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

TAPPER: I asked the head of Norfolk Southern yesterday whether it was true that this train with 150 cars, 20 of whom — 20 of which were carrying toxic materials, only had two employees and one trainee. He said he couldn’t answer. Is it true, though?

HOMENDY: Yes. They had — the train was staffed by three personnel in the locomotive, a locomotive engineer, a conductor, and a trainee that were all in the head end of the locomotive.

TAPPER: And yet, even with the 20 cars with toxic materials, under current safety rules, that train still did not qualify for designation as a high hazard flammable train, which would have gotten it or required at least a newer, safer braking system. So that rule, as it stands right now, clearly was inadequate for the citizens of East Palestine.

Why not add the newer braking system to any train carrying hazardous material, not just those with more than 20 cars of hazardous material?

HOMENDY: Well, and the NTSB has looked at electronically controlled pneumatic braking for a number of years, and we did some testing as well. Certainly, it would improve safety. But for this investigation and for this derailment, ECP brakes would not have prevented the derailment. The wheel bearing failed on car number 23. Even with ECP brakes, the derailment would have occurred.

[Maybe the Secretary of Transportation needs to learn something about, er … transportation. — Ed]