Republican Congressman Eric Burlison admitted Friday there was no evidence that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies were responsible for the deadly plane crash near Washington, D.C., earlier this week.
Sixty-seven people are believed to be dead after a passenger plane hit a military helicopter midair near Ronald Reagan Nation Airport. The actual cause of the crash remains unknown, but Donald Trump has blamed who he always does: anyone who isn’t a white, straight, able-bodied man.
Trump’s cronies have been quick to echo his harmful theory, but Burlison was forced to admit there was no evidence to prove it, in an interview with Fox News.
“Do you have any evidence that any of those hires were DEI hires?” host Maria Bartiromo asked Burlison after he too criticized the FAA’s diversity hires.
“Not until we get into the investigation,” Burlison admitted.
REP. ERIC BURLISON: The FAA is riddled with DEI problemsBARTIROMO: Do you have any evidence though that any of those hires were DEI hires?BURLISON: Not until we get into the investigation pic.twitter.com/JljpWw1EvY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 31, 2025
Burlison is taking a page from Trump’s book. In a press conference on Thursday, Trump said the Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to hire “workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions” in air traffic control centers led to the crash. Trump admitted he had no evidence to back his claim but said he believed it to be true because he has “common sense.”
It’s yet another ridiculous attempt to blame literally every problem on DEI efforts enacted by Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
Ironically though, it was Trump’s own first administration that launched a diversity program to hire air controllers with the very criteria he claimed were responsible for the deadliest U.S. plane crash in 25 years, The Washington Post reported Thursday evening.
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