Ohio derailment – live: Trump says Biden betraying East Palestine as critics call derailment trip a ‘stunt’

Former president Donald Trump is visiting the site of the train derailment in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on Wednesday and is reportedly planning to meet with local officials and donate thousands of gallons of cleaning supplies and water to support the cleanup effort.

The move has been blasted as a “political stunt” by former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a Republican who served in the Obama administration.

Mr Trump’s visit comes as the CEO of the rail operator, Norfolk Southern, faced tough questions from a reporter on how long the company will commit to remaining in East Palestine for the clean-up effort. The CEO dodged a question on the company’s lobbying efforts against some federal rail safety measures.

“What we’re really interested in is solution-based safety rules, and we’re very focused on following the science,” CEO Alan H Shaw said.

On Tuesday, another derailment took place in Nebraska when 30 cars from a Union Pacific coal train slid off the tracks outside of Gothenburg in the early hours of the morning, sparking a fresh emergency response operation. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Key points

• Trump to visit site of Ohio train derailment today

• Nebraska coal train derailment sparks emergency operation

• Pennsylvania governor hits out at Norfolk Southern ‘greed and incompetence’

• Ohio officials share video of them drinking tap water to encourage residents

• Toxic spill health concerns prompt state to open East Palestine clinic

• Angry Ohio residents seek answers on train's toxic spill

Trump tells Joe Biden to ‘get over here’ during East Palestine visit

08:00 , Graig Graziosi

During a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment, Donald Trump was asked if he had a message for Joe Biden.

Mr Trump replied by saying “Get over here.”

Mr Biden has been under scrutiny by Republicans, including the village’s mayor Trent Conaway, for taking a trip to Ukraine but not visiting the site of the train derailment.

07:00 , Graig Graziosi

Trump tells East Palestine residents they won’t be ‘forgotten’

Donald Trump told residents of East Palestine, Ohio — the site of a Norfolk Southern train derailment — that they “won’t be forgotten,” and that he “stands with them” in their struggle for restitution following the accident.

Mr Trump donated bottled water and cleaning supplies to the residents during his visit.

Yesterday the Biden administration announced that the EPA was issuing a binding order to ensure that Norfolk Southern stayed at the site and continued its clean-up efforts in the village. If the company deviates from the EPA’s plan it will continue the work and charge the company triple the costs of the work that needs done.

‘Pure political theater’: Lincoln Project overshadow Trump’s Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

06:00 , Graig Graziosi

The Lincoln Project has released a scathing video criticising former president Donald Trump for rolling back railroad regulations ahead of his visit to East Palestine, Ohio.

The group, run by former Republicans opposed to Mr Trump’s grip on the party, released the video as the former president heads to the location of the toxic train derailment that has local residents concerened.

“As Donald Trump travels to East Palestine, Ohio today, let’s ask him one question,” the video’s narrator says. “Why did he end the railroad regulations?”

Read more:

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Why did the Norfolk Southern train derail in Ohio?

04:59 , Graig Graziosi

The National Transportation Safety Board is in the midst of an investigation into the crash. It has released some preliminary reports, but a full report is likely still some time away.

The NTSB has already established that the immediate cause of the crash was the failure of a wheel bearing due to overheating.

“NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment. Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment. The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination,” the agency said in its report. “The suspected overheated wheel bearing has been collected and will be examined by engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C.”

Read more:

Why did a Norfolk Southern train derail in Ohio?

Norfolk Southern’s $4m-a-year CEO dodges question on spending millions to lobby against new safety rule

04:00 , Graig Graziosi

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw appeared unwilling to provide details when pressed on why he lobbied against increased safety measures for the rail industry.

From the story:

“Steven Ditmeyer, a former top official at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), has told investigative news outlet The Lever that the severity of the Ohio crash might have been aggravated by the lack of ECP brakes.

During the PBS interview, Mr Bennet asked Mr Shaw about another rule change his company had opposed: “In November and December, Norfolk Southern met with federal regulators and pushed back against this proposed rule that would have, in most cases, mandated at least two crew members on trains. Why did Norfolk Southern spend so much money, millions upon millions of dollars, lobbying against it?””

