Trump faults DEI hiring in plane crash and falsely describes FAA policies under Obama, Biden

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

74% : By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy"I changed the Obama policy, and we had a very good policy," Trump said.
55% : The page was taken down after Trump was inaugurated Jan. 20.
53% : AdvertisementThat didn't stop when Trump took office in 2017.
52% : Archives of the FAA's website show the agency continually highlighted its diversity hiring initiatives, including its aims to hire people with disabilities, from 2013 up until Trump reclaimed office in 2025, including throughout Trump's first term, 2017 to 2021.
47% : "After being sworn in for his second term, Trump on Jan. 20 and Jan. 22 signed executive orders aimed at shutting down diversity programs in the federal government, including the FAA.
46% : Trump didn't end the initiative -- he expanded the effort by announcing a program aimed at hiring 20 people with disabilities to be air traffic controllers.
45% : Trump said it came out a week before he took office, but it was published Jan. 14, 2024.
44% : AdvertisementDuring his Jan. 30 press conference, Trump maligned a list of "targeted disabilities," including severe intellectual disabilities, saying their emphasis in hiring was unique to his predecessors.
44% : Nevertheless, in 2018, Trump jettisoned its use of the air control biographical assessment, the White House said.
40% : Trump said he ended those initiatives in 2017 when he was first elected, but Biden reinstated them.
33% : "Trump read from a Fox News headline that said the Federal Aviation Administration diversity hiring initiative "includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities."
32% : He said most of the conditions Trump listed would not meet the agency's medical standards.
31% : Our rulingAs he speculated about the Jan. 29 air crash's cause, Trump said, "I changed the Obama policy (on hiring air traffic controllers) ...
29% : Trump expanded -- not withdrew -- a hiring initiative aimed at people with disabilitiesIn 2010, Obama's administration issued an executive order directing federal agencies to hire more people with disabilities, noting that although 54 million people in the U.S. have disabilities, they were underrepresented in the federal workforce.
29% : The assessment has not been in place since 2018, when Trump ended it.
14% : Trump was wrong to say that Biden reinstated it -- he did not.
13% : Trump ended a controversial Obama-era hiring protocol, but Biden did not reinstate itIn 2014, the Obama administration launched a hiring assessment for air traffic controllers that weighed biographical information such as work and education experience and personality traits as part of a person's application.
2% : Trump started his Jan. 30 press conference with a moment of silence but pivoted to blame Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who Trump said led Federal Aviation Administration diversity programs that inspired the agency to hire unqualified air traffic control employees.
1% : AdvertisementA close look at the FAA's hiring policies under Obama, Biden and Trump shows that Trump mischaracterized the policies and misled about his actions and the actions of his White House predecessors.

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