Trump officials baselessly blame DEI in plane crash presser
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Donald Trump during a news conference at the White House on Jan. 30. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Trump and his allies are blaming diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for contributing to the tragic plane crash outside of D.C. Wednesday night, without providing any evidence of a link between the two.
Why it matters: Trump repeatedly cited DEI policies, a favorite boogeyman, at the Federal Aviation Administration as having some role in the plane collision during White House remarks. He also blamed Democrats who advanced inclusive workplace policies.
- While the cause of the crash isn't yet known, Trump implicitly equated racial, gender and other forms of diversity with a lower-quality federal workforce.
- Officials said Thursday that there hadn't been anything unusual about the flight paths for either aircraft leading up to the collision, nor had there been a breakdown in communications.
- Asked Thursday if he was getting ahead of the official investigation by blaming DEI initiatives, Trump disagreed, even while acknowledging it was still unclear what caused the collision.
Reality check: Aviation experts have focused on a shortage of air traffic controllers, rather than any DEI initiatives, as a safety concern.
- There are simply not enough people at present, of any identity, making it through the long, arduous qualification process.
State of play: Other Trump administration officials echoed the president's sentiments about the connection between DEI and the quality of the federal workforce.
- "We can only accept the best and the brightest in positions of safety that impact the lives of our loved ones, our family members," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at the press conference after Trump spoke.
- Duffy also promised reforms after Trump's comments. "We are going to take responsibility at the Department of Transportation and the FAA to make sure we have the reforms that have been dictated by President Trump in place to make sure that these mistakes do not happen again and again."
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth struck a similar note at the briefing. "The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department and we need the best and brightest — whether it's in our air traffic control or whether it's in our generals, or whether it's throughout government," he said.
- Vice President JD Vance claimed that over the past decade, hundreds of people had sued the government because they wanted to be air traffic controllers but had been "turned away because of the color of their skin."
- "That policy ends under Donald Trump's leadership, because safety is the first priority of our aviation industry," Vance added.
Elon Musk, one of Trump's most powerful supporters, has long had a combative relationship with the FAA and has previously blamed DEI efforts for making air travel less safe.
- Trump also announced Thursday that he was appointing a new acting administrator of the FAA. Former FAA administrator Michael Whitaker stepped down earlier this month after Musk pressured him to resign.
Zoom in: Trump claimed the FAA's DEI policies had included "hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities."
- People with such severe disabilities — including missing extremities, hearing and vision loss, and dwarfism — all qualified for air traffic controller positions under the DEI policies, Trump added.
- Trump did not offer specific examples of when such hires had occurred. The FAA did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
- After slamming groups that had previously determined the FAA as being "too white," Trump added: "We want the people who are competent."
Driving the news: Trump wasted little time blaming former Presidents Obama and Biden for allegedly lowering safety standards at the Federal Aviation Administration at a press conference Thursday.
- He also railed against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, saying the former Biden administration official had run the FAA "right into the ground with his diversity" initiatives.
- Buttigieg hit back at Trump's accusations in an X post, calling them "despicable" and noting that one of Trump's first acts in office was to "fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe."
The big picture: American Eagle Flight 5342 was en route from Wichita, Kansas to Washington, D.C. when it collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter late Wednesday.
- The passenger jet was carrying 64 people on board while the helicopter was carrying three soldiers.
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