Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he refused to answer a reporter's questions about the crisis in East Palestine, Ohio, before oddly asking to snap a photo of the journalist.

Reporter Jennie Taer approached Buttigieg while he walked outside in Washington, D.C., identified herself as a journalist from the Daily Caller News Foundation and asked what he had to say to "the folks in Ohio, East Palestine, who are suffering right now" in the aftermath of the toxic train derailment that leaked dangerous chemicals into the air. 

"Well, I'd refer you to about a dozen interviews I've given today, and if you'd like to arrange a conversation you should reach out to our press office," Buttigieg said. 

Buttigieg told Taer that he would not have a conversation with her "just walking down the street," but the reporter did not stop attempting.

"You don't have a message for them?" she asked.