The former fiancée of the American Airlines pilot involved in the deadly, mid-air collision in Washington D.C. last week hit out President Donald Trump for his “insensitive” attempt to blame the crash on diversity policies.
Captain Jonathan Campos' former partner, Nicole Suissa, said that her grieving process has been complicated by Trump’s attempts to pin the Jan. 29 crash on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
“This man’s body hadn’t even been pulled out of the river yet, and we’re talking about him being unqualified because his name is Campos,” Suissa told ABC News on Wednesday.
She said it was inappropriate that the president politicized the disaster just one day after 67 people were killed in the crash between the passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“What really irked me to no end was it was, the next day they published Jonathan’s name and Jonathan’s very Puerto Rican-looking face, all I could hear in the back of my head was all these people, all these DEI fear-mongering people going, ‘You see, I knew he’d be Hispanic,’ and I lost my mind,” Suissa said.
“The politicization of this man’s death is entirely inappropriate. It is abhorrent. It is disgraceful. It is insensitive to say the least.”
While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, Trump has claimed that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies were likely responsible.
During a press conference, Trump floated that those involved in the crash “just could have been” the product of diversity hiring. When asked how he could support his statement, given that officials had just launched an investigation, Trump said it was because he “had common sense.”
He said Friday that the Federal Aviation Association’s commitment to hiring people with disabilities was “one reason why our Country WAS going to hell.”
Suissa defended Campos' ability as a captain and said he was “doing everything right.”
“He did everything he was supposed to do,” Suissa said. “He was a by-the-book pilot, and he did everything he was supposed to do, and I thought when you do everything right, that you get to live.”
Read it at ABC News
