MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber defended the transit authority Wednesday morning amid growing criticism from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Late Tuesday, Duffy escalated tensions with the MTA after he posted on social media saying the agency is “horribly run” and “rampant crime” is “scaring riders away.”

His comments came after Gov. Kathy Hochul and leaders of the New York Legislature sent a letter to the Department of Transportation urging a stronger federal funding commitment for the MTA. The letter sought a “commitment during the next five-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs to align New York’s federal formula funding for the MTA.”

Lieber, speaking on “Mornings On 1,” pushed back on Duffy’s claims, citing recent data showing subway crime is down and congestion pricing revenue is exceeding expectations.

“We're a fact-based organization, so we'll just stick to the facts and hope that eventually they want to talk about what's really going on,” Lieber said.

The latest NYPD numbers as of Sunday show subway crime is down 24% year-over-year, with felony assaults down 4.4%. Meanwhile, congestion pricing figures for February showed the tolling program brought in $51.9 million—over $2 million more than projected.

Lieber said Duffy’s continued criticism ignores the role of the NYPD in patrolling the subway system.

“The thing that I think Duffy is missing is that the NYPD is the law enforcement organization responsible for the subways, doing a hell of a job,” Lieber said, crediting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s investment in additional officers and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s focus on subway safety. “I don't understand why the allegedly pro-cop, pro-safety administration in Washington would be going after the NYPD.”

He also suggested Duffy’s rhetoric may be an attempt to find alternative ways to block congestion pricing should legal challenges fail.

“But numbers don't lie,” Lieber said, noting that crime rates on New York City transit are lower than in other major cities. “He's not going after Miami, where you are 28 times more likely to be the victim of crime on their transit system than in New York. He's not attacking Minneapolis. He's not attacking Dallas, which have 10 to 30 times more probability of being the victim of crime on transit than in New York. Eventually, the judicial system—if they use crime is a pretext for punishing New York—eventually, the judicial system will catch up with them.”

Lieber said he hopes for bipartisan support for transit funding.

“During the first Trump administration, we actually had a lot of New York Republicans working on behalf of the MTA to make sure we were helped through COVID,” he said. “We expect transit funding to be bipartisan. It always has been.”