Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg Visits Ohio Train Derailment Site

Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, visited East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday, February 23, as the community worked toward recovery after the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals earlier in the month.

Video posted by Secretary Pete Buttigieg shows part of a press conference he delivered during the East Palestine visit.

“I’m here for the work and not for the politics,” Buttigieg said. He continued that there is a “national ideological layer that’s been added into all this” when residents were “just trying to figure out if they are going to be safe.”

Former President Donald Trump, who visited the Ohio small town on Wednesday, criticized the Biden administration, saying their response has shown “indifference and betrayal” to the East Palestine community.

Buttigieg responded to the criticism of the “timing” of the Department of Transportation visit, saying he was “starting to think some in Washington want that to be the main focus so that there aren’t too many questions about rail safety regulation, who is for and who is against.” Credit: Secretary Pete Buttigieg via Storyful

Video transcript

PETE BUTTIGIEG: Look, again, I'm here for the work and not for the politics. You can sense, when you talk to local leaders and local residents, that they're getting pretty sick of the politics too and this national ideological layer that's been added into all of this, when they're just trying to figure out if they're going to be safe. And there's no question that there have been enormous amounts of both information and misinformation injected into this situation, none of which is to the benefit of the community when it comes to that misinformation.

Look, again, I'm here for the work and not for the politics. You can sense, when you talk to local leaders and local residents, that they're getting pretty sick of the politics too and this national ideological layer that's been added into all of this, when they're just trying to figure out if they're going to be safe. And there's no question that there have been enormous amounts of both information and misinformation injected into this situation, none of which is to the benefit of the community when it comes to that misinformation.