Northern Ireland political leader slams Trump's response to deadly plane crash

Claire Hanna, the MP for South Belfast and Mid Down and the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in Northern Ireland, has slammed US President Donald Trump's response to Wednesday's fatal plane crash in Washington, DC.

"A plane crash indeed," Hanna said in a post on X on Thursday, sharing a clip of Trump's press conference at the White House regarding the plane crash.

"Hard to fathom how warped this man baby is that he immediately distorts a horrific accident into a way to attack people with disabilities and ethnic minorities.

"It’s going to be a long 4 years."

A plane crash indeed. Hard to fathom how warped this man baby is that he immediately distorts a horrific accident into a way to attack people with disabilities and ethnic minorities. It’s going to be a long 4 years https://t.co/0YaTEl1UFL

— Claire Hanna (@ClaireHanna) January 30, 2025

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) confirmed on Wednesday night that a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 pm local time.

The jet, which was operating as Flight 5352 for American Airlines, had departed from Wichita, Kansas.

Responding to the tragedy on Wednesday night, President Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: "why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn.

"Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.

"This is a bad situation that looks like it could have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!!"

On Thursday morning, John Donnelly, Chief of the District of Columbia Fire and EMS Department, announced that despite the efforts of hundreds of responders, "we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation."

He added: "At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident."

The American Airlines flight was carrying four crew members and 60 passengers, while the helicopter had a crew of three military personnel.

"We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas," Trump said during a press briefing at the White House later on Thursday.

He went on to attempt to blame the tragedy on the FAA's "DEI" - diversity, equity, and inclusion - policies, despite having admitted not knowing what the cause was yet.

The President claimed he improved the "very mediocre at best" standards from the Obama administration, and that Biden then "changed them back to lower than ever before." He then slated former US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg as a "disaster," saying "he just has a good line of bulls--t."

During the briefing, Trump referenced "various articles that appeared prior to my entering office" regarding the FAA's diversity policies.

Referencing a January 2024 Fox News article, which was also published on the New York Post website, Trump said: "'The FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.'

"That is amazing.

"And then it says, FAA says people with severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the workforce and they want them in and they can be air traffic controllers.

"I don't think so."

Trump continued: "This was [published] January 14, so that was a week before I entered office; they put a big push to get diversity into the FAA's program." However, the article was published in January 2024, more than a year before he returned to office.

Later during the briefing, Trump was asked if he believes the plane crash was caused by diversity and inclusion hiring, and what evidence he has seen to support such claims.

"It just could have been," he said.

"We have a high standard, we've had a much higher standard than anybody else.

"There are things where you have to go by brain power, you have to go by psychological quality, and psychological quality is a very important element of it. 

"These are various, very powerful tests that we put to use and they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that's the exact opposite.

"So, we don't know. But we do know that you had two planes at the same level, a helicopter and a plane. That shouldn't have happened."

Later, when he was again pressed as to how he concluded that diversity had something to do with this crash, Trump said: "Because I have common sense, okay?"

During his first days in office last week, Trump took aim at DEI policies, in particular within the FAA.

On January 22, he signed a Presidential Memorandum that "orders the Secretary of Transportation and FAA Administrator to immediately stop Biden DEI hiring programs and return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring."

The memo "also requires the FAA Administrator to review the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure Americans’ flight safety and efficiency."