Trump 'cut off water to Colorado' after MAGA congresswoman refused pressure to bury Epstein files

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 16:49, 11 May 2026 | Updated: 16:50, 11 May 2026 Donald Trump vetoed a water bill for Colorado as payback after MAGA firebrand Lauren Boebert refused White House pressure to drop her push for the release of the Epstein files, according to a bombshell claim from one of her GOP allies.  Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a longtime Trump nemesis, said Boebert was hauled into the Situation Room and pressured to yank her name from a discharge petition forcing a House vote on the Epstein files.  The MAGA congresswoman didn't budge at the November sit-down.   As payback, 'the President vetoed a bill that would've brought water to a large portion of Colorado,' Massie told Tucker Carlson's podcast last week.  Trump in December vetoed the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act which would have provided a water pipeline to communities in southeastern Colorado.' Boebert's current district makes up roughly a third of the state, located east of Denver. Massie went on to question why Boebert's constituents were being punished over her stance on the files.  'Why are people in Colorado deprived of water? Because their representative wants to expose a sex trafficking ring,' Massie told Carlson. Carlson replied that 'none of this makes any sense at all.'  President Donald Trump speaks at an event about maternal healthcare, Monday, May 11, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, mills about prior to President Donald Trump delivering the State of the Union address during a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on February 24, 2026 in Washington, DC Trump was plunged into crisis in November over the release of a fresh tranche of Jeffrey Epstein documents, calling an emergency summit at the White House. The emails, released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, revealed that Epstein frequently mentioned Trump in correspondence over a 15-year period. The Situation Room huddle came as a bipartisan House effort gathered steam to force a floor vote on releasing the DOJ's Epstein case files.  Inside the room were Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Boebert, sources said at the time.  Boebert was one of the leading MAGA lawmakers in Congress, pushing the Justice Department to publish its trove of Epstein files. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to confirm the meeting at a White House briefing last year.  A reporter pressed Leavitt on whether the White House had leaned on Boebert at the meeting to keep her name off the petition calling for the full release of the Epstein files.  'Doesn't it show transparency that members of the Trump administration are willing to brief members of Congress whenever they please?' Leavitt fired back at the reporter. Massie has become one of Trump's top primary targets and is facing Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein next week.  Trump trekked to Massie's Northern Kentucky district in March to stump for Gallrein, prompting the incumbent to scoff that it was a ploy to 'breathe life into my opponent's Biden-like basement campaign.'  The libertarian's loyalty to principle over party has repeatedly landed him in Trump's crosshairs, with the clashes ramping up since the commander in chief returned to the White House.  Republican Congressman Thomas Massie interviewed by Tucker Carlson on his podcast, the Tucker Carlson Show Tucker Carlson on his podcast, the Tucker Carlson Show interviewing Republican Congressman Thomas Massie His cardinal sin, in Trump's eyes, was spearheading the push to force the release of millions of DOJ files on deceased pedophile financier Epstein, despite the President's objections.  Massie predominantly worked with Democrats to compel Congress to release the files, although all but one Republican in the House voted for the final bill ordering the release, and Trump ultimately signed it. He has also moved to rein in Trump's military adventures, co-sponsoring War Powers resolutions on both Iran and Venezuela alongside California Democrat Ro Khanna, who was also his ally on the Epstein files push. He has also broken with his party to vote alongside progressive Democrats against aid to Israel, and was one of just two Republican 'no' votes on Trump's signature 'Big, Beautiful Bill' spending package last summer. Massie and Gallrein face off in the May 19 primary, a test of whether the congressman becomes the next scalp on Trump's retribution tour.  Five Republican Indiana state senators were toppled in primaries last Tuesday night after refusing to back a Trump-pushed redistricting plan to redraw the state's congressional map.  The wipeout of GOP lawmakers who sided with Democrats to torpedo Trump's preferred map is a chilling warning shot to any MAGA defector in one of the reddest states in America. No comments have so far been submitted. 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