Biden now says he’ll visit East Palestine, Ohio train derail site ‘at some point’
In a surprising about-face, President Biden remarked on Thursday that he plans to visit the site of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, “at some point” — nearly a month after the disaster.
The 80-year-old president made the comment after a lunch meeting with Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill and comes after weeks of mounting criticism from Republicans, Ohio officials and East Palestine residents over the Biden administration’s response to the Feb. 3 calamity.
“I will be out there at some point,” Biden told reporters Thursday when asked about a potential visit to the Ohio town where dangerous chemicals seeped into the ground and toxic smoke billowed into the sky after a Norfolk Southern train went off the tracks.
Biden did not indicate when the future trip would take place.
The president and the White House have previously stated that there were no plans for a trip to East Palestine, where residents remain concerned about the long-term health impacts of the disaster.
“At this moment, no,” Biden told reporters outside the White House last week when asked about a potential trip.
Similarly, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the media last week that travel arrangements have not been made for Biden to tour the Ohio town.
“He offered federal assistance and directed his team to stay on top of this,” the press secretary said. “At this time, I don’t have anything to read out or announce on travel to Ohio.”
Before signaling his future visit to East Palestine, the president defended his response to the crisis.
“I have spoken with every official in Ohio, Democrat and Republican, on a continuous basis,” he said.
“We will be implementing an awful lot through the legislation,” Biden added.
The reversal comes on the same day Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called on Biden to travel to the small village near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
“Look, he should come,” DeWine said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
“There is no doubt about it. The president needs to come. The people want to see the president. He should be there,” the governor added.
Biden was ripped by East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, and others, last week for his secret President’s Day trip to Ukraine and announcement of $500 million in aid to Kyiv before touring the site of the derailment.
“That was the biggest slap in the face,” Conaway told Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” last week.
“That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us,” the mayor continued.
“He can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning that he was in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us … on Presidents’ Day in our country, so I’m furious,” he added.
Biden later indicated that he wasn’t invited to visit East Palestine before making arrangements to visit Kyiv.
“There was not a request for me to go out, even before I was heading over to Kyiv,” Biden told reporters last week, before heading off to his Wilmington, Del., residence for the weekend.