U.S. Treasury’s Bessent message to NYC on any bailout: ‘Drop dead’

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration will not bail out New York City in any financial crisis if Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani follows through with his plans, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.

“I guarantee you – and there are not a lot of things in life that are sure – that New York City will be coming to the federal government for a bailout if the Mamdani plans are implemented,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

Asked if he would give the city a bailout under those circumstances, Bessent said, “It will be the same thing that Gerald Ford said: ‘Drop dead.'”

While former President Ford never actually said those words, a New York tabloid headline used the phrase to capture the moment in 1975 when the Republican president refused to bail out New York as it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Mamdani’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on Bessent’s remarks.

Bessent called Mamdani the socialist protégé of his social media sparring partner, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who spoke out this week against any potential bailout for Argentina’s government by the Trump administration.

The treasury secretary did not specify which plans of Mamdani he thought could lead to financial trouble.

Mamdani won his party’s nomination in a June 24 primary with 56% of the vote and is now a leading candidate in the November election. His proposals include rent freezes, free city buses, city-owned grocery stores and free childcare, paid for by raising corporate taxes and imposing an extra 2% tax on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million a year.

Bessent was interviewed on Fox’s “Mornings with Maria.”

(Reporting by Doina ChiacuEditing by Peter Graff)