Quotes
I think we should wait to see the results of that investigation,
Cruz told HuffPost
I don't think it had anything to do with this particular accident. I have concerns about DEI within the FAA and for that matter all the transportation agencies, but I've had that concern now for years,
the Missouri lawmaker saidI'd like to warn everybody, a lot of folks are saying DEI and all this other stuff, and things are going on,
he said in the video
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."
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg hit back when Trump blamed him, in part, for the plane crash, writing on X
I don't know what happened last night,
Graham told HuffPost on ThursdayBut certainly, for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that’s psychologically superior. And that’s what we’re going to have,
Trump said
We wait for the absolute truth of the matter. It is with great and righteous indignation that I recognize the comments and actions of one individual in particular, who did not attempt whatsoever to wait for those facts,
Clarke saidHe will continue with the vilification and demonization, he will continue with this madness, until our republic is as White and as male as this administration can bend and break the law to make it."
She later saidOur republic’s president, Donald Trump, chose to address a nation in mourning with only fiction and White supremacist ideologies,
Clarke said during a Friday press conference in Brooklyn, New YorkThis shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)."
In a White House memo issued on Thursday, Trump again blamed the previous Democratic administrations for the crash, writing.jpg)
Under the Biden administration, the FAA and other government agencies had absolutely insane hiring practices that endangered the public. President @realDonaldTrump and his team are working rapidly to restore competent personnel to all positions involving your safety."
On Thursday, Musk wrote on XFAA investigators are supporting the NTSB-led investigation of Wednesday night's midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport. The NTSB is leading the investigation and will provide all updates. We cannot comment on any aspect of open investigations. The FAA will quickly take any actions necessary based on evidence from the investigation."
The FAA said in a statementFirst of all they're not disgraceful, we're finally getting somebody out there who breaks the silence of the establishment and tells the truth
But Schlichter said
On the face of it, some extraordinary remarks from President Trump
He began by asking Schlichter about Mr Trump's comments, sayingI love it, I am unreservedly happy that we finally have somebody out there calling it as he sees it
Schlichter repliedWell exactly, so why, how can you sit there and blithely support these disgraceful remarks?
When Schlichter admitted 'there's none at the moment', Dale repliedIf you send me over, oh I don't know another Margaret Thatcher, I'll be thrilled
Schlichter then carried on, adding
Alright, alright, Chris, can you get this numbskull off our programme please
But a furious Dale spoke to a producer on air and asked them to end the call, saying
Every previous president in reacting to such events, such tragedies, has always begun with sympathy including the only president who could have been blamed for an accidental plane crash and wasn’t,
he declared before playing a 1982 clip of Reagan remarking on Lenny Skutnik, a bystander to the Air Florida crash
Lenny Skutnik was the worst thing you can be in Donald Trump’s Washington,
said O’Donnell of the federal worker who became “an American hero” and served the government for decades before his retirement in 2010.