President Donald Trump has kept the focus on DEI hiring practices during two public appearances since the air crash in Washington, D.C.
He signed an order citing ‘problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration.’
And he said air traffic controllers need to be ‘geniuses’ to handle the stress and complex movements of aircraft during their tense and crucial work shifts.
But he has not provided evidence that diversity hiring contributed to the crash between an inbound flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan airport.
‘We need the smartest people. We need both psychologically smart and just brilliant period,’ Trump said while signing the order and blaming DEI for the crash that left 64 dead in the Potomac River while first responders conduct a recovery operation.
Trump and his team have referenced a Fox News report from last year on Federal Aviation Administration hiring practices.
President Donald Trump blamed DEI hiring practices at two events for the tragic air crash in Washington, D.C. He rejected concerns about federal employees taking ‘buyout’ offers, heavy flight loads, or military training flights, saying controllers must be ‘very smart’ and ‘geniuses’
The report quotes the FAA’s website promoting diversity hiring and stating, “Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring.”
‘They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”
Trump quoted from the passage from the White House Press Briefing room, and he was photographed what appeared to be a printout of the story.
‘The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualified for the position of a controller of air planes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot. A little dot on the map. A runway,’ Trump said.
As Trump told it, the Barack Obama administration put in diversity hiring language, which he swept away when he took office, only to have Biden reinstitute the hiring practices.
When aide Will Scharf read from an order faulting the Biden administration and reading form the order ‘elevating’ competence,’ Trump added: ‘And Obama. But Biden much worse – not even a contest. What they’ve done is just crazy in so many other ways.’
It was Trump’s first time addressing reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room since taking office for his second term
Trump tore into Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during his remarks, which followed a moment of silence for victims
During his public remarks, Trump brushed off concerns about losing staff amid a government-wide buyout-type offer to 2 million federal employees that could allow them to stay at home and get paid through the end of September.
He said if employees took the deal and left the FAA’s workforce, they would be replaced with ‘very competent people. We have a lot of competent people.’
Shortly after his remarks, the New York Times reported that staffing was ‘not normal’ in the air control tower Wednesday night, and that one person was handling both planes and helicopters.
Trump declined an opportunity to criticize the military for apparently conducting training on a Black Hawk helicopter at night near the landing area at the busy Ronald Reagan airport.
‘Fine if they’re in the right location, if they’re not at the same levels,’ Trump told a reporter.
Trump blamed DEI policies for the crash during an extraordinary press conference Thursday, which was followed by a new executive order signing during the afternoon.
That order invoked his Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025, titled Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation, which Trump inked on his second day in office.
Despite his emphasis, Trump did not provide specific evidence that hiring played a role in the crash, even as information about the pilots and crew was filtering out,.
Asked point blank Thursday f he was aware of any performance issues or disciplinary actions with anyone working at DCA’s air control tower or the aircraft during the crash, Trump responded: ‘No.’
But at another point, asked if race and gender played a role in the tragic accident, Trump said: ‘It may have, I don’t know. Incompetence might have played a role.’
