With no evidence, Trump blames air tragedy on predecessors and diversity policies

By DARANEE BALACHANDAR, COLIN MCNAMARA and MENNATALLA IBRAHIM

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed Obama and Biden administration diversity policies for Wednesday’s fatal collision of a jetliner and helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Trump offered no evidence for his speculations at a White House press conference, but said “I have common sense” when asked to elaborate.

“We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are…they can’t have regular people (serving as air traffic controllers). They won’t be able to do it,” Trump said.

Aviation experts and lawmakers criticized Trump for breaking established investigation protocols with conjectures. 

Historically, presidents have not speculated on the causes of disasters of this kind before investigators have made at least preliminary assessments. Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of The Air Current, which covers aviation, noted on X that Americans are “watching in real-time the systematic unraveling of decades of aviation safety accident investigative precedent.”

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines plane collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter as the jet was on final approach to Reagan National. The plane, flying from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four flight crew members, while the helicopter was conducting a routine retraining flight with three military personnel onboard.

Dive teams were retrieving bodies from the Potomac River and officials said there were no survivors.

Trump was joined by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, newly appointed Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Vice President J.D. Vance, all of whom doubled down on Trump’s anti-DEI remarks and praised his leadership.

The Federal Aviation Administration under the Obama Administration implemented a directive to diversify its workforce that was “too white,” Trump said.

Vance charged that “many hundreds of people were suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but they were turned away because of the color of their skin.”

The collision took place just over a week after the president signed an executive order on Jan. 21 titled  “Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation,” touted as returning to merit-based hiring and removing DEI initiatives at the FAA.

In response to Trump’s DEI remarks, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a media briefing that “as part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment, so we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident.”

Along with DEI, Trump also placed blame on the helicopter pilots, which he said wrongfully flew at the same height as the aircraft and took an “unbelievably bad” angle.

“The people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going,” Trump said. “I can’t imagine people with 20-20 vision not seeing what’s happening up there.”

John Cox, president and CEO of Safety Operating Systems LLC and a veteran airline and general aviation pilot who has worked on NTSB investigations, told MSNBC that Trump’s remarks are “contrary to what worldwide investigation protocols demand.”

“The standards have never changed,” he said. “To allege that these pilots were somehow substandard, to allege that the controllers were somehow substandard—at the very minimum is very premature and without foundation.”

Trump also directly attacked former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying he ran the government agency “right into the ground with his diversity” and calling him a “disaster as a mayor.”

Buttigieg responded in a statement on X: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”

Trump announced that he was “immediately appointing” Christopher Rocheleau as acting FAA administrator.

Rocheleau is currently serving as deputy administrator of the agency. The FAA has not had a leader since former Administrator Michael Whitaker stepped down from the position on Jan. 20 after being pressured to resign by Elon Musk.

The NTSB has yet to release any information about potential causes in its ongoing investigation. The agency plans to release information as it comes and intends to issue a preliminary report within 30 days, according to J. Todd Inman, the NTSB member in charge of the investigation.

Several other lawmakers and aviation experts expressed dismay over Trump’s comments.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said Trump was politicizing a tragedy, “jumping to outrageous conclusions and undermining ongoing investigations.”

“His comments were grotesque and outrageous and he owes the American people an apology,” the senator said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and NAACP President Derrick Johnson also criticized the president for politicizing the accident and pushing false and divisive claims during the ongoing investigation.

“It’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracies, it’s another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still notified,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday.

“Using the highest office in the land to sow hatred rooted in falsehoods is unpresidential, divisive, and downright disgusting,” Johnson said.