Trump ties Camp Lejeune toxic water settlements to GOP midterm results

President Trump told an audience in North Carolina that if Republicans retain control of Congress in the upcoming November midterm elections, he would direct the Justice Department to quickly settle “all remaining legitimate claims” related to contaminated water at the nearby Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where thousands of cases remain unresolved.

“If we don’t win, there’s no money,” Trump said Tuesday night at a campaign rally in Greenville. “If we do win, you’re getting it. It’s going to be finally over with, that nightmare that’s been going on for so many years. We will never abandon the heroes who served America.”

Camp Lejeune is notorious for its toxic water, which service members and their families drank and bathed in from 1953 to 1987. The water supply was contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), a colorless solvent that was widely used in industry to clean metal starting in the 1920s. It can remain in groundwater for long periods of time and sicken those who are exposed to it with serious illnesses including cancer and Parkinson’s........

© The Hill