EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized the federal response to the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, as a “betrayal” during a visit to the village where residents and local leaders are increasingly frustrated more than two weeks after the disaster.
Trump, wearing his trademark red “Make America Great Again” cap and an overcoat, said the community needs “answers and results,” not excuses. He spoke at a firehouse roughly half a mile from where more than three dozen freight cars — including 11 carrying hazardous materials — came off the tracks near the Pennsylvania state line.
“In too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal,” Trump said. He appeared with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Mayor Trent Conaway and other state and local leaders, giving the visit the look of an official trip.
The former president and other Republicans have intensified criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the Feb. 3 derailment, which led to evacuations and fears of air and water contamination after a controlled burning of toxic chemicals aboard the rail cars. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has blasted Trump and other Republicans for loosening rail safety measures and environmental protections when Republicans were in charge in Washington — though there is no evidence that having them in place now would have prevented what happened in East Palestine.
The trip offered Trump, who is running for the White House in 2024, an opportunity to reprise the role he often held as president, when he surveyed disaster damage and met with impacted residents following tragic events. He said he would donate cleaning supplies along with pallets of what he said was Trump-branded bottled water to residents who remain concerned about the quality of their drinking water.
Trump seized on Biden’s decision to make a surprise visit to Ukraine this week, saying he hoped Biden “got some money left over” for the residents of East Palestine when he returns. Biden, who has yet to come to the Ohio town, was traveling back from Poland on Wednesday after marking the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Trump is currently handing out signed hats and buying people Big Macs at McDonald’s in East Palestine.
Amazing. pic.twitter.com/SFdUuvoXK2
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 22, 2023
Trump is currently visiting first responders at one of the East Palestine fire stations pic.twitter.com/jiXiqdD3WN
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 22, 2023
“We have told you loud and clear: you are not forgotten. You are not forgotten. We stand with you, we pray for you.” – President Donald J. Trumppic.twitter.com/m8EEr6SeZo
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) February 22, 2023
The Biden White House has defended its response to the derailment, saying officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies were at the rural site within hours of the derailment. The White House says it has also offered federal assistance and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been coordinating with the state emergency operations center and other partners.
Related Story: Ohio Train Derailment: Operators Warned Of Overheated Axle Moments Before Wreck: NTSB
EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the site last week and tried to reassure skeptical residents that the water was fit for drinking and the air safe to breathe.
“I’m asking they trust the government,” Regan said. “I know that’s hard. We know there’s a lack of trust.” Officials are “testing for everything that was on that train,” he said.
Shortly before Trump arrived in Ohio, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced he would visit Thursday after also facing criticism for not coming earlier. He also has urged Congress to raise the $225,455 limit on railroad safety fines at least tenfold.
Biden administration officials also called out a decision by the Trump administration to repeal an Obama-era Department of Transportation rule that would have requiring “high-hazard” cargo trains hauling large amounts of flammable liquids such as crude oil and ethanol to be equipped with more sophisticated, electronically controlled brakes by 2023.
Buttigieg said this week that the Federal Railroad Administration will look at reviving that brake rule now, but the head of the National Transportation Safety Board pointed out that the brake rule couldn’t have helped in this derailment because the train wasn’t considered a “high hazardous flammable train.” Only three of the 20 hazardous materials cars this train was carrying were filled with flammable liquids. Regulators may now look at expanding which trains are covered by the “high hazardous” rules.
Almost three weeks after the derailment, the smell of chemicals that blanketed the village is mostly gone. Some residents close to the tracks say there’s still an odor inside their homes.
Before Trump’s arrival, excavators picked up charred chunks of the rail cars that have been piled alongside the tracks and scooped up contaminated soil. Trucks were hauling contaminated water to a makeshift “tank farm,” where it is being stored in metal containers before being taken to a hazardous waste site.
