NTSB Chairwoman Claps Back at Media’s Anti-Trump Spin at Plane Crash Briefing – ‘Give Us Time!’

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

There are two big fights going on in Washington, D.C., right now: One to get more of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees through the confirmation process, and the other to find out what caused an Army Blackhawk helicopter to collide with an American Airlines regional jet making its final approach to Reagan National Airport--killing all 67 souls aboard both aircrafts.

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The president actually tied the two fights together at his White House briefing on the plane crash earlier Thursday when, during Q&A with the press, he emphasized the importance of getting his team in place so his administration can better deal with catastrophes like this when they occur. Luckily for the president, his new secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, had been sworn in one day before the crash.


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In a radically different approach to communicating with the American public, Trump wasted no time in getting in front of the cameras to grieve with the nation, offer a moment of silence for the victims and promise transparency when investigating the crash. This kind of leadership has been sorely lacking for the past four years, and Trump's approach was brash and to the point: if lax federal policies contributed in any way to the tragedy, that problem would be quickly remedied.

The president had no problem addressing the elephant in the room: DEI. He didn't blame the crash on absurd "equity" measures implemented on the federal level, but he did make it clear that he was ready to clean up any and all messes left by the Biden administration, particularly if they threatened the safety of the American people. It's called common sense and it's what voters wanted, so, naturally, the Democrat Party's media mouthpieces in the briefing room went into attack mode. 

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Two "journalists" present at the president's briefing, CNN's Kaitlan Collins and NBC News' Tom Costello, thought this was their moment to shine and, when called on by the president, tried to rebuke him for even inferring DEI policies could've contributed to the two aircraft colliding. Trump dismissed the questions as "not smart," and literally waved off any attempts to continue the line of attack.

NBC's Costello just couldn't let it go, and brought the inanity to the Thursday afternoon press conference put together by the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) near the site of the crash. The gravity of the situation was made clear by all six of the NTSB board members being on hand for the briefing. Board chair Jennifer Homendy relayed that she had spoken with President Trump, Secretary Duffy, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and they were all in agreement that the investigation would be an "all-hands-on-deck" effort:

“We’re here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation,” she said at a news conference Thursday afternoon at Reagan National Airport.

Some other things of note from the briefing:

  • The black boxes have not yet been recovered, but officials know where they are.
  • Reports of passengers escaping the plane on inflatable slides are false, as the impact was very quick.
  • A space was being prepared in Bethesda, Maryland, for family members to meet with airline and government officials. 
  • A preliminary accident report should be ready within 30 days.
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Again, when the Q&A part of the briefing commenced, Tom Costello, joined by a few other, blatantly partisan reporters, started bleating about "Trump says DEI caused the crash!" Chairwoman Homandy was having none of it, and slapped Costello right down, saying "the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to a probable cause." She knows who's the boss here--and it's not Costello.

NBC’s Tom Costello: “Does it hurt your investigative process, maybe for the chairman, does it hurt the investigative process to have the President already suggesting possible causes here as you try to keep an open mind and begin this investigation?”

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy: “Tom, with all due respect, I think the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to at probable cause, so what I'm going to say is you need to give us time. You need to give NTSB — it's not that we don't have information. We do have information. We have data. We have substantial amounts of information. We need to verify information. We need to take our time to make sure it is accurate. That's best for you. That's important for the families. It's important for legislators who are seeking answers to try to figure out what they are going to do about this and so, it will take time. We do have a lot of information, but we need some time to verify that.”

President Trump didn't start this fight, but he will certainly finish it. As RedState's Rusty Weiss reported, the bottom feeders in the media began attacking Trump as first responders were still trying to get a handle on what happened and how they might rescue any survivors. The media's knee-jerk reaction is always to blame Trump and they're just not smart enough to keep their mouths shut—and there are never any repercussions because, let's face it, they're paid to be haters.

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It was refreshing to see Ms. Homandy of the NTSB have the president's back and let the Tom Costellos of the world know that their partisan hackery is not only inappropriate at this point in the investigation, but also supremely hypocritical. 

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