In the aftermath of the Washington Air crash that killed 67 people, near the Reagan National Airport, President Donald Trump blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the mishap, saying his administration’s oversight and regulations contributed to the disaster.
Trump alleged that the poor recruitment standard of hiring air traffic controllers, under the Biden administration, through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), affected the nation’s air travel system.
The president also criticized “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, in the federal government, efforts to recruit and support a diverse government workforce, adding that the policy has been “disastrous”, and led to a decline in merit-based hiring, and a lack of accountability.
During a press briefing, to address the air crash situation, on Thursday, Trump criticized former president Barack Obama’s administration, singling out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, for lowering the standards for air-traffic controllers, to consider diversity and inclusion in hiring. But he didn’t fault the controllers working the night of the crash.
“Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse. You need a special talent, and genius, to do it,” he said.
Addressing the case of the crashed aircraft, he said the Army helicopter pilot, in the ill-fated flight, should have seen the approaching American Airlines flight, and avoided it.
“For some reason, you had a helicopter, that was at the same height, and going at an angle, that was unbelievably bad, when the air traffic controller said, ‘Do you see, he was talking about, do you see him? You had a pilot problem, from the standpoint of the helicopter, because it was a clear night,” Trump said, from the White House briefing room.
“The people in the helicopter should have seen, where they were going. What was the helicopter doing, in that track? Very sad. But visually, somebody should have been able to see, and taken that helicopter out of play, and they should have been at a different height,” he added.
Furthermore, Trump assured, that the National Transportation Safety Board, and military investigators, would determine the causes of the crash, that killed 67 people.
“We’ll find out, how this disaster occurred, and we’ll make sure, it never happens again,” Trump assured.