Video

President Donald Trump once again doubled down on his baseless accusations that diversity hiring at air traffic control was responsible for the deadly American Eagle plane crash this week at National Airport in D.C. — despite several ways in which his administration left the Federal Aviation Administration unprepared for securing the skies.

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale laid into Trump's claims on that, and many more issues the president brought up on Friday.

President Donald Trump is purging the FBI, but the number of law enforcement agents who will be fired could be more extensive than initially thought.

NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly said the goal of the Trump team is to purge any FBI agent who had their hands on anything involving Jan. 6. Given the sheer number of defendants, a full three-fourths of the FBI worked on those cases, which would mean just 25% of the FBI staff would be left to handle federal law enforcement investigations.

President Donald Trump got snippy with reporters Friday afternoon who questioned his claims that diversity programs contributed to a mid-air collision this week that killed 67 people in Washington, D.C.

Speaking to reporters while signing another executive order that will usher in 25% trade tariffs on all imports coming in from Mexico and Canada, Trump doubled down on his claim.

Among the three military staff on the helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight Wednesday night was a female U.S. Army captain. Her family is asking that her name be not be released publicly.

Both MSNBC and Reuters reported Friday that the Army made the "highly unusual decision" not to disclose the soldier's name.

Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) noticed that all of Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees who appeared before committees on Thursday suffered from memory problems.

She appeared on a political panel with MSNBC Friday along with Brendan Buck, a former adviser to two Speakers of the House.

CNN's Daniel Dale subjected president Donald Trump's claims about a deadly midair collision to a rigorous fact check.

The president blamed his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama for the crash, saying they prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion when hiring aviation safety personnel, but Dale said his claim was not based on any facts.

One of Donald Trump's former White House staffers wondered if he is playing politics with the Washington, D.C. plane crash to distract from the poor performance of three of his Cabinet appointees.

Co-host Sunny Hostin pointed to Trump's statement during his press conference Thursday alleging that diversity hiring was responsible for the crash. When pressed on it, Trump said he only knows that because of "common sense." But Hostin named the list of positions that Trump has eliminated that deal with air safety.

On Friday morning, MSNBC juxtaposed footage of former President Ronald Reagan somberly addressing the nation after the 1986 Challenger explosion that shocked the nation in 1986 with Donald Trump's finger-pointing press conference to address a commercial plane crash over the Potomac two days ago.

Introduced by "Morning Joe" co-host Jonathan Lemire –– who was highly critical of the president's performance on MSNBC earlier –– the dueling presidential statement clip labeled "How Leaders Address the Nation During Tragedies" demonstrated what they suggested was Trump's startling lack of empathy for the victims and their families as he used it to attempt to score political points.

An aviation expert revealed one mystery from the deadly midair collision that likely will never be solved.

A Bombardier CRJ700 passenger jet operated by American Airlines collided in midair with a Blackhawk helicopter flown by U.S. Army soldiers Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., and aviation journalist Geoffrey Thomas told CNN International that investigators will soon have much more evidence from the tragedy but may never learn some details.

White House correspondent Jonathan Lemire didn't mince any words on Friday morning as he called out Donald Trump for purportedly face-planting following what some have said is the first real crisis of his second term.

From his perch as a co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Lemire expanded upon a column he wrote for The Atlantic where he, under the headline "The Day Trump Became Un-President," wrote of the president's press conference about the DC plane crash tragedy, "And just like in 2020, Trump used a national calamity to try to score political points and denigrate his foes. Fourteen hours after a midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter outside Washington last night—the first crisis of the young administration, a moment to console a stunned and grieving nation—Trump repeatedly implied that the crash was the fault of his Democratic predecessors and of DEI policies."

CNN's Michael Smerconish marveled at the way president Donald Trump twisted the facts about a deadly midair collision to serve his agenda.

The president blamed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives – essentially faulting women, Black people and people with disabilities – for the deaths of 67 people aboard an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter, and the CNN and SiriusXM host blasted Trump for changing the subject.

GOP strategist Brad Todd on Friday said that Tulsi Gabbard made herself more difficult to confirm as President Donald Trump's choice to be director of national intelligence this week.

While discussing Gabbard's confirmation hearings, Todd said that she did herself no favors by refusing to forcefully condemn Edward Snowden for leaking sensitive government information and then absconding to Russia to protect himself from prosecution.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Friday morning, NBC national security expert David Rohde predicted that two of Donald Trump's key cabinet nominees appear to be headed to defeat as GOP senators send signals they're not sold.

Speaking with the hosts of "Morning Joe," Rohde stated that DNI nominee Tulsi Gabbard and HHS nominee Robert Kennedy Jr. did damage to their chances during their respective Senate hearings, with Gabbard turning off Republican lawmakers who had been supporting her.

ALSO READ: Top GOPer's ‘most immediate’ priority for new committee includes probing a MAGA conspiracy

After watching clips of the two nominees, along with questioning of FBI director candidate Kash Patel, being grilled by senators, co-host Jonathan Lemire reported on Gabbard's problems, telling his guest, "Some Republicans who maybe went into this hearing inclined to support her, or at least giving her the benefit of the doubt ––maybe not," before pointing out GOP Sens. James Lankford (OK), John Curtis (UT), Todd Young (IN) have all expressed reservations.

Adding the Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told reporters, "I'm worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy," Lemire asked, "Tell us particularly on that one, since it's the national security world, tell us what you're hearing about Gabbard and her chances."

"I think she's in the most trouble and it's partly that she's a former Democrat and there were sort of basic questions that she wouldn't answer," he replied.

"So I think she's in trouble," he continued. "I think Kennedy –– again, [GOP Sen. Bill] Cassidy, it was amazing to watch him as a physician bring up all these issues with, you know, all these vaccines that have he's seen as a physician help people. So if there is a flip, it would be those two nominations but I do think that Kash Patel will get through and be confirmed."

You can watch below or at the link.