Trump is within his legal right to clawback money given to California high-speed rail project: Trial lawyer

The California high-speed rail project may have hit the brakes, but the battle over recouping the funding for it continues to gain steam.

The Trump administration is asking the state of California to pay back $2.5 billion in federal grant money the administration has already spent on the now-defunct high-speed project.

Trial attorney and California-based RNC Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon told FOX Business' Connell McShane that President Trump is within his right to demand the money back.

"Grants given by the government are always given with certain strings attached and conditions.The governor of California announced that the project that the money was given for is no longer going to be built as such," Dhillon said on Wednesday. "In fact, President Trump, I think, is within his rights to try to clawback the $2.5 billion that has been given for this project,"

The White House is also cancelling $929 million in grant funds for the project, which Dhillon says should go back to the government to be spent on more pressing issues.

"It's been spent for a purpose that is no longer going to be fulfilled, so the people are entitled back to their money in D.C.," he said on "Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast."

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California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to fight to keep the money in his state, claiming that the move by the federal government was a form of retaliation for California issuing a lawsuit against his national emergency declaration last week.