Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hit back at President Donald Trump after Trump, in the wake of the deadly in-flight crash over the Potomac, called Buttigieg a "disaster" and suggested he and Democrats had weakened aviation standards.
On Wednesday, a regional jet collided with a U.S. Army helicopter at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, resulting in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years. The crash claimed the lives of 67 people, including 60 passengers and 4 crew members aboard the American Airlines Bombardier.
RELATED: Donald Trump Sparks Backlash After Blaming 'Diversity' Initiatives For Deadly DC Airline Crash
Investigators have just begun examining the cause of the collision between the Army Black Hawk helicopter and the jet, which was preparing to land. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that both aircraft were following standard flight patterns and that there were no communication failures.
Radio transmissions reveal that air traffic controllers warned the helicopter of the approaching jet and instructed it to change course. Reagan National Airport reopened at 11 a.m. ET yesterday; a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) review found that the airport was understaffed at the time of the collision.
In his response, Donald Trump quickly shifted to blaming others, including the Biden administration and diversity initiatives even though it happened on Trump's watch. Trump even somehow chose to blame Pete Buttigieg, the former Transportation Secretary.
Notice how he even uses the present tense to describe Buttigieg's DOT role:
"The FAA is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg. A real winner. That guy's a real winner. Do you know how badly this thing's run since he's run the Department of Transportation?"
"He's a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor [of South Bend, Indiana]. He ran his city into the ground and he's a disaster now. He's just got a good line of bulls**t."
"You know how badly everything's run since he ran the Department of Transportation. He's a disaster."
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
Buttigieg responded not long afterward with a defense of his record while in office and accused Trump of politicizing a disaster so fresh that many of the bodies haven't even been recovered yet:
"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 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."
You can see Buttigieg's post below.
Indeed, the deadly collision has reignited concerns about air traffic control and oversight, raising questions about recent leadership shake-ups within federal aviation agencies.
Just days before the crash, Trump removed Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator David Pekoske and disbanded a key aviation security advisory group. Meanwhile, the FAA lacked permanent leadership, as Administrator Michael Whitaker stepped down before the transition, reportedly after tensions with Trump ally Elon Musk.
The Associated Press also reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) eliminated all advisory committee memberships as part of a broader restructuring. The Aviation Security Advisory Committee, formed after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing, remains technically intact but now lacks members to fulfill its role in reviewing safety concerns and shaping security policies.
Many echoed Buttigieg's criticisms.
Trump, not to be outdone, also came under fire for baseless claims he made during the same press briefing about "diversity" initiatives within the FAA bearing responsibility for the crash.
There is no indication or evidence whatsoever that diversity efforts within the federal workforce have impacted air safety; nonetheless, Trump said the FAA "is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, mental problems, and other mental and physical conditions under diversity and inclusion hiring initiatives spelled out on the agency's website."
Trump has yet to offer a plan—let alone a concept of one—to address the shortage of air traffic controllers.
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