President Trump on Thursday addressed the deadly midair collision just outside Washington, D.C., as rescue crews searched for victims in the Potomac River and investigators worked to determine the cause of the crash.
In his first appearance in the White House briefing room less than two weeks since the start of his second term, Trump described the crash between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter that killed more than 60 people as a “tragedy of terrible proportions.”
But those remarks were quickly followed by a slew of finger-pointing and attacks on Democratic initiatives over the course of a roughly 30-minute briefing with reporters.
Here are five takeaways.
Trump quickly politicizes collision
Trump opened his remarks with a moment of silence for the victims and by proclaiming how tragedies like the aviation disaster bring Americans together. But his solemn tone quickly gave way to political attacks.
He knocked his Democratic predecessors, claiming they had lowered standards in aviation safety.
“I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse,” Trump said.
He said his first administration, following the Obama administration, set up “extraordinary” standards for those who work in aviation and air traffic control, and he claimed that former President Biden then “changed them back to lower than ever before.”
Trump also blasted Pete Buttigieg, who served as Transportation secretary during the Biden administration.
“He’s a disaster now. He’s just got a good line of bulls—,” Trump said.
Trump’s attacks on Democratic leaders were a reminder that he typically doesn’t react to disasters in traditional ways, and his remarks were in sharp contrast to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s vow that the Trump administration would not “pass the buck.”
DEI in crosshairs
The biggest target of Trump’s attacks on Thursday was diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which the president repeatedly claimed had lowered safety standards even as he acknowledged it was unclear who was at fault for the crash.
“Brilliant people have to be in those positions,” Trump said.
He cited efforts by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to hire individuals with disabilities, including dwarfism, missing limbs and intellectual disabilities.
“A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” Trump said. “This was in the Obama administration.”
Asked how he could come to the conclusion that diversity played a role in the deadly midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Trump said, “Because I have common sense, OK? And unfortunately a lot of people don’t.”
He later defended his assertion that diversity initiatives at the FAA could have contributed to the National Airport crash as the investigation continues.
“No, I don’t think so at all,” Trump said when asked if he thinks his claims about the helicopter, air traffic control and DEI policies were getting ahead of the investigation. He quipped to the reporter that “I think that’s not a very smart question.”
Points fingers at helicopter pilots
Trump pointed fingers at the three pilots of the Army’s UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines jet on Wednesday night. He said that the helicopter didn’t do what it was told just before it crashed into the jet and that it was “a confluence of bad decisions that were made.”
“We had a situation where we had a helicopter that had the ability to stop. … You can stop a helicopter very quickly,” he said. “The turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously, and it did somewhat the opposite of what it was told. We don’t know that would have been the difference because the timing was so tight.”
The president added that the helicopter shouldn’t have been flying at the same height as the jet and noted there “was a lot of vision” on Wednesday night.
“You could have turned the helicopter substantially, you could have stopped the helicopter,” Trump said. “For some reason it just kept going and then made a slight turn at the very end and by that time, it was too late.”
He also suggested that the helicopter pilots using night-vision goggles may have been part of the issue with visibility. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who joined Trump at the briefing, shared in a video earlier on Thursday that the helicopter crew was “fairly experienced” and was “doing a required, annual night evaluation” with night-vision goggles.
“It may change your view plan if you do have the night vision,” Trump said. “That would be maybe a reason why you wouldn’t actually see as well where on a clear night, you can sometimes see better without it.”
Trump names FAA appointee
Trump, during the briefing, announced he would appoint an acting Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator in the wake of the midair crash.
“I’m also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA, Christoper Rocheleau. A 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much, appreciate it,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room.
Rocheleau, who is serving as deputy administrator, was in the room for the announcement.
Former FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker resigned on Trump’s Inauguration Day after he served for just more than a year. Whitaker faced pressure to step down from top Trump ally Elon Musk, who called for him to resign following Whitaker’s comments that SpaceX “launched without a permit,” in reference to two launches last year in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The FAA administrator is a Senate-confirmed position, sworn in for a five-year term. Whitaker was confirmed in October 2023.
No hesitancy to fly
Trump insisted that Americans should not be hesitant to fly in the wake of Wednesday night’s crash.
“No, not at all. I’m not hesitant to fly,” Trump said.
“We have the safest flying anywhere in the world, and we’ll keep it that way,” he added.
Reagan Washington National Airport reopened for flights at 11 a.m. on Thursday in the wake of the tragedy. It closed for takeoffs and landings immediately after the collision.
Julia Mueller contributed.
