‘Slap In The Face’: White House Reporters Bombard Briefing With Demands Biden Visit Train Disaster Site

White House reporters bombarded White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre with criticism for President Joe Biden and intense pressure for him to visit the site of the train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.

Ex-President Donald Trump spent Wednesday giving a speech, ordering McDonald’s, and handing out branded water during a trip to East Palestine, Ohio in response to the Feb. 3 train derailment that has caused an ecological disaster, while President Biden was concluding a European trip that included a surprise visit to Ukraine Monday to mark the anniversary of the brutal Russian invasion.

At Thursday’s White House briefing, Jean-Pierre opened with a detailed account of the Biden administration’s response to the disaster:

I know many of you have been covering what has been occurring in Ohio this past couple weeks. But I also wanted to give you a brief update on the federal response led by the Environmental Protection Agency to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

As you know, Secretary Buttigieg is there today meeting with emergency responders and the Department of Transportation investigators who were on the ground within hours of the train derailing. He met with the community leaders, including the mayor and the fire chief, and received an update from the National Transportation Safety Board on their investigation.

EPA Administrator Regan also visited East Palestine for a second time on Tuesday. While there, he ordered the railroad company, Norfolk Southern, to clean up its mess and pay or reimburse for all of the expenses. If the company doesn’t, the EPA said it’ll make the company pay three times the cost of whatever cleanup is needed.

Federal teams have been on the ground since 2:00 a.m. on February 4th, which is, again, hours after the derailment, which was on February 3rd. They’ve been working to hold the railroad company accountable, investigate the derailment, monitor the air and water, and have screened over 550 homes.

And we’ll stay on this as long as it takes. That is what the President has directed his multi-agency — agency heads to do and — as we have seen him speak to these past couple of days, actually.

White House reporters peppered Jean-Pierre with questions about critics, like East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, who told Fox News host Jesse Watters that he was “furious” that Biden visited Ukraine but had not visited his town:

Absolutely. That was the biggest slap in the face. That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us.

There were also no fewer than a dozen questions from reporters grilling Jean-Pierre on why President Biden hasn’t made a trip to East Palestine (although as Fox News has pointed out, Trump did not visit any of the train disaster sites that occurred during his presidency) — some of which included speculation as to the president’s motives and reasoning. A sampling:

• Starting with East Palestine, is the President satisfied with the pace of the federal response there — on the ground? And why has he, so far, decided not to visit?
• The mayor of East Palestine said that it was a “slap in the face” that the President had gone to Ukraine before he went to East Palestine.  Does the President have any reaction to those comments?
• Has the President spoken to the mayor of East Palestine or does have any plans to?
• Can I just ask you again — following up on East Palestine? Can you at lea- — I know you can’t say if the President has plans to go there now. But is it in discussion that the President may go there in the near future?
• Wouldn’t it make — I mean, I guess the question the folks are — for folks there, though, at least to say it’s in discussion. Has it been something that’s even under consideration?
• The President has said many times, in his own words, that he likes to provide comfort to Americans who are grieving, Americans who are in crisis. Has he expressed interest in, or the intention to, provide that kind of support to East Palestinians? Does he want to provide that support to them?
• But does he not want to do it directly, in person, himself?
• The President frequently visits the sites of many natural and manmade disasters. And this situation in East Palestine has clearly required a multi-agency response from the federal and the state level. So I guess I’m just struggling to understand why the President wouldn’t go to East Palestine. Does it simply not meet the bar for a presidential visit?

Jean-Pierre responded at length with variations on her opening remarks, and by stressing how “seriously” President Biden takes the issue.

Watch above via The White House.

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