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DENVER — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis accused President Trump of playing “political games” Sunday after the federal government denied disaster declaration requests after wildfires and flooding in the state earlier this year.

Polis’ office said he received two denial letters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency late Saturday. The letters are in response to requests for major disaster declarations following wildfires and mudslides in August and what Polis had described as “historic flooding” across southwestern 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” in Trump’s decisions on disaster aid.

The Trump administration has also yet to act on California’s request for $33.9 million in long-term disaster assistance nearly a year after the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom said FEMA officials refused his request for a meeting when he visited Washington a few weeks ago.

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.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing four more states as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data and other election information across the country.

The department filed federal lawsuits against Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada on Thursday, accusing them of “failing to produce statewide voter registration lists upon request.” So far, 18 states have been sued, including California, along with Fulton County in Georgia, which was sued over records related to the 2020 election, which President Trump continues to falsely claim he won.

The Trump administration has characterized the lawsuits as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide the voter lists and information about ineligible voters.

The lawsuits have raised concerns among some Democratic officials and voting rights advocates who question exactly how the data will be used, and whether the department will follow privacy laws to protect the information. Some of the data sought include names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

“States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a press release. “At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws. If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will.”

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said her office declined to provide unredacted voter data.

“We will not hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voting information to Donald Trump. He does not have a legal right to the information,” Griswold said Thursday after the lawsuit was filed. “I will continue to protect our elections and democracy, and look forward to winning this case.”

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, also a Democrat, said the Justice Department hasn’t provided clear answers about how the data will be used, and he has a duty to follow state law and protect voters’ sensitive information and access to the ballot.

“While these requests may seem like normal oversight, the federal government is using its power to try to intimidate states and influence how states administer elections ahead of the 2026 cycle,” Aguilar said in a news release. “The Constitution makes it clear: elections are run by the states.”

In a Sept. 22 letter to the Justice Department, Hawaii Deputy Solicitor Gen. Thomas Hughes said state law requires that all personal information required on a voter registration district other than a voter’s full name, voting district or precinct and voter status must be kept confidential. Hughes also said the federal law cited by the Justice Department doesn’t require states to turn over electronic registration lists, nor does it require states to turn over “uniquely or highly sensitive personal information” about voters.

An Associated Press tally found that the Justice Department has asked at least 26 states for voter registration rolls in recent months, and in many cases asked states for information on how they maintain their voter rolls. In addition to California, other states being sued by the Justice Department include Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Nearly all the states are Democrat-led, and several are crucial swing states.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5 to 1 on Thursday against turning over unredacted voter information to the Trump administration. The lone dissenter was Republican commissioner Robert Spindell, who warned that rejecting the request would invite a lawsuit. But other commissioners said it would be illegal under Wisconsin law to provide the voter roll information, which includes the full names, dates of birth, residential addresses and driver’s license numbers of voters.

Boone writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.

Around 1:30 a.m. on a Saturday last month, two masked men approached a black Cadillac Escalade idling outside a Northridge apartment building.

One held a shotgun, the other a handgun. A surveillance system captured the sounds of what happened next: A gang challenge, confusion, a demand for property.

Then six shots and sounds of the Escalade speeding off.

In the passenger seat was Maria De La Rosa, 22, with a gunshot wound to the chest. A musician who performed as DELAROSA, she had a growing following at the time of her death on Nov. 22.

Authorities said De La Rosa was killed during a robbery but revealed little else about the case. The Times recently reviewed a search warrant affidavit written by the Los Angeles Police Department detective who investigated the homicide. According to the document, De La Rosa was set up by her friends — two of three people now charged with her murder.

Arrested the day after the homicide, Francisco “G Boy” Gaytan told police he’d known De La Rosa since they were teenagers, Det. Siranush Simonyan wrote in the affidavit.

Gaytan said his friend, Benny “Player” Gomez, made plans to meet De La Rosa on Bryant Street for a “drug buy,” but the plan was to rob the musician, the affidavit said.

Gaytan, Gomez and the two alleged gunmen are from Bryant Street, a gang in Northridge, according to the affidavit.

Gaytan claimed he took no part in the robbery, but after he consented to a search of his phone, Simonyan said she found text messages sent to one of the alleged gunmen, Eduardo “Active” Lopez.

“Go get ski mask,” Gaytan allegedly told Lopez five hours before De La Rosa was killed.

Gaytan’s lawyer didn’t return a request for comment.

Gomez was interviewed the day after Gaytan spoke to police, Simonyan wrote. He too said he was “childhood friends” with De La Rosa.

Gomez told detectives he met up with De La Rosa after going to a club. He was talking with her outside Gaytan’s apartment building when two masked men walked up and opened fire. He ducked and ran, he said, and only learned that De La Rosa had been killed when her mother called him.

Gomez insisted he had nothing to do with the shooting. His lawyer didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Gomez’s account was belied by surveillance video, Simonyan wrote. Cameras fixed to a nearby apartment building showed Gomez speaking with Lopez and the second suspected gunman minutes before De La Rosa arrived.

According to the affidavit, Gomez shook their hands and made a Bryant Street hand sign before gesturing for them to walk down an alley, Simonyan wrote.

De La Rosa called Gomez as he walked to greet her, the detective wrote. Meanwhile, the two alleged gunmen approached the Escalade from the alley, pulling a shotgun and handgun from their pants.

“This is Bryant gang, n—,” one said, according to the affidavit.

After De La Rosa was shot and the Escalade sped away, a voice — Gomez’s, detectives suspect — can be heard in surveillance video asking, “Why’d you shoot them, fool?”

After stashing their guns in a Chevrolet Astro van, Lopez and his accomplice got into Gaytan’s BMW 328i, Simonyan wrote. As he stepped into the sedan, the detective wrote, Lopez dropped a key piece of evidence — a court document with his name and case number.

Gaytan appeared to argue with the alleged shooters inside the car, the detective wrote. When he opened his door, surveillance cameras captured him saying, “Get out of here.”

“You fools are dumb,” Gaytan said. According to the affidavit, he could he heard saying what sounded like, “What you fools did — I told you what to make it look like.”

The alleged shooters got out of Gaytan’s car and sped off in a Honda Civic, presumably to Mexico, Simonyan wrote. About 13 hours after De La Rosa died, Gomez allegedly wrote in a text to Gaytan: “We good they left to tj.”

Gaytan and Gomez have yet to enter pleas to charges of murder and attempted robbery. Prosecutors also announced charges against Lopez, but it’s unclear if he’s in custody. Authorities have not said if the second alleged gunman is charged with De La Rosa’s murder, and his whereabouts are unclear.