President Joe Biden defended his decision to not visit East Palestine, Ohio, this month after a massive train derailment led to a toxic spill that is impacting the local community.

The catastrophic February 3 train derailment in the small Ohio community was caused by an overheated wheel bearing on the 23rd of 149 rail cars. Local officials subsequently evacuated all residents within one mile of the accident and started a controlled burn of the vinyl chloride that the train was transporting in an effort to prevent a massive explosion from occurring.

Biden made the remarks during an interview with ABC News host David Muir that aired on Friday.

“So do you plan to travel there and have you talked with the mayor?” Muir asked.

“I can’t recall whether, I don’t think I’ve talked to the mayor. I’ve talked to everyone else there,” Biden claimed. “Multiple times, talked to both the senators, both, both governors, I’ve talked to everyone that there is to talk to and we made it clear that everything is available.”

Biden says he “can’t recall” if he spoke to the mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, within the past three weeks. pic.twitter.com/kvVbtlmaUQ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 25, 2023

Muir then asked Biden about comments that the mayor of East Palestine made regarding Biden’s decision to not visit the American town while instead finding time to visit a foreign country.

“It’s been three weeks now since the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. As you know, the mayor says he saw you in Ukraine,” Muir said. “And he says it tells you he doesn’t care about us. They’re asking, ‘Is the president coming to Ohio?’”

“Do you have any plan to travel to Ohio?” Muir asked. “And have you talked with the mayor yet?”

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“Let’s put this in perspective. Within two hours of that derailment, the EPA was in there, within two hours,” Biden said. “Every major agency in the United States government that’s had anything to do with rail and/or cleanup was there and is there.”

Biden smirks and immediately gets very defensive when a journalist tells him the mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, "says he saw you in Ukraine, and he says, 'It tells you he doesn’t care about us.'" pic.twitter.com/VBML5Np5mV

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 25, 2023

A current Biden administration official, and former advisor to Hillary Clinton during her presidential runs, will speak to European officials in the coming week about countering “disinformation.”

The official, James P. Rubin, who is the special envoy and coordinator for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, will be in the United Kingdom until February 28, which will be followed by a trip to Belgium on March 1.

“In London, Special Envoy Rubin will meet with UK officials to solidify support for counter disinformation efforts. In meetings with UK counterparts, he will discuss efforts by Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and other actors who deploy disinformation to undermine democracy and national security around the globe, and how our nations can collectively counter threats in the information space,” the State Department said in a statement.

During his London trip, which began on Thursday, Rubin will take part in the Phoenix Challenge Forum, a conference that is put on in part by the Department of Defense and the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

The goal of the conference is to “drive knowledge collaboration and solutions across Defense and Security Organizations, Academia, Private Sector and International Partners to address complex issues related to Cognitive Security, Information Competition & Conflict, and Malign Influence.”

In Belgium, Rubin will also speak with European Union officials about countering “foreign disinformation.”

Rubin, who was a foreign affairs advisor for both the Clinton and Obama administration, was part of Hillary Clinton’s failed 2008 and 2016 presidential runs. During the 2016 campaign, Rubin suggested that Donald Trump was working with the Russians to hack Clinton’s emails.

“So the idea that a candidate for president is aiding and abetting a foreign power in its intelligence operations is, as I said, unprecedented. We really don’t know how to describe it, except I think it’s the clearest possible evidence of being – of the fact that the nominee for the other party is unfit to be commander-in-chief,” Rubin claimed in response to Trump calling for Russia to release the emails.

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He also suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin was in support of Trump’s candidacy because Putin believed that Trump would have a more favorable foreign policy toward Russia.

Democrat claims about Trump colluding with the Russians ended up falling flat, as an investigation headed up by Robert Mueller found no evidence of any collusion. Subsequent studies have also found that Russia’s influence on the election was much less than previously claimed by Democrats and the legacy media.

Rubin also has worked as a contributing editor for POLITICO magazine where he blasted Trump and his foreign policy in several columns.