President Donald Trump on Jan. 30 alleged that the midair crash that killed 67 people near Ronald Reagan National Airport was influenced by the Biden administration’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
"I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first..." Trump said.
The accident - the deadliest U.S. plane crash since November 2001 - occurred at around 9 p.m. on Jan. 29.
Trump accused former President Joe Biden of weakening hiring standards for air traffic controllers, alleging that the Transportation Department led by former Secretary Pete Buttigieg prioritized hiring “[controllers] with severe disabilities.”
“They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA program,” Trump alleged.
“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 spelled out on the agency’s website.”
Trump: "I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office. Here's one -- 'the FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.' That is amazing." pic.twitter.com/pRrmzDtWSu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2025
Buttigieg responded to Trump’s allegations in a post on X.
“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” he said.
“We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”
The former transportation secretary pointed out that the Trump administration now leads both the military and the FAA.
“One of [Trump’s] first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the president to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again,” Buttigieg said.
As Jacob Burg reports for The Epoch Times, during the previous administration, the FAA had a “Diversity and Inclusion” webpage that said:
“Diversity is integral to achieving the FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel across our nation and beyond.”
The agency’s “Aviation Safety Workforce Plan” described its policy of “attracting and hiring talented applicants from diverse backgrounds,” with a commitment to diversity and inclusion to create a “workforce with the leadership, technical, and functional skills necessary to ensure the United States has the world’s safest and most productive aviation sector.”
In February 2024, a group of 11 Republican attorneys general wrote a letter to the FAA accusing the Obama administration of seeking out applicants with “severe intellectual” and “psychiatric” disabilities.
However, the FAA’s “Diversity and Inclusion” webpage was established in February 2013 and stayed active throughout the entire first Trump administration. It was not spearheaded or developed by Biden or Buttigieg.
Trump: No Confirmation Controllers Were to Blame
In April 2024, the FAA declined to comment on the “diversity hiring” allegations but said its top priority is to hire “highly qualified air traffic controllers” in a statement to The Epoch Times.
“Every FAA-certified air traffic controller has gone through months of screening and training at the FAA Academy, and that is before another 18-24 months of training to learn specific regions and airspace,” an agency spokesperson said.
The FAA did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s Jan. 30 allegations.
Trump later said that it might not have been the fault of air traffic controllers or the FAA’s hiring practices, “We don’t know that necessarily.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a morning briefing that the helicopter pilots were wearing night vision goggles at some point during their flight.
Trump said night vision could have affected the pilots’ view of the incoming American Airlines jet.
“That would be, maybe, a reason why you wouldn’t actually see as well as on a clear night,” he told reporters at the White House press briefing.
Juan Browne, a pilot for one of the major U.S. airlines, told The Epoch Times that night vision goggles could have completely obscured the airplane’s landing lights if the helicopter pilots were wearing them at the time of the collision.
He said it was potentially a “huge contributing factor.”
Not only would night vision pose issues with Washington’s city lights below, but also with the airplane’s landing lights, which would have been blinding for the helicopter pilots wearing the night vision goggles, Browne added.
Trump said the helicopter should not have been at the same altitude as the commercial jet. The crash occurred at around 400 feet above the ground.
“The people and the helicopter should have seen where they were going. I can’t imagine people with 20–20 vision not seeing what’s happening up there,” he said.
“They shouldn’t have been at the same height.”
Military helicopters have an “above ground level” (AGL), which is the maximum altitude the aircraft can operate at in specific airspace.
The Transportation Department and FAA did not respond to requests for comment on whether the military helicopter was operating within an authorized altitude. The Pentagon referred that question back to the FAA.
The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release any official causes for the accident.
Trump said all 64 people on board the American Airlines flight died in the collision. The military officers on the helicopter, who have not yet been named publicly, also perished.
The president will be releasing a list of the victims’ names soon, “in coordination with American Airlines” and the military.
