Buttigieg Admits Mistake in Response to Train Derailment: ‘I Could Have Spoken Out Sooner’
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appears to have admitted wrongdoing in his response to the Ohio train derailment earlier this month, or at least the timing of his response.
In an interview with Nexstar’s Washington correspondent Reshad Hudson, Buttigieg said he could have been more prompt in his response to the train derailment that has many residents in East Palestine, Ohio fearing for their safety.
“What’s your message to people who are concerned that the department was late to speak out on this issue?” Hudson asked.
“Well, to be clear, our department was on the ground within hours helping with the response and the investigation,” Buttigieg said.
“Again, I respect the separate role of NTSB, but we have been on the ground literally from day one to make sure that we’re doing our part to support,” he added.
“I do think that it’s important to speak out about that and I could have spoken out sooner and I’m making sure that we are focused on the actions that are gonna make a difference,” Buttigieg said.
In another interview on ABC’s Good Morning America, Tuesday, Buttigieg revealed to George Stephanopoulos that he is planning to visit East Palestine.
“I am planning to go, and our folks were on the ground from the first hours,” Buttigieg said. “I do wanna stress that the NTSB needs to be able to do its work independently, but when I go, the focus is gonna be on action.”
“Look, I was mayor of my hometown for eight years. We dealt with a lot of disasters, natural and human,” he added.
Buttigieg stressed that the trip to East Palestine would be all about taking action, not a photo op.
“When I go, it will be about action on rail safety, like the actions that we are calling on Congress to help us with. That we’re calling on industry to take and that we are undertaking ourselves as a department to help make sure that these kinds of things don’t happen in the future,” Buttigieg said.
Watch above via News Nation.
