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Donald Trump blamed Democrats and diversity, equality and involvement policies for a clash between a trade aircraft and the military helicopter that killed 67 people only outside of Washington.
Without quoting evidence, the president said his “common sense” assessment was that the accident was caused by poor security standards as a result of Dei policies presented by his predecessors.
“There is no survivor,” Trump told reporters on Thursday as he went to the podium in the White House press conference room for the first time in his second presidency.
Airlines Airine Airlines Regional Flight, which was operated by its PSA Airlines subsidiary, originated in Wichita, Kansas. The CRJ700 Bombardier Aircraft was accessing Washington National Airport Reagan on Wednesday evening when it collided with a US Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter, plunging into the Potomac River.
The fuselage of the trade aircraft was found in three parts in the water. The US flight had 60 passengers and four crew members on board, while three soldiers were in the black hawk.
Trump, who was joined by his vice president and recently swore to the Secretaries of Defense and Transport, began his remarks with an appeal to “a moment of anxiety” when “the differences between Americans fade nothing”.
But he soon began in a political attack on the Democrats, saying former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden had reduced standards for what was allowed to qualify to be an air traffic controller.
“I first put up security, Obama, Biden and the Democrats set their first policy. And their policy was even worse.”
He said that “for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharper. We want someone who is psychologically superior”, adding that “I don’t think” people with “severe disabilities “Must be air traffic controllers.
After appearing to blame the air traffic controllers for the accident, he then turned the attention of the Black Hawk crew.
“You had a pilot problem from the helicopter point of view because it was visual. It was a very clear night. The American Airlines had glowing lights,” Trump said.
“I have helicopters. You can stop a helicopter very quickly. He had the ability to go up or down, had the ability to return, and the turn he made was not correct,” he added.
US defense officials said the black hawk was flying by an experienced crew in routine training.
Trump said investigators were trying to determine if the bodies were using night vision equipment, which “can change your view” from the cabin. A defense official said the army could not confirm whether the crew was wearing night vision glasses.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the three soldiers in the helicopter “were in a routine annual night flight in a standard corridor for a continuity of the government’s mission.”
“Tragically, last night, it became a mistake. . . There was some kind of height we have immediately begun to investigate at the level of Dod and the army, “he said, adding that what happened was” absolutely unacceptable “.
Earlier on Thursday, officials said responses had recovered 28 troops from the US flight and a body from the black hawk so far.
Trump said Russian citizens were aboard the flight and that the US would facilitate the repatriation of their troops. There have been no direct air trips between the US and Russia since the full -scale occupation of Moscow in Ukraine.
Serious aviation accidents are rare in the JBA last major crash involving an American trading plane was in 2009, when 49 people were killed aboard a Colan air flight that crashed in a house near Buffalo, New York.
Trump called on people to continue flying.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington
