Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Friday ripped President Trump for his evidence-free effort accountable the crash of American Airways Flight 5342 on variety initiatives.
The Democratic Home Minority Chief in his weekly press convention known as out Trump for claiming that so-called “DEI” efforts in hiring of air site visitors controllers may have brought about the crash, regardless that there’s no proof that any management tower failure was accountable.
“There is not a scintilla of evidence that exists to suggest that women and people of color are to blame for the tragedy that took place,” Jeffries mentioned. “And it was shameful.”
On this picture supplied by the U.S. Coast Guard, wreckage is seen within the Potomac River close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington. (Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles, U.S. Coast Guard through AP)
Jeffries trashed Trump and his allies for utilizing the crash that killed 67 folks close to Reagan Nationwide Airport to attain low-cost political factors.
“While people are suffering, extreme MAGA Republicans are peddling lies and attacking people of color and women without any basis whatsoever,” he mentioned. “This is not America. The American people deserve better.”
Fellow Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke, who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, accused Trump of searching for to “capitalize on this tragedy by furthering his racist, insane agenda.”
The morning after the crash, Trump raged in opposition to so-called “DEI” measures and sought to level fingers at former President Biden and ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for the midair collision with an Military Black Hawk helicopter, regardless of his personal admission that he has no proof to again up his bile.
Trump initially recommended the unnamed air site visitors controller dealing with the flight was accountable. He later shifted to questioning why the doomed Black Hawk pilot didn’t swerve to keep away from the airplane touchdown at one of many nation’s busiest airports late Wednesday.
On Friday, the commander-in-chief once more appeared accountable the chopper pilot.
“The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot,” Trump wrote on his social media web site. “That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it?”
The Nationwide Transportation Security Board and Federal Aviation Administration say don’t but know what may need brought about the crash.
The airplane’s black field has been recovered and will shed extra gentle on the ultimate moments of the in any other case unremarkable flight from Wichita, Kansas.
The FAA has indefinitely closed routes close to Reagan Nationwide Airport to most helicopter site visitors because the probe will get underway in earnest.
A preliminary FAA report famous that the management tower was brief staffed on the time of the crash and one air site visitors controller was dealing with each planes and helicopters, which might usually be duties for 2 employees.
Rescue employees have already pulled greater than 40 our bodies from the icy waters of the Potomac River the place the airplane and the helicopter each crashed after exploding in a fireball from the collision.
Initially Printed: January 31, 2025 at 12:43 PM EST
