GETS WORSE

Snyder: My Staff Lied to Me About Flint

Prior to finding out truth from agency.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder claims his staff lied to him about the dire lead-poisoning situation in Flint, including on the night before he learned through other departments that the water was unsafe. According to the governor, on the night of Sept. 27, he received a briefing "telling me that there really isn't a problem in Flint. That these outside experts aren't correct." On Sept. 28, officials on a conference call from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health and Human Services informed him that the facts proved otherwise. The contradictory information made him "upset," Snyder said. Flint's water is still not safe for human consumption, with lead levels so high that it could potentially cause permanent brain damage in children.