Longtime TV host and bestselling author Bill O'Reilly told Newsmax on Thursday that "human error" and "incompetence" will prove to be the two causes behind the plane crash that killed 67 people outside of Washington, D.C.
Whether President Donald Trump is correct in his assessment earlier Thursday that the lowering of standards due to diversity, equity, and inclusion hires in the Biden administration is also to blame, O'Reilly said that will require "more investigation."
O'Reilly joined "Finnerty" to talk about the collision Wednesday night between an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew that collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter and its three occupants at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
"I think there's human error here, of course. There's no other explanation for it. Air traffic control is responsible, particularly in that area. So I think that that will unfold that way. There'll be incompetence," O'Reilly said. "Now, whether it's DEI-based or not, that's going to require a little bit more investigation."
O'Reilly agreed with Trump about his assessment of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg but said the timing of Trump's remarks should have been held back for a few days.
Buttigieg ran things "into the ground with his diversity," Trump told reporters Thursday, adding that former President Joe Biden unwound the first Trump administration's Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic control standards and enacted a federal DEI push.
"I don't like jumping on these tragedies and making them political so fast. I think that President Trump might have waited a couple of days before he went after Buttigieg and the aviation situation," O'Reilly told show host Rob Finnerty.
"Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation under Biden, is one of the worst I've ever seen. I mean, the airline industry literally fell apart in four years, and he did nothing. So that's all legitimate. But the timing of it, I think, could have been better."
O'Reilly agreed that Buttigieg himself was a DEI hire.
"I mean, look, if Pete Buttigieg was not gay, he wouldn't have that job," O'Reilly said. "And I don't think there's anybody in the country who's honest who would dispute that statement."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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