 So it's been years since we learned about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan And it is now abundantly clear that this wasn't just some random unfortunate event that happened to inexplicably occur This was the result of neoliberalism corruption and also incompetence and Because of the great reporting of individuals like Jordan Taradyn and Jen dies of status coup or on the ground in Flint, Michigan And have remained there to break the details of the story or break the story and share the details We're learning that another element of the story is criminal negligence and The extent that this individual Rick Snyder went to cover up His wrongdoing and incompetence and how he is responsible For the lead poisoning and Legionnaires disease and deaths of the individuals in Flint, Michigan Not only because he chose to privatize public resources to save a buck or two but on top of that He knew About how bad the situation was but shows to not speak about it And that is the evidence that Jordan Taradyn has continued to present us with but there's some more details about this story that truly show the extent To which he tried everything to cover up His criminal negligence and wrongdoing and this is one of the biggest scandals in the country the fact that Every single mainstream media outlet isn't talking about this even though there's there's so much things that are important That's going on right now, but this is one of the most important stories Not just because we care about the people of Flint, Michigan But because it happened in Flint and this can happen in Any other city at any time in the United States of America So these details are important and accountability in this instance is really important to make sure that public officials don't do what this killer did So without further ado, I'm gonna read you the story. It's really long I'm gonna encourage you to actually read the story yourself But I'm gonna kind of give you the bulk of it like the main findings the main takeaway from this story here So this is from the intercept Jordan Charitain agendize wrote an article and it was published by the intercept So here's what they find in October 2015 Then Michigan governor Rick Snyder finally announced that Flint's water was contaminated with dangerous lead levels That public admission had come after more than a year of pleading from the city's residents to examine the situation The city Snyder promised would immediately stop using water from the Flint River Which residents had been drinking for 18 months? The public announcement raised as many questions as it answered and kick-started a years-long investigation Into how the decision that delivered the toxic water to Flint had been made in the first place How many people were sickened and killed as a result and when senior government officials first learned of the deadly consequences Along the way, however Investigators who were part of a three-year Flint water investigation beginning in 2016 kept drilling dry holes Dr. Eden Wells became Michigan's chief medical executive in May of 2015 By then the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services had been aware for at least seven months of a significant increase in the deadly Waterborne Legionnaires disease throughout Flint, but when investigators obtained access to Wells phone that discovered something unusual For Dr. Wells phone the earliest message is from November 12th of 2015 Then Flint special prosecutor Todd Flood wrote in the subpoena petition obtained by the intercept During the key period that investigators were probing No messages were found in 2018 a judge ruled that Wells would have to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter along with obstruction of justice Over her role in the water crisis those charges were dropped by current attorney general Dana Nessil in 2019 in January of 2021 Nessil's Flint water prosecutors recharged Wells with involuntary manslaughter Misconduct in office and neglect of duty. So let's just pause right there To put everything in a perspective. This is very strange because if there is an outbreak of Legionnaires disease in your city and Citizens are complaining about lead in the water. I mean you're gonna be scrambling There's going to be tens of thousands of messages back and forth between public officials as they try to figure out What's going on as they communicate with one another But the fact that there were no messages on her phone in the midst of a major health crisis Something is a little bit off there, right? But this isn't the only individual Who had a phone that was seemingly wiped? So another Michigan individual named Tim Becker This was the chief deputy director of the MD HHS He also had no messages on his phone up until two months before he left office Hmm, that's that's pretty convenient on top of that Patricia McCain who was an epidemiologist with MD HHS She had very few messages on her phone and she testified that Wells Had made her lie So the plot continues to thicken on top of that there was phone data from an ally of Rick Snyder Who it was wiped before the criminal investigation began also the former press secretary for Rick Snyder Sarah Werferl. She admits that Their phones were actually deliberately wiped they did this on purpose now ask yourself this question Why in the middle of a public health crisis in your city Would the phones of public officials their interactions the back and forth be Wiped wouldn't this all be information? That's that's really crucial in figuring out What's actually