Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) recently made the false claim that no president in history during their first month in office has endured as many plane crashes as President Donald Trump. However, this assertion was quickly fact-checked and debunked using publicly available information from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Over the past few weeks, several prominent aviation disasters have occurred, sparking fears among the public about the safety of air travel. Last month, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter, leaving no survivors with a death toll of 67. Swalwell’s remarks came after a Saturday crash in which a single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Georgia, killing both people on board.
Responding to the news, Swalwell claimed, “No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump.” However, data from the NTSB proves the California Democrat’s claim is factually untrue when comparing statistics from former President Joe Biden’s first four weeks in office.
According to reports, the NTSB investigated 55 plane accidents in the United States, with 24 resulting in injuries or death, within Biden’s first month in the Oval Office. In contrast, President Trump has seen 35 domestic accidents in the same period of time, with 12 resulting in injuries or death.
In the aftermath of the devastating crash between Flight 5342 and the Black Hawk, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both issued statements on the disaster. President Trump maintained that the country must prioritize meritocracy and hire the best-equipped individuals, especially for critical jobs in the aviation industry.
We have to have our smartest people,” Trump said. “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.”
Vice President Vance issued similar remarks, stating, “Something the President said that I think bears reemphasizing, which is that when you don’t have the best standards in who you’re hiring, it means, on the one hand, you’re not getting the best people in government, but on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there.”
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Vance added, “And I think that is a core part of what President Trump is going to bring, and has already brought to Washington DC, is we want to hire the best people, because we want the best people at aircraft control, and we want to make sure we have enough people in aircraft control who are actually competent to do the job.”
Criticizing former President Barrack Obama’s policies, Trump vowed to prioritized public safety. “I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first,” Trump noted in his remarks. “The FAA’s website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.” Watch President Trump and JD Vance below: