Mr Trump opened the White Home press convention on Thursday, paying respect to those that have died with a second of silence, after which stated: “On behalf of the First Woman, myself and 340 million People, our hearts are shattered alongside yours, and our prayers are with you now and within the days to come back.”
The speech then took a shocking flip when he began speaking concerning the doable causes of the crash. Right here’s a abstract of what Mr Trump stated.
The brand new US president implied that the variety initiatives had diminished the protection of aviation journey throughout a press convention on the White Home on Thursday.
He stated: “We have no idea what led to this crash, however we’ve some very sturdy opinions and concepts.”
Then, with out offering any proof, he advised that the disaster might need been attributable to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) relaxed recruiting requirements for air visitors controllers below the administrations of Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
He quoted “varied articles [that] appeared previous to my getting into workplace”, including: “The FAA’s range push features a concentrate on hiring folks with extreme mental and psychiatric disabilities. That’s superb. After which it says FAA … says folks with extreme disabilities are most underrepresented section of the workforce, [they] stated, ‘They need them in, they usually need them, they are often air visitors controllers’. I don’t assume so. This was January 14, in order that was every week earlier than I entered workplace. They put an enormous push to place range into the FAA’s program.”
Mr Trump additionally stated the hiring steerage for the FAA’s range and inclusion programme included these with disabilities involving “listening to, imaginative and prescient, lacking extremities, partial paralysis, full paralysis, epilepsy, extreme mental incapacity, psychiatric incapacity and dwarfism”.
Whereas the FAA has range initiatives, there isn’t a proof that air visitors controller requirements have been lowered or that this brought about the crash.
In the meantime, an archived model of a web site for the FAA’s range and inclusion hiring programme that seems to have been taken down in December stated that the company was looking for folks with “focused disabilities” that the federal authorities was prioritising for recruitment on the time.
When requested if he would “fireplace among the range hires in federal authorities”, Mr Trump stated: “I’d say sure. If we discover that individuals aren’t mentally competent … these usually are not individuals who needs to be doing these explicit jobs.”
He additionally criticised Obama’s administration: “We should have solely the very best requirements for individuals who work in our aviation system. I modified the Obama [administration] requirements from very mediocre at finest to extraordinary.
“You do not forget that. Solely the very best aptitude. They should be the very best mind and psychologically superior folks have been allowed to qualify for air visitors controllers. That was not so previous to [me] getting there.
“After I arrived in 2016, I made that change very early on, as a result of I all the time felt this was a job that, and different jobs too, however this was a job that needed to be superior intelligence, and we didn’t actually have that. And we had it. After which once I left workplace and Biden took over, he modified them again to decrease than ever earlier than. Their coverage was horrible and their politics was even worse.”
Nonetheless, as Forbes revealed, the FAA additionally operated the same program to spice up hiring of candidates with disabilities throughout Mr Trump’s first time period.
In one other comment, Mr Trump blamed the Biden administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and stated he ran the division “into the bottom”.
Afterwards, the president signed a memorandum to finish range efforts within the aviation sector and requested to overview all hiring selections and modifications to security protocols made throughout Mr Biden’s administration.
Mr Trump additionally signed an govt order to nominate a brand new head of the FAA.
Is there any proof to recommend DEI is accountable?
The investigation is in early levels so there isn’t a concrete proof in the meanwhile.
Mr Trump additionally didn’t again his phrases up with proof. When requested by a reporter how Mr Trump may blame range programmes for the crash, the president stated “as a result of I’ve frequent sense”.
Afterward, he did acknowledge the dearth of a confirmed trigger saying “it’s all below investigation”.
On Wednesday night time, a navy helicopter and an American Airways plane collided in midair, killing 67 folks in complete. After the collision, each planes plunged into the Potomac River.
Over 300 first responders raced to the scene, however officers reported that there have been no survivors, so the rescue operation shortly turned a restoration effort.
John Donnelly, the fireplace chief for Washington, DC, has now confirmed that a minimum of two dozen our bodies have been retrieved from the crash web site.
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