Joe Biden's Response to East Palestine Visit Question Raises Eyebrows

Joe Biden is facing criticism over his response to questions about why he has yet to visit the site of a toxic train derailment near East Palestine, Ohio, while conducting a press conference in Florida in the wake of a hurricane making landfall in the north of the state.

While surveying the damage done by Hurricane Idalia in Live Oak at the weekend, the president was asked about why he had yet to visit the small, rural town in the seven months since the toxic spill, despite pledging to do so in the immediate aftermath.

"I haven't had the occasion to go to East Palestine," he told the assembled reporters. "There's a lot going on here and I just haven't been able to break."

Social media users, right-wing commentators, and local lawmakers were quick to note his recent vacations—to his beach house in Delaware and to Lake Tahoe in Nevada, which he interrupted to visit Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, to view the recovery effort after deadly wildfires in August—as well as the Republican leanings of the local residents affected by the spill.

"Like ski trips and beach vacations?" J.D. Vance, a GOP senator for Ohio, who has been outspoken about the disaster, responded, adding sarcastically: "Yeah you've been so busy."

Newsweek approached the White House via email for comment on Monday.

On February 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed with 38 cars coming off the tracks, 11 of which were carrying toxic chemicals. The derailment sparked a large fire, which prompted emergency responders to breach five cars carrying vinyl chloride and initiate a controlled burn, sending toxic gases into the atmosphere.

Environmental Protection Agency officials subsequently detected toxic substances in the nearby water and soil but consistently stressed air contamination remained at safe levels—despite complaints from residents.

In the months since, there has been an ongoing clean-up operation being undertaken at the site by the EPA and Norfolk Southern contractors.

On March 2, when asked previously about visiting the train derailment site, Biden said: "I will be out there at some point."

Criticism of the president's perceived lack of action over the incident intensified after former president Donald Trump visited East Palestine, bringing with him palettes of his own branded water while testing of the town's water supply was ongoing.

In early March, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cited the "disruptive effects" of a presidential visit on recovery operations when asked about why Biden had yet to make the trip.

"I was thinking whether I'd go to East Palestine this week, but then I was reminded I've got to go literally around the world," Biden also said at the press conference on Saturday. "I'm going from Washington to India to Vietnam—and so it's going to be a while. But we're making sure that East Palestine has what they need materially in order to deal with the problems."

The president will travel to India on Thursday for a G20 summit, before travelling to Hanoi on Sunday to discuss cooperation with the Asian nation.

"You literally spent 19/31 days in August on vacation," Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, a Republican Party spokesperson, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in response to Biden's remarks.

"Joe Biden is too busy for the residents of East Palestine," Benny Johnson, a political columnist and Turning Point U.S.A. official, reacted.

Meanwhile, Greg Price, communications director for the conservative State Freedom Caucus Network, said: "It would be easier to just say 'I'm not going to East Palestine because it's a town that voted over 60 percent for Donald Trump.'" The former president in fact took nearly 69 percent of votes cast in the town.

During his trip to Live Oak, an area that voted even more strongly in favor of Trump in 2020, Biden participated in an aerial tour of the storm damage and was briefed by local officials on the recovery efforts.