Trump demands California return $3.5 billion from ‘disaster' high-speed rail project

LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - President Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom got into a Twitter battle Wednesday night over the curtailment of the state's massive high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco that was more than a decade behind schedule and billions in the red.

In a tweet, Trump wrote: "California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a 'green' disaster!"

Newsom, a Democrat -- who previously said there had been too little oversight and not enough transparency about constructing the high-speed train in the nation's most populous state -- shot back 40 minutes later.

The governor wrote: "Fake news. We're building high-speed rail, connecting the Central Valley and beyond. This is CA's money, allocated by Congress for this project. We're not giving it back. The train is leaving the station -- better get on board! (Also, desperately searching for some wall $$??)"

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