Donald Trump, Without Evidence, Blames Democrats And Dei For Plane Crash

President Donald Trump on Thursday — without evidence — blamed Democrats and diversity, equity and inclusion practices for the plane crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that he deemed was a “tragedy of terrible proportions.”

In response, Trump said he was tapping Chris Rocheleau, a top executive for an aviation business association, to be acting FAA administrator.

“As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly,” Trump said from the White House briefing room after requesting a moment of silence. “Really, we are in mourning. This has really shaken a lot of people.”

But what began as a scripted speech quickly turned political and spiraled into blame casting, as Trump placed the onus of the catastrophe on the helicopter crew and Democrats and suggested that it was the result of diversity hiring.

Trump, when asked for evidence to back his claim that diversity hiring was to blame for the crash, offered none: “just could’ve been,” he said. He later said it was because he has “common sense.”

Presidents and other leaders typically avoid getting ahead of the investigation, focus on victims in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy and refrain from attacking political enemies

“I put safety first. [Former presidents] Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level,” the president said. “Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”

He placed specific blame on Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, whom Trump called “a disaster” who “just got a good line of bullshit.”

“He’s run [the department] right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.

Vice President JD Vance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined the president on stage at the briefing and similarly in their remarks suggested DEI had been to blame.

The president’s remarks came hours after authorities said there were no survivors in the midair collision between a regional American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter late Wednesday at the airport. The catastrophe — the nation’s most serious aviation disaster in decades — prompted a frantic search and rescue effort in the Potomac River that shifted into recovery mode early Thursday.

As of Thursday morning, 27 bodies had been recovered from the Bombardier CRJ700 plane, operated by PSA Airlines on behalf of American, and one body had been recovered from the helicopter, a Sikorsky H-60. A total of 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the American Airlines flight, which departed from Wichita, according to the airlines, and three soldiers were on the helicopter.

Rocheleau, now the acting FAA administrator, was most recently the National Business Aviation Association’s chief operating officer. Transportation industry officials and former members of Trump's transition team previously told POLITICO it was expected that Rocheleau, who served in the FAA, would first be appointed deputy before assuming the acting role.

Rocheleau has more than 20 years of experience from multiple aviation-adjacent roles, including serving as a senior adviser at the Transportation Security Administration when the agency was just coming into fruition.

Rocheleau replaces Mike Whitaker, who was in the job for a little over a year. Whitaker was seen as a steady force for the agency as it dealt with the fallout from the door-plug incident on board a Boeing 737 MAX aircraft last year, as well as the ongoing national shortage of air traffic controllers. Whitaker announced he would resign before Trump took office earlier this month.