President Donald Trump stepped to the White House Briefing Room podium himself on Thursday morning to provide an update on, sound off on, and spar with reporters over Wednesday night’s horrifying crash over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter.
Following opening remarks that ranged from a moment of silence to speculating barely 12 hours after the crash about its cause having been pilot error or even diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs (and then remarks from Secretaries Duffy and Hegseth and Vice President Vance), ABC’s Mary Bruce leapt at the chance to chide Trump:
ABC’s @MaryKBruce: “Mr. President, on DEI — on DEI and the claims that you’ve made, are you saying this crash was somehow caused and the result of diversity hiring and what evidence have you seen to support these claims?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
President Trump: “It just could have been. We have a high… pic.twitter.com/Lz16lMGTLW
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins surfaced a few minutes later and was ready to fight. At the end, Trump sarcastically quipped he was “surprised from you” that he’d get “not a very smart question”:
CNN’s @KaitlanCollins: “Mr. President, we don’t even yet know the names of the 67 people were killed and you are blaming Democrats and DEI policies and air traffic control and seemingly the member of the U.S. military who was flying that blackhawk helicopter. Don't you think… pic.twitter.com/dnq5P6GDCs
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
Instead of feigning outrage over Trump’s dubious claims, Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich kept her focus on the crash and the victims:
JACQUI TIME (@JacquiHeinrich): “Based on your analysis so far, do you have a sense of who is at fault? If it was plane, the helicopter, air traffic control? And can you assure people that it is safe to fly in and out of DC?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
Trump: “Well, I've given you the analysis and the… pic.twitter.com/AMFJQKxpzm
The New York Times’s David Sanger offered a personal summation to Trump of what the latter had said: “Mr. President, you have today blamed the diversity elements, but then told us that you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistake and then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistake....I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion now that diversity had something to do with this crash.”
NBC’s Peter Alexander set Trump off by deeming it “demonstrably false” that Trump had ended DEI efforts inside the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started by the Biden administration. The two tussled and, when Trump tried to move on, Alexander kept shouting, leading Trump to tell him “quiet, quiet”:
NBC’s @PeterAlexander: “The cited FAA text that you read is real but the implications that this policy is new or that it stems from efforts that began under President Biden or the Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is demonstrably false. I know it's on the FAA’s website —”… pic.twitter.com/RcnAJ6j5Lf
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
Moments later, our friend Mary Margaret Olohan at The Daily Wire brought up Secretary of Transportation Duffy’s recent confirmation:
.@realDailyWire’s @MaryMargOlohan: “Is it helpful to have your Secretary of Transportation confirmed? And does it intensify your interest in getting other nominees confirmed quickly as well?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
Trump: “Well, sure. We want fast confirmations and the Democrats, you know, are doing… pic.twitter.com/MKwreRYsG9
Real Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann thankfully got two questions in to cap off the briefing concerning the terminology of the Army helicopter’s training mission and “[w]hat is your message then to the American public in the weeks and months ahead, should they feel hesitant to fly.”
Trump didn’t immediately answer the second, but to her credit, NPR’s Tamara Keith asked the President to double back:
NPR’s Tamara Keith: “Should people be hesitant to fly right now?”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
Trump: “No, not at all. I would not hesitate to fly. I — ths is something that — it's been many years that something like this has happened and the collision is just something that we don't expect ever to happen… pic.twitter.com/WMnHzYwgtu
The most insane moment came prior to Collins when African reporter Hariana Veras chose to bring up the instability rocking....the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
Independent African journalist Hariana Veras: “Mr. President, the situation in the democratic republic of the Congo. It's getting worse, even though President Joao Lourenco [of Angola] has been mediating the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo because… pic.twitter.com/FpRueeDCSo
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
To see the relevant transcript from January 30, click here.
