News/Commentary

Biden scoffs at mayor criticizing his choice to visit Ukraine, not East Palestine

February 25, 2023 | | Print Article

President Biden can’t remember if he has spoken with East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway about the rail derailment that has ravaged his small town, but that’s no reason for the mayor to think he doesn’t care.

Amid a cloud of toxic criticism for his handling of the chemical spill in the Ohio farming community, Biden sat down with ABC News’s David Muir and shrugged off implications that he was more concerned about showing his unending support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy than he was about the well-being of American citizens.

Noting that it “has been three weeks” since the Norfolk Southern train went off the rails, Muir told the president that Conaway “says he saw you in Ukraine, and he says, ‘It tells you he doesn’t care about us.'”

To that, Biden let out an audible snort.

“They’re asking,” Muir continued, “‘Is the president coming to Ohio?'”

“Do you have any plan to travel to Ohio and have you talked with the mayor yet?” Muir asked.

“Let’s put this in perspective,” Biden began. “Within two hours of that derailment, the EPA was in there. Within two hours. Every major agency in the United States government that had anything to do with rail and or cleanup was there and is there.”

“In addition to that,” he continued, “I’ve spoken at length to the congresspersons, the governors, the senators from both states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. And I’ve made it clear to them, anything they need is available or we’ll make it available to them.”

“Whatever happens here,” Biden added, “we got to understand this the responsibility of the railroad company who’s made, by the way, tens of billions of dollars in profits. Tens of billions of dollars of profits lately.”

That, of course, didn’t answer Muir’s question, so, to his credit, the “World News Tonight” anchor asked it again.

“Do you plan to travel there and have you talked with the mayor?” Muir pressed.

“I can’t recall that – I don’t think I’ve talked to the mayor,” Biden responded. “I’ve talked to everyone else there and, in multiple times, talked about the senators, but both governors, I’ve talked to everyone that there is to talk to. And we made it clear that everything is available.”

It’s a far more evasive answer than he gave to a reporter on his way back to Delaware on Friday.

When asked the same question, Biden simply said, “no.”

“At this point, I’m not,” he replied as his brain struggled to remember how he communicated via video conference with government officials on the ground.

As American Wire News reported, former President Donald Trump did speak to Mayor Conaway during his recent visit to East Palestine, and he called Biden’s decision to visit Kyiv rather than Ohio “the biggest slap in the face” to the American people.

Online, boasting about his administration’s response to the East Palestine situation while forgetting whether he bothered to talk to the mayor hasn’t done Biden any favors.

“Shameful @POTUS can’t remember talking to the Mayor of E. Palestine, Ohio regarding the horrible tragedy causing sickness and death,” wrote one user on Twitter. “Biden doesn’t care about America. Only Ukraine. RESIGN!”

“In fairness, it’s normal that he can’t recall,” tweeted another, who added, “(Not a joke!).”

And a third noted what should by now be painfully obvious to all Americans: “The White House is not for senior living.”

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Melissa Fine
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