WASHINGTON — 14 hours after a midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter left 67 people dead, President Donald Trump responded to the first national tragedy of his second term by spouting lies and conspiracy theories.
Trump spoke for 36 minutes at the White House on Thursday and resorted to spreading lies about his Democratic predecessors, lying about DEI policies, and citing unfounded conspiracy theories.
“I put safety first, Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room, despite the investigation into what happened is currently ongoing.
He cited an unfounded story about a group in the FAA that had “determined that the [FAA] workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately. This was in the Obama administration, just prior to my getting there, and we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans.”
As bodies were being pulled out of the Potomac River while he spoke, Trump began with a brief moment of silence. However, apart from that, he offered no sympathy and instead blamed DEI, shocking the reporters in the room.
“We want the most competent people. We don’t care what race they are,” the President said. “If they don’t have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they’re not going to be very good at what they do and bad things will happen.”
Trump vehemently criticized reporters who asked about the source of his information and attempted to correct his statements. However, when confronted about his reasons for blaming DEI and the evidence to substantiate his lies, the President evaded providing any response.
“It just could have been. We have a high standard. We’ve had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else,” he told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce.
“No, I don’t think so at all. The names of the people — you mean the names of the people that are on the plane? You think that’s going to make a difference? They are a group of people that have lost their lives,” Trump said as he lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“I think that’s not a very smart question—I’m surprised, coming from you,” he added.
When asked about his reasoning behind linking FAA diversity policies to the disaster, Trump responded, “Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t.”
Trump put out a social media post citing an unfounded conspiracy theory just hours after the accident Wednesday night before many facts were known.
Trump has a well-documented history of placing blame and lying about tragic events. Earlier this month, he blamed Democratic politicians for the California wildfires and lied that Governor Gavin Newsom “did not turn on the water” in Los Angeles. Additionally, continued the lie that illegal immigration was the cause of the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans, despite the attacker being a U.S. citizen.

