![CNN's Jake Tapper confronted Department of Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg on Monday over why President Joe Biden has not visited East Palestine, Ohio. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Screenshot-2024-01-22-at-6.16.41-PM-e1705965455795.png "CNN's Jake Tapper confronted Department of Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg on Monday over why President Joe Biden has not visited East Palestine, Ohio. [Screenshot CNN]")
CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Monday, asking why President Joe Biden has not visited East Palestine, Ohio.
A Norfolk Southern train derailed on Feb. 3, 2023, in East Palestine causing a 49-railcar pileup, 11 of which were carrying hazardous chemicals that spilled into the surrounding area. Biden told reporters last March he would visit the site at some point, but has yet to do so.
“Speaking of the president, he still has not visited East Palestine, Ohio. I don’t know why that is, it doesn’t seem to make much sense to me,” Tapper said. “But if Congress needs pressure to get this done, why wouldn’t he just go to East Palestine and use the bully pulpit, the way that Harry S. Truman would do, try to shame Congress into passing that, why is that not even an idea that the White House would contemplate?”
“I don’t have any updates on the scheduling front for the White House but what I can tell you is it shouldn’t take anything more than we’ve already seen happen for Congress to act,” Buttigieg said. “I don’t know why we have to persuade anybody to do something that members in both parties claim to care about, which is to make our railroads safer.” (RELATED: Chris Cuomo Has A Tough Message For Biden After Visiting Site Of Toxic Train Derailment)
Buttigieg said the blame falls on Congress and not the Biden administration, which he claims has been doing its part to make railroads safer.
The White House has repeatedly insisted Biden will visit East Palestine though he has yet to do so, leaving some residents to feel slighted. (RELATED: ‘It Is Political For Him’: White House Insists Joe Biden Will Visit East Palestine, But Residents Are Still Waiting)
“I feel like I don’t matter,” Jessica Conrad told the New York Times after Biden went to Michigan to strike with United Auto Workers but didn’t make time to visit East Palestine.
Former President Donald Trump visited the site in February and donated pallets of water and cleaning supplies to help residents affected.