Trump to defund major California railroad project in retaliation for border wall lawsuit

Furious with California’s resistance against President Donald Trump’s border wall, the US federal government has stated that it will withdraw money it has invested in the state’s major civil projects.

The US Transportation Department said Tuesday that it was exploring legal options to claw back $2.5 billion in federal funds spent on high-speed rail network in the state, a day after Californian officials joined a multi-state legal push to dispute Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to fund his wall.

The Federal Railroad Administration, an extension of the department, also notified the state High-Speed Rail Authority that it would end a $929 million federal grant come March 5.

Trump also stepped in by attacking the project and tying its construction to his border wall.

Trump and other Republicans have long opposed the $77 billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco bullet train, which has been under construction for years.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said he was not going to “sit idly by” while Trump tried to took away the state’s money.

“It’s no coincidence that the administration’s threat comes 24 hours after California led 16 states in challenging the president’s farcical ‘national emergency,’” California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement. “This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won’t sit idly by. This is California’s money, and we are going to fight for it.”

On Monday, a coalition of 16 US states filed a lawsuit in US District Court for the Northern District of California to block Trump’s national emergency declaration, which was solely aimed at obtaining funds for building a wall along the US-Mexico border.

PressTV-Dems working to nullify Trump’s emergency

Top US Senate Democrats are trying to block President Trump’s access to disaster funds in order to build his border wall.

Trump’s announcement came after Democrats in Congress refused to give him the $5.7 billion he demands for the wall on US-Mexico border. The showdown resulted in the longest ever partial shutdown of the US government which began on December 22 and lasted for 35 days.

To avert a second shutdown, Trump agreed last week to sign a new spending bill which only allocated $1.3 billion for border barriers, much less than what he had requested.

The emergency declaration, however, gives the president the authority to shave off around $8 billion from the military budget to build the wall if he manages to overcome the barrage of lawsuits coming his way.

"Today, on Presidents Day, we take President Trump to court to block his misuse of presidential power," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement after filing the lawsuit.

"We're suing President Trump to stop him from unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds lawfully set aside by Congress for the people of our states. For most of us, the office of the presidency is not a place for theater," added Becerra, who is also a Democrat.

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• Thousands protest against Trump’s ‘fake’ national emergency

Upon signing his national emergency directive, Trump predicted that he was going to face many legal challenges but would emerge victorious in the end by taking the matter to the Supreme Court, where conservative judges hold a 5-4 majority.

“We will possibly get a bad ruling, and then we'll get another bad ruling and then we'll end up in the Supreme Court,” Trump said.

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