Pete Buttigieg Tells MSNBC East Palestine Situation Not About ‘Who Looks Good and Who Looks Bad’

Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said that the victims of the train derailment disaster in East Palestine aren’t sure who to trust, are getting bad information, are fatigued by the politics “swirling” around the community, and don’t care about “who looks good and who looks bad.’

After an introduction attacking Republicans investigating the government response on Saturday, MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend played clips from a pre-recorded interview with Buttigieg. Her first question was about what the secretary told President Joe Biden about the situation on the ground.

Buttigieg assured the former Biden staffer that the president has taken a “personal interest” in the disaster. He told Sanders-Townsend that residents of East Palestine, Ohio have shown “remarkable resilience” and are “asking to make sure they’re taken care of.”

“There has been so much information, and frankly so much misinformation thrown at this community and thrown at this situation that a lot them are asking who they can even trust,” said Buttigieg.

Activist and famed whistleblower Erin Brockovich, who is also on the ground in the community and meeting with residents, has likewise stated that citizens are concerned about what they’re being told and are uncertain who to trust. However, she suggested that the victims in the situation feel it’s the federal agencies and the administration who are the source of such confusion and mistrust, thanks to “mixed messages” and more.

The New York Times pointed at the other side of the aisle as the source of such problems. Others have pointed the finger at the residents themselves.

Buttigieg, who is the transportation secretary, told Sanders-Townsend that misinformation has been a problem in the aftermath, but did not specify any particular source.

“It’s so important to continue to make sure that they can get good, accurate information about the things they care about most, which isn’t national politics or who looks good or who looks bad, it’s continuing to know that their air, water, and soil are going to be safe, that their homes are going to be safe,” he said. “That’s what anybody would want to know in this situation. You could feel a sense of fatigue with all of the kind of politics swirling around their community.”

Prior to the clip of Buttigieg decrying politics in the aftermath, Sanders-Townsend featured a tweet from the secretary taking a snarky dig at a Republican about the situation.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

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