After reporting on environmental groups calling the spill a “catastrophe,” Fox News personalities claimed environmental groups are not concerned enough 

Before Trump posted on Truth Social the afternoon of Monday, February 16, blaming “Local Democrat Leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland,” Fox News’ coverage on the story seemed neutral. There were only a handful of mentions of the story between the day the pipe collapsed and the day Trump posted about the spill, mainly focused on the facts of the story and the potential impacts of the disaster. For instance, on the morning of Trump's post, Fox & Friends covered the health risks related to the sewage spill, and America’s Newsroom reported that “environmental groups are calling this a catastrophe.” The early afternoon program America Reports also amplified the concerns of climate advocates, noting, “Environmental groups fear this crisis has not been handled properly from the start.”

But by Monday evening, Special Report with Bret Baier reported on Trump’s social media post, quoting him saying: “I cannot allow incompetent local leadership to turn the river in the heart of Washington into a disaster zone.” Correspondent Mark Meredith also noted the governor’s response, adding, “Gov. Wes Moore is pushing right back, insisting the EPA should have been doing more from the start.” Later in the program, anchor Bret Baier asked a panel to respond to a Washington Times article titled “Potomac river sewage dump: Where is the liberal environmental outrage?” The anchor himself responded, “There isn’t this outrage.”

The following day, February 17, Fox’s Dana Perino referenced the same Washington Times article, suggesting that while “the liberal left and especially environmentalists have been very upset about President Trump pushing back on the Obama endangerment finding on CO2 emissions,” they have failed to be outraged about the spill. She reiterated the claim again on The Five, noting, “What's very interesting is that for the last two weeks the liberals have been really gnashing their teeth about President Trump removing the endangerment finding for CO2 emissions, like that's the worst thing that could ever happen to the environment.”

Fox host Tomi Lahren echoed the point on the February 17 edition of Hannity, saying, “I also haven't seen a lot of those climate change alarmists, right? I don’t know what that much sewage does to the wildlife population, the fish population. We’re told we’re supposed to care about all of those things, the climate change alarmists tell us so, but they don’t seem too alarmed by this.”

Host Sean Hannity suggested again during his February 18 show that climate activists and Democrats have been silent. “Have you heard a single word from the, you know, climate alarmist ecological religious cult? Any Democrat in D.C.?” 

Fox host Todd Piro asked, “Where are the environmentalists that you would expect to be all over this, you know if it happened in Florida or Texas?”

Fox personalities ran with Trump’s line that Wes Moore is at fault for the environmental disaster unfolding in the Potomac River

As The Associated Press reported, “Trump took aim at Moore even though a District of Columbia-based water authority and the federal government have jurisdiction over the busted pipe. The 1960s-era pipe, called the Potomac Interceptor, is part of DC Water, a utility based in Washington that's federally regulated and under the oversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

On the February 18 edition of Special Report with Bret Baier, contributor Leslie Marshall attempted to make the point that the federal government has jurisdiction over the pipe, not Maryland, while being shouted down by fellow panelist and Fox News contributor Ben Domenech.

But by and large, Trump’s claims that Moore was responsible for the pipe went uncontested on the network. Reince Priebus, a Fox News political analyst, told Baier, “Nothing exposes a broken government like a 6-foot pipe leaking raw sewage into an iconic river like we have here. It is clear that Maryland is responsible for the waters into the Potomac.”

Sean Hannity amplified Trump’s post, saying, “This is believed to be the largest wastewater spill in American history. Most Democrats in Maryland, D.C., downstream in Virginia don't really seem to care. Now on Truth Social, President Trump blasted the Maryland governor, Wes Moore, arguing, ‘This disaster reflects years of infrastructure neglect,’ adding that the federal government will step in to protect the Potomac.”

On his eponymous show, Greg Gutfeld also echoed Trump’s claim, noting, “It is so bad that Trump says that the federal government will step in and he blames incompetent local Democrats, especially Maryland governor Wes Moore for gross, literally, mismanagement.”

