US President Donald Trump has blamed the administrations of former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for Wednesday's midair crash near the US capital which killed at least 67 people, accusing them of hiring unqualified personnel at the national civil aviation agency.
In a Thursday statement, Trump said: "This 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)."
Trump accused the Obama administration of shifting FAA hiring away from objective aptitude standards and claimed that during his own first term in 2017-2021, the Trump administration raised safety standards.
Trump also alleged that the 2021-2025 Biden administration "egregiously rejected merit-based hiring," implemented "dangerous 'diversity equity and inclusion' tactics," and even hired individuals with "severe intellectual" disabilities in the FAA.
The crash, Trump said, underscored the need to "elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA."
He said he directed newly appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Acting FAA administrator Christopher Rocheleau to review all hiring decisions made in the past four years and to take steps to ensure aviation safety, including replacing employees who do not meet qualification standards
On Wednesday, an American Airlines airplane collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, just outside Washington, DC.
Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas had 60 passengers and four crew on board when it collided in midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River.
