U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration was considering taking over governance of Washington, D.C., and suggested he could take similar action in New York because of his distaste for the leading candidate for mayor there.

Trump cannot take over New York City, but “there are ways in which he can make life difficult,” Columbia University legal expert Richard Briffault told Newsday in a story getting to the truth behind Trump’s words.

President Donald Trump stunningly said that the White House has “tremendous power” to take control of U.S. cities. Trump made the remark after being asked about the possible election of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor of the City of New York, per ABC News.

Republicans made a right turn at “states’ rights are no longer a priority,” and arrived at “we don’t much care about local control, either.”

President Trump threatened Tuesday to use federal power to seize control of New York City if “communist” Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor.