Why Trump is already worrying the people in charge of the Colorado River
The Bureau of Reclamation — the federal agency tasked with managing America's largest dams, including Hoover and Glen Canyon on the Colorado River — is facing as much as a 40% staff cut, although the final number could be lower, three people familiar with the matter told CNN. And the agency still doesn't have a nominee for the commissioner to lead it.
Trump's early actions, from staff cuts to directly ordering the US Army Corps of Engineers to open two California dams, have led to concerns over the stability of water management in the region.
The administration's pause on federal grants for water cuts, which have since been reinstated, threw a wrench into negotiations between seven Western states on how to divvy up a dwindling and overused Colorado River – negotiations managed by Reclamation with critical deadlines approaching.
Internal discussions at Reclamation are now focused on how to protect critical staff who oversee dam safety and hydropower, but agency morale is extremely low, two of the sources said. There is fear that a combination of so-called staff 'buyouts' and the firing of probationary employees has already created a 'skeleton crew' that could be further winnowed, one person familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Work-related purchases in the Interior Department's bureaus, including Reclamation, have also been limited to $1, which complicates necessary purchases like oil for dam equipment. An Interior Department spokesperson said Thursday department officials are working to ensure 'purchases in support of mission-critical activities continue in a timely manner.'
It's an example of a blanket cut made across the federal government without consideration for agencies' needs.
'It's a lean agency; it's a very effective agency,' said David Hayes, a former high-ranking Interior Department official under President Barack Obama and White House adviser under President Joe Biden. 'It's the largest wholesaler of water in the world; it's managing irrigation districts all around the country. It's not like Washington bureaucracy.'
Reclamation's senior officials have already faced pressure from the White House. In the first weeks of Trump's second term, representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency repeatedly demanded the acting head of Reclamation open a major California pump system in late January to release a huge amount of water toward Los Angeles — even though it would have never reached the fire-scarred metropolis, CNN recently reported.
The two DOGE agents even flew to California with the goal of turning the pumps on themselves, in what people familiar with the incident characterized as a stunt for a 'photo op.'
Days after that unsuccessful DOGE trip, the White House ordered the US Army Corps to release water from the Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success. Ultimately, 2.2 billion gallons flowed out of the two dams into a dry California lakebed before panicked local water managers and Republican and Democratic California lawmakers beseeched the Army Corps to shut it down.
'I think people noticed it and had a twinge of concern that action was being taken without appreciating the interconnectedness of the system,' said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. 'The California system is part of a larger 7-state system and it's best to really understand the linkages before an order to spill water.'
There are fears it could happen again, especially if more federal workers are cut out of various water agencies, two sources familiar with the agency told CNN.
And earlier this month, one of the DOGE representatives who took part in the California trip, Tyler Hassen, was promoted to Interior's assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, according to an order from Interior Sec. Doug Burgum.
It's a high-ranking position that gives Hassen power to oversee the budget for Interior and its various bureaus. An Interior Department spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters.
The Trump administration's pause on grants in January and early February was seen in Lake Mead: Water levels dropped after one Native tribe's funding for water conservation dried up.
During Trump's first few weeks in office, the Arizona-based Gila River Indian Community found its funding had been turned off and spent weeks trying to get the Interior Department to pay out money they were contractually owed for a water-saving project. Unsure of the future of the conservation agreement, the tribe pulled 3.2 billion gallons of its water out of Lake Mead to put back into its own underground storage system.
Mead water levels plummeted, raising alarm bells among Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Arizona, who lobbied Interior to restore federal funding.
Gila River's funding was reinstated, but the freeze itself 'was particularly disturbing to us,' Gila River Gov. Stephen Lewis said in a statement to CNN, adding the length of the funding freeze nearly caused 'a rupture in our federal partnership that could have had devastating implications for the entire (Colorado River) Basin.'
The Colorado River water negotiations are complex and take finesse and a willingness to listen carefully, said Hayes, the former Interior official. Continuing to compensate stakeholders for their water cuts will be an important part of continued negotiations, he added.
'It's not a fish vs. people issue,' he said, referring to Trump's early executive orders on water. 'That grandstanding about, 'I'm going to solve this water problem' just like this is a recipe for disaster on the Colorado River.'
A 2026 deadline is looming for the seven states – Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, California, Arizona and Nevada – to renegotiate how much each can draw from the river.
The federal government has played an important role guiding state negotiations and setting deadlines. The new staff cuts could pose logistical challenges to those negotiations, as Reclamation is responsible for monthly reports on water levels at the government's biggest reservoirs.
Those reports in 2021 and 2022 showed water levels at Mead and Powell dropping precipitously amid a megadrought and helped lead to a hasty deal among the states to cut back on water usage.
Reclamation is 'not only the manager of the Colorado system, but they're functionally the technical experts for the seven states and water users as we try to figure out what the new management guidelines should look like,' said Porter, the Arizona water expert.
But western water users see new Interior Sec. Burgum as someone who 'brings an understanding of western natural resources and roll up his sleeves,' Porter noted.
Given the looming cuts at Reclamation and chaos with grant funding, states and water users have been seeking a meeting with Burgum, two people familiar with the effort said.
'It would be good to have clarity on what their plan is,' one source said.
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The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
‘South Park' mocks Trump all the way to the bank
President Trump's newest high-profile foil is 'South Park,' the long-running animated show that has been packing episode after episode with raunchy and sometimes violent jokes about the president and members of his Cabinet. The mockery has been no-holds-barred and has included depictions of Trump in bed with Satan, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shooting cute cartoon dogs, and Dora the Explorer giving a massage at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's resort Florida. It has not gone unnoticed. The Trump administration, seemingly in no joking mood, has issued angry statements attacking the show's creators and dismissing 'South Park' as irrelevant and out of touch. Entertainment business and political observers, however, say the fight may be breathing new life into the politically incorrect satire program and providing the comedians behind it with more fodder for their weekly shows than ever. 'This in some ways feels like two rival TV shows fighting with one another,' said Matt Sienkiewicz, chair of the Boston College Communication Department and an expert on pop culture and comedy. ''South Park' is trying to do their old school style of critique of the government, and this government has gotten so cartoonish, the back-and-forth is what makes this so significant.' The attacks on Trump also appear to have been good for ratings. The show's Season 27 premiere in late July earned Comedy Central its highest-rated episode since the late 1990s while social media platforms have been filled with clips from Season 27 in recent weeks. The White House this week declined to comment on the show's sustained attacks, but a West Wing official sought to dismiss the show's relevance after its season premiere late last month mocked Trump. 'The Left's hypocrisy truly has no end — for years they have come after 'South Park' for what they labeled as 'offense' content, but suddenly they are praising the show,' a White House spokesperson told Variety at the time. 'Just like the creators of 'South Park,' the Left has no authentic or original content, which is why their popularity continues to hit record lows.' Last week, Noem tore into the show after it portrayed her face melting off due to heavy makeup. 'It's so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look. Only the liberals and the extremists do that,' Noem said. The show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, responded this week by publishing an alternate ending to last week's episode on social media, showing Noem walking into a pet store and killing dogs inside with a gun. Noem received criticism last year after she revealed in a book she put a family pet down after a hunting trip. Jim Mendrinos, a comedy writer and a producer at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York, suggested the Trump administration, by responding so forcefully, is handing Parker and Stone a gift. 'This administration has no sense of humor,' Mendrinos said. 'And any good comic knows if you're under somebody's skin, you're gonna burrow in. That's the essence of roast comedy and that's what they're doing here.' To be certain, 'South Park,' has a long history of mocking prominent politicians and figures on the left, from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to former President Obama. The program has sparked controversy and backlash from progressives on multiple occasions during its more than two-decade history on the air for its satirical representations of religious figures, extensive use of racist language and ribbing of climate change activists. But the recent tension with the president and leading MAGA figures comes at a unique moment both in national politics and the business of entertainment. Earlier this year, Parker and Stone signed a five-year streaming deal with Hollywood giant Paramount, which owns Comedy Central, worth more than $1 billion. Paramount is facing increased scrutiny over its relationship with the president's administration after promising to change CBS's editorial direction and canceling 'Late Night,' the show hosted by Stephen Colbert, a frequent Trump critic. With its season premiere last month, 'South Park' called out Paramount over a $16 million payment the company made to the president's foundation to settle a lawsuit against CBS News, a deal that was seen by many as a capitulation to the administration made in order to secure its recent merger with Skydance. 'Matt and Trey are incredibly talented,' Paramount's newly appointed CEO David Ellison told CNN after the episode mocking his company aired. 'They are equal opportunity offenders and always have been.' Ellison's tolerance for Stone and Parker's attacks on Trump and even his own company could have something to do with the show's newfound popularity. Longtime observers of 'South Park' noted the program has always carried a modest but dedicated following, fading from the public discourse during President Biden's administration. Some attribute this to a decline in linear cable viewership, the creation of more animated comedy shows on other networks and what some regard as a slower churn of political news over the last four years. But with Trump's return to the White House, 'South Park' has seen a ratings boom. 'This whole thing has brought the spotlight back to 'South Park' in a way it hasn't enjoyed in a really long time,' Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, a researcher and editor who authored a book on the show's impact on American pop culture. 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USA Today
19 minutes ago
- USA Today
Notice a theme to Trump's planned takeovers of cities? These Black mayors do.
