6 hours ago
Trump says US faces 'hour of anguish' after no survivors in plane crash
David Smith
Wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, Donald Trump entered the White House briefing room at 11.21am, accompanied by defence secretary Pete Hegseth and transportation secretary Sean Duffy, both new to their jobs.
“I’d like to request a moment of silence for the victims and their families please,” Trump said.
After the pause, and in softer, graver tones than usual, he resumed: “I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for her nation.”
Trump provided a description of the incident, noting: “Sadly, there are no survivors.” He described it as “a tragedy of terrible proportions” that has “really shaken a lot of people”.
The president added: “We are all heartbroken, we are all searching for answers. That icy, icy Potomac ... cold water.”
Trump said “we have very strong opinions and ideas” about how the accident happened then reverted to taking political swipes at Barack Obama and Joe Biden over air traffic controller standards. “The word talented. You have to be naturally talented geniuses.”
In a harsher tone than before, he is now complaining about diversity and inclusion in FAA programmes and describing former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg as a “disaster” who has a “good line in bullshit”.
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David Smith
Trump continued to turn what might have been a sombre briefing into a baseless rant against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) despite no evidence of a link with the plane crash.
The president was backed to the hilt by transportation secretary Sean Duffy, who said “we can only accept the best and the brightest” in positions affecting passenger safety, and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who echoed: “The era of DEI is gone at the defence department and we need the best and brightest.”
Then came vice-president JD Vance, who claimed “we want to hire the best people” who are “actually competent enough to do the job”.
Trump returned to the lectern to claim that “very powerful tests” for competence in air traffic control were “terminated” by Joe Biden.
CNN’s Kaitlin Collins asked: “Aren’t you getting ahead of the investigation?” Trump replied: “No, I don’t think so at all... I don’t think that’s a smart question. I’m surprised, coming from you.”
Another reporter asked why Trump believes DEI is responsible. He said: “Because I have common sense and unfortunately a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level.”
Donald Trump said that authorities “will be giving [the list of passenger names] very soon”.
He added that he would announce in a couple of hours the other nationalities who were on board the American Airlines plane.
Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, is now speaking.
“There was some sort of an elevation issue that we have immediately begun investigating at the DOD and army level, Army CID on the ground,” Hegseth said.
Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, is now speaking.
He said: “When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. That didn’t happen yesterday. That’s not acceptable, and so we will not accept excuses, but will not accept passing the buck.”
“We are going to take responsibility at the Department of Transportation and the FAA to make sure we have the reforms that have been dictated by President Trump in place to make sure that these mistakes do not happen again,” Duffy added.
Trump blames 'confluence of bad decisions' for collision
“You had a confluence of bad decisions that were made,” Donald Trump said.
“And you have people that lost their lives,” he added.
“One thing we do know, there was a lot of vision, and people should have been able to see that. You know, at what point do you stop at? What do you say, well, that plane’s getting a little bit close?” Trump continued.
“We had a situation where you had a helicopter that had the ability to stop … You can stop a helicopter very quickly. It had the ability to go up or down, it had the ability to turn. And the turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously, and did somewhat the opposite of what it was told,” Donald Trump said.
“They shouldn’t have been at the same height, because if it was at the same height, you could have gone under it or over it, and nobody realized, or they didn’t say, that it’s at the same height … It could have been 1000ft higher, it could have been 200ft lower, but it was exactly at the same height and somebody should have been able to point that out,” he added.
Trump says US faces 'hour of anguish' after no survivors in plane crash
David Smith
Wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, Donald Trump entered the White House briefing room at 11.21am, accompanied by defence secretary Pete Hegseth and transportation secretary Sean Duffy, both new to their jobs.
“I’d like to request a moment of silence for the victims and their families please,” Trump said.
After the pause, and in softer, graver tones than usual, he resumed: “I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for her nation.”
Trump provided a description of the incident, noting: “Sadly, there are no survivors.” He described it as “a tragedy of terrible proportions” that has “really shaken a lot of people”.
The president added: “We are all heartbroken, we are all searching for answers. That icy, icy Potomac ... cold water.”
Trump said “we have very strong opinions and ideas” about how the accident happened then reverted to taking political swipes at Barack Obama and Joe Biden over air traffic controller standards. “The word talented. You have to be naturally talented geniuses.”
In a harsher tone than before, he is now complaining about diversity and inclusion in FAA programmes and describing former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg as a “disaster” who has a “good line in bullshit”.
