President Trump Points Blame At Democrats In First Public Comments On American Airlines Tragedy

President Donald Trump turned a new briefing on the tragic crash involving an American Airlines flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in the skies over the Potomac River into a partisan attack on Democrats and DEI programs.

Trump spoke about the crash during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday morning.

After admitting the cause of the crash is unknown, he said he had strong "pretty good ideas" on the cause.

He then launched into attack on former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for their hiring requirements and diversity programs for air traffic controllers.

He said he had changed Obama-era standards that were "mediocre at best" to "extraordinary" during his first term in office. He said he restricted hiring to those with the "highest intellect" but claimed that Biden removed them and allowed people with "severe" mental disabilities to qualify for controller jobs.

"I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put politics first," Trump claimed.

There has been no indication that any actions by air traffic controllers led to the crash on Wednesday night.

Trump then attacked Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs at the Federal Aviation Administration and claimed they had caused safety shortcomings. Among those he insinuated were not qualified to be air traffic controllers were people with dwarfism.

"This is a tragedy that should not have happened," Trump said.

When a reporter pressed Trump about whether he thought DEI hires played a role in the crash the president responded, "It could have been."