White House says Biden has no plans to visit Ohio derailment site
by Alex Gangitano - 02/23/23 3:01 PM ET
The White House on Thursday said there are no plans at this time for President Biden to travel to the site of a trail derailment disaster in Ohio while defending the administration’s response amid Republican criticism.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked multiple times by reporters if Biden had any plans to visit East Palestine, whether such a plan is even under discussion and if the potential environmental disaster site rose to the level of a presidential visit.
“I don’t have anything to share on a presidential visit, not at this time, or anything to announce. But it does matter that the president put forth a multi-agency kind of reaction to this, taking it seriously,” Jean-Pierre said.
She defended the decision for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to visit the site of the derailment this week instead of Biden, who just returned from a trip to Ukraine and Poland.
“Showing up is having the Environmental Protection administer on the ground, showing up is having the Transportation secretary on the ground … all these guys are on the ground at the direction of this president,” she said.
Jean-Pierre also noted that there was no reason to “struggle” over why Biden hasn’t yet been to the site of the crash that occurred on Feb. 3.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3871464-white-house-says-biden-has-no-plans-to-visit-ohio-derailment-site/