“We’ll restore faith in American air travel,” Donald Trump said.
“But now we mourn and we pray, and would like to ask all Americans to join me in a moment of silence as we ask God to watch over those who have lost their lives and bring comfort to the loved ones,” he added.
“We did not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” Donald Trump said.
“We have some pretty good ideas … we’ll find out how this disaster occurred and we’ll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” he continued.
“The FAA and the NTSB and the US military will be carrying out a systematic and comprehensive investigation,” he added.
Trump says 'our hearts are shattered'
“We can only begin to imagine the agony that you’re all feeling, nothing worse,” Donald Trump said.
“On behalf of the first lady, myself and 340 million Americans, our hearts are shattered alongside yours, and our prayers are with you now and in the days to come,” he added.
Trump: 'Sadly there are no survivors'
“The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors,” Donald Trump said.
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions,” he added.
Donald Trump is delivering remarks on the Washington DC plane-helicopter collision.
Follow along as we bring you the latest updates.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth: Helicopter crew was 'fairly experienced'
In a video address on Thursday, defense secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Army helicopter crew involved in the plane-helicopter collision was “fairly experienced.”
Describing the flight as an “annual proficiency training flight,” Hegseth said:
“It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles.”
He added that the collision is being reviewed by an “investigative team from our aviation safety center.”
“We anticipate the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor and at the right altitude at the time of the incident,” Hegseth added.
Skating Club of Boston identifies atheletes and parents onboard American Airlines flight
The Skating Club of Boston has confirmed that several of its members were onboard the American Airlines flight when it collided with the military helicopter.
In a statement on Instagram, Doug Zeghibe, the CEO of the club said:
“Our sport and this club have suffered a horrible loss with this tragedy. Skating is a tight-knit community where parents and kids come together 6 or 7 days a week to train and work together. Everyone is like family. Of the skaters, coaches and parents on the plane, we believe six were from The Skating Club of Boston. We are devastated and completely at a loss for words.
These athletes, coaches and parents were returning from US Figure Skating’s Development Camp following last week’s UK Championships in Wichita. This camp is for young competitive skaters of tomorrow with the most promise to be a champion of tomorrow. The club sent 18 athletes to compete at the US Championships. It sent 12 athletes to the Development Camp.”
The individuals who were part of the club and on the flight have been identified as:
Jinna Han (athlete)
Jin Han (mom of Jinna)
Spencer Lane (athlete)
Christine Lane (mom of Spencer)
Vadim Naumov (coach)
Evgenia Shishkova (coach)
Donald Trump to give updates on Washington DC plane crash shortly
David Smith
I’m in a crowded White House press briefing room where Donald Trump is expected to hold a briefing at 11am about last night’s plane crash at Reagan Washington Airport.A presidential seal has been added to the briefing room lectern and there are two flags on the podium.
Joe Biden made only one appearance here during his four years in office, whereas Trump regularly held briefings during the Covid-19 pandemic, most notoriously when he speculated on the merits of bleach as a cure.
It’s the first test of Trump’s second term in the role of consoler-in-chief, one that Ronald Reagan played after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Bill Clinton often performed with aplomb and Biden delivered with characteristic empathy. What could go wrong?
Congress bill added flights to Reagan airport despite Democratic opposition
Kira Lerner
In April 2024, Congress announced a $105b FAA reauthorization bill.
The bill raised hiring targets for air traffic control but it also added flights to Reagan airport, despite opposition from Democratic senators from Maryland and Virginia.
Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia and Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland vowed to “continue to fight against this ridiculous and dangerous provision.”
Many of the senators pushing for expanded flights at Washington – the bill added five incoming and five outgoing flights per day – reportedly wanted more direct routes back to their home states.
“The very title of the ‘Direct Access to the Capital Act’ gives the game away that this bill is written to maximize the personal convenience of a comparatively small number of powerful, well-connected individuals at the expense of safety and efficiency of flights — which should be our top priority,” Don Beyer, a Representative of Virginia, told the Washington Post at the time.
The bill sponsor, Representative Burgess Owens of Utah, defended the bill, saying: “Our effort is not about benefiting one airport, one airline, or any one member of Congress.”
The Army unit that was involved in the collision between the American Airlines plane and Army helicopter has been put on an operational pause, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday.
According to Reuters, the helicopters from that unit will not be flying for the time being.
The unit is the 12 Aviation Battalion based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