Read more:

Norfolk Southern’s $4m-a-year CEO dodges question on lobbying against new safety rule

Watch: The Lincoln Project releases ad highlighting derailment and Trump’s deregulation efforts hours before former president’s visit to East Palestine

03:00 , Graig Graziosi

The Lincoln Project has released a new video focused on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and rail industry deregulation efforts Donald Trump made possible during his time in office.

The group released the video just hours before Mr Trump is set to visit the village.

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

02:00 , Graig Graziosi

When Donald Trump won office in 2016, it wasn’t initially clear who would take the credit, or blame, for the election of a reality TV star to the US presidency.

While Democrats including Hillary Clinton initially focused their fire on Russian disinformation and the role of conspiracies on social media, others pointed to a different phenomenon: the growing conservatism of the Rust Belt, the heartland of America’s manufacturing power.

It was here where progressives and Maga Republicans diagnosed the same problem: an entire region, spurned once too often by the shuttering of massive plants and the resulting regional economic collapses which followed, had turned towards the only politician unwilling to dismiss them as “flyover country” — Donald Trump. Even Democrats find themselves admitting that Mr Trump successfully painted himself as a hero of America’s working class, and in particular a hero of the kinds of blue collar union workers whose families had voted Democrat for years, maybe even decades.

That was the embarrassed anger which was evident whenever progressives and even some centrist Democrats noted that Ms Clinton’s campaign had failed to reach out to and campaign alongside labour unions in Michigan, or even worse, failed to even show up at all in Wisconsin. After 2016, the question for the left was clear: had the Democratic Party sacrificed its connection to the working class, and in particular to unions, in favour of chasing the suburbanite Republicans and independents whom they wagered were turned off by Donald Trump’s caustic rhetoric?

Read more:

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

How the Biden administration responded to the Ohio train derailment

01:00 , Graig Graziosi

Despite Mr Buttigieg’s comments there, the Biden administration has faced increasing scrutiny in the wake of the Ohio train derailment as locals ask “where’s Pete?” and East Palestine’s mayor (as we saw earlier) called the president’s Monday visist to Ukraine a “slap in the face”.

Since the disaster on 3 February there have been criticisms, both locally and nationally, that the Biden administration was too slow to react.

So what exactly have the president and his transportation secretary done since the train derailment and are the criticisms warranted?

Graig Graziosi has the answers.

What the Biden administration has done in response to the Ohio train derailment

ICYMI: Pennsylvania governor calls out ‘corporate greed and incompetence’ of Norfolk Southern over train derailment

00:00 , Graig Graziosi

Cleanup gets underway at site after Ohio train derailment

23:00 , Graig Graziosi

League of Conservative Voters says Trump ‘feigning concern’ for East Palestine

22:15 , Graig Graziosi

Sara Chieffo of the League of Conservative Voters called out Donald Trump, saying he was “feining concern” for residents of East Palestine during his visit to the site of a train derailment in the village.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy for Trump to feign concern for the community of East Palestine after years of openly mocking and rolling back environmental safeguards,” she said.

Trump tells crowd of East Palestine supporters to ‘have fun everybody’ during visit to train wreck site

22:00 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump was greeted by crowds of supporters in the village of East Palestine Wednesday, during which he told fans to “have fun everybody” while he was visiting the site of a derailed Norfolk Southern train whose cargo of hazardous chemicals was vented and burned over the village.

Mr Trump also bought lunch for first responders at a local McDonald’s and passed out water and cleaning supplies during his visit.

Trump brags about bringing ‘Trump water’ to families affected by Ohio train derailment

21:40 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump traveled to East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday where he bragged about bringing clean “Trump water” to families whose lives were upended by a massive train derailment earlier this month.

The ex-president was flanked by local officials as he noted that he was “bringing water, Trump water, actually, most of it”, to families in the region. It couldn’t immediately be verified what percentage of the bottles donated by the president were branded with his own name.

“Some of it, we had to go to a much lesser quality water,” quipped the former president.

It was a scene that played out as a perfect headache for the Biden White House, as the ex-president’s visit occurred just hours before Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was set to visit the region and therefore allowed Mr Trump to claim the mantle of first to the scene.

