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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted he has no federal security clearance on Monday, just a day after claiming he had been “briefed” about the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Mamdani was asked directly about his security clearance during a Monday press briefing, ultimately saying that he had not yet received it. The freshly-inaugurated mayor had been the butt of viral jokes on social media from users suggesting he had inflated his access to information about the strike in his initial statement.
“You don’t have federal security clearance yet, and has anyone from a federal agency reached out to you or members of your team to begin the vetting to get federal security clearance?” a reporter asked.
“That briefing, yes, was conducted by my team,” Mamdani responded. “And the question of federal security clearance is one that’s on and on.”
Zohran Mamdani was elected in November 2025 and sworn in as New York City’s first socialist mayor on Jan. 1, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“So you do have it?” the reporter pressed.
“No, not as yet,” the mayor admitted.
The exchange came after Mamdani’s initial statement on the Venezuela raid appeared to suggest he had received inside information on the operation.
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Mamdani is sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, swearing the oath on a pair of family Qurans. (Amir Hamja/Pool via Reuters)
“I was briefed this morning on the U.S. military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as well as their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City,” Mamdani wrote on X after news of Maduro’s capture broke.
He went on to condemn the move by President Donald Trump, but some users on social media called him out for inflating his access.
“Called it,” wrote one user whose post on the topic received over 140,000 “likes.”
Nicolas Maduro was captured and flown to New York City following a daring military operation this weekend. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images)
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Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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