East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway has blasted Joe Biden over the news that he is giving another $500 million to Ukraine — while not even visiting the Ohio town that a toxic chemical spill has rocked.
Mayor Conaway appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Monday while Biden was cozying up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
During the interview, Watters asked if Biden being in Ukraine made him feel slighted.
East Palestine, Ohio Mayor Trent Conaway: “I found out today through one of the briefings that [Biden] was in the Ukraine giving millions to people over there and doing nothing for us. I’m furious.”pic.twitter.com/8jn32aI4kc
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) February 21, 2023
“Absolutely. That was the biggest slap in the face,” Conaway said. “That tells you right now that he doesn’t care about us.”
Conaway continued, “he can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning in one of the briefings that he was over there in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us.”
“I’m furious,” the mayor continued. “On President’s Day here in our country, he’s over in Ukraine. That tells you what kind of guy he is.”
The mayor said that he met with Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw and that he “seemed sincere. He seemed like he cared. And right now that’s the only thing — is it comforting? No. But we have to trust him right now. As soon as he does anything that we feel that we can’t trust, then I’ll have to go back to media or government officials that are higher than me to make him do what he said he’s going to do.”
East Palestine resident Lenny Glavin said that Shaw coming to the community and meeting with people is a “start.”
Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Ohio residents are right to be skeptical about the water supply.
“Well, they’re right to be skeptical,” Brown said. “We think the water is safe, but when you return to your home, you should be tested again for your water and your soil and your air, not to mention those that have their own wells.”
When asked if he would drink the tap water himself, Brown danced around the question.
“Well, I think they are,” he said. “I mean, I talked to the mayor. The mayor said definitively, emphatically, that people can drink the water. The mayor’s — I don’t know. I don’t think the mayor has small kids. He looks a little older to me. I didn’t ask him, but — about bathing his kids.”