Read more:

Trump brags about bringing ‘Trump water’ to families affected by Ohio derailment

Trump accuses federal government of ‘indifference’ and ‘betrayal’ in response to East Palestine train derailment

21:30 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump has accused the federal government of ‘indifference’ and ‘betrayal’ in response to East Palestine train derailment.

Officials from the EPA, the NTSB, and the DOT were on site in East Palestine on the day the accident occurred. The EPA has also bound Norfolk Southern under penalty of fine to continue its work paying for and cleaning up the crash site. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said during a press conference that Joe Biden had reached out personally to offer additional federal aid. Mr DeWine did not ask for further federal assistance until 16 February, which the White House responded to by dispatching a multi-agency team, including FEMA officials.

Trump buys lunch for firefighters and first responders at East Palestine McDonald’s

21:20 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump bought lunch for the firefighters and first responders in East Palestine during his visit to the village where a Norfolk Southern train derailed.

The former president took the group of workers to the village’s McDonald’s location for their meals.

Trump says East Palestine mayor ‘easy to find’ and compliments village on having ‘no crime’ and ‘no problems’ while standing at train crash site

21:10 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump praised the village of East Palestine during his visit to the train derailment site, complimenting it for having “no crime.”

“It’s a nice place, right? What do you have, zero crime? Zero crime, no problems,” he said while looking over the spot where a Norfolk Southern train derailed, after which its cargo of hazardous vinyl chloride was vented and burned, sending a pillar of toxic smoke into the air above the village.

He met with several local officials during his trip, including Senator JD Vance, Congressman Bill Johnson, and the village’s mayor, Trent Conaway, who he said was “very easy to find.”

Trump touts his ‘Trump water,’ during visit

21:02 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump visited the site of the Ohio train derailment in East Palestine today, where he was welcomed by crowds of supporters.

Mr Trump brought “thousands” of bottles of water as well as cleaning supplies with him to distribute to the residents of the village.

He told residents they should try to get their hands on his “Trump water” rather than the “much less quality water” his team had to source in order to provide enough to distribute.

Trump bashes Biden during East Palestine visit, silent on Norfolk Southern

20:30 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump took the opportunity during his visit to East Palestine, where a Norfolk Southern train derailed, to take a few shots at Joe Biden.

He said Mr Biden should “get over here” when asked if he had a message for the president, and later noted that he had visited Ukraine, and wondered aloud if the president would have “money left” for the residents of East Palestine.

The federal government has issued a binding order forcing Norfolk Southern to clean-up and pay for the clean-up efforts in the village.

The Biden administration also dispatched EPA, NTSB, and DOT teams to the site immediately after the crash, and Governor Mike DeWine noted during a press conference that the president reached out personally and offered additional federal assistance, which the governor declined until 16 February.

Mr Trump took credit for the federal response to the accident, which began before he announced he planned to visit the village.

Trump tells Joe Biden to ‘get over here’ during East Palestine visit

20:10 , Graig Graziosi

During a visit to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment, Donald Trump was asked if he had a message for Joe Biden.

Mr Trump replied by saying “Get over here.”

Mr Biden has been under scrutiny by Republicans, including the village’s mayor Trent Conaway, for taking a trip to Ukraine but not visiting the site of the train derailment.

Trump tells East Palestine residents they won’t be ‘forgotten'

19:49 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump told residents of East Palestine, Ohio — the site of a Norfolk Southern train derailment — that they “won’t be forgotten,” and that he “stands with them” in their struggle for restitution following the accident.

Mr Trump donated bottled water and cleaning supplies to the residents during his visit.

Yesterday the Biden administration announced that the EPA was issuing a binding order to ensure that Norfolk Southern stayed at the site and continued its clean-up efforts in the village. If the company deviates from the EPA’s plan it will continue the work and charge the company triple the costs of the work that needs done.

‘Pure political theater’: Lincoln Project overshadow Trump’s Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

19:45 , Graig Graziosi

The Lincoln Project has released a scathing video criticising former president Donald Trump for rolling back railroad regulations ahead of his visit to East Palestine, Ohio.

The group, run by former Republicans opposed to Mr Trump’s grip on the party, released the video as the former president heads to the location of the toxic train derailment that has local residents concerened.

