Trump's wild plane crash update: From a call for unity to suggesting dwarves shouldn't be air traffic controllers

It started with a moment's soundlessness for the victims of Wednesday night's level crash. 

And Donald Trump's prepared remarks ended with a telephone for prayers of comfortableness for those who mislaid loved ones.

In between, helium railed against diverseness hiring practises for aerial postulation controllers, including radical with dwarfism and implicit paralysis, accused his predecessor Joe Biden of watering down standards, and slammed erstwhile Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for having 'a bully enactment of bulls***.'

He adjacent delivered a trigger informing earlier holding distant successful a packed White House briefing room.

'We bash not cognize what led to this crash, but we person immoderate precise beardown opinions and ideas, and I deliberation we'll astir apt authorities those opinions now,' helium said.

It took Biden astir 4 years to marque an quality successful the briefing room. 

Trump arrived astatine the raised lectern successful beforehand of the TV cameras aft conscionable 10 days to connection an update connected the calamity connected the attack to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, astir 3 miles away.

While Biden's connection number would diminution during crises, giving mode to officials and furniture secretaries to instrumentality questions astatine the podium, Trump's connection number goes up, conscionable arsenic it did erstwhile the COVID pandemic struck 5 years ago.

The effect was aggravated excitement successful the briefing room.  

All 49 seats were occupied good earlier showtime. Correspondents stood 2 heavy successful the constrictive aisles, throwing occasional elbows to support the champion views.

'It's sardine time,' said 1 precocious arrival.

The lights and bodies made the somesthesia tick up good earlier Trump arrived, 20 minutes late.

He was trailed by cardinal figures successful the disaster: Vice President J.D. Vance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

They took the seats astatine the broadside of the room. A shakeup this week had acceptable them speech for members of caller media, but that was earlier 67 radical were killed successful the nation's worst aviation catastrophe successful astir 24 years.

'We are 1 family, and contiguous we are each bosom broken,' said Trump arsenic helium work from his prepared script, dependable somber. 'We're each searching for answers.'

After the words of consolation and unity came the politics. 

An probe would bring answers, helium said. In the meantime, Trump had opinions.

He said helium had accrued standards for hiring aerial postulation controllers during his archetypal term, improvements helium claimed were undone by Biden. 

'They person to beryllium talented, people talented geniuses,' helium said. 'They can't person regular radical doing their job. They won't beryllium capable to bash it.'

He listed what helium said were guidelines for hiring connected the Federal Aviation Administration website.

'The FAA website states they see hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, implicit paralysis, epilepsy, terrible intelligence disability, psychiatric disablement and dwarfism ... each suffice for the presumption of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, pouring into a small spot connected the representation ... a small runway,' helium said.

His medication would prosecute lone the champion radical was the message, dissimilar Buttigieg, erstwhile proscription secretary. 

He's a disaster. He was a catastrophe arsenic a mayor,' helium said. 'He ran his metropolis into the ground, and he's a disaster. Now he's conscionable got a bully enactment of bulls***.'

Trump campaigned connected a connection that helium would reconstruct communal consciousness to government. And connected Thursday helium demonstrated what that meant arsenic helium explored the causes of the crash.   

'It conscionable seems to maine from a mates of words that I similar to usage ... the words "common sense" ... immoderate truly atrocious things happened, and immoderate things happened that shouldn't person happened,' helium said.

'You had a chopper that was astatine the nonstop aforesaid tallness arsenic idiosyncratic going successful fundamentally the other direction. You had a level that was pursuing a track, which is simply a way that each different level followed,' helium said.

And past helium suggested that the beingness of a preceding level whitethorn person analyzable things. 

'So you had a confluence of of atrocious decisions.'

His supporting formed knew their roles.

When Duffy was invited to the podium to accidental a fewer connection helium opened with: 'Thank you, Mr. President, and I would conscionable enactment the president's enactment has been remarkable.'

Hands changeable successful the aerial erstwhile the president turned it implicit to reporters to inquire questions.  Photographers tutted arsenic stretched arms abruptly blocked their shots.

The archetypal question chopped to the nub of his briefing: What grounds bash you person that diverseness initiatives could person been to blasted for the crash?

'It conscionable could person been,' helium said.  

'You person to spell by encephalon power. You person to spell by intelligence quality...these are precise almighty tests that we enactment to usage and they were terminated by Biden.'

He had spent overmuch of the 30 minutes outlining what helium saw arsenic systemic problems with hiring successful the aviation sector.

So should Americans consciousness harmless astir flying? 

'No not astatine all. I don't hesitate to fly...' said the proprietor of a backstage 757 and the passenger-in-chief of Air Force One. 'The collision is conscionable thing we don't expect to hap again.'