Donald Trump delivers message during college football national championship

Tragedy struck on Wednesday night time when an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Military Black Hawk helicopter collided in midair close to Reagan Nationwide Airport. Sixty passengers and four crew members have been aboard the plane, and three soldiers were on the helicopter. As of 1 a.m. ET, 18 bodies had been recovered.

About two hours after the crash, President Donald Trump issued a statement on White House letterhead announcing, “God Bless their souls.” He additionally thanked the first responders who were on the scene.

An hour or so later, he took to his Reality Social media platform, where he advised that the helicopter pilot or these in the air site visitors keep watch over tower (or each) have been guilty:

The aircraft used to be on a perfect and events line of solution to the airport. The helicopter was once going straight at the plane for a protracted period of time. It’s a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the airplane have been blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or flip. Why didn’t the keep an eye on tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they noticed the aircraft. This is a dangerous state of affairs that looks like it must were avoided. NOT GOOD!!!

Presently, it’s uncertain what ended in the collision.

In a 2nd submit fired off one minute later, Trump adopted up with a more measured response, writing, “What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!”

The Federal Aviation Administration, said that the plane involved was once a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet that was once being operated on behalf of American Airways.

A webcam placed at the Kennedy Middle captured the collision.

Webcam at the Kennedy Center caught an explosion mid-air throughout the Potomac. https://t.co/v75sxitpH6 p.c.twitter.com/HInYdhBYs5

— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) January 30, 2025

CNN’s Pete Muntean suggested on the incident, stating he was once “surprised.”

“I’m just shocked. Firstly we had heard that this will likely have been a collision with a police helicopter, and what the FAA is laying out right here is that it’s now not the case,” he said on air. “This used to be a mid-air collision between this business flight and a government or military helicopter. To put this into context for you, Reagan Nationwide Airport is true throughout the river, on the Maryland facet is Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. That’s the place the presidential helicopter fleet is primarily based.”

The put up Trump Looks To Assign Blame For Midair Crash: ‘Why Didn’t the Keep watch over Tower Tell the Helicopter What to Do?’ first appeared on Mediaite.