Janno Lieber, like Mamdani and Hochul, has to walk a fine line with Trump

Deep blue New York City needs a lot from Republican President Donald Trump. But New York’s most powerful leaders all have their own ways of dealing with the mercurial president with a long list of enemies.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has struck a largely cordial tone in public, appearing uninterested in publicly antagonizing Trump or drawing attention to their polar opposite stances on immigration and policing. As an unannounced visit to the White House on Thursday displayed, that approach has shown some signs of success. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul has maintained a working relationship with the president too, but one that hasn’t stopped her from being publicly critical. “Smile if you love beating Donald Trump in court,” her press office posted on X Thursday, one of several critical – and mocking – tweets about Trump this week. (That tone from Hochul, who is currently running for reelection, is more like Mamdani’s tone on the campaign trail last year.)

But it’s not just elected leaders who have to strike a delicate balance in dealing with Trump. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chair and CEO Janno Lieber threatened on Wednesday to sue the federal government if it did not release funds for the long awaited extension of the Second Ave. Subway by next week.

“We are reminding our friends in Washington – I’ll call them friends for now – that it’s time to stop messing around,” Lieber told the audience at City & State’s Most Significant Infrastructure Projects Summit on Thursday. Asked by City & State after this keynote address how he approaches that relationship, Lieber smiled and said he’s “not doing press” right now.

Lieber took the opportunity to update the audience on the MTA’s other infrastructure priorities, including the Interborough Express and Penn Station Access for Metro-North.

“It is a new MTA that is building these projects and running the transit service we all depend on,” he said Thursday, highlighting increased New York City Transit trips from 2024 to 2025, a 14% subway-wide decline in crime over 2019, and improving (though still imperfect) rider satisfaction numbers.

Lieber also highlighted bus network redesigns as a priority and praised Mamdani’s revival of bus lane projects. “We’re thrilled about the mayor's commitment to fast buses,” Lieber said, noticeably not mentioning the other half of Mamdani’s campaign pitch: fast and free buses. Lieber has been critical of totally free buses, and also declined to answer a question about that after his remarks Thursday.