Representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency repeatedly pressured the head of a United States water management agency to open a major California pump system in late January, intending to release a huge amount of water south toward Los Angeles — even though the water would have never made it to the fire-scarred metropolis.
When the acting head of the Bureau of Reclamation did not relent, the DOGE agents 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.”
The account comes from six people with knowledge of the events that took place as President Donald Trump falsely claimed the LA fires were a result of the state’s water policies, and demanded more water be sent south. The people who spoke with CNN were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the events. They also feared retaliation from the Trump administration.
The new details serve as a peek into the inner workings of the chaotic second Trump administration in its first weeks as it sparred with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the response to the Los Angeles fires.
A power outage — and the fact that at least one of the DOGE representatives was not yet an employee of the federal government and therefore was not allowed near the pump controls — ultimately threw a wrench in the plan to engage the pumps in late January.
But a few days later, in a show of authority that superseded California’s own water policy, Trump ordered the US Army Corps to open two dams in central California, which ultimately flooded farmland in the San Joaquin Valley with 2.2 billion gallons of fresh water. State water experts previously told CNN it was a regrettable waste as farmers look anxiously toward the state’s dry season.
The Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation declined to comment for this story. A spokesperson for DOGE and the two DOGE representatives involved did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
The White House did not directly answer a detailed list of questions from CNN, but spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement Trump “turned on the water to prevent another tragedy like the recent California wildfires” and noted he also signed an executive order “to enhance forest management.”
“He will continue to protect America’s abundant natural resources while streamlining federal agencies to better serve the American people,” Kelly said.
Representatives from Elon Musk’s then-nascent efficiency department repeatedly called senior officials at the Bureau of Reclamation — the federal agency that manages some of the country’s major rivers, reservoirs and dams in the American West — days before Trump ordered the Army Corps to open the dams.
DOGE agents, including Tyler Hassen, a former oil company CEO, told senior Reclamation officials they had an order from the president to turn on water pumps at the Jones Pumping Plant, three people with knowledge of the requests told CNN. The plant transfers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into a canal system, delivering water to farmers and other water users in the Central Valley.
But DOGE’s representatives were repeatedly rebuffed by officials; the Jones pumps were temporarily offline and couldn’t pump water at the facility because of a planned PG&E power outage for line maintenance.
After the fruitless back-and-forth, Reclamation officials were informed representatives of DOGE wanted to “turn on the pumps” themselves, a person familiar with the matter said.
Hassen and Bryton Shang, another DOGE representative, flew to California in the last week of January. They were given a tour of the Jones Pumping Plant and were briefed on Reclamation’s operations. The White House and DOGE did not respond to CNN’s question on which agency paid for the flights.
But the men’s request to have a photo taken of them turning on the Jones pumps didn’t happen; Shang wasn’t an official government employee, he wasn’t allowed inside the pump facility’s control room, which is under strict cybersecurity protocols. Hassen had to travel back before the electricity was scheduled to be restored.
Instead, Hassen and Shang posed in front of a 3-dimensional map of the Central Valley in a public space inside the plant and posted their photos to DOGE’s X account, congratulating Reclamation for getting its pumps back up and running — part of the facility’s standard operating procedure.
“They didn’t get their photo op,” a person with knowledge of the matter told CNN. The entire episode felt like “what DOGE has been this entire time — this slapstick operation of 20-somethings they’re seeing as whiz kids but have zero knowledge.”
Days after the DOGE trip to the California pumping station, the US Army Corps received its order from the White House to release water from the Terminus Dam at Lake Kaweah and Schafer Dam at Lake Success.
The order was met with shock inside the US Army Corps branch that operates dams in California’s San Joaquin Valley, two people with knowledge of the matter said. “It’s not the way they do things, but they also follow orders,” one of those people said.
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. It was enough water to irrigate 6,000 acres of thirsty almond trees for a year.
The White House initially directed the Army Corps to release more than 5.6 billion gallons of water, according to a person with knowledge of the order, which could have flooded downstream communities and endangered lives and properties.
Trump’s order was intended to address what he falsely said were water shortages in Southern California, which he said were preventing the Los Angeles fires from being put out. But the federal dams and water canals chosen by White House officials don’t flow to Los Angeles.
In a statement, a US Army Corps spokesperson said the corps released water “consistent” with Trump’s earlier executive order on California water supplies being redirected to fight the LA wildfires.
“The Corps coordinated with local, state and federal stakeholders and reduced the planned rate of water outflow in response to their concerns,” the spokesperson said.
In a statement made after the January dam releases, local water officials said they would use the water for “limited irrigation demand and groundwater recharge.”
Water experts told CNN after the incident the water release was wasteful and put farmers at risk of running out of water this summer and fall. The water flowed into the dry Tulare lakebed and soaked into the ground.
Trump celebrated the water release on January 31 by posting a photo of what looked like a river near a dam. He said 1.6 billion gallons was initially being released but more would come.
“Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California,” Trump said. “Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory!”
CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed to this report.
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