President Donald Trump blamed his predecessors' diversity hiring policies for possibly causing the deadly Jan. 29 Washington, D.C., plane crash. Here's what he got wrong.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

76% : "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.
52% : That 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% : 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.
38% : During 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.
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.
29% : The assessment has not been in place since 2018, when Trump ended it.
28% : "The decision to hire a controller is solely based upon aptitude testing, medical certification and security investigation," McCormick said.As he speculated about the Jan. 29 air crash's cause, Trump said "I changed the Obama policy (on hiring air traffic controllers) ...
22% : Trump in 2018 eliminated an Obama-era assessment used in hiring air traffic controllers that scored applicants based on their work and education history and personality traits.
14% : Trump was wrong to say that Biden reinstated it -- he did not.
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% : A 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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