President Donald Trump attends a bill signing ceremony with members of the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey team, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump sparked a wave of anger in Colorado over the weekend when he denied federal disaster assistance to help with recovery from the state’s fifth-largest fire and widespread flooding from earlier in the fall.
“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) said in the statement after Trump denied aid on Saturday night.
“I call on the President’s better angels, and urge him to reconsider these requests. This is about the Coloradans who need this support, and we won’t stop fighting for them to get what they deserve. Colorado will be appealing this decision,” he added.
Polis asked Trump to unlock additional federal assistance under the Stafford Act and noted that “both the fires and the flooding exceeded the criteria set by FEMA for major presidential disaster declarations, which include minimum amounts of damage and impacts to local infrastructure,” reported local media. Trump, who regularly threatens to cut off federal funds to states or cities run by his political opponents, has also withheld or delayed aid to blue states like Virginia and Maryland this year.
Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) also lambasted the Trump administration in a fiery statement. “President Trump’s decision to deny Colorado’s request for critical federal assistance is unacceptable,” Bennet said, adding:
Communities in Western Colorado are in serious need of help after the life-threatening flooding and historic wildfires earlier this year. Trump continues to use Coloradans for political games; it is malicious and obscene. A disaster is a disaster, regardless of what state in the country it took place. Together with Governor Polis and the Colorado delegation, I will take every available step to appeal this decision.
The White House also released a statement defending the decision, but did not give a specific reason for denying the assistance. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, told local media:
During the fires, the Administration prioritized and mobilized two Modular Aerial Fire Fighting Systems, which are jointly managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Department of War, and retrofitted to C-130s operated by the Air National Guard. These systems enhanced aviation support to Colorado as they battled the Lee and Elk fires. The President responds to each request for Federal assistance under the Stafford Act with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement—not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters. There is no politicization to the President’s decisions on disaster relief, unlike under the Biden Administration where FEMA officials refused aid to disaster survivors who displayed political signs and flags they disagreed with. The Trump administration remains committed to empowering and working with State and local governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged,” Jackson said in a statement.
Notably, Trump savagely attacked Governor Polis last week over his refusal to release convicted election fraudster Tina Peters, a former county clerk, who was found guilty of tampering with voting machines, which resulted in the leak of voter data online. Peters is a staunch supporter of Trump and claimed to be acting on his claims of 2020 voter fraud, which she was trying to prove. Trump pardoned Peters this month, but his pardon carried no legal weight as she was not convicted in a federal court.
