Trump blames diversity, Democrats for DC air tragedy

What happened

President Donald Trump claimed without evidence Thursday that efforts by his Democratic predecessors to recruit more diverse, and especially disabled, air traffic controllers contributed to Wednesday night's deadly midair collision between an Army Blackhawk helicopter and a passenger jet landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. None of the 64 people on the plane or three on the helicopter survived, making it the deadliest U.S. air crash since November 2001.

Who said what

"I put safety first," Trump told reporters at a White House briefing. "Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first." He asserted that before he returned to office, the Federal Aviation Administration was "actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems," under a "diversity and inclusion hiring initiative." But those policies were in place throughout his first term, The Washington Post said, and it was on his watch, in 2019, that "the FAA began a program to hire air traffic controllers with the conditions that Trump decried."

Trump has a "long record" of using tragedies to "buttress his own political standing or attempt to damage that of his opponents," Politico said. But these were "some of the most extraordinary public statements he has ever made," especially in "equating diversity with incompetence," The New York Times said. When "dumbfounded" reporters asked if he had any evidence DEI played a role, Trump said "it just could have been." Asked again, he said it was "common sense."

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What next?

Trump named Chris Rocheleau acting head the FAA, after Elon Musk forced the resignation of FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker "on Inauguration Day," one year into his five-year term, Politico said. Whitaker had proposed fining Musk's SpaceX company. The National Transportation Safety Board said it would release the preliminary results of its investigation within 30 days.