Live updates on the crash can be found here.
As the nation reeled from the deadliest American aviation disaster in more than two decades, President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety and questioned the actions of a U.S. Army helicopter pilot involved in the midair collision with a commercial airliner.
As Trump spoke, a federal investigation into the crash was just getting started and first responders were still working to recover bodies from the wreckage of the commercial jet and army helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night.
Potomac Crash 17 hours agoLive updates: ‘No survivors' after plane, helicopter crash into Potomac River
Potomac Crash 3 hours agoWhat we know about the victims of the plane, helicopter crash outside DC
The collision occurred Wednesday evening in one of the world’s most tightly controlled airspaces, just over 3 miles south of the White House and the U.S. Capitol. A massive search-and-rescue effort launched overnight turned into a recovery operation by mid-Thursday morning.
Here’s what Trump said about the crash Thursday and what we know so far about the investigation:
What did Trump say about the plane crash?
“As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly,” Trump said at a press briefing Thursday.
“Sadly, there are no survivors” of the crash, he said.
Trump said it was still not clear what led to the crash. He said the U.S. military and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
“We’ll find out how this disaster occurred and will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” he said.
Trump questions pilots and air traffic control, blames DEI initiatives
Speaking from the White House, Trump at points acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions, but he moved nonetheless to assign blame.
“The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website,” Trump said. He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and “dwarfism.”
Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses.
“They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses,” he said. “You can’t have regular people doing their job.”
Trump said he had no evidence to support his claims that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring preferences played a role in the crash, allowing that “it just could have been.” He defended doing so “because I have common sense.”
Trump said “we do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions.” Then he proceeded to hold forth at length about what happened, at one point wondering if the helicopter pilot was wearing night vision goggles.
Trump was asked repeatedly to explain why he was blaming federal diversity and inclusion promotion efforts for the crash, at one point alleging that previous leadership had determined that the FAA workforce was “too white.” He did not back up those claims, while also declaring it was still not clear the FAA or air traffic controllers were responsible for the crash.
Trump said “you had a pilot problem” and the helicopter was “going at an angle that was unbelievably bad.” And he questioned why the Army pilot didn’t change course, saying that “you can stop a helicopter very quickly.” He also mused about the air traffic controller, saying of the two aircraft, “for whatever reason they were at the same elevation,” adding “they should have been at a different height.”
At one point, Trump was challenged on his claim that the FAA, under Democratic presidents, had promoted the hiring of people with disabilities. The fact-checking website Snopes found that the policy Trump referenced has existed for a decade, including his first term.
Trump complained specifically about Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, calling him “a disaster.”
“He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.
Complaining about the previous administration, Trump continued, “their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse.”
In the video’s next second: the unexpected. A flickering dot of light appears from the left of the frame, at first so faint that it might be mistaken for a distant star.
But it is moving. Quickly, too. The dot appears to be the Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, on a training exercise with a crew of three soldiers aboard.
The tiny smudge of light from the helicopter speeds ever-closer to the AA flight, but then flickers off and disappears for a tiny fraction of a second. Has it sensed danger and veered off the collision course?
The next moment brings the fateful answer: Unfortunately, no.
The helicopter light-dot reappears, still racing toward the larger bright white of the passenger plane.
Then, an explosion — a spreading fireball of yellow and orange that suddenly flares in the darkness like an unnatural sun before starting to fade.
Where, just milliseconds earlier, there had been only two moving lights in the sky — the plane’s and the helicopter’s — now there are many: debris scattering and tumbling through the darkness.
In the foreground, the other untouched passenger plane still trundles on, seemingly unaware as what appears to be the largest chunk of wreckage is falling fast and uncontrolled behind it.
The aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River, where the fuselage was found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water, officials said.
Who was on the plane?
The collision was the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years. At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters.
Among the passengers were members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita. They included teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, the teens’ mothers and two highly regarded Russian-born coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won a 1994 world championship in pairs skating.
Other Russians were also on the jet, according to the Kremlin.
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