President Trump has warned he might send the National Guard to other cities. The Black mayors of those cities vow to push back. OAKLAND, California ‒ Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and other officials in this California city are treating President Donald Trump's warning that he might send the National Guard there as more than just an offhand comment. They're bracing for a fight. Lee and other Black mayors, along with civil rights activists and lawmakers across the country are increasingly concerned about Trump singling out cities like Oakland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, DC. All of them are led by Black mayors and all of those leaders are Democrats. 'We just can't help but feel in some kind of way that we're being specifically profiled," said Van R. Johnson, president of the African American Mayors Association and mayor of Savannah, Georgia. 'That's not right. That's not fair. We want our federal government to work with us. We're just a phone call away.' New York Rep. Yvette Clarke, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Trump's takeover of DC's policing a 'blatantly racist and despicable power grab.' 'It won't stop in Washington, DC," she said in a statement. 'The stakes are high not just for Washington, DC, but for the future of democracy in every corner of this country.' Trump used his presidential powers in early August to take over policing in Washington, DC, complaining crime is rampant and officials haven't done enough to address it ‒ despite statistics showing crime in the district is at a 30-year-low. Trump also threatened to deploy the National Guard to help fight crime in other communities. "We're going to take back our capital," Trump said Aug. 11. "And then we'll look at other cities also." He called it a "historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse." Different visions for tackling urban problems White House officials argue the nation's capital is filthy and that Trump has seen that firsthand. In March, Trump signed an executive order titled "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful," which sets up a task force of federal officials to clean up the city. 'If Democrats had any common sense, they would follow President Trump's lead to crack down on violent crime that has plagued our nation's capital – and Democrat-run cities across the country," Taylor Rogers, White House assistant press secretary, said in an email to USA TODAY. "Instead of criticizing President Trump's popular, tough-on crime policies, they should focus on cleaning up their own cities which are some of the most dangerous places in America." Many big cities are run by Democrats, but both violent and property crimes have fallen nationwide in recent years, federal data shows. Civil rights leaders criticized Trump for portraying cities, especially those led by Black mayors, as crime ridden. "Painting a false picture of the city's largest Black-majority cities, led by Black mayors, is part of the Trump administration's ongoing strategy to exploit racial distrust for political gain,'' Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and George Lambert, president of the Greater Washington Urban League President, said in a statement. If Trump really wanted to help cities, several mayors argued, he wouldn't be cutting funding for anti-poverty programs and community policing efforts. 'We need to have this federal government invest in cities like Oakland instead of disinvesting in us,' said Lee, who spent 27 years in Congress, including during Trump's first term. 'It doesn't make any sense what this government is doing if they want to see cities not just survive but thrive.' More: 'DC has a right to govern itself': Civil rights leaders denounce Trump's takeover move 'Reasonable people can look at the optics' Trump has yet to publicly bring up race in his criticisms of those cities, but experts point to his history of racially disparaging remarks, including during his first term when he questioned why the United States would let in people from countries like Haiti and parts of Africa, which he referred to using an expletive. Trump also called Baltimore, a predominately Black city, a 'disgusting, rat and rodent-infested mess.' While the president didn't specifically mention race then or in his recent references, it's clearly implied, said Jason Williams, a professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Williams said urban centers historically have been code for talking about Black people or communities of color. 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Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers threatened to withhold funds if Bowser didn't remove a Black Lives Matter mural from a street near the White House. 'DC has always been this sort of political football for the Republicans,' Williams said. While some Black mayors are concerned about their cities becoming a Trump target, they're continuing their work to combat crime, Johnson, the Savannah mayor, said. 'We're worried about fighting our federal government as well as fighting crime," he said. 'It's a continuous 'what if, what next,' which we think are distractions from what the American people are really talking about.' Johnson said the ideologies and approaches of some Black mayors may be different than Trump's, but that doesn't mean they can't be partners on issues, including crime. 'We understand elections. We're politicians ourselves," he said. 'We're charged with playing with whoever is on the field. When Donald Trump became president, he became president of our cities too.' Contributing: Phillip Bailey
Los Angeles Times
19 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Ukraine's Zelensky to meet Trump in D.C. on Monday after inconclusive summit
