President Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency will take on a “key role” in responding to January’s sewage spill in the Potomac River, slamming long-time critic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland for the “ecological disaster.”
“There is a massive Ecological Disaster unfolding in the Potomac River as a result of the Gross Mismanagement of Local Democrat Leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
“This is the same Governor who cannot rebuild a Bridge,” he added, a reference to the ongoing, increasingly expensive and delayed rebuilding of Baltimore’s ruined Francis Scott Key Bridge. “It is clear Local Authorities cannot adequately handle this calamity.”
The president’s statement also argued the incident, one of the worst sewage spills in U.S. history, was a result of Democratic leaders carrying out a “War on Merit.”
Republicans have claimed without evidence that recent disasters like the Los Angeles fires were a result of people of color leading key departments. Moore is the nation’s only sitting Black governor.
Moore’s office says the federal government is responsible for regulating the Potomac Interceptor, a part of the regional sewage treatment system where a 60-year-old pipe in Cabin John, Maryland, burst last month and has since spewed an estimated 243 million gallons of wastewater into the river.
“Where the president has failed to act, Maryland has played its part to protect residents, protect drinking water, and ensure accountability,” Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for Moore, told Politico. “Maryland officials were on site within hours of the leak to do our part to coordinate the response, and ensure the public was aware and protected.”
Moore’s office alleged that federal officials “explicitly refused” to join a legislative hearing Friday on the crisis with local and state agencies.
Local officials have completed a temporary bypass system to put wastewater back into the sewage system. They estimate full repairs could take as long as nine months.
Trump plans to deploy FEMA come as the agency’s near- and long-term future is uncertain.
FEMA is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, whose funding lapsed over the weekend as Democratic lawmakers pushed to put new restrictions on the president’s immigration crackdown, whose key agencies, like ICE and Border Patrol, are also a part of DHS.
The disaster agency has multiple pools of funding and will be able to continue operating during the partial shutdown.
The Trump administration has floated shutting down or drastically reorganizing FEMA. The agency has reportedly drafted plans to cut thousands of workers, the Washington Post reported last month.
Moore and Trump have sparred before.
The president went out of his way to exclude Democrats, including Moore, for an upcoming, normally bipartisan annual gathering of U.S. governors at the White House.
“As the nation’s only Black governor, I can’t ignore that being singled out for exclusion from this bipartisan tradition carries an added weight — whether that was the intent or not,” Moore said of the move, calling the choice a sign of “blatant disrespect and a snub to the spirit of bipartisan federal-state partnership.”
Trump later said he was inviting most Democrats to the meeting but was still excluding Moore.
The Maryland governor previously pushed back against Donald Trump’s threat to send the National Guard to Baltimore to fight crime, prompting Trump to threaten to withhold funding to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was destroyed in 2024 when a ship collided with it.
