Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas said Monday that President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine was a “slap in the face” to residents of East Palestine, Ohio, where a train derailment led to a spill of toxic chemicals.
Biden visited Ukraine Monday prior to meetings in Poland with the Polish president and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the war in Ukraine.
A train carrying toxic chemicals derailed near East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3, prompting evacuations and shelter-in-place orders as authorities moved to address the release of the chemicals.
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“It is an absolute travesty, a slap in the face on Presidents’ Day to this nation,” Hunt told Fox Business guest host David Asman. “And by the way this visit by the president is late. Like the supplies we got to the Ukrainians were late. Like the weapons we should have gotten to them were late. And not only is he not visiting Ohio, but he also is not visiting our southern border right here in Texas and we’ve seen five and a half million people enter this country illegally while on his watch.”
The United States has sent over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine, and announced they would send Ukraine 31 M1 Abrams main battle tanks in January following a December announcement that a battery of MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles would be provided to that country.
In joint remarks alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden announced an additional $500 million in aid to the war-torn country. The aid will include artillery ammunition, Javelin missiles and air surveillance radars.
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“I’ve not seen him at all,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio said of Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg during a Wednesday Fox News appearance. “I did get a call from the president. You know, the president said I’ll send you whatever you need.”
Hunt also blasted Biden over the situation on the border. United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encountered over 2.3 million migrants in Fiscal Year 2022, while another 600,000 migrants evaded CBP that fiscal year, Fox News reported.
“I understand helping allies abroad financially, but you bring up Ohio, what is happening right here domestically, I think a lot of people feel like we as a country are being left out,” Hunt said. “We as a country are not a priority to our commander-in-chief and to this administration. And if we’re spending $113 billion to a country abroad to fight a war what is happening here in Ohio? What is happening here at our own southern border? And again, in my lifetime this is the worst inflation I’ve seen in my lifetime. The worst border crisis I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
Former President Donald Trump said Friday he would visit East Palestine this coming Wednesday.
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