Trump criticizes FAA diversity efforts after deadly plane crash, even as he says he doesn't know the cause yet
Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images
- Trump suggested on Thursday that diversity initiatives at the FAA led to a plane crash near DC.
- The president said he was offering a series of "very strong opinions and ideas" on what happened.
- He also criticized former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance offered heated criticism on Thursday for diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration following a deadly plane crash near Washington, DC.
After calling for a moment of silence, Trump spent the bulk of his remarks in the White House briefing room laying out a series of diversity initiatives within the FAA that he suggested could have contributed to the crash, which took place in Wednesday evening.
At the same time, Trump repeatedly acknowledged that he did not have direct evidence of a causal link between those initiatives and the crash.
"We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas," Trump told reporters.
During his remarks, Trump also criticized former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, suggesting that their policies contributed to the crash.
"You know how badly everything's run since he's run the Department of Transportation?" Trump said of Buttigieg.
President Trump on former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: "A real winner. Do you know how badly everything has run since he's run the Department of Transportation. He's a disaster...he's just got a good line of bullshit." pic.twitter.com/TTYrtmFRRU
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 30, 2025
Buttigieg later fired back via X: "As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not 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.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 30, 2025
President Trump now oversees the military and the…
Pressed by a reporter on why he thought diversity initiatives might be behind the crash, Trump replied: "Because I have common sense."
Vance also criticized diversity initiatives, saying: "If you go back to just some of the headlines over the past 10 years, you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers, but they were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trump's leadership."
Trump signed an executive order on his second day in office ending diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at the FAA.