President Donald Trump’s Forest Service chief, Tom Schultz, was exposed Saturday for having potentially lied during a congressional hearing earlier this week, a potential lie that may very well prove fatal.
On Wednesday, Rep. Angie Craig (DFL-MN) pressed Schultz on whether the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts from early on in the second Trump administration had impeded firefighting efforts in Minnesota. Schultz insisted they hadn’t.
However, as wildfires currently ravage northern Minnesota, inside sources and a Forest Service (USFS) document suggest the DOGE cuts had, in fact, severely impacted firefighting efforts in Minnesota, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
“At the beginning of 2025, the U.S. DOGE Service paused or canceled federal grants and spending to review whether they were connected to diversity or climate initiatives,” the Post’s report reads.
“That affected nearly all of the Forest Service’s grant projects and funds, according to two USFS officials familiar with the situation, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of professional retaliation.”
Aaron Kania, a former U.S. Forest Service district ranger who retired last December, explicitly said that had funding not been disrupted, the ongoing wildfires in Minnesota could have likely been better contained, if not entirely prevented.
“We were shovel-ready,” Kania said, speaking with the Post. “Had that work been implemented, it would have been effective in stopping or slowing down these fires. It’s the totality of all these things that set us back about a year and a half.”
In a statement to the Post, Craig lashed out at the Trump administration for its impact on Minnesota’s ability to combat wildfires, putting the blame squarely at its feet.
“Yet again, the Trump administration’s short-sighted cuts to federal programs have put Minnesotans in danger,” Craig said. “Firefighters have died and Minnesota kids have been put in harm’s way – all because this administration decided to roll back critical wildfire prevention efforts. This is not a game. These are real lives.”