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'Weirdest' thing Mamdani found at White House was this coffee-table book
Zohran Mamdani, NYC Mayor-elect, shared his surprise at spotting a coffee-table book while waiting for President Trump at the White House.
Zohran Mamdani, the New York City Mayor-elect, recently shared what he described as the weirdest thing he noticed while waiting for US President Donald Trump during his visit to the White House earlier this month.
Asked in an interview to describe the "weirdest thing" he saw at the White House, Zohran Mamdani said it was a coffee-table book.
“He gave me a tour of the Oval Office and the cabinet room... I mean he showed me portraits of all the presidents in the cabinet room... I walked in first you get there it's you alone and two people to get you through... then I sit down waiting and in front of me are these coffee-table books,” Mamdani said, speaking on ‘The Adam Friedland Show’.
Mamdani said he spotted a "UFC" coffee-table book among Trump's reading materials and added he had "no idea" that the White House was preparing to host a mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn in June 2026.
"…One of them [coffee-table books] is UFC at the White House. I had no idea, and I was just flipping, flipping through that," Mamdani said.
Listen in to what Mamdani said (from 0:45)
When asked whether the book featured fighters in action, Mamdani clarified that the images were mock-ups showing how the UFC's octagon-style arena might appear on the South Lawn.
The upcoming event, which Donald Trump had hinted at earlier this year as part of commemorations for America's 250th anniversary, is set for June 14, 2026 – coinciding with the his 80th birthday.
Trump and Mamdani - who exchanged barbs during the recently concluded New York mayoral election over their different worldviews - met on November 21 at the Oval Office, a meeting the president described as "great" and “very productive”.
