President Donald Trump has announced that he is visiting the site of the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Trump is traveling to the small town that is battling the damage caused by the derailing of a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals.
According to Fox News, Trump will tour the damage next week and meet with those involved in the cleanup efforts.
“A source familiar confirms to Fox News that former President Trump will visit East Palestine, OH, on Wednesday to tour the damage of the Norfolk Southern derailment and cleanup efforts,” Fox News’s Garrett Tenney tweeted.
A source familiar confirms to Fox News that former President Trump will visit East Palestine, OH on Wednesday to tour the damage of the Norfolk Southern derailment and cleanup efforts.
— Garrett Tenney (@Garrett_FoxNews) February 17, 2023
Trump’s visit comes as the community deals with the aftermath of a train derailment earlier in the month that released toxic chemicals.
Roughly 50 train cars were involved in the February 3 derailment.
Ohio officials also performed a “controlled release” of five derailed train cars holding carcinogenic vinyl chloride days after the derailment.
However, recent data shows that the train derailment on the Ohio-Pennsylvania line “spewed more harmful pollutants into the air, surface soils, and water table than originally reported,” as ABC News reports.
Among the substances were ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate, and isobutylene also in the rail cars that were derailed, the NBC News list shows.
Contact with ethylhexyl acrylate, a carcinogen, can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes, and inhalation can irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Interestingly, Democrat President Joe Biden has not yet traveled to the area.
On Friday, the White House declined to say whether Biden has plans to visit East Palestine at all.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that Biden’s schedule is packed with an upcoming trip to Poland to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine war.
Biden’s Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, also has not visited the derailment site.
Instead, Buttigieg issued a late statement that said he continues “to be concerned” about the derailment’s impacts on families in the area.
Notably, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied an aid request from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), prompting all 17 members of Ohio’s congressional delegation to write letters demanding an answer as to why the governor’s aid request was denied.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., confirmed the 45h president’s upcoming visit.
“If our ‘leaders’ are too afraid to actually lead real leaders will step up and fill the void,” he said.
Breaking News: Trump will visit East Palestine, Ohio next week.
If our “leaders” are too afraid to actually lead real leaders will step up and fill the void.— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 18, 2023
