Expert breaks down only way Trump could cut funding to NYC as he threatens 'fight' after Mamdani win

An expert has outlined one possible way that Donald Trump could cut funding to New York City after Zohran Mamdani won the city's mayoral election.

Mamdani, 34, beat independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, whom he had already defeated once in the Democratic primary, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to become the mayor of New York City after fighting a campaign on affordability, which resonated deeply with voters.

Prior to the election, President Trump threatened to cut funding to New York City if Mamdani won the election.

For his part, Mamdani appears undeterred by Trump's threats, using his victory speech to throw down the gauntlet to Trump, speaking to him directly and challenging him to 'turn the volume up'.

The mayor-elect also proudly paid tribute to New York City as a city of immigrants, saying that as of today, it would be 'led by an immigrant' in a criticism of Trump's hardline anti-immigration stance, which has seen US citizens snatched from the streets by masked ICE agents.

Now, an expert has opened up about how Trump might be able to actually follow through on his threat.

Mamdani used his victory speech to challenge Trump directly (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

The short answer to this, according to lawyer Michael J. Wynne, is that it will be very difficult for Trump to do this.

“The President faces practically insurmountable hurdles here," he said.

This is because the president doesn't actually have the power to make that decision due to the separation of powers, a protective measure against authoritarian rule, in the US.

“Article I of the Constitution vests exclusive spending authority in Congress," he said.

"The Tenth Amendment restricts federal interference in state and local affairs, for all practical purposes. And the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 plugs in any meaningful holes that may remain.

“This is a bedrock of our federal republic and foundational to separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution and the case law interpreting it over the past couple of hundred-plus years."

But there is potentially an exception.

Donald Trump threatened to cut federal funding to New York (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

"The only exceptions would be with merit-based discretionary grant, for instance, those administered through the NIH, USDA, Department of Education, or National Science Foundation," said Wynne.

But while there is more potential here, Wynne explained that the criteria for these grants to be withheld have specific criteria, and someone he doesn't like winning a local election is not one of those criteria.

“Even then, any restriction or withholding cannot be based on who wins a local election but must be well-documented based on the applicable statutory criteria," he said. "This one isn’t close.”

But that's not to say that Trump is about to give Mamdani an easy ride, with the President posting on his social media platform Truth Social, "OUR FIGHT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN," on the first anniversary of his second victory in a presidential election.