East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway didn't hold back in an interview about the Biden administration's response to the train derailment that turned his small Ohio town into a national news spectacle, and he particularly wasn't happy about President Joe Biden's surprise trip to Ukraine.
"That was the biggest slap in the face," Mayor Conaway said in a Monday night interview with Jesse Watters on Fox News Channel in response to Biden's unannounced visit to Ukraine before a planned trip to Poland — one that came before Biden had visited East Palestine in the weeks since the Norfolk Southern train derailed and released toxic chemicals.
"That tells you right now that he doesn't care about us," Conaway added.
"He can send every agency he wants to, but I found that out this morning in one of the briefings that he was in Ukraine — giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us — and I'm furious," Conaway emphasized.
East Palestine Mayor: Biden ignoring us is a slap in the face #FoxNews pic.twitter.com/1YmnkPrOnF
— Jesse Watters Primetime (@jesseprimetime) February 21, 2023
As Townhall reported previously, the Biden administration initially denied federal disaster relief funds to Ohio and East Palestine to deal with cleanup and health care for residents reporting symptoms in the wake of the derailment, chemical leak, and "controlled burn" of toxic compounds. On Monday, Biden announced that the U.S. was providing an additional $500 million worth of aid to Ukraine.
"On President's Day in our country, he's over in Ukraine," Conaway reiterated of Biden's displayed priorities. The mayor of East Palestine joins a growing list of Biden's critics who slammed him for his trip to Ukraine while domestic crises continue to go unaddressed, as Katie reported here.