Trump blames DEI for US ‘going to hell’ and claims helicopter was flying ‘too high’ before DC crash: Live

When the Japanese Imperial air force wreaked havoc at Pearl Harbour in December 1941, a sombre 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, addressed the nation to conjure a “day which will live in infamy”.

When NASA’s Challenger space shuttle blew up shortly after blast-off in 1986, instantly killing the seven astronauts on board, Ronald Reagan spoke of how these brave young mean and women had “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God”.

More recently, in 2012, after the horrific murder of 20 six and seven-years-olds at Sandy Hook, an emotional Barack Obama addressed the need to “heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds”.

This, he conceded, was not based on any empirical evidence – it was his “common sense”. You could see the bewilderment of so many of the reporters who had gathered in the briefing room.

Donald Trump’s Acting Secretary of the Treasury, David A. Lebryk, is set to depart the agency after a clash with allies of Elon Musk, three people close to the matter told the Washington Post.

Lebryk, the top-ranking career official in the agency, clashed with the billionaire’s surrogate over access to sensitive payment systems used by the government, the sources said. Further details of the dispute were not immediately available.

Officials from the nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency, which is headed up by Musk, have been asking for access to the system since after the election, according to the sources.

They said Lebryk is expected to leave the agency soon.

Since taking office on 20 January, Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government and the private sector.

While Trump’s orders have been celebrated by some supporters and allies, they have been criticized by advocacy groups who say they might deepen inequities and undo decades of progress made to enshrine civil rights protections for marginalized groups.

On Thursday, the president baselessly tried to blame the Washington DC plane crash that killed 67 people on DEI diversity measures.

Madeline Sherratt walks us through all things DEI.

There were sighs of relief this week when the White House finally confirmed that Donald Trump would accept the credentials of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US.

The threat that, for the first time ever, an ambassador between the two countries would be rejected had seemed very real with all the potential for personal humiliation on the international stage for Sir Keir Starmer.

But in reality, it now appears that the man who in 1987 wrote The Art of the Deal may have just given the British prime minister a lesson in his craft.

In an early morning Truth Social tirade, Donald Trump has once again addressed the Washington, DC collision between an American Airlines jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter – leaving all 67 passengers and crew aboard the flights feared dead.

Officials have not yet unveiled the cause of the deadly collision. But some people with knowledge of the matter admitted that the helicopter was flying 100 feet above its max altitude, according to The New York Times.

Although the military helicopter was told to fly no higher than 200 feet, it was above 300 feet and was at least a half-mile off the approved route when the crash occurred, the Times reported.

The people of Denmark see the US as more of a threat than North Korea amid an ongoing row between the country and Donald Trump about Greenland, a poll has found.

The YouGov survey, which polled just over 1,000 people, revealed 46 percent thought the US to be either a “very big threat” or a “fairly big threat” to Denmark.

This was higher than the number who said they considered North Korea or Iran a threat – of which 44 percent and 40 percent did respectively, according to The Guardian.

Alexander Butler has the full story.

JD Vance warned that Donald Trump is “all gas and no brakes” as he ramrods through his new agenda as the vice president sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity less than a week after his boss did the same.

In the interview, broadcast on Wednesday evening, the pair discussed the Trump administration’s “ambitious” efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and “regain control” over the U.S. border, as well as the efficiency of government.

Mike Bedigan has the story.