Washington DC plane crash live: Trump blames DEI at his press conference after 67 die

Speaking at the Thursday morning briefing, the vice president underscored President Trump’s blame on FAA’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

He said: “We want to hire the best people, because we want the best people at air traffic control, and we want to make sure we have enough people at air traffic control who are actually competent to do the job.”

Crews working to retrieve the passengers of the American Airlines jet and the army helicopter that collided and crashed into the Potomac on Wednesday night have to contend with the dangerously cold waters of the Potomac River.

Water temperatures between 33 and 36 degrees were reported near the crash site shortly after the incident, which is believed to have taken the lives of all who were involved. Just a degree below is considered to be freezing.

“At these frigid water temperatures, the human body’s core temperature quickly drops. Exhaustion or unconsciousness can occur in as little as 15 to 30 minutes,” AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin explained in a statement.

Julia Musto has the story.

Emergency crews who waded through the frigid waters of the Potomac River through the night are now shifting to a recovery operation after an American Airlines plane carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.

The passenger flight, carrying 64 people from Wichita, Kansas, collided mid-air with a military helicopter carrying four around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.

No survivors are expected, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said at a Thursday morning press conference.

Emergency responders conducted their rescue mission through the night in what D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser described as “tough and heartbreaking conditions,” referring to ice-covered water and heavy winds. The operation has now shifted to a recovery mission.

So far, 28 bodies have been recovered — one from the helicopter and 27 from the American Airlines flight.

The president blamed the federal agency’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies days after he ordered to terminate DEI policies in federal agencies.

“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 spelled out on the agency’s website,” Trump said at Thursday morning’s briefing.

The program allowed for the hiring of individuals with a number of conditions, including hearing and vision issues, paralysis, epilepsy and “dwarfism.”

Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be “psychologically superior.”

“They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses,” he said. “You can’t have regular people doing their job.”

“We did not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state those opinions now, because over the years, I’ve watched as things like this happen,” Trump said.

“We think we have some pretty good ideas, but we’ll find out how this disaster occurred, and we’ll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” the president continued.

Trump used the press conference on Thursday morning to slam his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Talking about requirements for air traffic control workers, Trump said: “I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen.”

Donald Trump walked into the briefing room at 11.20 a.m. and requested a moment of silence for the victims.

“I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation,” he said. “Real tragedy.”

Emergency crews leveraged “every asset at our disposal” to rescue the victims.

On behalf of himself and First Lady Melania Trump, “our hearts are shattered,” he said. He offered prayers to victims’ families.

The cause of the collision is still unknown, he said.