Vice President JD Vance defended President Donald Trump’s linking of diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates to the collision between the Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight Wednesday night, saying there is a “direct connection” between short staffing and the policies.

“The president made it very clear that he wasn’t blaming anybody, but he was being very explicit about the fact that DEI policies have led our air traffic controllers to be short-staffed; that is a scandal,” Vance said during an interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox News. “Thankfully, it’s a scandal the president has stopped.”