WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nearly 70 people are presumed dead after a commercial plane and military helicopter crashed mid-air Wednesday night close to Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. On Thursday, President Trump said they don’t have an exact cause of the crash, but blamed the helicopter pilot and DEI initiatives in hiring air traffic controllers.
In the early Thursday morning hours, crews went from a search and rescue effort to a recovery effort. They are still in the Potomac River recovering bodies. The last number we heard was so far they’ve recovered about 30 bodies.
As the recovery efforts continue and the investigation into the crash is still underway, President Trump blames DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives under the former administration for the crash.
He initially said he does not know what led up to the crash but has “strong opinions” about what happened. He then questioned why the Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot why they couldn’t increase or decrease altitude or turn to avoid the collision. Then he digged into the former administrations from Presidents Barack Obama and President Joe Biden. Trump claims they created diversity goals for hiring that led to a lack of quality of air traffic controllers.
“I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office,” said the President during a press briefing Thursday morning. “And here’s one: the FAA diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce said they want them in, and they want them they can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so.”
When Trump was pressed on how he could say diversity hiring was the reason for the crash, he said it was because he had quote “common sense”.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association released a statement on the crash. It says in part:
“We cannot comment on the specifics, and it would be premature to speculate on the root cause of this accident. We will wait for the National Transportation Safety Board to complete its work and use that information to help guide decisions and changes to enhance and improve aviation safety. America’s highly trained and skilled air traffic controllers all do amazing work every day keeping the nation’s passengers and cargo moving safely and efficiently to their destinations. We serve quietly, but events like this remind us of the weight we bear. This job is more than a profession; it’s a responsibility we hold deeply, and when tragedy strikes, it stays with us.”
Former DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was the Transportation Secretary under former President Biden, took to social media saying Trump’s comments were despicable. Adding: “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”
