“The federal government sends billions to New York — but we won’t foot the bill if Governor Hochul continues to implement an illegal toll to backfill the budget of New York’s failing transit system,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul.

An embarrassing disclosure by federal lawyers revealed the weaknesses in the government’s bid to end the New York toll program. It could mark a turning point in the case.

Lawyers for the Department of Transportation accidentally uploaded an internal memo detailing the federal agency’s plan to kill congestion pricing in New York — and admitting that the legal strategy is “very unlikely” to succeed.