In the wake of his big win this week, President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Gov. Kathy Hochul about some major issues confronting New York, promising to improve Penn Station and the city’s subways.


What You Need To Know

  • President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Gov. Kathy Hochul about some major issues confronting New York, promising to improve Penn Station and the city’s subways

  • Pausing it last June, now Hochul wants to knock down the previously proposed $15 per passenger car toll. A report in Politico Friday said that she prefers $9 per car

  • Trump has said he thinks the policy is a big negative for the Big Apple. But Hochul says they can strike a deal

Hochul revealed some of her conversation with the president-elect while speaking to reporters at an annual political gathering in Puerto Rico.

“I raised how important it would be to get federal dollars for the MTA,” she said, adding that she initiated the call. “I talked about Penn Station. I said from day one I want Penn Station to be something we can be proud of. I said it can be beautiful. He agreed, he agreed that these are important priorities and pledged to work with me on those.”

“We can work together like infrastructure. We rely on federal money and he seems to share my priorities, but also I’m gonna stand up for protecting rights, reproductive rights,” she added.

Hochul said Trump pledged to give an aging Penn Station a facelift and fix the ailing subway system.

Lawmakers welcomed the promised collaboration.

“I think that it’s great for the governor to talk to the president-elect. That’s really important. We need to have an avenue of communication,” Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Queens Democrat, said.

“We have to work with whoever’s in power to make sure that New Yorkers are getting the changes they need,” state Assembly-elect Jordan Wright, a Harlem Democrat, said.

Even former Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio said signs of Washington and New York working together are positive.

“I don’t know how long it’s been that anyone called them beautiful, but they need to work, they need to be consistent and that takes money,” he said.

But that phone call follows a public show of force from Hochul earlier this week alongside state Attorney General Letitia James, making the case that New York could stand against the president-elect’s future administration.

Hochul also revealed she’s been talking to the current White House about resurrecting congestion pricing.

“Fifteen dollars is a lot of money for someone, or a teacher, who has to drive into Manhattan and cannot work remotely. They have to work five days a week,” she said.

Pausing it last June, now Hochul wants to knock down the previously proposed $15 per passenger car toll.

report from Politico Friday said she prefers $9 per car.

Meanwhile, Trump has said he thinks the policy is a big negative for the Big Apple. But Hochul says they can strike a deal.

“Why am I so confident? Because that’s what the president said he is looking for with me,” she said.

Hochul isn’t the only Democratic leader appearing to cozy up to Trump in the wake of election results.

Mayor Eric Adams revealed he also spoke to the Republican.

“I communicated with the president yesterday to state that there are many issues here in this city, that we want to work together with the administration to address a lot of our infrastructure issues,” he said during an unrelated press conference Thursday at City Hall.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from NY1.