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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."

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A Democratic senator admonished president Donald Trump for speculating about the cause of a deadly midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) appeared Friday morning on CNN to discuss his fierce grilling of Trump's FBI nominee Kash Patel, who refused to say that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election, and he was then asked to comment on the current president's reaction to the crash.

Republican political strategist Brad Todd acknowledged on CNN Friday that President Donald Trump shouldn't have rushed to baselessly cast blame on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the wake of a tragic plane crash this week.

While discussing Trump's response to the tragedy, Todd criticized Trump for not being able to read the mood of the nation immediately after horrific events such as this week's plane crash.

A retired pilot condemned president Donald Trump's comments about the midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and U.S. Army helicopter.

The president opened his White House briefing Thursday with a moment of silence and a brief prayer before launching an attack against diversity hiring and Democratic officials. Then he baselessly speculated that the soldier flying the Black Hawk helicopter or air traffic controllers were at fault, and a retired American Airlines captain told CNN that he was appalled by the spectacle.

President Donald Trump’s statements surrounding the midair collision that claimed 67 lives came under fire Thursday in a brutal fact-check session that flagged three key points as misleading.

“Here's a reality check,” CNN’s René Marsh told viewers after Trump delivered his theories for who was responsible for the crash.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) tore down President Donald Trump's speculation that the Washington, D.C. collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a Black Hawk helicopter was the result of "diversity" programs in an interview with CNN's Jim Sciutto on Thursday.

Kelly, who served as a Naval pilot and flew Space Shuttle missions for NASA before getting into politics, noted how complicated these kinds of disasters can be, and that there is rarely a single cause behind them.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spent Thursday hammering Donald Trump's nominee to lead the FBI using his own words against him.

Klobuchar repeatedly read statements that Kash Patel made on podcasts, in social media posts, and in his book.

When Donald Trump's FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, his own words were thrown back at him. But while he admitted to saying a few of them, he also claimed Democrats were "making up lies."

Thursday afternoon, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace came with the receipts. When a lawmaker read the quote aloud, Wallace showed the video clip it corresponded to. She wondered why there's a "disconnect" with Republicans "being all-in" as Trump's nominees threaten law enforcement functions.

President Donald Trump appeared agitated Thursday afternoon after a reporter inquired whether he'll visit the site of a mid-air crash between an American Airlines regional jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter.

The fiery collision happened near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. Wednesday. An American Airlines regional jet, PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River.

Kash Patel’s claim that he knows nothing about Stew Peters, a conspiracy theorist who has promoted anti-semitic beliefs, was flatly rejected by the far-right host, whose show the FBI director nominee has appeared on multiple times.

"Clearly, Kash Patel is lying. He absolutely does know who I am,” Peters said Thursday on his show, “The Stew Peters Show.”

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) attacked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s questionable beliefs about science during his confirmation hearing by citing her son, who has "severe cerebral palsy."

Speaking to the committee Thursday, Hassan said she found it "disturbing" that Republicans accused her and her colleagues of partisanship during Kennedy's first hearing a day earlier.