Z ohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, pointedly explained why he thinks President Donald Trump has levied attacks on his citizenship and threatened to arrest him in recent days. Trump simply needs a distraction, Mamdani argued in a press conference with New York City labor leaders on Wednesday.

The president, who has a history of spewing sometimes vile insults at rivals, has in recent days escalated his attacks against the 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist.

President Trump is ramping up his attacks on one of the GOP's newest targets, New York City's progressive mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. The big picture: The 33-year-old Democratic primary winner in the NYC mayoral primary has been hit with a barrage of attacks from the right ever since his win,