After briefly offering his sympathies to the families of those killed in the crash, and confirming there were no survivors, he pivoted to assigning blame for the tragedy - taking aim at his political

But within minutes, the “presidential” mirage dissolved. Trump unleashed an unusually appallingly rant, blaming the crash on Barack Obama, Joe Biden, former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, DEI and people with disabilities.

President Trump’s remarks, suggesting that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens.

President Trump blames diversity requirements and lax standards for midair collision over Potomac River. Investigation underway.

Trump used a White House briefing about Wednesday night’s deadly collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River to rail against the Obama and Biden

US President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed diversity policies under Barack Obama and Joe Biden for poor safety standards after a deadly crash in which a military helicopter collided with a passenger plane over Washington,

President Trump on Thursday at first news conference since the aircraft collision over the Potomac River, blamed diversity requirements at the Federal Aviation Administration and Presidents Obama and Biden for the midair collision over the Potomac River on Wednesday night.

President Donald Trump, without offering evidence, said the collision between and American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter "could have been" due to DEI.

Rescuers were still pulling bodies from the Potomac River as Trump cast blame on the FAA, the Army, diversity programs and his predecessors.

The American Airlines plane operating as American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

Investigators confirmed they have recovered a cockpit voice recorder and a flight-data recorder from American Eagle Flight 5342, which will undergo analysis.

Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause.