Trump blasts DEI in wake of DC plane crash | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

Trump blasts DEI in wake of DC plane crash

President Donald Trump said – admittedly without evidence – that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are to blame for the horrific crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. 

Trump, speaking at a news conference Thursday, began by expressing his condolences to the people who lost their lives, but quickly transitioned to a more combative tone and bashed the Biden administration’s diversity efforts at the FAA. 

US President Donald Trump speaks about the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter in Washington,(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

When pressed about why, Trump acknowledged that there is no evidence yet that it could be blamed for the collision.

LIVE DC plane crash updates: All feared dead after midair collision 

"It just could have been," he said.

What did Trump say about the crash? 

What they're saying:

Trump took ample time during the press conference to bash the Biden administration, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Trump said Buttigieg concluded that the FAA’s workforce was "too white," and that his diversity efforts "run it right into the ground," even using profanity at one point to describe the former transportation secretary. 

RELATED: Trump says Reagan National Airport crash could have been prevented: 'CLEAR NIGHT'

"We have a high standard," Trump said when asked how the crash was caused by diversity hiring. "We've had a 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 psychology. Quality is a very important element of it. 

RELATED: American figure skater says he was barred from flight that collided with Army helicopter

"These are various very powerful tests that we put to use," Trump continued. "And they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that's the exact opposite. So we don't know. But we do know that you had two planes at the same level. You had a helicopter and a plane that shouldn't have happened. And we'll see. We're going to look into that and we're going to see. But, certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that's psychologically superior, and that's what we're going to have."

The other side:

Reporters questioned Trump on how he could conclude that DEI efforts played a role in the tragic crash when investigators don’t know yet what caused it. "Because I have common sense," Trump said. 

Buttigieg, meanwhile, responded via X, calling the president's comments "despicable."

"As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," he wrote. "We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch."

What caused the DC plane crash? 

What we know:

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.

RELATED: DC plane crash victims: What we know so far

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.

RELATED: When was the last major commercial airplane crash?

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.

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.

The Source: This report includes comments from President Donald Trump's White House briefing, information from the Associated Press and previous FOX 5 DC reporting. 

NewsDonald J. Trump