Donald Trump/claims/DC plane crash

Donald Trump's claims about the air collision on 2025-01-29

Trump has repeatedly made statements about the air disaster in DC that do not align with reality.

Claims

In short, Trump was already blaming one of his pet villains, DEI, before any facts were known about the events leading up to the crash.

News

News

• 2025/01/31 21:20 UTC [L..T] 'Flashing red warning light': Analyst lists many ways Trump could be blamed for D.C. crash «"If we’re recklessly assigning blame, we might just as easily point out that, before Trump took office, there hadn't been a major commercial plane crash in the United States in the previous 16 years; that, in the week before the crash, Trump sacked the head of the Transportation Security Administration, disbanded the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, failed to name an acting head of the FAA, and imposed a hiring freeze that apparently includes air traffic controllers; and that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year celebrated his 'landmark victory' in expanding the number of flights out of National," wrote Milbank.»
• 2025/01/31 13:38 UTC [L..T] Did FAA Reject Air Traffic Controllers Based on Race? What We Know «Complaints about the Federal Aviation Administration's hiring policy have resurfaced following the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport aircraft disaster, including claims that candidates were rejected based on race.»
• 2025/01/30 21:36 UTC [L..T] [US:EO] Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety «This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude. During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence. But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous "diversity equity and inclusion tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with "severe intellectual" disabilities in the FAA.» Parts of this are clearly lies, while others are just misleading. It would seem to be a follow-up to comments apparently made to reporters after the crash.
• 2025/01/30 21:03 UTC [L..T] Trump Acknowledges He Doesn't Have Evidence DEI Caused D.C. Plane Crash When pressed on the issue of whether there's any evidence for a connection between the crash and DEI, Trump throws out more attacks, distractions, and lies (but no evidence).
• 2025/01/30 [L..T] Trump baselessly criticizes DEI in D.C. plane crash; 67 feared dead «President Donald Trump suggested without evidence that the crash may be linked to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at the Federal Aviation Administration. He accused Democratic former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama of lowering hiring standards at the agency. Trump also announced the appointment of acting FAA administrator Chris Rocheleau.» Later that day, Trump issued an Executive Order elaborating on these talking-points.