Harmful and Baseless Comments Came After Trump Fired Heads of TSA, Coast Guard and Gutted Key Aviation Safety Advisory Committee

“He is a reckless, lawless, dangerous man, and at a time of tragedy when he should be a salve and a balm, and a source of confidence for these grieving families and for the country, this is what he does?”

Video (YouTube)

BOSTON – Today, on GBH’s Boston Public Radio,Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) slammed Donald Trump for blaming the tragic plane crash at Reagan National Airport, which killed over 60 people, including some families from Massachusetts, on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Trump’s harmful and baseless comments came after he fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard, and eliminated all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee last week. An investigation into the accident is underway. There is no evidence to suggest that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives played any role in the catastrophe.

A full transcript of her comments is available below and video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Slams Trump for Baselessly Blaming Tragic Plane Crash on “DEI”

GBH Boston Public Radio

January 30, 2025

JIM BRAUDE: Donald Trump is holding a press conference right now about the plane helicopter crash, and he’s blaming DEI for the collision that killed everybody on both airplanes. Do you want to respond to the President’s assertion here?

REP. PRESSLEY: More of the same, shameful, deplorable and disgusting, but nothing new. I mean, they blame DEI for wildfires. They blame DEI for everything, every bit of harm that we experienced, that they have been an architect of, they’re the only ones they don’t hold accountable, and they’re the ones sowing this division.

And how, that’s why Dr King said “power without love is reckless.” He is a reckless, lawless, dangerous man, and at a time of tragedy when he should be a salve and a balm, and a source of confidence for these grieving families and for the country, this is what he does? More of the same. 

Listen, I just need people to — we’re going to have to match his energy. This is — I know people are overwhelmed and they are discouraged and they are hopeless. We’re going to have to stand in the gap for one another. We can sleep in shifts, but this is going to require everyone, and I cannot have people more outraged about Tiktok being deactivated than you are about the rolling back of our civil rights and an existential threat to our democracy and our very planet. 

So I’m looking at everybody. You need to stand up, need to speak out, and you need to lean in and stand in the gap for one another. An attack on diversity, equity and inclusion is an attack on everyone, veterans, women, the LGBTQ community, Black folks, it is a threat to everyone, and you need to move and act accordingly. Because if you think that you can be inoculated from the harms of this administration, that that’s happening to them over there, you want to perpetuate this othering. Just know, none of us will be exempt from the harm of this administration. They are coming for everyone. 

They are coming for everyone, but I believe in the power of the people, and we have these two victories already on birthright citizenship and on the federal freeze, and we’re going to have to keep at it.

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