How Bad Is the Biden Admin? They Blew off What Their NTSB Director Said to Push Politics

As we reported on Thursday, despite claiming he didn’t want to be political, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg went full-on political, trying to blame former President Donald Trump for the derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio for deregulation regarding a brake rule.

REPORTER: "How can [Trump] help?"

PETE BUTTIGIEG: "Express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch." pic.twitter.com/6WXJAqALxd

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 23, 2023

But the reason for the accident had nothing to do with the alleged rule. It came because of an overheated bearing.

As we also reported, the head of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, settled this question on CNN on Thursday when she told Jake Tapper that ECP braking didn’t have anything to do with the accident.

WATCH: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy says the brake rule Buttigieg and Joy Behar blamed President Trump for repealing 'would not have prevented' the East Palestine derailment.

"The wheel bearing failed on car number 23. So even with ECP brakes, the derailment would have occurred." pic.twitter.com/AECPta0T5F

— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) February 24, 2023

How did this get started? Because Democrats like Buttigieg have been hot to try to deflect the blame from themselves and push it onto Trump even though he hasn’t been in office for two years and they’re supposed to be in charge.

This was particularly dishonest because the NTSB head didn’t just say this on Thursday, but she’s been saying it for more than a week, since at least Feb. 16. Indeed, she chastised people for spreading “misinformation,” saying it’s important to stick to the facts and is “misleading a suffering community.”

“Nothing…nothing is more important than accuracy at a moment like this, which is why the NTSB is deliberate in our approach to investigations,” Homendy said. “Credibility is ESSENTIAL to our lifesaving mission. The NTSB process WORKS.”

“That leads me to my last point: Anyone speculating about what happened, didn’t happen, or should’ve happened is misleading a suffering community – PLEASE STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION,” Homendy pleaded. “For example…Some are saying the ECP (electronically controlled pneumatic) brake rule, if implemented, would’ve prevented this derailment. FALSE – here’s why.”

The ECP braking rule would’ve applied ONLY to HIGH HAZARD FLAMMABLE TRAINS. The train that derailed in East Palestine was a MIXED FREIGHT TRAIN containing only 3 placarded Class 3 flammable liquids cars. pic.twitter.com/ReAFDSdsn7

— Jennifer Homendy (@JenniferHomendy) February 17, 2023

“The ECP braking rule would’ve applied ONLY to HIGH HAZARD FLAMMABLE TRAINS. The train that derailed in East Palestine was a MIXED FREIGHT TRAIN containing only 3 placarded Class 3 flammable liquids cars,” she said. “This means even if the rule had gone into effect, this train wouldn’t have had ECP brakes.”

But there’s more.

For a reminder of the history on ECP, see this graphic from @USGAO. The Dec 2015 FAST Act directive (below) resulted in PHMSA withdrawing the ECP brake rule on September 24, 2018. pic.twitter.com/not4rQkPhU

— Jennifer Homendy (@JenniferHomendy) February 17, 2023

Translation: That rule withdrawal (that wasn’t relevant anyway) was precipitated under Obama/Biden.

I urge you: let the NTSB lead the #safety analysis. Anything else is harmful — and adding pain to a community that’s been through enough.

— Jennifer Homendy (@JenniferHomendy) February 17, 2023

So Buttigieg was either ignorant of what their own Biden administration NTSB director was saying (or lying) and making this political. Even with the information laid out there by Homendy, they’re still trying to mislead the American public and, disgustingly, the people in East Palestine, who have already been through so much.

Buttigieg spoke about “misinformation” on Thursday.