While details surrounding the fatal collision between an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday are still developing, some of the country’s leadership had different instincts when it came to their personal responses to the tragedy.
Late Wednesday night, President Donald Trump questioned why a military helicopter would have found itself in a descending plane’s path as it did above the Washington, D.C., airport.
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn?” he wrote on Truth Social. “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 should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
Trump added, “What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!”
Then, after Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy gave a press conference regarding the accident on Thursday morning, Trump offered a more considered approach, writing, “I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
However, MSNBC was quick to analyze Trump’s initial reaction on-air, asking “Morning Joe” guest Sen. Gary Peters from Michigan on Thursday what he thought about the Commander-in-Chief getting ahead of the official investigation with such an emotionally charged public statement.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s absolutely irresponsible to be putting out theories of what may have happened,” he said. “Let’s get to the facts and the facts will come out fairly quickly. We’ll have to have a full investigation, which will take some time, but we’ve got to let that process.”
“The [National Transportation Safety Board] is a highly professional group of individuals; they’re going to get the facts,” Peters continued. “We’ve got to stick to the facts and not allow these conspiracy theories and other things to stoke fear or uncertainty out there.”
So far, at least 28 bodies have been removed from the Potomac River, according to local officials. “At this point, we don’t believe there are survivors from this accident,” D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly said Thursday (earlier reports of four survivors being pulled from the water appear to be incorrect).
According to AA, there were 60 passengers and four crew on the plane, in addition to three people on the military craft. The Reagan airport is expected to open at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday and emergency services are now treating the operation as a recovery effort.
