President Joe Biden confirmed to reporters at the White House on Friday that he will not be going to East Palestine, Ohio "at this moment."
This month East Palestine's Mayor Trent Conaway told Fox News that President Joe Biden's trip to Ukraine this week was "the biggest slap in the face" for his community.
Conaway said, "That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us. He can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning that he was in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us — on President's Day in our country — so I'm furious."
Biden told reporters on Friday after returning from a trip that included a brief visit to Ukraine, "I had a long meeting with my team, and [about] what they're doing."
NEW: Pres. Biden tells reporters he has no plans to visit East Palestine, but defends admin response, saying they were on the ground within 2 hours. pic.twitter.com/xnwTD4xOc8
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) February 24, 2023
Biden said "we were there two hours after the train went down," apparently referring to a federal agency.
President Biden said, "I've spoken with every single major figure in both Pennsylvania and Ohio, and so the idea that we're not engaged is simply not there."
"And initially there was not a request for me to go out," the president said. "Even before I was heading over to Kyiv," he said.
"We're keeping very close tabs on it and we're doing all we can," Biden said.