The Trump administration has canceled billions of dollars in funding for California's high-speed rail project after the state agency rejected the federal government's assessment of the project's failings. The Federal Railroad Administration pulled $4 billion in funding on Wednesday that was intended for construction in the Central Valley, according to a letter that acting FRA Administrator Drew Feeley sent to the high-speed rail project's chief executive, Ian Choudri. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has also asked the Federal Railroad Administration to review other grants related to the project. The agency said it will consult with the Department of Justice on potentially clawing back other funds. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Choudri questioned the legality of the administration's decision. "Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won't let him," Newsom said in a statement Wednesday. "With projects like the Texas high-speed rail failing to take off, we are miles ahead of others. We're now in the track-laying phase and building America's only high-speed rail. California is putting all options on the table to fight this illegal action." Choudri said that the funding commitments were "legally binding agreements" and that the high-speed rail authority has met its obligations. Duffy blamed state leaders for the "mismanagement" of plans for the train. "Governor Newsom and the complicit Democrats have enabled this waste for years. Federal dollars are not a blank check — they come with a promise to deliver results. After over a decade of failures, [the California High-Speed Rail Authority's] mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget," Duffy said in a statement Wednesday. "It's time for this boondoggle to die." On X, Duffy said that Newsom and California "are the definition of government incompetence and possibly corruption." In response, Newsom said he "won't be taking advice from the guy who can't keep planes in the sky." President Trump, a vocal critic of the project who has vowed to defund it, said the decision to pull funding saves taxpayers money. "I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California's disastrously overpriced 'high speed train to nowhere,'" Trump wrote on social media. "The railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will. This project was severely overpriced, overregulated and never delivered." The high-speed rail project was supposed to be completed by 2020 but is decades off schedule and about $100 billion over budget from its original proposal of $33 billion. No part of the line from Los Angeles to San Francisco has yet to be completed and construction has so far been confined to the Central Valley. The Trump administration initiated a review of the project in February after Republican lawmakers called for an investigation. In a 310-page compliance review released in June, thefederal government cited budget shortfalls, missed deadlines and a misleading projected ridership and found "no viable path forward" for the train. Choudri sent two letters to the Trump administration in response to the review's findings. In a letter sent earlier this month, Choudri called the assessment inaccurate and said the administration relied on old information to come to its conclusions, misrepresenting the facts. The Federal Railroad Administration's "flawed inputs have led to flawed outputs," Choudri wrote. "Rather than rely on the relevant information and documentation provided by the Authority, FRA inexplicably relies on outdated information, unreliable, unsupported third-party sources, and incomplete and flawed analyses to support its conclusions." Choudri asked the Trump administration for another meeting in early August and for the decision to be delayed. The responses did not satisfy the Railroad Administration's concerns, the agency said. The high-speed rail authority and state lawmakers have been pushing for private-public partnerships to fund the project outside of government support. The state is also committing $1 billion per year in funding toward the project, which has created thousands of jobs in the Central Valley and has become central to several communities' business-revitalization plans. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared inLos Angeles Times.