Donald Trump has been branded a "deranged, malignant narcissist" after speculating that diversity initiatives were to blame for the tragic plane crash that killed 67 people in Washington. During a press conference held at the White House, just over three miles from the scene of the crash, the US president said "we are one family" as he expressed condolences for the crash. But shortly after, he proceeded to attack his political opponents and unleash grievances about diversity hires, in particular referring to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website," Trump said. He added that the programme allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and "dwarfism". In his rant, Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses, adding: "They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses. You can't have regular people doing their job." When asked by a journalist whether he had any evidence to support his claims that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring preferences played a role in the crash, Trump said he didn't - but defended doing so "because I have common sense.".

His unfounded comments were widely criticised on social media, with a person writing on X, formerly called Twitter: "This deranged, malignant narcissist is as pathetic a human being as it gets." Another person branded the US president "one dangerous man" while adding that blaming the crash on diversity so soon after it added is "moronic". Another added: "This Trump statement is mind blowing. Am I hearing this right?? It was the fault of diversity, Biden, and air traffic controllers who aren't intelligent enough because of targeted disabilities, eg 'dwarfism'.".

"One more person tweeted: "So when you think he couldn't be a worse human being, Trump blames diversity rules under his predecessors for yesterday's crash, saying he believes people were hired for air traffic control roles who were not qualified - but offers no evidence for this. Disgusting.". After the press conference, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump spewing conspiracy theories about the crash "turns your stomach." He said at the Capitol: "It's one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, it's another for the president of the United States.".

"As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted on X shortly after President Donald Trump's White House news conference. He noted that when he led the agency, it "had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.". The comments followed Trump sharply criticising Buttigieg and even resorting to profanity to denounce what he called Democratic-led efforts to promote diversity at federal agencies. Trump said Mr Buttigieg at the transportation department had "run it right into the ground with his diversity.".

Among those criticising Trump was Democrat senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who urged the president to apologise for his comments. "It was just grotesque the way he immediately politicised this terrible tragedy," said the senator, as he noted the way Trump started "pointing fingers" without knowing the facts of the situation. "He owes the American people an apology," he said. Get email updates with the day's biggest stories.