President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that the Department of Transportation's hiring practices may have played a role in a mid-air collision between a regional jet and a Black Hawk helicopter.
He claimed that the Biden and Obama administrations lowered the standard as part of a broader diversity, equity, and inclusion policy to become an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration.
"They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA program," President Trump said.
Later Thursday in the Oval Office, President Trump was asked about his remarks, saying, he didn't know if diversity, equity and inclusion policies played a role in the crash, but that "incompetence" was likely a factor.
It is unknown who was the air traffic controller or whether human error was a factor in the crash that left 67 people dead.
Officials are at the beginning stages of their investigation, and the cause of the crash has not officially been determined.
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On July 26, 2010, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13548, which stated that the federal government should be a model for hiring people with disabilities.
On Thursday, President Trump echoed a statement he released last week blasting the Federal Aviation Administration for hiring people who have "severe intellectual disabilities."
"Brilliant people have to be in those positions," President Trump said.
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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to President Trump's accusations on Thursday.
Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. 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. President Trump now oversees the military and the…
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 30, 2025
Hiring practices that President Trump decried on Thursday we also taking place during his first administration. The FAA announced in 2019 a pilot program to help prepare people with disabilities for careers in air traffic operations.
"The candidates in this program will receive the same rigorous consideration in terms of aptitude, medical, and security qualifications as those individuals considered for a standard public opening for air traffic controller jobs. Participants in the program will receive up to one year of experience in an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) with the potential to be appointed to a temporary ATCS position at the FAA Academy," the FAA said at the time.
Nonetheless, President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to appoint a deputy administrator of the FAA. He also signed a memorandum to review policies around hiring at the FAA.