The village of just under 5,000 residents is near the Pennsylvania state line in Columbiana County, which has grown increasingly Republican in recent years. Trump won nearly 72% of the vote in the 2020 election, and signs of his popularity remain clear.
At a car dealership in town, where bottled water was being distributed, a photo of Trump leaned against a barricade, reading, “A Hero Will Rise.” Signs and flags around the village broadcast support both for Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate.
Since the derailment, residents have complained about headaches, irritated eyes and other ailments. Thousands of fish have been found dead, and residents have talked about finding dying or sick pets and wildlife. Residents are also frustrated by what they say is incomplete and vague information about the lasting effects from the disaster and have demanded more transparency from Norfolk Southern, the railroad operator.
The gas that spilled and burned after the train derailment — vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make hard plastics — is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers.
Environmental officials say that they monitored for toxins in the air during the controlled burn and that continuing air monitoring — including testing inside nearly 400 homes — hasn’t detected dangerous levels in the area since residents were allowed to return.
___ Associated Press writer Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Smear him all you want, Joe—he shows you up—and the people notice.
They were already trump supporters.
Next the MSM headlines will read,,,,Trumps stands with the Palestinians? ,,,and the Liberal low I.Q. Democrat voting disposable dispicables won’t read beyond the headline thinking he sold out to the terrorists. Think what would happen if Buttigieg finally arrived in East Palestine and nobody showed up to greet him? Or better yet all lined up in the streets and turned their backs on him when he came out for another walk and some private time, which usually entails his imaginary male wife and some miss-used privates, which goes to show you that when all you can do is milk the government and disguise it as the milk of human kindness, lots of people end up unsatisfied and thirsty, to go back to Pre-LGBTQ when leadership people could tell the bulls from the cows, and THE PEOPLE could drink real milk, not Harvey Milk, and get prosperous and healthy, not swim in the sewage of their own confused leadership incompetence which travels the entire country when wrong-way guys like Pothole Pete start paving the bumpy roads that lead to a secular socialist hell, collisions and national train wrecks and you just end up stranded at Harvey Milk Terminal at SFO Intl Airport without a prayer of getting boarded,,, by anyone but their Democrat pirates with bad intentions to steal your and your children’s Booty, and you find yourself inside another of their politically and environmentally polluted Love Canals, where drinking the water is more dangerous than cool-aid in Jones town Guyana.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said “I’m asking they trust the government, I know that’s hard. We know there’s a lack of trust.”
#1. No, I Do Not trust this treasonous, lying, socialist Democrat Party ruled government.
#2. Why does he know there is a lack of trust for the government?
(Because this Democrat ruled government LIES about everything)
Matthew 7:15-16 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
16 By their fruit you will recognize them.
We should never forget President Reagan’s famous nine most frightening words in the English language: “I’m with the government, and I’m here to help.”
He must have been a precog!
Ohio is a red state and they will remember that Trump showed up while Biden and his admin didn’t. They will also remember that none of the other candidates appeared either.
IT may be red outside of Columbus. BUT the main city is getting unfortunately, bluer and bluer..
to he left EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE IS PRESIDENT TRUMPS FAULT.
well it aint his fault biden sits in the whitehouse because he told all of us what a sleepy joe dictatorship would look like
and he was spot on.
the liberal left is a stage 5 cancer on america and the world.
ONE we must cut out, to save its host (THIS NATION!)
Trump has been 1000 times more Presidential than the Sock Puppet in Chief even since he has had the election stolen from him. I knew when he said he was going to East Palestine he would not be going empty handed. This is the difference between a Presidential Figure and a grifter in chief. Trump searches for ways to help the people and bring aid to them, Biden looks for a new opportunity to launder money into his pocket. Trump just does and never wonders what’s in it for him. Biden looks for a new opportunity to line his pockets.
The reason you can’t trust a democrat criminal ran government, is because the agencies that are supposed to keep them honest are just as criminal! And the whole mess has the courts blessings! We the people are in serious danger!