“As Donald Trump travels to East Palestine, Ohio today, let’s ask him one question,” the video’s narrator says. “Why did he end the railroad regulations?”

Read more:

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Why did the Norfolk Southern train derail in Ohio?

19:30 , Graig Graziosi

The National Transportation Safety Board is in the midst of an investigation into the crash. It has released some preliminary reports, but a full report is likely still some time away.

The NTSB has already established that the immediate cause of the crash was the failure of a wheel bearing due to overheating.

“NTSB investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment. Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment. The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination,” the agency said in its report. “The suspected overheated wheel bearing has been collected and will be examined by engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C.”

Read more:

Why did a Norfolk Southern train derail in Ohio?

Trump arrives in East Palestine, speaks with mayor and Senator JD Vance

19:27 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump has arrived in East Palestine, Ohio, to visit the scene of the Norfolk Southern train derailment.

Mr Trump was seen chatting with Trent Conaway, the mayor of East Palestine, and Senator JD Vance of Ohio.

GOP Congresswoman attacks Biden, Buttigieg over train derailment response

19:15 , Graig Graziosi

Republican Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee attacked US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden over their response to the Ohio train derailment.

Her attack comes just as Donald Trump is set to visit East Palestine.

While Ms Harshbarger’s attacks target Mr Biden and Mr Buttieig, it omits that the federal government, including the EPA, NTSB, and DOT officials have been responding to the train accident since its initial derailment on 3 February.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to participate in cable news townhall tonight

19:00 , Graig Graziosi

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is reportedly joining a CNN townhall that will be televised tonight.

Mr Shaw and officials from Norfolk Southern skipped an earlier townhall meeting in East Palestine last week, claiming officials felt their safety might be threatened if they participated.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and EPA Administrator Michael Regan will also be participating in the event.

Crowds gather in East Palestine to meet with Trump

18:42 , Graig Graziosi

Reporters on the ground in East Palestine report that crowds have gathered in the village in anticipation of Donald Trump’s visit to the village today.

Columbiana County, where East Palestine is located, voted overwhelmingly for Mr Trump in the 2020 election.

Donald Trump lands in Ohio

18:26 , Graig Graziosi

Former President Donald Trump has landed in Vienna, Ohio, approximately 36 miles north of East Palestine.

Mr Trump plans on visiting East Palestine and donating bottled water and cleaning supplies to the village during his stop.

Norfolk Southern’s $4m-a-year CEO dodges question on spending millions to lobby against new safety rule

17:38 , Graig Graziosi

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw appeared unwilling to provide details when pressed on why he lobbied against increased safety measures for the rail industry.

From the story:

“Steven Ditmeyer, a former top official at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), has told investigative news outlet The Lever that the severity of the Ohio crash might have been aggravated by the lack of ECP brakes.

During the PBS interview, Mr Bennet asked Mr Shaw about another rule change his company had opposed: “In November and December, Norfolk Southern met with federal regulators and pushed back against this proposed rule that would have, in most cases, mandated at least two crew members on trains. Why did Norfolk Southern spend so much money, millions upon millions of dollars, lobbying against it?””

Read more:

Norfolk Southern’s $4m-a-year CEO dodges question on lobbying against new safety rule

Pete Buttigieg reportedly heading to East Palestine on Thursday

17:08 , Graig Graziosi

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is reportedly travelling to East Palestine, Ohio on Thursday.

He will arrive the day after Donald Trump’s visit to the village.

East Palestine preps for Trump visit with welcome signs and even a Trump honey vendor

16:37 , Graig Graziosi

Some residents of East Palestine, which is located in reliably red Columbiana County, Ohio, appear to be excited for former President Donald Trump to visit.

NBC News’ Henry Gomez shared images from the village ahead of Mr Trump’s arrival.

Trump begins his travel to East Palestine

15:55 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump appears to be on his way to the village of East Palestine.

Few details of his visit were made public. It’s unclear where he’ll be or how long he plans on staying in Ohio.

Trump to donate water, cleaning supplies during East Palestine visit

15:40 , Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump will reportedly donate 13 pallets of bottled water as well as cleaning supplies to the village of East Palestine during his trip on Wednesday.

