US president says FAA hired 'workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities' under DEI initiative
President Donald Trump has blamed diversity and inclusion efforts for the deadly plane collision in the United States that killed all 67 people on board.
The tragic incident involved an Army helicopter and a jetliner, which collided mid-air on Wednesday night near the Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 64 people aboard the jet and three soldiers on board the chopper.
The Associated Press described the collision as the country's "deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century."
Trump, in a memorandum, said the tragic incident follows the "problematic and likely illegal decisions" during the administrations of former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden that "minimised merit and competence" in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
"The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude," Trump said in the memorandum.
According to Trump, his first term saw the FAA with higher standards to achieve safety and excellence.
"But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous 'diversity, equity and inclusion' tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA," Trump said.
The remarks double down on accusations he made at a press briefing on Thursday regarding the incident. Trump talked about the FAA's diversity push, which he claimed focused on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.
"This is before I got to office, recently second term — the FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative," he claimed.
Trump pinned the diversity hiring effort on Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation under Biden.
"Do you know how badly everything's run since he's run the Department of Transportation? He's a disaster," Trump said. "The Department of Transportation, his government agency charged with regulating civil aviation… he's run it right into the ground with his diversity."
In response, Buttigieg slammed Trump's remarks as "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," the former transportation secretary said on X.
Trump's remarks reflect his ongoing rhetoric against DEI initiatives, where he recently ordered the termination of DEI efforts in the Federal government last week.
In his assessment of the plane collision, Trump ordered a review of all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made in the past four years.
"This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration," he said.
Meanwhile, the FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board is carrying out a probe over the deadly collision.
"We cannot comment on any aspect of open investigations. The FAA will quickly take any actions necessary based on evidence from the investigation," the administration said in a statement.
