Facing first national tragedy in office, Trump offers condolences before launching attacks on DEI

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump took the podium at Thursday’s White House press briefing to address the deadly plane crash near Reagan National Airport Wednesday night. It is the first national tragedy the president has had to address in his second term.

In his remarks, President Donald Trump called the incident a “real tragedy,” saying that as a nation it is “an hour of anguish.”

Trump praised the response efforts of the local, state, federal and military first responders, whose coordinated recovery efforts are ongoing. So far, 28 bodies have been recovered from the frigid Potomac River, where the wreckage of both aircrafts landed. 

What officials have said

What we know:

Around 9 p.m. Wednesday night, a small passenger plane operated by Piedmont Southern Airlines on behalf of American Airlines collided with an Army Blackhawk helicopter, being piloted as part of a training exercise. 

The passenger plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members and there were three people on board the military helicopter. All 67 people aboard the American Airlines jet and Army helicopter are feared dead in what is likely the worst U.S. aviation disaster in almost 24 years, officials said Thursday.

READ MORE: ‘There are no survivors’ President Trump speaks on DC plane crash

At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the icy Potomac River after the midair collision. According to officials, the helicopter flew into the flight path of the plane while it was landing at the airport. 

The plane’s fuselage was found upside down and broken into three sections in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also located. 

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. At this time, officials stress that they do not know what caused the crash and are working to gather more information to determine what exactly happened.

What Trump said

Thanking First Responders:

Trump started off his address by offering condolences to those involved and thanking the many first responders who are continuing the recovery efforts on the Potomac River. 

“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history and a tragedy of terrible proportions,” he said. “As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly.”

He added that at this time, no one is believed to have survived the crash and that the nation is united in mourning. Trump went on to offer “love, devotion and support” to the communities impacted by the tragic incident.

The president’s tone quickly shifted as he began to discuss the investigation efforts being run by the FAA, NTSB and U.S. military. 

“They say well, ‘we’re always investigating’ and then three years later they say, ‘well, we have some pretty good ideas,'” Trump said. “We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and we’ll state those opinions now.”

Trump says the investigations will continue and that newly-appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will be working with the agencies.

Blaming Biden, Obama, DEI:

Trump then launched into a series of attacks on the Biden administration and even former President Barack Obama as a cause behind the crash —   specifically the diversity, equity and inclusion hiring policies that “the Democrats” established within the federal government. 

“This was a job that had to be superior intelligence and we didn’t have that. When I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before,” Trump said. “I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first and they put politics at a level nobody’s ever seen. Because this was the lowest level. Their policies were horrible and their politics was even worse.” 

The president went on to allege — without any specific evidence — that DEI efforts led to a lower hiring standard within the FAA, ostensibly implying that the air traffic controllers working at the time of the crash were unqualified. 

He then went on to cite “various articles that appeared before [he] entered office” to explain the detriment of the FAA’s DEI policies.

“The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities,” Trump said. “They want them in and they want them…they can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so.”

READ MORE: Trump blasts DEI in wake of DC plane crash

Citing another unspecified article, Trump said that, “The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other physical and mental conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website. Can you imagine?” 

“These are people that are…I mean actually, their lives are shortened because of the stress that they have. Brilliant people have to be in those positions and their lives are actually shortened — very substantially shortened — because of the stress where you have many many planes coming in to one target. And you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it,” he continued. 

The president discussed the various disabilities that supposedly fall within the parameters of the FAA’s DEI hiring practices, including “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.” 

“All qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country,” he said. 

There has been no word from DCA officials on who the air traffic controllers were, how many were staffed at the time of the crash, or if any of them suffered from disabilities. When pressed about why he was discussing DEI, Trump acknowledged that there is no evidence yet that it could be blamed for the collision.

“It just could have been,” he said.

Going forward

What’s next:

There is still no word on the cause of the collision. Officials have said that flight conditions were clear as the D.C.-bound flight was preparing to land on the runway at Reagan. The FAA and NTSB will continue investigating to determine what went wrong. 

Trump said he was immediately appointing Christopher Rouchelou as active commissioner to the NTSB. Rocheleau is a 22-year FAA veteran, as acting commissioner to the Federal Aviation Administration.

At this time, we know that a few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could do so on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

READ MORE: LIVE DC plane crash updates: Midair collision leaves no survivors

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller asked a helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later, saying “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ” — apparently telling the copter to wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no reply. Seconds after that, the aircraft collided.

The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 meters) short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac.

The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, officials said. The helicopter’s wreckage was also found.

Investigators will continue to examine the wreckage and its expected that cleanup efforts will begin when recovery efforts conclude. 

What we don’t know:

Federal investigators don’t know exactly what caused the crash, though Trump and others speculate that it could have been avoided. Investigators will try to piece together the moments before the collision, including any communication between the aircraft and air traffic controllers and a loss of altitude by the jet.