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Monday in Washington with President Trump, who has shifted to saying that an overall peace agreement — and not a ceasefire — is the next step in ending the 3½-year-old war. Trump's abrupt reversal, aligning himself with a position held by Russian President Vladimir Putin, came in a social media post Saturday, hours after they concluded a summit in Alaska that produced no agreement to halt the fighting. Putin has long said that Moscow is not interested in a temporary truce and instead is seeking a long-term settlement that takes the Kremlin's interests into account. After calls with Zelensky and European leaders, Trump posted that 'it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.' In a statement after the Trump call, the European leaders did not address whether a peace deal was preferable to a ceasefire, saying that they 'welcomed President Trump's efforts to stop the killing in Ukraine, end Russia's war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace.' Trump and Ukraine's European allies had been calling for a ceasefire ahead of any negotiations. Trump's statement that a peace agreement should be reached before a ceasefire appears to indicate the U.S. president's thinking is 'shifting towards Putin,' an approach that would allow Moscow to keep fighting while negotiating, said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. Zelensky, who was not invited to Alaska for the summit, said he had a 'long and substantive' conversation with Trump early Saturday. He said they would 'discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war' on Monday. It will be Zelensky's first visit to the U.S. since Trump berated him publicly as being 'disrespectful' during an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28. Trump, who also held calls with European leaders Saturday, confirmed Monday's White House meeting and said that 'if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.' Trump rolled out the red carpet Friday for Putin, who was in the U.S. for the first time in a decade and since the start of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But he gave little concrete detail afterward of what was discussed. On Saturday, he posted on social media that it 'went very well.' Trump had warned ahead of the summit of 'very severe consequences' for Russia if Putin didn't agree to end the war. Zelensky reiterated the importance of involving European leaders, who also were not invited to the summit. 'It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,' he said. 'We also discussed positive signals from the American side regarding participation in guaranteeing Ukraine's security.' He didn't elaborate, but Zelensky previously has said that European partners put on hold a proposal to establish a foreign troop presence in Ukraine to deter Russian aggression because it lacked an American backstop. Zelensky said he spoke to Trump one-on-one and then in a call with other European leaders. In total, the conversations lasted more than 90 minutes. Trump said in Alaska that 'there's no deal until there's a deal,' after Putin claimed the two leaders had hammered out an 'understanding' on Ukraine and warned Europe not to 'torpedo the nascent progress.' During an interview with Fox News Channel before returning to Washington, Trump insisted the onus going forward might be on Zelensky 'to get it done,' but said there would also be some involvement from European nations. In their statement after speaking to Trump, major European leaders said they were ready to work with Trump and Zelenskyy toward 'a trilateral summit with European support.' The statement from French, German, Italian, British, Finnish, Polish and European Union leaders said that 'Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees' and welcomed U.S. readiness to provide them. 'It will be up to Ukraine to make decisions on its territory,' they said. 'International borders must not be changed by force.' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that 'the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,' noting that Moscow launched new attacks on Ukraine even as the delegations met. 'Putin continues to drag out negotiations and hopes he gets away with it. He left Anchorage without making any commitments to end the killing,' she said. Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting along a 600-mile front line. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their gains, capturing the most territory since the opening stages of the war. 'Vladimir Putin came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war,' said Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute. 'He will consider the summit outcome as mission accomplished.' Zelensky voiced support for Trump's proposal for a trilateral meeting with the U.S. and Russia. He said that 'key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this.' But Putin's foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said on Russian state television Saturday that the idea of a three-way meeting 'has not been touched upon yet' in U.S.-Russia discussions. Zelensky wrote on X that he told Trump that 'sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war.' In apparent effort to bolster Zelensky's hand before he meets Trump, France, the U.K. and Germany will co-host a video call Sunday afternoon of so-called 'coalition of the willing' nations that could, in one way or another, help monitor and uphold any deal to end fighting, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said. Russian officials and media struck a largely positive tone after Friday's summit, with some describing it as a symbolic end to Putin's isolation in the West. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, praised the summit as a breakthrough in restoring high-level dialogue between Moscow and Washington, describing the talks as 'calm, without ultimatums and threats.' Putin has 'broken out of international isolation' and back on the world stage as one of two global leaders, and 'wasn't in the least challenged' by Trump, who also ignored an arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court, said Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. 'Unless Mr. Putin is absolutely convinced that he cannot win militarily, the fighting is not going to stop,' Bristow told the Associated Press. 'That's the big takeaway from the Anchorage summit.' Kullab and Morton write for the Associated Press and reported from Kyiv and London, respectively. AP writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Emma Burrows in London contributed to this report.
