Emails released from Michigan governor Rick Snyder's administration show that senior legal counsel warned the governor that using the Flint River was “downright scary” and cautioned him to switch back to the Detroit system before matters got too out of control. Months later, a Snyder spokesperson shrugged off resident complaints about the taste, color, and smell of their tap water, asserting that there is no law to regulate the “aesthetic qualities of water.”

Snyder’s chief of staff conveniently claims to have never seen an email detailing the Legionnaires outbreak and its possible connection to the water in Flint. Instead he blames everyone else for not communicating urgently enough with him.

Gov. Snyder cannot continue to be shielded from responsibility for this crisis, especially when his administration’s answer for the extensive, and in many instances irreparable, damage amounts to “Oops!” and passing the buck to other departments and agencies.

Snyder’s negligence is disgusting and unforgivable, and his cowardice has been encouraged by the Republican party.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee called a hearing about the Flint water crisis, and Gov. Snyder wasn’t asked to testify until he made the request himself, a month later. What's more, Republicans are spinning this as a failure of government rather than the consequence of their own constant attacks on regulation and demeaning claims that these types of tragedies are exaggerated.

It’s clear the party will stop at nothing to protect one of their own, even as innocent people suffer. Republicans are too busy trying to preserve the GOP brand that they’re unwilling to hold Snyder accountable for his crimes against his constituents. This is why we need the Department of Justice to intervene. Flint will not get justice any other way.

Flint residents have been poisoned, are facing lifelong illness, and many have died while Republicans circle the wagons around their colleague. But Gov. Snyder has blood on his hands and it’s time he face real world consequences.