Mamdani Forced to Make Humiliating Admission After Pressed on 'Briefing' Claim About Maduro Capture

Zohran Mamdani is now the mayor of New York City. The result of that so far has been the Democrat Socialist Party member in some ways reaping the whirlwind in the court of public opinion over his radical appointees, including his woke "housing justice" chief Cea Weaver, who was recently exposed as a like-minded property-seizing communist (by her own admission) in deleted videos and tweets that resurfaced.

But while Weaver was seen this week in tears after being asked about another story that broke about her family owning a $1.6 million Nashville home, it hasn't been much better for Mayor Mamdani, who had to make a humiliating public admission over a claim he made Saturday about allegedly being "briefed" on the Venezuela operation that saw the United States capture illegitimate "leader" Nicolás Maduro.

"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 bizarrely tweeted at the time. "Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law."

Mamdani's remarks left many perplexed, and social media mockery soon ensued. Why on earth would the Trump administration, especially members of the national security team, "brief" Mamdani on anything of this nature, let alone a top secret foreign operation - and especially one that involved taking one of Mamdani's powerful socialist comrades into custody?

It sounded like a lie told by someone with a highly inflated sense of self-importance, and as it turns out, that's exactly what it was, as Mamdani was forced to admit during a presser this week when asked about it by a reporter:

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 [ongoing]."

After the reporter asked a follow-up question, Mamdani reiterated on the matter of receiving federal security clearance that "No, not as yet."

Watch:

I said it before: Mayor Zohran Mamdani does not have federal security clearance. When asked directly by a reporter, he initially danced around the question—then ultimately answered “NO,” confirming he does not have clearance.
That means he was not briefed on Nicolás Maduro or any… pic.twitter.com/5mURMFRfMR
— Lattina Brown, MPA 🇯🇲🇺🇸 (@LattinaBrown) January 5, 2026

Here's a clip from another press briefing where another reporter dinged him about not having the required security clearance that would allow him to learn of such operations. She asked him what type of "assurances," if any, he was able to make to Venezuelans living in NYC since he didn't have the security clearance:

Reporter: I’m hearing the Venezuelan Communtiy has tried to reach out to you. Have you made any attempts to them and what type of assurances are you giving them since you don’t have a security clearance as of now?

Mamdani: *Word Salad*

Even AG James is trying not to laugh 😭 pic.twitter.com/rioyHVvUPQ
— Mamdani Watch (@MamdaniWatch) January 5, 2026

I guess the even funnier thing about this is that Mamdani seems to think that he is eventually going to receive such security clearances from the Trump administration. While I am not "in the know" on how these things typically work, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to be able to figure out that as far as Mamdani goes, the likely extent of communications between the Trump team and the Mamdani administration at this point is going to be via Truth Social, when everbody else gets to hear about it, too.

Editor’s Note: Zohran Mamdani is an avowed Democrat Socialist and has just been sworn in as mayor of New York City.

Please help us continue to report on his radical communist views and expose the Democrats who support him. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.