A QUESTION Time audience member slated a debate on the politics programme about comments made by Donald Trump following a plane crash in the US.
The panel on Thursday featured Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf, Labour MP James Murray, LibDem MP Helen Morgan and Tory MP Kieran Mullen alongside journalist Alison Phillips.
One of the questions being debated was “Should we follow Trump on diversity?”, which came after the President attacked diversity initiatives implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration following a tragic crash between a jet and military helicopter in Washington DC.
“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” and went on to say air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses.
He said he had no evidence to support his claims that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring preferences played a role in the crash, allowing that “it just could have been”.
An audience member on Question Time took issue with the debate given it was something Trump had said before any investigation into the crash had taken place.
Should the UK follow @realDonaldTrump on diversity? Man in audience: “We shouldn’t be listening to anything Donald Trump says so early into any investigation. It’s just crazy. The man is out of his mind anyway.”#BBCQT #BBCQuestionTime #planecrash #Trump pic.twitter.com/RdTG9GJsoz
— Elizabeth G (@MissyFitLondon) January 30, 2025
He said: “We shouldn’t be listening to anything Donald Trump says so early into any investigation.
“It’s just crazy. The man is out of his mind anyway.”
The man was applauded for his point before host Fiona Bruce quickly moved on.
Trump defended making his claims “because I have common sense”.
He said “we do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions”.
As well as questioning the actions of the air traffic controller, he also speculated about the army helicopter pilot.
Trump declared that “you had a pilot problem” and the helicopter was “going at an angle that was unbelievably bad”.
And he questioned why the Army pilot did not change course, saying that “you can stop a helicopter very quickly”.
He also mused about the air traffic controller, saying of the two aircraft, “for whatever reason they were at the same elevation”, adding “they should have been at a different height”.
The mid-air collision between the Army helicopter and a passenger plane killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said on Thursday.
At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet late on Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
The crash occurred before 9pm in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles (about 4.8 kilometres) south of the White House and the Capitol.
Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause.
