DETROIT – Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he was told by staff there wasn't "really a problem" with Flint's water just a day before he was set to talk to state water and health experts on the subject.
Snyder said he scheduled a conference call with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the state's health department Sept. 28 to address the water issue in Flint after outside experts pointed at a lead problem. The governor said the call angered him because of what the briefing told him the night before.
"I remember the date, it was Sept. 28. I finally said, 'Look, we gotta have a conference call with the (MDEQ), the Department of Health and Human Services,'" he said Monday during the 11th annual Pancakes and Politics breakfast at the Detroit Athletic Club. "I get a briefing on the night before telling me that there really isn't a problem in Flint, that these outside experts aren't correct. And I get on the call and I push them, and they tell me it looks like there is a problem. That's the kind of thing you never want to see. And talk about getting upset. I was upset, because what's going on here?"
Complete Coverage: Flint Water Crisis
The governor also said he will not resign despite calls for him to do so. He said he is hard at work trying to solve the water crisis in Flint.
"A Michigander just doesn't walk away from things," he said. "If you have something happen on your watch, people that created this issue work for me, so I took responsibility, and you go out and solve the problem, so they can continue their calls. I'm going to continue to focus on solving the problem."
A number of protesters who were calling for Snyder to resign marched outside the Detroit Athletic Club during the Pancakes and Politics breakfast.