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Donald Trump slams CNN anchor for query on Washington plane crash: ‘Not a very smart question'
A passenger jet collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC. All 67 persons were killed.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday criticised CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins after she pressed him for “blaming” Democrats and their diversity and equity and inclusion policies for the plane crash in Washington DC.
The exchange between Donald Trump and the CNN reporter took place during a press conference at the White House on the plane crash at Reagan National Airport in which 67 people were killed.
During the press briefing, Donald Trump accused his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama of having kept good employees out of the aviation agency in pursuit of their diversity and equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
"The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing," Trump said.
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He claimed the FAA wanted people “with severe disabilities, the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in, and they want them - they can be air traffic controllers.”
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins questioned Trump, saying that the US president was blaming Democrats and DEI policies even when the names of the 67 people who were killed were not known.
“We don’t yet know the names of the 67 people [who] were killed, and you are blaming Democrats and DEI policies and air traffic control, and seemingly the member of the US military who was flying the Black Hawk helicopter,” Collins asked Trump. “Don’t you think you’re getting ahead of the investigation right now?”
Also Read | 'Did you see that?’: Audio from control tower seconds after horrific crash
Trump, however, shot back at the reporter, saying that it was not going to make any difference.
“I don’t think so at all,” Trump told the CNN anchor. “I don’t think the names of the people — you mean the names of the people that are on the plane — you think that’s going to make a difference?”
The CNN reporter then questioned where Trump's dig towards the DEI policies would comfort the family members of the deceased.
“Does it comfort their family to hear you blaming DEI policies?” she asked the US president.
Also Read | Washington DC plane crash: What happened 30 seconds before collision with helicopter
The president said he could give Collins a list of names of those who lost their lives and that the White House was coordinating closely with the US military and American Airlines.
“I think that’s not a very smart question,” he said. “I’m surprised coming from you.”
Washington DC plane crash
A passenger jet collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington DC on Wednesday. Both the flight and the helicopter plummeted into the Potomac River.
While 28 bodies were pulled from the crash site, US President Donald Trump told a White House news conference that no one survived.
The passenger plane was carrying 64 people, and the Black Hawk had three passengers aboard. All of them were killed in the crash – the first major in the United States since 2009.
