nothing out of the ordinary. And those attorneys noted that Ulrich never demanded Mazzio’s daughter be hired, nor complained when she was given an entry-level position instead of a loftier job title that came with a six-figure salary. — Joe Anuta

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

HAKEEM’S HECKLERS: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries took a victory lap today at the Majority Democrats’ confab in Denver. The welcome he received wasn’t entirely warm.

Right after moderator Jessica Tarlov’s first question, protesters interrupted with demands that Jeffries support the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and an arms embargo against Israel. Tarlov then asked for his response to the criticism that his “leadership is too timid for the moment.”

“As House Democrats, we're honored by the trust that the American people have placed in us to get the job done, and so we’ve got to work hard to deliver,” he replied.

That didn’t quiet the hecklers.

As Jeffries spoke about reversing Medicaid cuts and working to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credit, one tarred him as a “fucking liar.”

“I'm from Brooklyn,” Jeffries said in response. “This is light work.”

During the talk, he said he’s “absolutely a yes” on banning mid-cycle redistricting and partisan gerrymandering.

“I said this when this all started in Texas last July, that Republicans and MAGA extremists started this redistricting war,” he said. “We're going to end it. And last Tuesday, that's what we did, decisively all across the country. So we're not going to unilaterally disarm, but at the same period of time, as we've done in two prior Congresses, we need to ban mid-decade gerrymandering and partisan gerrymandering.”

New York Democrats are still mulling a mid-decade redistricting effort. — Madison Fernandez

IN OTHER NEWS

— DOWN WITH THE DSA: Veteran campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf is repurposing his super PAC to block the DSA’s expansion in New York. (The New York Post)

— NY-21 SHORTFALL: Rep-elect Anthony Constantino received more than 30,000 fewer votes in his district than GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman. (Times Union)

— RIDE OR DIE: Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a longtime advisor to former Mayor Eric Adams, has made frequent cameos in the corruption trial against Eric Ulrich. (Gothamist)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.