'Ignore the noise': CA high speed rail authority fires back at Trump’s investigation threat

05 February

President Donald Trump recently suggested he was preparing to investigate California's high speed rail project between Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the entity behind it is unfazed.

While signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump pivoted to the mass transit project being built in the Central Valley, calling it waste of "hundreds of billions of dollars." But the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the California High Speed Rail Authority's (CAHSRA) X account responded to Trump's threat with a shrug, and promised to continue its work.

"Ignore the noise," the @CASHSRA account tweeted. "We're busy building."

The CAHSRA noted that so far, it has completed construction of 50 major structures, 60 miles of guideway, obtained full environmental clearance the entire length of the track from San Francisco to Los Angeles and created more than 14,600 jobs. Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), who represents the Fresno area, also forcefully responded to Trump's attacks on the project, and reminded him that "big things are hard to do."

"Unwarranted investigations threaten job security — let’s focus on infrastructure and water investment to strengthen our communities," Costa tweeted.

During Trump's remarks on Tuesday, he rejected the idea of taking a train between California's two most prominent cities, encouraging Californians to either drive or "take an airplane." And while he said he would lead the investigation, he offered no details on how he would carry it out.

“[The project] wasn’t even necessary,” Trump said. “I would have said, ‘You don’t buy it. You take an airplane. It costs you $2, it costs you nothing.’”

Click here to read the Chronicle's full report (subscription required).

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