President Donald Trump spoke to the press about the tragic plane crash in that happened in Washington, DC, and placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of failed Democrat diversity policies.
“I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation,” said Trump.
“Just before 9 p.m. last night, an American Airlines regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew collided with an Army Blackhawk helicopter carrying three military service members over the Potomac River in Washington, DC, on final approach to Reagan National Airport. Both aircraft crashed instantly and were immediately submerged into the icy waters of the Potomac. A real tragedy.”
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions. As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. We are a country in mourning,” said Trump.
Trump blamed both former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for lowering air traffic control standards.
“You must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system. I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary. You remember that only the highest aptitude had to be the highest intellect. Psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers,” said Trump.
“That was not so prior to when I arrived in 2016. I made that change very early on because I always felt this was a job and other jobs too, but this was one job that had to be superior intelligence. We didn't really have that. And then when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. I put safety first.”
Trump went on to blame former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for failings at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“The FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a real winner. That's the guy. A real winner,” said Trump.
“Do you know how badly everything's run since he's run the Department of Transportation? He's a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his city into the ground, and he's a disaster now. He's just got a good line of bulls----.”
“The Department of Transportation, his government agency in charge of regulating civil aviation while he runs it with 45,000 people, and he's run it right into the ground with his diversity,” continued Trump.
“So, I had to say that it's terrible. Then there’s a group within the FAA. Another study determined that the workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately. This was in the Obama administration just prior to my getting there.”
Buttigieg responded to Trump's accusations on Twitter/X by saying that Trump was lying.
"Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. 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," said Buttigieg.
"President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."
Trump said more announcements would be coming out as the government learns more about the tragic crash.