Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg slammed Donald Trump after Trump tried to blame Buttigieg for last night’s American Eagle flight crash.

The U.S. had not had any commercial plane crash fatalities in 16 years until last night, when a military helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342 near Reagan National Airport. Over 60 people were on that plane and there are believed to be no survivors.

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Earlier today, Trump attempted to deflect attention from the chaos he caused early into his presidency by firing people in key safety positions in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The firings may have prevented the hiring of air traffic controllers.

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During the press conference, Trump blamed “diversity” — or the idea that people of color and women were hired who weren’t qualified for their positions. He also blamed Buttigieg, saying the former transportation secretary was a “disaster.”

“The FAA, which was overseen by Pete Buttigieg — a real winner, that guy’s a real winner. You know how badly everything’s run since he’s run this Department of Transportation? He’s a disaster,” Trump said. Buttigieg is no longer the Transportation Secretary; Trump’s pick, former reality TV star Sean Duffy, is.

Buttigieg responded on social media, pointing out that there hadn’t been a major U.S. commercial airline crash since 2009 and none occurred during the Biden administration. But, shortly after Trump got to the White House, such plane crashes started happening again.

“Despicable,” Buttigieg wrote. “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”

“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”

In the brief time that he has been in the White House, Trump has offered severance packages to two million federal workers, which may have included air traffic controllers, in order to create a “more streamlined and flexible workforce” and to ensure that federal employees know that their jobs aren’t guaranteed. He also implemented a hiring freeze on federal civilian employees, which may have prevented the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from hiring air traffic controllers. At the same time, Trump ordered the FAA to stop all “Biden DEI hiring programs.”

Trump ally Elon Musk forced the former head of the FAA, Michael Whitaker, to resign after he proposed over $600,000 in fines for Musk’s company SpaceX over safety concerns.

Trump fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and dismissed all members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC) as well last week. The ASAC was created by Congress in 1988 after the PanAm Flight 103 bombing.

Republicans have often blamed Buttigieg for any issue involving transportation during his time at the Department of Transportation, even accidents that occurred following Republican budget cuts.

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