"The train that's being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst-managed project I think I've ever seen, and I've seen some of the worst," Trump told reporters, asserting that the project is "billions and billions" of dollars over budget.

Project officials have estimated that a statewide system would reduce auto travel by 10 million miles a day, but Californians drive nearly a billion miles each day. A 10 million-mile reduction would ostensibly cut emissions by scarcely 1%.

Talk about timing.

President Donald Trump denounced California's bullet train for the project's delays and rising costs on Tuesday and said his administration would investigate how billions of federal and state dollars were spent

"The train that's being built between Los Angeles and San Francisco is the worst-managed project I think I've ever seen, and I've seen some of the worst," Trump told reporters, asserting that the project is "billions and billions" of dollars over budget.

"We're going to start a big investigation … because I've never seen anything like it," he added. "Nobody's ever seen anything like it. The worst overruns that there have ever been in the history of our country."

Trump's remarks came just 24 hours after the project's inspector general, Benjamin Belnap, issued a sharply worded report on the first phase of what is envisioned as a statewide system, saying it's unlikely that the High-Speed Rail Authority can meet its current goal of beginning passenger service between Merced and Bakersfield by 2033.