The mayor of East Palestine has ripped President Biden for heading to Ukraine for a surprise visit as an alternative of the scene of Ohio’s toxic train derailment.
Mayor Trent Conaway accused Biden of abandoning his domestic responsibilities after the 80-year-old president popped over to Kyiv on Monday to fulfill with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“That was the most important slap within the face,” Conaway told Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday night.
“That tells you right away he doesn’t care about us,” the mayor continued.
“He can send every agency he desires to, but I discovered this morning that he was in Ukraine giving hundreds of thousands of dollars away to people over there and never to us … on President’s Day in our country, so I’m furious.”
The Biden administration has faced intense backlash over its response to the Feb. 3 train derailment within the small Ohio town, which caused a toxic spill and compelled the evacuation of roughly 5,000 panicked residents.
Federal agencies — including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — were sent in to assist reply to the disaster.
But Conway and native residents have said the resources on the bottom have been insufficient and slammed the slow federal response.
Residents have expressed fears that their air and drinking water have been contaminated following what officials called a controlled burn of the chemicals, including vinyl chloride.
Meanwhile, embattled Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg only announced Tuesday that he was planning to move to East Palestine — nearly three weeks after the disaster unfolded.
Buttigieg told ABC’s “Good Morning America” of his intentions but stopped wanting providing a timeline for his visit.
Earlier, Buttigieg had sent a letter to Norfolk Southern — the corporate that owns the derailed freight train — accusing them of putting profits above safety.
His three-page letter to the rail company got here as he continues to face calls for impeachment, or his resignation, over his handling of the devastating derailment.
