By
Emily Crane
February 22, 2023 6:14pm
Updated
Former President Donald Trump handed out bottles of “Trump Water” to residents of East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday, claiming they had been “betrayed” by President Biden’s handling of the toxic train derailment in their community.
The 76-year-old Republican showed up with 13 pallets of the Trump-branded spring water — totaling 14,000 bottles — amid fears the Feb. 3 derailment and controlled burn of toxic chemicals had contaminated the air and drinking supply.
“We’re bringing thousands of bottles of water — Trump Water … We have it in trucks and we brought some in my plane… You’re going to have plenty of water for a long time,” he told a crowd at the local firehouse, roughly half a mile from the derailment site.
Donning his trademark “Make America Great Again” hat, Trump also vowed to provide food and cleaning supplies — and insisted to residents: “You are not forgotten.”
“We stand with you … we pray for you, and we’ll stay with you in your fight to help answer and [get] accountability that you deserve,” Trump said.
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Trump, who has recently launched his 2024 White House bid, also ripped into his successor during the visit, telling residents: “In too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal.”
“What this community needs now are not excuses and all of the other things you’ve been hearing, but answers and results.”
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung added to Breitbart News: “President Trump is meeting with the citizens of East Palestine and he will never forget them and what they are going through. Contrast that with Biden and the federal government, who have failed them from the beginning.”
President Biden, 80, and his administration have faced intense backlash over its response to the disaster, which sparked mass evacuations and saw the controlled burn of hazardous materials.
Bottled water has been provided by the rail company behind the derailment, Norfolk Southern, for residents to use instead of tap water since the disaster. On Tuesday the head of the EPA and local politicians drank the tap water on camera in an attempt to prove it was still safe.
Biden has also come under fire for still having not visited East Palestine some three weeks after the derailment — but finding the time to fly to Ukraine earlier this week.
Trump latched on to Biden’s surprise Ukraine trip, saying he hoped the president has “some money left over” for the residents of East Palestine when he returns.
The 45th president had landed at Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport on Wednesday afternoon and met with local leaders before addressing the crowd.
Supporters chanting “We love you, Trump!” and “U.S.A.!” lined the streets as Trump’s motorcade drove through the town.
Before he left, Trump visited a local Mcdonald’s and bought meals for firefighters and first responders and was swarmed by local people from the town, to whom he handed out MAGA hats.
In a video from inside the restaurant, he can be heard saying: “[They’re systematically destroying our country and it’s a shame. And Buttigieg should have been here.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has also been slammed for not showing up earlier in East Palestine, announced Wednesday he’d finally be visiting East Palestine on Thursday.
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The Biden administration has defended its handling of the derailment, saying the Environmental Protection Agency, National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies were at the site within hours of the derailment and remain there.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the site last week and tried to assure residents that tests had shown the air and drinking water were safe to consume.
With Post wires
