Vance Exposes DEI ‘Scandal’ Involving Air Traffic Controllers

Vice President JD Vance offered insight into President Donald Trump‘s comments about how DEI policies were a factor in the deadly mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and Army Black Hawk Helicopter near Reagan National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area last week.

Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Vance if he had any evidence that any of the employees at the control were “DEI hires” during a “Sunday Morning Futures” interview.

“No, the president’s been very clear about this. This is not saying that the person who was at the controls is a DEI hire,” Vance replied, adding: “Let’s just say, first of all, we should investigate everything. But let’s just say the person at the controls didn’t have enough staffing around him or her because we were turning people away because of DEI reasons. There is a very direct connection between the policies of the last administration and short-staffed air traffic controllers. That has to stop.”

Vice President @JDVance on DEI hiring practices at the FAA ????

“There’s a very direct connection between the policies of the last administration and short-staffed air traffic controllers…That is a scandal. Thankfully, it's a scandal that the president has stopped." pic.twitter.com/e5NYUYCSlq

— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) February 2, 2025

Vance continued his answer by responding to the media coverage of Trump’s remarks in the wake of the tragedy in which 67 people were killed.

“By the way, it’s so funny to me. The media has picked up on this — not you, of course, Maria — but others have picked up on this. The president made very clear that he wasn’t blaming anybody, but he was being very explicit about the fact that DEI policies have led our air traffic controllers to be short-staffed. That is a scandal,” Vance said. “Thankfully, it’s a scandal that the president has stopped.”

The New York Times revealed that an internal preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that staffing at the tower at the time of the collision was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.” Also mentioned by the newspaper was that the controller who was dealing with helicopters around the airport was also instructing planes that were landing and departing, tasks typically assigned to multiple people.

Earlier in the interview, Vance explained how he believed DEI policies of the Obama and Biden administrations “contributed” to the current situation.

“We have a massive shortage of air traffic controllers. And, in fact, there have been a number of lawsuits from people who would like to become air traffic controllers against the Obama and Biden administration who basically said, we were told not even to apply because of the color of our skin, because they were white people who wanted to be air traffic controllers, and under the DEI regime of the Biden administration, they weren’t welcome.”

Vance said that means the “we don’t have the best and the brightest sometimes in these positions” and “even more importantly than that, even when we do get really good people, they’re going to be way overstressed because they’re working long hours, because air traffic controllers are short-staffed.”

Hearkening back to his time in the Senate, Vance noted that he served on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

“We knew for years that we had a shortage at air traffic control,” Vance said. “Well, part of the reason why we had a shortage at air traffic control is because we were telling our air traffic controllers not to hire people because of the color of their skin. That is a scandal, and it is a scandal, thankfully, that has stopped under the leadership of President Trump. It’s why I’m actually optimistic about aviation safety, but it’s also why we have had way too many near misses and unfortunately a fatal crash just a couple days ago.”