"Outrageous": The High-Speed Rail Scandal Newsom Can't Ignore

The John Phillips Show

The episode heavily critiques California's high-speed rail project following an audit revealing consultants abused expense reports for first-class flights, nightclubs, and escape rooms. Hosts John Phillips and Randy

Key takeaways

• An audit found high-speed rail consultants billed California for $680,000 in unapproved travel expenses, including first-class flights, Uber Black rides, nightclub visits, and escape rooms.
• Governor Gavin Newsom called for accountability but refused to cancel contracts with the consulting firms or provide a firm completion date for the rail project.

Main topics

• High-speed rail expense scandal
• Gavin Newsom vs. Javier Becerra union dynamics

Notable quotes

There will be a Starbucks on Mars before this train is completed.

Conclusion

The episode underscores deep skepticism toward California's infrastructure and energy policies, framing them as

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Today's headlines with the right context. Speaker 8 (0:05) It's the John Phillips Show. And we continue at 205 in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show, live from Chicago, Mr. Randy Wings in Culver City. Speaker 3 (0:17) All right, now our buddy Scott Allen Myers has entered the chat, and he says, you got to understand, Karen only gets four years, Nithya gets eight. What makes Nithya automatically get eight years if she's going to be a bigger disaster than Karen, who is going to get knocked out at four years probably? Speaker 8 (0:33) Oh, yeah. Well, if Karen Bass loses to Nithyan Raman, then who's Raman going to lose to? How many grandkids did Castro have? Speaker 3 (0:43) So what, in four years, not enough people can vote for Spencer Pratt? And then in eight years, not enough people can vote for Spencer Pratt? Speaker 8 (0:49) Oh, no, Randy. We're so far away from rock bottom. We have decades to go. Speaker 3 (0:55) Let's see how crazy it can get. I mean, I will move to Ventura County, but let's just see how crazy it can get. I believe the only vote that you can do in Los Angeles that is significant is vote with your feet and get out of Dodge. Speaker 8 (1:10) 800-222-5222 is the telephone number. 1-800-222-5222. And if you want to watch us perform the show live, go to johnnydontlike.com and click that like button. It really helps us out a lot. We Speaker 3 (1:25) don't have to type in the chat to Scott Bass is already DSA. Prove me wrong. I'm going to do the Charlie Kirk thing. Prove me wrong. Speaker 8 (1:34) But you're delaying the show to participate in the chat. You got on my case for reading an email. Speaker 3 (1:39) Well, the chat is part of the show. Got to drive that engagement. Speaker 8 (1:45) So is our expense report in San Francisco, which I'm already worried about. Because this company is going to get my expense report for that San Francisco trip. And they're going to think that there was some kind of mix-up. And it belongs actually to Dana Williamson. Speaker 3 (2:03) I wasn't even expecting to be able to expense anything. I just want to do a remote in San Francisco. But hey, sure, I'll expense my Southwest flight. Speaker 8 (2:13) All right. So the bullet train has been one great big embarrassment for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, there is no train. However, thanks to a recent audit, we have found that the people and consultants who are working on the train are abusing the process of expense reports right and left. They were charging for things like Ubers to go one mile in Sacramento in an Uber Black. They were upgrading their plane tickets to first class. They were going to strip clubs or, excuse me, nightclubs and cigar lounges and billing the state of California for all of those trips. Speaker 3 (2:55) Don't forget the escape rooms. Oh, Speaker 8 (2:58) that too, yes. What is an escape room? I keep hearing about these escape rooms. I have no clue what they're talking about. Speaker 3 (3:04) So an escape room is where you go with a bunch of your friends and you have to solve a bunch of stupid puzzles to get out of the room. Speaker 3 (3:14) I don't think you're down. Speaker 8 (3:16) So you have to do a word search or something? Speaker 3 (3:20) Maybe there's like a secret lever that you have to pull on in the room and there's some context clues. They're fine. I've done one once before. They must be really cheap to operate. Speaker 8 (3:34) Okay. See, when I heard about an escape room, I thought that they just got a room, they filled it with a bunch of women, and then they let Eric Swalwell on the loose. And then the first one that escaped wins. Speaker 3 (3:46) Different kind of escape room. Speaker 8 (3:49) All right. Anyway, I digress. Going back to the bullet train. The finances are a complete mess, and Gavin Newsom had not weighed in on it publicly until now. Speaker 3 (4:02) Gavin Newsom says we should. Hold those consulting firms. Speaker 3 (4:10) Accountable. Speaker 1 (4:11) Accountability, accountability, accountability. Speaker 3 (4:14) This was at Gavin Newsom's wide-ranging press conference where he signed a bill that's supposed to subsidize local journalism. Can we get some of that money? And Gavin talked about what a wonderful, wonderful relationship he has with the press. You know, the press that he has not sat down for a local interview with in his entire eight years. Speaker 3 (4:38) He does do the pressers, though. I don't think Bakari is even going to do that. Here is