Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg blasted President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding DEI initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration after Wednesday night’s collision between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter.
“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,” Buttigieg wrote Thursday on X.
After opening a news conference with a moment of silence for the crash victims Thursday, Trump blamed former President Joe Biden and Buttigieg for lowering standards under the guise of DEI requirements. Trump added that Buttigieg “ran things into the ground with his diversity” and was skilled at having a “good line of bullsh*t” and labeled him a “disaster.”
Trump also lashed out at the FAA, saying the agency’s diversity efforts had made air travel less safe.
“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his 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.
Trump said it was still not clear what led to the crash. He said the U.S. miliary and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
“We’ll find out how this disaster occurred and will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” he said.
Wednesday’s airline crash was the deadliest on U.S soil in more than two decades.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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