Fact Check: Pete Buttigieg Blames Trump for Ohio Train Disaster; Biden’s Own Admin Calls Pete Buttigieg’s Claims on East Palestine Train ‘Misinformation’; Ohio Train Derailment: Trump to Visit East Palestine, Report Says

Fact Check: Pete Buttigieg Blames Trump for Ohio Train Disaster:

CLAIM: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is blaming former President Donald Trump for the train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, claiming, “we’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation,” and citing a “braking rule” that was withdrawn under the Trump administration.

VERDICT: False.

While it is true that in 2018 the Department of Transportation (DOT) withdrew a proposed rule requiring trains carrying certain dangerous chemicals to use electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes, this rule would not have applied to the train that derailed in East Palestine on February 3.

In addressing the train derailment on Tuesday, Buttigieg claimed, “We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation,” and cited “the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015.”

Buttigieg’s assertion, however, is incorrect.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy announced on Thursday that if this particular rule were to have gone into effect, the mandate would have applied only to trains classified as high-hazard flammable trains. —>READ MORE HERE

Biden’s Own Administration Calls Pete Buttigieg’s Claims on East Palestine Train ‘Misinformation’:

A member of Biden’s own administration called U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s claims about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — in which he blamed former President Donald Trump — “misinformation.”

On Tuesday, while addressing the rail disaster, Buttigieg falsely claimed he is “constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation” and cited a “braking rule” that was withdrawn in 2018, under the Trump administration.

We’re constrained by law on some areas of rail regulation (like the braking rule withdrawn by the Trump administration in 2018 because of a law passed by Congress in 2015), but we are using the powers we do have to keep people safe. https://t.co/xRyyYpGOwd

— Secretary Pete Buttigieg (@SecretaryPete) February 14, 2023

Buttigieg was referring to the Department of Transportation (DOT) withdrawing a proposed rule requiring trains carrying certain dangerous chemicals to use electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes.

After that, social media users circulated this claim on Twitter, echoing Buttigieg by blaming Trump for the train derailment in Ohio earlier this month.

But on Thursday, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy took to Twitter to implore the public to “PLEASE STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION” about what caused the train disaster.

While lamenting about what she called “misinformation,” Homendy mentioned the false claim promulgated by Buttigieg on Tuesday. —>READ MORE HERE

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+++++Ohio train derailment: Trump to visit East Palestine, report says+++++

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