Vance defends Trump's DEI comments after DC plane crash: Trump 'wasn't blaming anybody'

Vice President JD Vance stood by President Trump’s remarks linking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices to the plane crash Wednesday night.

In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Vance told Maria Bartiromo that Trump was not “blaming anybody” in particular but suggested that the DEI practices led to air traffic controllers being short staffed.

“The president made very clear that he wasn't blaming anybody, but he was being very explicit about the fact that DEI policies have led our air traffic controllers to be short staffed. That is a scandal. Thankfully, it's a scandal that the president has stopped,” Vance told Bartiromo, who asked whether Vance has any evidence that any of the staff working on Wednesday night were “DEI hires.

Vance said it’s important to “investigate everything,” adding, “but let's just say the person at the controls didn't have enough staffing around him or her because we were turning people away because of DEI reasons.”

“There is a very direct connection between the policies of the last administration and short staffed air traffic controllers,” he continued.

The cause of the crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter Wednesday night is still unknown, and investigative authorities have not publicly indicated who could be responsible for the crash.

Trump, at a press conference Thursday, said it was not clear the air traffic controllers made any mistake but pledged to investigate all angles of the crash. He also knocked his Democratic predecessors over aviation standards, suggesting that the Democrats didn’t put safety first and that diversity initiatives have weakened the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Pressed by reporters on how he could conclude that diversity had something to do with the crash, Trump said, “Because I have common sense, okay? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”

“We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level. When you have 60 planes coming in during a short period of time, and they’re all coming in different directions, and you’re dealing with very high-level computer, computer work and very complex computers.”

Trump also specifically called out former Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg, who defended the Biden administration’s record with air safety.

“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. 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,” Buttigieg said in a post on social platform X. 

“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.” 

The president’s comments come days after he urged the FAA to terminate DEI hiring efforts, a practice he is looking to enforce throughout all federal agencies and departments.

Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to appoint a new head of the FAA, a position that was unfilled after the FAA chief under former President Biden resigned as Trump was sworn back into office.

Trump named Chris Rocheleau, a longtime former FAA official, as acting FAA administrator until a permanent choice is confirmed by the Senate.