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Polis criticizes Trump over disaster aid denials
Associated Press //December 22, 2025//
DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis accused President Donald Trump of playing “political games” Sunday after the Trump administration denied disaster declaration requests following wildfires and flooding in the state earlier this year.
In Brief:
- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis criticized Trump after FEMA denied disaster requests.
- Denials followed wildfires, mudslides and historic flooding in 2025.
- Colorado plans to appeal the federal disaster declaration decisions.
- White House said disaster aid decisions were not politically motivated.
Polis’ office said he received two denial letters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency late Saturday. The letters follow requests for major disaster declarations following wildfires and mudslides in August and what Polis had described as “historic flooding” across southwest Colorado in October.
Polis and Colorado’s U.S. senators, fellow Democrats Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, decried the denials. Polis said the state would appeal.
“Coloradans impacted by the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in Southwestern Colorado deserve better than the political games President Trump is playing,” he said in a statement.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said Trump responds to each request for federal disaster assistance “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.”
Jackson said there is “no politicization” to Trump’s decisions on disaster aid.
Trump has raised the idea of “phasing out” FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility. States already take the lead in disasters, but federal assistance comes into play when the needs exceed what they can manage on their own.
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