President Donald Trump issued his first statement following the tragic plane crash near Washington, D.C

 


At his first news conference since the aircraft collision over the Potomac River, President Donald Trump implied Thursday that diversity, equity and inclusion programs could be the cause, although an investigation into the fatal disaster has only just begun.

“We have to have our smartest people” as air traffic controllers, Trump said Thursday morning. “It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. … They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses. Can’t have regular people doing their job. We can’t have regular people doing this job. They won’t be able to do it, but we’ll restore faith in American air travel.”

Trump spent a considerable amount of time discussing the Federal Aviation Administration’s DEI initiatives, particularly under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. He cited the FAA’s acknowledgment of the underemployment of employees with disabilities.

A week before he took office, Trump said that the FAA website said “people with severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, that they want them” to be “air traffic controllers. I don’t think so.”

Later Thursday, a White House memo said the Biden administration recruited “individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA” under diversity, equity and inclusion hiring.

Timothy Shriver, chairman of the board for the Special Olympics, a sports organization for people with disabilities, said on Instagram that “to our knowledge, no persons with profound intellectual disabilities are employed as air traffic controllers in the U.S. or elsewhere.”

Trump also railed against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who served under Biden, calling him a “disaster.” But under questioning from reporters, Trump stopped short of outright blaming the programs for the midair collision Wednesday night.

“It just could have been,” Trump said when he was asked whether he believed the crash was the result of diversity hiring.

Trump went on to attack the Obama and Biden administrations, saying they lowered requirements for air traffic controllers in service of DEI. “Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse,” he said.

“A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” he added. “This was in the Obama administration.”

Donald Trump looks on as Pete Hegseth speaks.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with President Donald Trump at a news conference Thursday about the midair collision. Roberto Schmidt / AFP – Getty Images

“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,” Trump said.

An American Eagle Flight from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard, collided midair with an Army helicopter, with three people onboard, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night. Trump confirmed there were no survivors.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *