President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office on Nov. 21.

There is at least one area where U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and President Donald Trump disagree: whether New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is a “jihadist.”

Trump rejected Stefanik’s claim outright and instead praised Mamdani as “a man who really wants to see New York be great again.” Stefanik immediately doubled down, repeating that Mamdani is a jihadist — making this dangerous smear a centerpiece of her campaign for governor.

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As someone who spent nearly 15 years fighting actual jihadists, I can say with certainty: Zohran Mamdani is not a jihadist. And in a political climate already strained by violence, Stefanik’s rhetoric is especially dangerous because it risks fueling the kind of homegrown terrorism we are now confronting.

At the CIA, I led teams pursuing some of the world’s most dangerous jihadist terrorists. Later, at the White........

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