Fox 40 and Eitan Wallace. From Speaker 4 (4:45) first class flights to cigar lounges, even a nightclub. Those are among the expenses. A state report found the high speed rail authority approved for contractors working on the project. Now, Governor Gavin Newsom is weighing in and he has some pretty strong words about what should happen next. I Speaker 3 (5:00) love how the only B roll they have of the high speed rail is like the. preview video of what it might look like that they probably built back in 2012 because CGI is way better now? Speaker 8 (5:10) Oh yeah, no, it has to be AI because there is no train, so it's not like you could use that footage. Speaker 4 (5:17) Thanks for joining us for Fox 40 News at 630. I'm Aubrey Aquino in tonight for Eric. And I'm Nikki Lorenzo. Fox 40 Capitol reporter Eitan Wallace has his response and why Republicans are calling for an investigation. Speaker 2 (5:29) Pretty outrageous, yeah. Governor Gavin Newsom speaking out on the latest controversy involving California's high-speed rail project. Speaker 2 (5:38) According to this, gotta love that B roll of the train that doesn't exist. Speaker 2 (5:44) Report from the project's independent watchdog, the inspector general's office. The office reviewed more than one. Speaker 3 (5:50) In case you misheard, Eitan, he said inspector general. If he said inspector genital, that's Manny. Speaker 2 (6:01) Point one million dollars in travel expenses ultimately approved for these four consulting firms hired to work on the project. Auditors found the high speed rail authority reimbursed the firms about six hundred eighty thousand dollars in travel expenses that had not been previously approved. And Speaker 3 (6:18) this was only for one small section. They only looked at like a six month period in twenty twenty four. You know they've been doing this for the last 15 years. I Speaker 8 (6:29) am telling you, and I'm not even being dramatic here, there will be a Starbucks on Mars before this train is completed. Speaker 2 (6:38) Of that, nearly $593,000 in expenses violated state rules or the consultant's contracts, including first-class flights, premium ride shares, and trips to places including gyms, a tiki bar, an escape room, a cigar lounge, and even a nightclub. Speaker 8 (6:56) Forgot about the tiki lounge. Boy, these people are really living it up. Speaker 1 (7:01) Those contractors should be held to account when there's waste and abuse and contracts taken about it. They need to be held to account. And what does that mean, Governor? Speaker 8 (7:11) Accountability. Speaker 3 (7:12) Hey, it's the name of our podcast and it's meaningless. So you've heard about this. The inspector general tells you, the man in charge, hey, here's what they're doing. Well, we should hold them accountable. So what does that mean? Speaker 1 (7:25) They shouldn't be doing business with the state of California, period, full stop. Okay, so have we Speaker 3 (7:30) canceled those contracts with these four consulting firms that have been getting fat off of our money? We have not? Speaker 2 (7:37) Hmm. In response to the report, the High Speed Rail Authority has promised to tighten its expense approval process moving forward. Speaker 2 (7:46) MEANTIME, DESPITE THE LATEST CONTROVERSY, NEWSOM SAYS HE'S NOT BACKING DOWN FROM HIS SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT. We're going to be laying track soon. Speaker 3 (7:55) Wait a second. Speaker 8 (7:56) Didn't he claim that they already did and then they fact-checked people who claimed that they didn't and said that they were a bunch of liars? Speaker 3 (8:04) Thanks to reporting that we got from our friend Julie Watts of CBS News Investigates, in January of 2025, Gavin Newsom at the Railhead press conference starts hammering in the big golden spike because he says we are now laying track. That is January of 2025. It is October of 2026. And after he was proven by Julie Watts that he was using a prop in 2025, we're laying track soon. In fact, Gavin Newsom in his State of the State in January of this year said, we're laying track soon. When is soon? Speaker 1 (8:49) As well, there's a lot of good news. 99 % of all the environmental work is done. Wait, Gavin Newsom said that three years ago. Speaker 8 (8:57) And the whole thing was supposed to be done like what, six years ago? Speaker 3 (9:01) I remember at a Gavin presser in 2023 or 2024, him touting that we finally got all the permitting done. And somehow that was a success. They haven't even bought the trains yet. Speaker 1 (9:14) A thousand plus utilities and lawsuits related to eminent domain. All of that's done and behind us. And we're building this project. No, Speaker 8 (9:25) you're not. Where is the track? Where is the train? What is the completion date? He can't answer any of those questions because all of the answers would be bad. Speaker 3 (9:39) Well, and let's not forget. The reason that the state is not even fighting anymore, the federal government clawing back $4 billion, is because that $4 billion of Infrastructure Act money that was sent to California for the high-speed rail was meant to buy trains by December of 2024. They didn't. So in January of 2025, the Fed said, we're taking that money back. Ron Bonta sued. And then in December of 2025, dropped the lawsuit because even by December of 2025, they never bought the train. And in fact, now it is October of 2026. They still have not bought a train. Speaker 4 (10:23) This Speaker 3 (10:24) is something Speaker 8 (10:24) that is a lie, that