White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized senator Chuck Schumer for blaming US President Donald Trump for the Delta Air Lines plane crash that occurred in Canada’s Toronto. During an interview on “America Reports” on Tuesday, Leavitt slammed Schumer’s claim that Trump’s cuts to the federal aviation administration’s workforce contributed to the accident.
“It’s incredibly irresponsible for Chuck Schumer to say such a thing when the investigation is still underway,” Leavitt said.
The Delta Air Lines plane, which departed from Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport on Monday, crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Video footage captured the aircraft touching down and then flipping onto its top side amid an eruption of flames. All 80 passengers survived the crash, although 18 sustained injuries, including three in critical condition.
Following the accident, Schumer took to social media to blame Trump for the incident, arguing that his administration’s workforce reductions at the FAA had made air travel less safe.
“I’m thankful that everyone in the flight incident in Toronto that took off from Minneapolis is safe, but we keep seeing these incidents day after day. Meanwhile, Trump’s doing massive layoffs at the FAA – including safety specialists – and making our skies less and less safe,” Schumer wrote in a series of posts on X.
Schumer further said, “To those asking whether it matters that the plane’s destination was in Canada: The flight took off from Minneapolis. The FAA was still responsible for inspecting the aviation equipment, and Trump just let go of FAA safety specialists.”
Schumer’s remarks followed a similar political blame game last month when Trump accused Biden-era FAA policies of contributing to a fatal crash between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which resulted in 67 deaths.
Leavitt firmly pushed back against Schumer’s statements, pointing out that Canadian air-traffic controllers, not the FAA, were responsible for directing the Delta flight at the time of the crash.
Speaking to “America Reports” co-anchor John Roberts, she explained, “And as you rightfully pointed out, John, this crash unfortunately took place in Canadian airspace with Canadian air-traffic controllers overseeing it.”
Leavitt also disputed Schumer’s claim regarding Trump’s FAA workforce reductions. “And the facts about the FAA are that no air-traffic controllers have been let go by Secretary Duffy or this new administration. In fact, Secretary Duffy has put great emphasis on hiring the best and the brightest air-traffic controllers who want to be part of the FAA,” she asserted.
She further defended Trump’s policies, highlighting his efforts to ensure merit-based hiring within the FAA. “And President Trump signed a very strong executive order to ensure that the FAA and all federal government agencies are focused on merit and skill-based hiring. We want the best and the brightest, the most competent individuals in positions especially of public safety at the FAA, the department of transportation, and all departments across this federal government, so we can best serve the American people.”
Leavitt concluded by criticising former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Biden administration, accusing them of neglecting aviation safety. “They sat on their hands when it came to aviation safety for four years,” she remarked.
