During a White House briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took questions about East Palestine after President Biden announced his intention to visit the village on Wednesday morning in February.

During the press conference, Jean Pierre took a question asking why the administration decided it was time to visit East Palestine after the toxic train derailment nearly one year ago.

"So, the mayor and the community leaders invited the President to meet with East Palestine residents and to assess the recovery progress that has been going on for some time now, as you all know," Jean-Pierre responded.

"And so the President had always said he would when it is most helpful to the community, and with this invitation,  obviously, very recent - and the current status of the recovery, we felt the time was right. Again, we got an invitation from the mayor and the community leaders to come very, very recently. And so we are working with them to figure out the best time to do that in February," the press secretary added.

The reporter added that East Palestine's mayor, Trent Conaway, has spoken critically in the past about the administration's response to the crisis and questioned whether the mayor had invited the President. 

"I am assuming he wants him to come if he is inviting him," Jean-Pierre responded. "The invite came from the mayor and other folks on the ground, so I think that is important - right - the mayor obviously wants the President of the United States to be there. And the President has always said he is a President fro folks who live in red states, for folks who live in blue states, it doesn't matter if you're in rural America, urban, suburban, he is a President for all... so let's just never forget that," she said.

Jean-Pierre said that within the hours of the derailment, the administration had people on the ground at the accident site, including the EPA, DOT and FEMA.