WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday morning said a “heartbroken” nation is “searching for answers” hours after an American Airlines passenger jet and Army Black Hawk helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night, leading to what is likely the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001. 

“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital,” the president said. 

Addressing reporters from the White House briefing room, Trump said it is still unknown what led to the collision that he said killed all 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines plane as well as the three soldiers on a training flight in the helicopter. At the same time, he said he had “some very strong opinions and ideas” on what went wrong and pledged to bring the public answers swiftly.

“But we’ll find out how this investigation occurred, and we’ll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” he said. 

The president later signed two executive actions in response to the crash, including one ordering an assessment of the current state of aviation safety and a prioritization of “competence” over diversity, equity and inclusion among the federal workforce that oversees it. The other establishes a formal commission to appoint the deputy administrator for the FAA.

In his morning remarks, Trump proceeded to assert, without evidence, that a push by his Democratic predecessors for diversity, equity and inclusion among air traffic controllers in the Federal Aviation Administration contributed to the deadly crash. 

He claimed that in his first term he changed policies put in place by former President Barack Obama’s administration after a group within the FAA “determined that the workforce was too white.” Former President Joe Biden, Trump said, shifted back to a push for diversity among air traffic controllers, including those with disabilities. 

"I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary," Trump said. "Only the highest aptitude, the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers.

"And then when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before," Trump claimed. 

The president also went on to call Biden’s transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, a “disaster,” saying he had run the department “into the ground” and “got a good line of bull—-.”

In a post on X, Buttigieg called Trump's comments "Despicable." 

"As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," the former transportation secretary continued. "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.

"President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA," Buttigieg added. "One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe."

Trump, meanwhile, repeatedly noted during his remarks to the press that he signed a presidential memorandum in his first week in office that terminated a “Biden Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring policy that prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over safety and efficiency.” 

The Republican president has made ending DEI initiatives in the federal government a key priority in his first week and a half back in the White House. 

Asked by a reporter, however, about similar language regarding DEI efforts being on the FAA website throughout his first stint in the White House, Trump doubled down on his assertion that he changed Obama’s policy before Biden came in and changed his. 

When pressed on his insistence that diversity efforts in the FAA played a role – despite the president acknowledging it is still unknown why the crash took place and not directly blaming air traffic controllers -- he said he had “common sense.” 

Meanwhile, Trump went on to note that the crash occurred on a “clear night,” the passenger jet had its lights on and was “on track” and “doing everything right” as it was landing at the airport around 9 p.m. Helicopters, meanwhile, Trump asserted, have the ability to stop, go up, down, turn or change speeds. 

“For some reason, it just kept going and then made a slight turn at the very end, and by that time, it was too late,” Trump said. “They shouldn't have been at the same height.” 

He doubled down on this point while signing executive orders later in the day. 

Trump, who previously said in a social media post that the situation looks like it was preventable, called Wednesday night’s series of events a “confluence of bad decisions.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who joined Trump in the briefing room, told reporters that some sort of “elevation issue” took place and that the Pentagon has already started to investigate it. 

The president reiterated that responders had currently shifted to a recovery operation and that the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. military will be carrying out a “systematic and comprehensive” investigation going forward. He added that he is “immediately” appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA, a 22-year veteran of the agency, Christopher Rocheleau. The former head of the agency, Mike Whitaker, stepped down when Trump reentered the White House earlier this month. 

Asked if Americans should be hesitant to fly, Trump said, “No, not at all. I’m not hesitant.” 

The president started the briefing with a moment of silence for those killed. He later noted that people from other countries were on the flight, including Russians. He said his administration had already been in contact with Russia about transferring remains but has not spoken with the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, directly.