Mr Trump will be joined by East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway, Senator JD Vance, Congressman Bill Johnson and other Republican state officials.

Watch: The Lincoln Project releases ad highlighting derailment and Trump’s deregulation efforts hours before former president’s visit to East Palestine

15:20 , Graig Graziosi

The Lincoln Project has released a new video focused on the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and rail industry deregulation efforts Donald Trump made possible during his time in office.

The group released the video just hours before Mr Trump is set to visit the village.

What the Biden administration has – and hasn’t – done in response to the Ohio train derailment

15:00 , Graig Graziosi

The Biden administration has faced increasing scrutiny in the wake of the Ohio train derailment, as locals question “where’s Pete” and East Palestine’s mayor calls the president’s Ukraine visit a “slap in the face.”

Norfolk Southern was forced to vent and burn the train’s load of vinyl chloride, a hazardous material used in the manufacturing of certain plastics, leaving East Palestine residents worried about their health and the longterm effects it might have on their small community.

Since the 3 February derailment there have been criticisms, both locally and nationally, that the Biden administration was slow to move to address the disaster.

What exactly have Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg done since the train derailment, and are the criticisms warranted?

Read more:

What the Biden administration has done in response to the Ohio train derailment

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

14:32 , Graig Graziosi

When Donald Trump won office in 2016, it wasn’t initially clear who would take the credit, or blame, for the election of a reality TV star to the US presidency.

While Democrats including Hillary Clinton initially focused their fire on Russian disinformation and the role of conspiracies on social media, others pointed to a different phenomenon: the growing conservatism of the Rust Belt, the heartland of America’s manufacturing power.

It was here where progressives and Maga Republicans diagnosed the same problem: an entire region, spurned once too often by the shuttering of massive plants and the resulting regional economic collapses which followed, had turned towards the only politician unwilling to dismiss them as “flyover country” — Donald Trump. Even Democrats find themselves admitting that Mr Trump successfully painted himself as a hero of America’s working class, and in particular a hero of the kinds of blue collar union workers whose families had voted Democrat for years, maybe even decades.

That was the embarrassed anger which was evident whenever progressives and even some centrist Democrats noted that Ms Clinton’s campaign had failed to reach out to and campaign alongside labour unions in Michigan, or even worse, failed to even show up at all in Wisconsin. After 2016, the question for the left was clear: had the Democratic Party sacrificed its connection to the working class, and in particular to unions, in favour of chasing the suburbanite Republicans and independents whom they wagered were turned off by Donald Trump’s caustic rhetoric?

Read more:

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

ICYMI: Ohio officials drink East Palestine water after train derailment

14:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Local and state officials drank from an East Palestine sink to help assuage fears that the village’s water was contaminated following a Norfolk Southern train derailment in early February.

How the Biden administration responded to the Ohio train derailment

13:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Despite Mr Buttigieg’s comments there, the Biden administration has faced increasing scrutiny in the wake of the Ohio train derailment as locals ask “where’s Pete?” and East Palestine’s mayor (as we saw earlier) called the president’s Monday visist to Ukraine a “slap in the face”.

Since the disaster on 3 February there have been criticisms, both locally and nationally, that the Biden administration was too slow to react.

So what exactly have the president and his transportation secretary done since the train derailment and are the criticisms warranted?

Graig Graziosi has the answers.

What the Biden administration has done in response to the Ohio train derailment

Pete Buttigieg calls out Marco Rubio for softening rail safety requirements prior to Ohio train derailment

12:00 , Joe Sommerlad

The US transportation secretary replied to criticism levied at him by Republican senator Marco Rubio by pointing out the lawmaker had voted to soften safety regulations prior to the Ohio train derailment in East Palestine.

“The facts don’t lie. The 2021 letter you signed was obviously drafted by railroad industry lobbyists. It supports waivers that would reduce visual track inspections,” he wrote.

“Now: will you vote to help us toughen rail safety accountability and fines, or not?”

Pennsylvania governor calls out 'corporate greed and incompetence' of Norfolk Southern over train derailment

11:00 , Graig Graziosi

Cleanup gets underway at site after Ohio train derailment

11:18 , Joe Sommerlad