The airport shutdown press conference, conducted by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and DHS head Markwayne Mullin, was a major flop for some in Donald Trump’s administration.
One administration insider labeled the two as “dumb and dumber” for failing to explain the event that caused chaos across the country, as all flights were grounded, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers, reports the Daily Mail.
That same official also raised questions about the president’s absence.
A second insider didn’t hold back, telling the Mail, “If this is what the administration believes, and I believe it is at this point, then you should probably get people to come out and speak on it that know how to communicate, because there’s no American that would legitimately feel safe, or confident in that assessment, after listening to that rambling clown show.”
The disruption was massive. Duffy told reporters that over 3,500 planes were airborne when the ground stop took effect. He later announced on X that the order was lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET. By the weekend, ABC News counted upward of 12,500 cancellations over Friday and Saturday combined.
Mullin tried to tamp down fears of an attack. “There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us,” he said. Still, NPR reported that when pressed on that phrasing, Mullin said nothing had been ruled out yet. Law enforcement sources said "early indications pointed away from a cyberattack," with FBI staff across the country keeping watch, according to the report..
Questions linger over what actually broke. Duffy pointed to aging equipment that buckled under too much data, but the pair never nailed down what first triggered the failure, the report notes. Mullin floated new technology as the culprit without saying what it was. A day later, Duffy said a contractor had been swapping old copper telecom lines for fiber at a remote FAA facility.
The briefing caps a rough stretch. Mullin was blasted for stopping a reporter to quibble over the term “artificial intelligence,” Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed without evidence that officials were lying, and a report the shutdown followed a union being cut out of safety testing.
