President Donald Trump on Tuesday stepped up a feud with Democratic leaders of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. over a massive sewage spill into the Potomac River, and it’s turning into a messy political battle.
More than 200 million gallons of wastewater gushed into the Potomac in recent weeks. A pipe collapsed in January on the Potomac Interceptor sewage line alongside the Clara Barton Parkway in Maryland, just outside of the District of Columbia. The pipe and the sewage line are managed by DC Water, an independent utility that serves the capital area and is managing the disaster.
Trump on Tuesday demanded regional Democratic leaders ask him for help in fixing the spill, seemingly backtracking after he announced on Monday that his administration would be taking over the recovery effort.
“The two Governors and the Mayor of D.C. must act, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, referring to Democratic Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, also a Democrat. “If they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed. The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it.”
