President Donald Trump fired back at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for implying that he was “getting ahead of the investigation” into the devastating helicopter-plane crash that took place over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Wednesday after he blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
During a Thursday morning press conference, Trump began with a moment of silence for the 67 victims — 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines flight, and three military service members aboard the Black Hawk that crashed into the passenger jet as it descended towards DCA:
Trump then said that a “massive search-and-rescue” mission for potential survivors who fell into the Potomac River below the crash began “immediately,” but the efforts soon switched to a “recovery mission.”
“Sadly, there are no survivors,” the president added, before offering his condolences to all people involved.
“As a country, we are in mourning,” he said, continuing to apologize for the heartbreak the victims’ families are suffering.
According to Trump’s understanding of the crash, the American Airlines pilots “did everything right,” and “for some reason, you have a helicopter at the same height and going at an angle. It was unbelievably bad.”
The president slammed the Biden administration for undoing policies enacted during his 2017-2021 term that held air traffic control (ATC) personnel to the “highest standards,” though he acknowledged that officials “do not know what led to this crash” at this point in the investigation.
“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,” Trump said. “I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre, at best, to extraordinary.”
“Only the highest aptitude – you have to be the highest intellect – and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers,” he continued, before saying he strengthened those policies “very early on” in his first term.
“When Biden took office, he changed [the standards] back to lower than ever before… This was the lowest level. The policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse,” the president continued.
Shortly after re-entering office last week, Trump took executive action to direct the incoming Secretary of Transportation and head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to return to “merit-based hiring” for all positions, including ATC, and to end DEI initiatives.
“Last week, long before the crash, I signed an executive order restoring our highest standards for air traffic controllers and for other important jobs across the country,” Trump continued on in his Thursday remarks.
He went on to say that it “doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are” if ATC personnel are smart and talented.
“What matters is intellect, talent… They have to be talented geniuses,” the president added. “We can’t have regular people doing that job. They won’t be able to do it.”
Trump then read quotes from articles covering the FAA’s “diversity push,” including a January 15 Fox News piece that revealed that the agency was “actively recruiting workers who suffer ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”
In a Thursday Fox News article that followed Trump’s press conference, the outlet noted that the DEI language on the FAA website was “present during Trump’s first administration” as well as former President Joe Biden’s.
Later in the press conference, Trump called Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a “disaster.”
“He’s just got a good line of bullshit,” he said of the former Democrat presidential candidate.
When Trump opened the floor to questions, Collins attempted to shame him for bringing up policy changes that could have prevented the crash:
“We don’t even yet know the names of the 67 people who were killed, and you are blaming Democrats and DEI policies, and Air Traffic Control — and seemingly, the member of the U.S. military who was flying that blackhawk helicopter,” the CNN personality asked from her front row seat in the briefing room. “Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of the investigation right now?”
Trump shot back, “No I don’t think so at all… The names of the people that are on the plane — you think that’s going to make a difference? They are a group of people that have lost their lives.”
“If you want a list of the names, we’ll be giving that very soon. We’re in coordination with American Airlines, we’re in coordination very strongly, obviously, with our military,” he continued, before delivering the final blow to Collins.
“But I think that’s not a very smart question. I’m surprised, coming from you,” he said, before moving on to other reporters.
When another journalist asked how he knew if DEI initiatives had something to do with the crash, Trump simply replied, “Because I have common sense”:
The American Airlines flight took off from Wichita, Kansas, with passengers including several members of a Boston ice skating club, along with 1994 world skating champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. Figure Skating released a statement confirming that members of their community, including “athletes, coaches, and family members,” were returning from a development camp in Wichita:
The grieving father of one of the American Airlines pilots agreed with Trump’s opinion that the plane did nothing wrong.
“This is undoubtedly the worst day of my life,” Timothy Lilley, father of 28-year-old pilot Sam Lilley, told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Timothy, who was an Army helicopter pilot himself for two decades, used his own experience to weigh in on the crash.
“In the ’90s, I used to fly in and out of the Pentagon regularly, and I can tell you if you are flying on the route over the Potomac and wearing night vision goggles, it’s going to be very hard to see that plane. If you’re not wearing the goggles, then you might have a chance,” he said.
During the Thursday press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Black Hawk crew was “fairly experienced,” and were wearing night vision goggles.
Timoty added, “From what I can see, those guys turned right into the jet. I think the PSA jet was doing everything right. The Army pilot made a grave error. It hurts me because those are my brothers, and now my son is dead.”
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