Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is sidestepping questions concerning whether Governor Rick Snyder may have misled congress about when he learned of a deadly Legionnaires Disease outbreak.
Between 2014 and 2015, at least 12 people died after contracting Legionnaires in Genesee County. Dozens more fell ill with the bacteria pneumonia. Prosecutors have charged or announced their intent to charge six government officials with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the outbreak, which they say is connected to Flint's drinking water crisis.
Appearing before a congressional committee investigating the Flint water crisis, Gov. Snyder testified under oath last year that he didn’t learn of the outbreak in Genesee County until January, 2016. But as part of the criminal probe of the Flint water crisis, a top aide to the governor testified they talked about the outbreak a month earlier.
Schuette declined to comment on whether the governor should step down if he misled congress.
“I don’t comment in the middle of an investigation,” Schuette told reporters Friday. “It’s in the trial phase of things, and that’s all I can say.”
The committee asked the governor to clarify his testimony this week, but Snyder says he reviewed his sworn testimony and sees no need to clarify it.
