Instead of encouraging the public to wait for all the facts before jumping to conclusions about what led to the mid-air collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight, President Donald Trump offered an array of baseless, conflicting theories during a Thursday morning news conference that left many in the White House briefing room stunned by his recklessness.
While the emergency rescue efforts continue in the icy Potomoc River, it appears unlikely that any of the 64 passengers on the flight, or the three soldiers on the helicopter, survived, according to Wall Street Journal.
After suggesting the blame lay with the helicopter pilot — “The people in the helicopter should’ve seen where they were going,” he said, repeating a claim he made on social media hours after the crash — Trump contradicted that theory by implying an unqualified air traffic controller was at fault.
“The initiative is part of the FAA diversity and inclusion hiring plan,” he said, referring to the agency’s initiatives for hiring air traffic controllers. “Think of that. The initiative is part of the FAA diversity and inclusion hiring plan.”
“A group within the FAA determined the workforce was too white,” Trump continued. “They actually came out with a directive saying it’s too white.”
Trump falsely claimed the initiative originated under President Joe Biden and his transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg. NBC’s Peter Alexander informed the president that the policy dates back to 2013.
“It was there for the entirety of your administration, too,” Alexander said. “So my question is, why didn’t you change the policy during your first administration?”
Trump falsely claimed he had implemented the change, attacking the reporter’s credibility. He also lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she asked if he was “getting ahead” of the investigation, calling her question “not very smart.”
Reporters continued to press the president, with journalist Mary Bruce asking if he felt the crash was somehow caused by diversity hiring.
“What evidence do you have to support those claims?” Bruce continued.
“It just could have been,” Trump replied. “We have a high standard. We’ve had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else. And there are things where you have to go by brainpower, you have to go by psychological quality and psychological quality is a very important element of it. These are various very powerful tests that we put to use, and they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that’s the exact opposite.”
He then admitted, “So we don’t know.”
After repeating his assertion that the helicopter pilot should’ve seen the plane coming, he pivoted back to his new favorite boogeyman: Diversity, equity and inclusion.
“But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest,” he said. “We want somebody that’s psychologically superior, and that’s what we’re going to have.”
Another, unidentified reporter followed up by asking the president how, if he didn’t think the air traffic controllers were at fault, “you could come to the conclusion that diversity had something to do with the crash?”
“Because I have common sense, OK?” Trump replied. “And, unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. “
CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean called the president’s remarks “unprofessional, unpresidential, inconsiderate of the status of this investigation, but frankly … unhinged that he could even say with any sort of certainty that diversity, equity and inclusion policies had any part to play in this accident.”
