Pete Buttigieg, former transportation secretary and former South Bend mayor, called Trump's comments during today's press briefing "despicable."

Politicians have always sworn, but it was not until recently that their blue language has made it into the public record.

President Donald Trump is questioning the actions of the army helicopter pilot and air traffic controller in Wednesday's deadly midair collision in Washington.

Officials have not yet to establish the causes of the collision, and Trump himself acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged prayers for the victims.

Buttigieg, who was mayor of South Bend, Indiana, moved to his husband Chasten’s home state of Michigan in 2020 after losing to President Biden in the Democratic primary that same year.

At his first news conference since the aircraft collision over the Potomac River, President Donald Trump implied Thursday that diversity, equity and inclusion programs could be the cause, although an investigation into the fatal disaster has only just begun.

Vice President JD Vance, left, shakes hands with Sean Duffy after swearing him in as secretary of transportation as his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, holds the Bible in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Politicians have always sworn, but it was not until recently that their blue language has made it into the public record.

In the first national tragedy of his second term in the White House, President Donald Trump wasted no time Thursday baselessly blaming Democrats and diversity initiatives in the federal government for the midair collision that killed 67 people over the Potomac River.

Buttigieg pointed out that the U.S. hadn't had a deadly airline crash in 16 years and that Trump fired "key personnel who helped keep our skies safe."