On The Faulkner Focus, Republican strategist Erin Maguire also blamed Moore, saying he “is having an actual crisis right now with feces all over the Potomac River because of mismanagement.” Fox prime-time host Laura Ingraham said that “Wes Moore is lying. These are D.C. pipes. Everything goes through federal territory in D.C. because the Potomac River watershed is federal land, but the federal government does not monitor the pipes.” And on Fox & Friends First, guest Vik Ath said, “What we're seeing is a direct result of gross incompetent Democratic leadership.”

Fox News criticized the “finger-pointing” that has unfolded around the crisis — while glossing over Trump's role in the blame game

In a February 16 Truth Social post, Trump sparked a blame game over the Potomac River sewage spill, specifically calling out Wes Moore. In a second post on February 17, Trump said that “Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., who are responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, must get to work, IMMEDIATELY. If they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed.” 

In response, Moore’s office pointed out that the “the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor” for a century, and in response to Trump’s second missive, Moore responded: “If the president wants me to ask politely, here's my ask: Mr. President, yes, I had to do your job for the past month, but please, will you please start doing your job?” 

It cannot be overstated how much outrage would ensue if a Democratic president told Republican state leaders that they needed to “ask politely” for federal assistance during a crisis like this. But Fox personalities did not flinch at the president’s post — in fact, some even seemed to revel in it. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Trump has played politics during disasters and withheld federal support for blue states. As one correspondent gleefully put it: “Welcome to Trump politics.” 

On America Reports, correspondent Aishah Hasnie said federal assistance in dealing with the sewage clean-up “depends on if the Democrats ask him nicely.” She continued, “The president coming out with a Truth Social today, basically saying this is all D.C., Virginia, and Maryland's responsibility. … So he goes on to remind everybody that FEMA is currently not being funded right now because of the partial government shutdown.”

On Special Report with Bret Baier, Hasnie said that the fact that Democratic-run states need FEMA help is “such an ‘I told you so’ moment for Republicans and for the president. For a couple of weeks now there has been a pretty negative narrative around the Department of Homeland Security.”

On America’s Newsroom, anchor Dana Perino reported that “Trump is deploying FEMA to respond to the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River. But the government shutdown is hindering the agency's response.” She concluded that there had been “a lot of finger-pointing, and hopefully it gets resolved soon.”

On America Reports, White House correspondent Peter Doocy said Trump had “laid down a marker” that “he was not going to offer federal help unless Abigail Spanberger and Muriel Bowser here in D.C. and Wes Moore in Maryland asked him politely. Well, Wes Moore just put out a statement saying, Mr. President, please do your job. So if that is polite enough we might have an update about the federal response to the big stinky spill in the Potomac.”

On The Five, co-host Emily Compagno said, “Constituents are sick and tired of seeing the ecology be destroyed, humans' health being suffering or being risked, and then having everyone in charge just point fingers.” Without acknowledging that Trump’s initial response to the crisis was to cast blame on Democrats, she went on to say that “real leadership means arguing about how it started later – and infrastructure failures, they are not ideological, right? It's managerial, so I need a leader.” 

Compagno then compared Trump telling Democrats to ask politely for federal assistance to “one time in college” when a tow truck driver “was like, if you ask nicely I will let your car go. … Then I was like, sir, may please have my car, and he was like, yes. Bing. And like released it down. Maybe it takes some eating crow, but I'm not quite sure why if you're here to serve constituents, not yourself.”

Fox News personality Tyrus on Gutfeld! said, “I think the hilariousness of this is that Trump is like yes, I will clean it up, no problem. Say please. And they're like, no. So maybe they should have woke baptisms in the river.”

Like it did with the East Palestine train derailment and Hurricane Helene, Fox News is wielding this crisis to advance its political goals — attacking Democrats, disparaging climate advocates, and following Trump’s lead.