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At a press conference after touring the community on Thursday, Buttigieg briefly mispronounced East Palestine before correcting himself and then made what appeared to be a thinly-veiled reference to former President Donald Trump, who had touched down one day prior.

\"To any national political figures who have decided to get involved in the plight ... I have a simple message which is: I need your help. Because if you're serious about this, there is more we can do to prevent more communities from going through this,\" he said.

Asked several times about the timing of his visit, Buttigieg maintained that he was \"trying to strike the right balance\" and allowing NTSB to play its role first.

He was joined on the trip by Amit Bose, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, and Tristan Brown, the deputy administrator for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Asked at the Washington news conference about the political finger-pointing and Trump's visit to East Palestine Wednesday, Homendy said, \"Enough with the politics on this. Enough with the politics. I don't understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics. This is about addressing their needs, their concerns, that's what this should be about.\"

ABC News' Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.

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