In the aftermath of the deadly plane crash near Washington, D.C., President Trump spoke Thursday from the White House press briefing room and suggested, without evidence, that DEI programs were to blame for the tragedy.

Washington

A regional jet carrying 64 people collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC.

D.C. Crash

In a recent address from the White House, former President Donald Trump addressed a significant plane crash incident near Washington, D.C. He suggested that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs might be implicated in the tragedy, despite providing no evidence to support this claim. The crash has generated discussions on the role of DEI programs, despite there being no factual basis linking them to the incident.

President Trump has been vocal in his criticism of government diversity initiatives. He pointed to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), alleging they are recruiting individuals with severe disabilities under a DEI initiative. It should be noted that this recruitment policy has been in place since at least 2013 and includes efforts to hire people with disabilities for various roles, including air traffic operations. 

During his previous administration, a program was established to assist individuals with disabilities in preparing for careers in air traffic operations. By the end of 2021, this effort resulted in the FAA hiring one potential air traffic controller trainee. Throughout Trump's campaign, he has accused the Biden administration of excessively prioritizing DEI, claiming it distracted federal agencies from their core missions, although no evidence was provided that such initiatives had any direct impact on the incident in question.



Trump points blame at DEI programs in response to plane crash

President Trump urged Americans to pray for the victims yesterday, but he also criticized the helicopter pilot and air traffic controllers, and turned that into an attack on government diversity efforts. The Federal Aviation Administration, this was before I got to office, recently, second term. The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative. The president offered no evidence that diversity programs had anything to do with the crash. Our Ed O'Keefe has been following all of this from the White House. Ed, good morning. Adriana, good morning. Since he returned to the White House last week, the president's been signing a series of orders designed to undo all sorts of Biden-era policies, including diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The program he cited is a longstanding FAA policy that was on the agency's website since at least 2013, including throughout Trump's first term. It was designed to ensure the FAA was recruiting people for a variety of roles who might have disabilities. Another program established during the first Trump administration aimed to help people with disabilities prepare for careers in air traffic operations, and led to the FAA hiring just one potential air traffic controller trainee by the end of 2021. Throughout his campaign, President Trump and allies have argued the Biden administration had allowed too much focus on DEI issues to divert or distract federal agencies and departments from their missions. But important to point out, he claimed without proof those programs might have contributed somehow to the FAA's inability to stop the tragic collision. Adriana? Ed, thank you so much.

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D.C. Crash