More than two-dozen witnesses were interviewed by the prosecution team, this person said.
One of the more important pieces of evidence, this person said, was how city and state officials submitted documentation related to the federal lead and copper rule, which governs acceptable levels of those toxins in drinking water. The person familiar with the matter said that some officials who worked on and submitted these reports included information they knew to be incorrect.
Flint's water became contaminated with lead in April 2014 when the city, while under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its drinking water source from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit water system to Flint River water treated at the Flint Water Treatment Plant. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have acknowledged a disastrous mistake when they failed to require the city to add corrosion-control chemicals as part of the treatment process.
The corrosive water caused lead to leach from pipes, joints and fixtures. Although Flint reconnected to Detroit water in October, after state officials acknowledged the lead-poisoning problem after months of denials, the risk remains because of damage to the water infrastructure system.
Officials also are exploring possible links between the river water and the Legionnaires outbreak.
The state and city are now treating the pipes with higher levels of phosphates in an effort to build up a protective coating that will prevent lead from further leaching. Having more water flowing in the system would help that process, and that's one reason Snyder and other state officials want Flint residents to start using their taps again.
NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton handily defeatedBernie Sanders in New York’s Tuesday primary, dealing him a blow that could cement her grip on the Democratic nomination as the campaign heads to other Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states later this month.
"Today you proved once again, there’s no place like home,” Clinton told supporters at a victory speech in a Manhattan hotel ballroom as she headed toward a double-digit victory in the state she represented in the Senate for eight years. While the campaign has notched victories across the country, "this one’s personal," said Clinton. She also called the race for the nomination “in the homestretch.”
Clinton seemed to make a direct appeal to Sanders' supporters as the race has taken an increasingly bitter tone in recent weeks. "There is much more that unites us than divides us." She took no direct shots at the Vermont senator who's given her an unexpectedly fierce challenge, keeping her focus on Republicans Donald Trump andTed Cruz.
The two are "pushing a vision for America that’s divisive and, frankly, dangerous,” she said, including a return to “trickle-down economics,” opposition to a minimum wage increase and hostility to immigrants, said Clinton. “We have a very different vision. It’s about lifting each other up, not tearing each other down.”
In a rally at Penn State University prior to polls closing in New York, Sanders emphasized his campaign's core themes.
“What we have shown, uniquely, is that we can run a winning national campaign without being dependent on the big money interests," he told supporters in Pennsylvania, which holds a primary on April 26 along with four other states.
“Secretary Clinton has chosen another approach,” he said, citing the role of super PACs in backing her campaign.
Later, speaking to reporters at Burlington's airport after returning to Vermont, Sanders congratulated Clinton on her New York win.
"We think we have a message that is resonating throughout this country. We have come a long, long way," Sanders added. “We have a very, very strong grass-roots movement. … Activism wins elections.”
Sanders also raised concerns about what he called “voting irregularities” in New York and said he believes independents should have been allowed to participate in the primary.
Clinton made eight stops around the Big Apple on Monday in a final hectic campaign push, including visiting with cafeteria workers in Yonkers, drinking Asian bubble tea in Queens and mingling at an Irish Americans for Hillary event in Manhattan.
With 247 pledged delegates at stake in New York's primary, Clinton — who entered Tuesday's contest with more than 1,750 delegates when superdelegates were factored in — stood to inch closer to the 2,383 needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Clinton had significant advantages in New York, including that it is a closed primary. Sanders has benefited from the support of independents in past contests.
Clinton was also buoyed by strong support among minorities, according to exit polls, while the two split the white vote.
Sanders, a Vermont senator who was born in Brooklyn, once predicted he could beat Clinton in New York and argued that a heavy turnout would favor him. Sanders has pledged to fight all the way to the convention in July.
Tensions heightened between the two campaigns in the days leading up to Tuesday’s vote. Sanders accused Clinton of violating campaign finance laws with a joint fundraising deal between the campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
“While the use of joint fundraising agreements has existed for some time — it is unprecedented for the DNC to allow a joint committee to be exploited to the benefit of one candidate in the midst of a contested nominating contest,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager.
Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, shot back in a statement the "false attacks" from the Vermont senator's campaign "have gotten out of hand."
“As Senator Sanders faces nearly insurmountable odds, he is resorting to baseless accusations of illegal actions and poisoning the well for Democratic candidates up and down the ticket," Mook said. "It is shameful that Senator Sanders has resorted to irresponsible and misleading attacks just to raise money for himself.”
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