President Trump on Friday criticized New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa as “not exactly prime time.”

Mr. Trump, during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” talked about the state of that race and the suitability of having someone like Mr. Sliwa, founder of the community crime-fighting group the Guardian Angels, living in Gracie Mansion.

Mr. Trump previously called on Mr. Sliwa and Mayor Eric Adams to drop out of the crowded race so they don’t split the vote. The president wants their subtraction to give former Gov. Andrew Cuomo a shot at beating Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist state assemblyman, in November.

“It would look to me like Cuomo, frankly, is leading the other two. And look, I’m a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly prime time,” Mr. Trump said. “You know, he wants cats to be in Gracie Mansion. … It’s the magnificent home of the mayor. No, we don’t need to have thousands of cats.”

During his previous run for mayor against Mr. Adams four years ago, Mr. Sliwa invited reporters into his studio apartment, where he showed off a setup of 16 rescue cats.

The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Sliwa for comment.

Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams, both well-known Democrats, are running as independents and, with Mr. Sliwa, are running behind Mr. Mamdani in recent polls.

However, leaving the race now wouldn’t be easy since some deadlines have already passed.

After the deadline, only three legal situations would allow for a candidate’s removal from the ballot: death, nomination for a judicial post or moving out of New York City.

If a candidate were officially removed, his name would likely still appear on the ballot, but votes for him would not be counted.

For candidates who are affiliated with a party, like Mr. Sliwa, the GOP could choose another candidate to replace him, but that’s not likely at this point.

It was previously reported that the Trump administration offered jobs to Mr. Sliwa and Mr. Adams to exit the race. Mr. Sliwa, the WABC radio host polling in third, reportedly said he would exit the race only if he dies.

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.