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President Donald Trump ripped CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins during a testy exchange at his press conference Thursday (January 30) addressing the deadly collision between an American Airlines passenger plane and a black hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C. Wednesday (January 29) night.
Collins, 32, who hosts The Source and recently resumed her role as CNN's Chief White House Correspondent, pressed Trump about "blaming" the Democrats and diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the crash and acknowledged that the names of the 67 victims involved in the tragedy, which is now being treated as a recovery mission with no suspected survivors, were not yet released publicly at the time, asking Trump if he believed his rant about DEI policies comforted their families.
“I think that’s not a very smart question,” Trump responded, claiming he could give Collins a list of names of the victims and that the White House was working closely with American Airlines and the military.
Collins also claimed that Trump was "blaming air traffic controllers" before the president responded, "I'm surprised coming from you" and shifted his attention to another reporter.
Collins' questioning came moments after Trump implied that DEI hiring could have played a role in the crash, despite the investigation into the tragedy only being in its early stages, making claims about the Federal Aviation Administration's hiring initiatives under former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama and alleged underemployment of individuals with disabilities.
“We have to have our smartest people” as air traffic controllers, Trump said Thursday morning via NBC News. “It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. ... They have to be talented, naturally talented. Geniuses. Can’t have regular people doing their job. We can’t have regular people doing this job. They won’t be able to do it, but we’ll restore faith in American air travel."
The White House later shared a memo accusing the Biden administration of recruiting "individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA" in adherence with its diversity, equity and inclusion hiring process.