President Donald Trump blamed former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden‘s aviation and diversity policies as 67 people are presumed to be dead after a regional American Airlines plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided near a busy airport outside Washington and crashed into the Potomac River.
Reading from prepared remarks after encouraging a moment of silence to mark the tragedy that unfolded in mid-air, Trump said he was “heartbroken” and that it was “an hour of anguish” in the White House press briefing room before criticizing diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in particular for the incident ahead of an official investigation.
“A real tragedy,” Trump told reporters on Thursday less than 24 hours after the accident. “This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital, and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions.”
While promising to be there for the families of the victims “to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love, and our support,” Trump pledged to share some “very strong opinions and ideas” about what went wrong, acknowledging the country is “searching for answers.”
“You must have only the highest standards to work in our aviation system,” he said. “I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put the policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”
When pressed for proof that diversity was specifically responsible, Trump repeatedly pointed to “common sense,” contending that “it just could have been” and previewing future firings.
“You have to go by brain power,” he said. “You have to go by psychological quality. These are very powerful tests that we put to use and they were terminated by Biden.”
Trump then used an expletive to describe Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, dismissing criticism that he was doing so before all the victims had been recovered and their names announced.
“A real winner,” the president said. “Do you know how badly everything has run since he’s run the Department of Transportation? He’s a disaster. He’s just got a good line of bulls***.”
In response, Buttigieg described Trump’s scrutiny as “despicable” as “families grieve,” arguing “Trump should be leading not lying.”
Trump also appeared to apportion blame to the pilot of the helicopter and air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“We don’t know that necessarily it’s even the controller’s fault,” the president said. “The people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going. I can’t imagine people with 20/20 vision not seeing, you know, what’s happening up there.”
He added, “I have helicopters. You can stop a helicopter very quickly. … It had the ability to go up or down. It had the ability to turn. And the turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously.”
During the briefing, where he was accompanied by his own Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance, Trump confirmed that he had named Christopher Rocheleau as acting Federal Aviation Administration administrator and remained adamant that it was safe to fly.
“I do not hesitate to fly,” he said. “It’s been many years since something like this has happened. We have the safest flying anywhere in the world, and we’ll keep it that way.”
Vance, Hegseth, and Duffy amplified Trump’s argument about problems regarding diversity, with Vance underscoring how he and the president’s administration wants “to hire the best people because we want the best people at air traffic control.”
“We want to make sure we have enough people at air traffic control who are actually competent to do the job,” Vance told reporters.
The attack on diversity was emphasized by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) during a Democratic press conference later Thursday.
“I just watched President Trump’s news conference,” Schumer told reporters. “Listen, it’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories. It’s another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families still being notified. It just turns your stomach.”
On Wednesday night, the White House circulated an official statement from Trump, in which the president informed the public he had been “fully briefed” and was grateful to the first responders for their “incredible work.”
“May God Bless their souls,” he wrote. “I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Amid Situation Room briefings alongside the likes of national security adviser Mike Walz, Trump later updated his account on his social media platform, Truth Social, in which he indicated that it could have been “prevented.”
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport,” he wrote. “The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
