(NewsNation) — Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano told NewsNation host Leland Vittert that he “didn’t know” he received $1,000 from Norfolk Southern’s political action committee.
Mastriano reportedly denied receiving any money from the train operator, but campaign records revealed the opposite.
Mastriano ran for governor of Pennsylvania last year, losing to Democratic then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Norfolk Southern, the company whose train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, issued a statement Thursday emphasizing the crew responded appropriately to the alarm.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Norfolk Southern is now inspecting all of the nearly 1,000 wayside heat detectors on its system — on top of the regular inspection of the detectors every 30 days,” the statement read. “We and the rail industry need to learn as much as we can from this event.”
The derailment has continued to cause problems for Ohioans and Pennsylvanians who live just across the border.
Watch Mastriano’s full discussion with Vittert in the video player above.