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Former President Donald Trump visits East Palestine following train derailment

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump made the trip to East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday.

While there, he toured a local creek and made remarks at the village’s fire station.

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“We’re here today in East Palestine to show our love and support for our fellow Americans,” he said.

Channel 11 was not allowed inside to ask questions.

“What this community needs now are not excuses and all of the other things, but answers and results,” Trump said.

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We spoke to multiple people who told us they were glad the former president was here, but they are especially glad of the publicity big visits give to the situation in their village.

“It brings recognition. If we keep this all at the forefront, maybe more things will get done with regulations so issues like this don’t happen again,” Tom Delo said. He lives in nearby Negley, Ohio. It’s an area suffering from many of the same issues as East Palestine, but hasn’t been included in much of the aid given by Norfolk Southern.

Local business owner Donald Elzer is also happy to have attention on the village in its time of need.

“My concern is that something else big happens in the country and everybody leaves. It would just be local people here and we’d lose that national attention,” he said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to make his first trip to East Palestine on Thursday. He’s come under fire from Republicans and people we’ve spoken with in East Palestine for not making the trip sooner.

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