happening who's responsible? Well, of course That's probably why they did it So the story continues the lack of phone messages from top MD HHS officials was a major red flag to investigators And an obvious impediment to those investigating who knew what and when despite department epidemiologists Hypothesizing in October of 2014 that the source of Flint's deadly Legionnaires disease outbreak was the switch to the Flint River six months earlier Flint residents weren't informed of the deadly outbreak until 16 months later when Snyder announced it in January of 2016 quote that is not standard a former Michigan Department of Technology Management and budget or DTM be official who worked for the state during this period and was involved with the state data Preservation told the intercept about Werferl's phone being wiped upon leaving her role as Snyder's press secretary There are retention schedules that every agency including the governor's office is supposed to adhere to said the ex official Adding that for the governor's office data is supposed to be retained for at least a year after an official leaves But with potential litigation looming it should have been held indefinitely The official concluded the source spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retaliation Lonnie Scott executive director of the progressive organization progress Michigan told the intercept It's not entirely surprising to hear that top officials phones lacked data or were wiped completely Scott had seen something similar happen in 2014 when his organization had submitted Freedom of Information Act or FOIA requests for a state health director Jim Haven's communications with Snyder's chief of staff after Haven resigned from his job in October of 2014 Progress Michigan discovered that his emails were deleted upon his resignation from his role quote We've said all along that we believe that there was a cover-up and that the governor knew more information than he was putting out publicly Scott said soon after Snyder's October 2015 announcement about Flint's toxic water the heat Intensified around the governor as calls for a federal investigation into the water crisis Mounted along with heightened media attention as the water crisis intensified and a criminal investigation was launched Criminal prosecutors and investigators would discover that messages were lacking from before October 2015 on phones Belonging to top MD HHS officials the question of what Snyder knew and when and what role he and his administration played in Stiming investigations into the cause and cover-up of the outbreak is of increasing importance as the former governor now faces trial in Connection with his handling of Flint's water crisis. Wow. I don't even know where to begin I mean how shameless Rick Snyder was and you know top public health officials in Michigan were It's it's honestly like this is one of the largest scandals in modern American history And it just doesn't get the coverage that it deserves This is honestly it's shocking how shameless they were the lengths that they went to cover up their criminal negligence I don't even know what to say this man Rick Snyder is a criminal who should be behind bars for the rest of his life because every single individual in Flint, Michigan who was poisoned by lead who Dealt with Legionnaires disease who died The blood is on his hands and Every single person every single criminal who was involved in his circle of cronies Who led to this cover-up and withheld key information vital information from the public they all They've got to be behind bars. They have to be behind bars That's the only way that there's gonna be justice for the residents of Flint, Michigan But even if there is justice for them, that's still not sufficient because those lives that were lost because of this individual's choice to privatize the water supply of Flint, Michigan and On top of that go out of his way to cover up the fact that there was Lead in the water and an outbreak of Legionnaires. It's just that's not that's not gonna be undone But the best that we can hope for is accountability So going forward public officials learn from this experience and they're afraid to do what he didn't be as shameless as he was So that's basically all I can say again, please read the entire article We're not even really scratching the surface everything that Jordan and Sheridan and Jen dies have uncovered They should get a Pulitzer Prize for like this is Crucial this is real journalism and it makes me sad that not a lot of people are actually paying attention to this So please go over to status coup subscribe to them follow their coverage of The Flint water crisis and other great stories that they do this is honestly like this is really depressing to hear But at the same time it's really nice to see the details finally emerge because you have at least a couple of journalists Still caring about this issue. Whereas everyone else has moved on and I get it right There's a lot of issues, but this is one of those issues that is so important because this isn't just about Flint I'm gonna say it again. This can happen Anywhere in the United States in any city, you know, so it's not just that we care about the people of Flint and want Justice for them, but we want to make sure that this never happens again And we do everything in our power to hold these crooks accountable who poisoned a city of a hundred thousand people Mostly people of color these lives matter and we have to make sure that the people who wronged them and killed them Get locked up