DOT secretary threatens to withhold federal money over Charlotte train stabbing

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Monday threatened to withhold federal funding from the city of Charlotte over a fatal stabbing on the city’s Lynx Blue Line light rail last month.

Also late Monday, the FBI acknowledged it has been investigating the high-profile case “from day one.” And on Tuesday, the North Carolina State Auditor’s Office announced it would investigate the funding and security contracts of the Charlotte Area Transit System.

Duffy appeared on Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News at 9 p.m. and posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the Department of Transportation would investigate Charlotte’s “failure to protect Iryna Zarutska.”

Zarutska, 23, was a Ukrainian refugee who moved to Charlotte and was killed by a stranger Aug. 22 while riding the city’s light rail. The incident became national news over the weekend after the Charlotte Area Transit System released video of her killing.

A 34-year-old man named Decarlos Brown is charged with first-degree murder in Zarutska’s killing.

“Your federal tax dollars go to fund a lot of these transit systems across the country,” Duffy told Hannity. “And we have to look at them and say, ‘Well, maybe it’s appropriate that we start pulling some of that money back because I don’t think the American taxpayer wants to pay for the homelessness and criminal element that harm little 23-year-old girls like this who are going home from work.’”

Duffy, though, said that he’s not able to withhold federal money without conducting an investigation. That’s something he said would begin Tuesday.

The city’s current fiscal year budget includes $38.29 million in federal grants assigned to the Charlotte Area Transit System, but it’s not immediately clear how much federal funding could be at stake.

“I guarantee all your viewers that if I find what I think I’m going to find they’re not going to have your federal tax dollars going to their public transportation system. Zero. None. Nada,” Duffy told Hannity.

Former Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari, who worked for several months in the Federal Transit Administration, said “our citizens will suffer” if local leaders push back or remain silent during the investigation

“None of us want this, but the ball is truly in the hands of our local leaders,” Bokhari said in a post on X.

FBI investigation and election

Duffy’s announcement was joined by a separate one from FBI Director Kash Patel, who said in a post on X minutes before Hannity’s program started that his agency had “been investigating the Charlotte train murder from day one.”

Patel didn’t provide any further details and said to “stay tuned.”

During his appearance on Hannity’s program, Duffy also encouraged people to vote Charlotte’s leaders out of office — a nod to the fact that there’s a primary election on Tuesday for mayor and city council. The general election is in November — when there’s a 1 cent sales tax on the ballot to pay for transportation improvements.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles faces the most primary competition she’s seen in years, and there are multiple other competitive elections on the ballot Tuesday. Though, in most parts of the city, only Democrats and people registered unaffiliated can participate. The lone Republican primary is in south Charlotte’s District 6, where there’s currently no incumbent.

State auditor investigation

State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican, announced in a news release Tuesday that his office will take a close look at CATS.

“The investigation will focus on the public safety aspects of CATS, including but not limited to private security contracts, metrics and data used by CATS and private security for public safety purposes, and the CATS safety and security budget,” the news release said.

The investigation has begun and the appropriate Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials have been notified, the auditor’s office said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 9:57 PM with the headline "DOT secretary threatens to withhold federal money over Charlotte train stabbing."

Josh Bergeron

The Charlotte Observer

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Josh Bergeron is the government editor at The Charlotte Observer. Previously, he was the editor of the Salisbury Post in Salisbury, N.C. and worked as an editor and reporter at newspapers in North Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi. He’s a proud LSU alumnus — Geaux Tigers.