President Donald Trump suggested without evidence on Thursday that the deadly midair collision of two aircraft in Washington was the result of the Federal Aviation Administration's efforts to hire a more diverse and equitable workforce.
There were no survivors among the 64 people on the jet and three soldiers on the helicopter.
Trump has made sweeping away any policy aimed at supporting diversity and equality in the federal government a hallmark of his fledgling administration.
The cause of the air crash is not yet clear, and there is no evidence that efforts to make the federal workforce more diverse have compromised air safety. Yet Trump used the briefing to step up his rhetoric on the issue, in this case against the FAA, which regulates commercial U.S. air travel.
"The FAA diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing," Trump said, claiming the FAA wanted people "with severe disabilities, the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in and they want them - they can be air traffic controllers."
Asked how he could blame diversity, equity and inclusion hiring for the crash, Trump said, "because I have common sense.”
“We want brilliant people doing this,” he added.
The FAA did not respond to a request for comment on Trump's claims.
Trump last week signed an order calling for the elimination of government diversity programs, including the ending of all federal offices and jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and put all federal DEI office staff on paid leave as their offices faced closure.
Advocates of DEI programs and initiatives say they are necessary to address longstanding inequities and structural racism affecting marginalized communities.
Safety experts, disability rights advocates and lawmakers immediately denounced the Republican president's comments.
“Blaming a natural aircraft disaster on people with disabilities and the programs designed to foster integration is unfounded," said James P. Ward, founder and executive director of ADA Watch/Coalition for Disability Rights & Justice. "It is ableist, bigoted and puts a target on the backs of people with disabilities, physically endangering us.”
Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety expert, said diversity efforts made no difference to safety standards.
"Finding out what happened to cause an accident and making changes to get better is what safety is about," he said. "This isn’t the time for politics, this isn’t the time for an agenda."
Trump blamed diversity efforts by former Democratic administrations for contributing to the crash, using an expletive to specifically criticize Pete Buttigieg, who was transportation secretary for former President Joe Biden.
Buttigieg aides have said a "diversity and inclusion" policy document was on the FAA website for years and was not removed during the Trump administration.
After the news conference, the White House said Trump in 2018 had reversed the language in place during the Obama administration that the White House said lowered the standards for hiring air traffic controllers.
Responding to Trump's suggestion that DEI played a role in the crash, Buttigieg wrote on X: "Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying."
