President Donald Trump has continued to escalate tensions with California by calling on the state to return billions in federal funds for a high-speed rail. His administration plans on cancelling $929m (£711m) in grants for what Mr Trump has called a "failed" project. These federal funds account for a quarter of the California rail project. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom called it "political retribution" for the California-led lawsuit against Mr Trump's national emergency declaration. The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it is looking into cancelling the $929m grant as well as recovering a $2.5bn grant already being spent by the state. In a tweet on Wednesday, Mr Trump again lambasted the state over the project, saying: "Send the Federal Government back the Billions of Dollars WASTED!" Just a day prior to the announcement, a coalition of 16 US states led by California said they were suing the president to block his "misuse of presidential power" over building a US-Mexico border wall. All but one of the states involved are governed by Democrats. AFP.