GOP Lawmaker Admits There’s No Proof DEI Caused D.C. Plane Crash

Republican Congressman Eric Burlison admitted Friday there was no evidence that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies were responsible for the deadly plane crash near Washington, D.C., earlier this week.

Sixty-seven people are believed to be dead after a passenger plane hit a military helicopter midair near Ronald Reagan Nation Airport. The actual cause of the crash remains unknown, but Donald Trump has blamed who he always does: anyone who isn’t a white, straight, able-bodied man.

Trump’s cronies have been quick to echo his harmful theory, but Burlison was forced to admit there was no evidence to prove it, in an interview with Fox News.

“Do you have any evidence that any of those hires were DEI hires?” host Maria Bartiromo asked Burlison after he too criticized the FAA’s diversity hires.

“Not until we get into the investigation,” Burlison admitted.

Burlison is taking a page from Trump’s book. In a press conference on Thursday, Trump said the Federal Aviation Administration’s efforts to hire “workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions” in air traffic control centers led to the crash. Trump admitted he had no evidence to back his claim but said he believed it to be true because he has “common sense.”

It’s yet another ridiculous attempt to blame literally every problem on DEI efforts enacted by Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Ironically though, it was Trump’s own first administration that launched a diversity program to hire air controllers with the very criteria he claimed were responsible for the deadliest U.S. plane crash in 25 years, The Washington Post reported Thursday evening.

Republicans’ new Senate majority leader, John Thune, is being forced to choose between his fearless MAGA leader and the constituents who chose him to represent their interests. 

Trump on Thursday confirmed his plans to levy aggressive 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, after complaining about “the people that have poured into our country,” “the drugs, fentanyl and everything else,” and “the massive subsidies we are giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.”

While Trump and his base cheer on the strongman isolationism, Thune’s constituents in his home state of South Dakota could potentially suffer. The state’s entire economy is reliant on agriculture—it exports soybeans, corn, and beef primarily, according to a Politico analysis. And it just so happens that China and Mexico are the biggest export markets for U.S. agriculture. 

Tariffs against these countries would cripple South Dakota’s economy, as they did in 2018 when Trump enacted the very same tariffs during his trade war. Senators in similar precarious situations are looking to Thune to talk the president down.  

“Obviously the president is somebody who sees great value in the use of tariffs as a tool and we’ll have, I’m sure, lots of conversations,” Thune told Politico, striking a diplomatic chord. “People up here have different views about how and when to use them but I see value when they are used in a targeted way.”

Meanwhile, Thune has been pushing the president’s Cabinet picks through, even after Trump overruled Thune’s plan to split the GOP tax bill in two, signaling that he won’t be open to the Senate majority leader’s hesitations. We’ll see if Thune finds the guts to speak up.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted to senators late Thursday that there was at least one incident in which he settled a case over inappropriate behavior.

The revelation came by way of a series of follow-up questions Democrats sent to the Department of Health and Human Services secretary nominee. Senators wanted to know if Kennedy had ever reached a legal settlement over accusations of misconduct.

Two questions in the list, obtained by Mother Jones, read as follows:

“Yes or no, have you ever reached a settlement agreement with an individual or organization that accused you of misconduct or inappropriate behavior?”

“Yes or no, have you ever agreed to or been subject to a non-disclosure agreement with any individual or organization?”

Kennedy answered yes to each one but offered no follow-up details.

Mother Jones reached out to Kennedy to elaborate on the answer, querying if the 71-year-old’s settlements had to do with previously reported allegations, such as claims that he allegedly groped his children’s babysitter, Eliza Cooney, in the late 1990s.

A spokesperson for Kennedy, Katie Miller, sent a brief reply to the publication: “As a matter of policy, we don’t respond to Mother Jones.”

Kennedy had denied Cooney’s accusation when asked about it during his Senate confirmation hearing. And when Senator Patty Murray asked if there were other instances where Kennedy made “sexual advances toward an individual without their consent,” he said, “No.”

Kennedy, a virulent vaccine conspiracy theorist, was tapped by Donald Trump to run the country’s health policy.

His private life has given pause to a number of lawmakers responsible for confirming him. Kennedy has publicly admitted to dumping a dead bear cub in Central Park, believed the 2004 presidential election was stolen from Democrat John Kerry, peddled conspiracies that the CIA killed his uncle, chainsawed off the head of a dead whale (per his daughter Kick Kennedy), and last week was described by his cousin Caroline Kennedy as a “predator” who is “addicted to attention and power.”

“I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together,” the former ambassador to Australia and Japan wrote in a letter to lawmakers obtained by The Washington Post.

“His basement, his garage, his dorm room were the centers of the action where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in the blender to feed his hawks,” she continued. “It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.”

And Kennedy’s history in public health is questionable, at best. His stances, which include unscientific beliefs that AIDS is not caused by HIV and that a large number of vaccines should be stripped from the market, could have major impacts on the agency designed to protect America’s health, especially as bird flu outbreaks begin to dot the country.

On Wednesday, a career official at the U.S. Agency for International Development was placed on administrative leave after he undid an order from Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” to immediately fire several career employees at the agency.

Nicholas Gottlieb, the USAID’s director of employee and labor relations, sent an email Thursday reversing the terminations of dozens of senior USAID staff, calling the firings “illegal” and a violation of “due process.”

“You may receive another email within the day reinstating your leave status. However, that notice will not come from me,” Gottlieb wrote. “I wish you all the best—you do not deserve this.”

Gottlieb later emailed the rest of USAID’s staff to notify them that he was being placed on leave, telling them that “it is and has always been my office’s commitment to the workforce that we ensure all employees receive their due process in any of our actions.

“I will not be a party to a violation of that commitment,” Gottlieb wrote.

The Trump administration on Monday fired more than 50 senior USAID officials after accusing the agency of attempting to “circumvent” the president’s executive order freezing all foreign aid. Gottleib then intervened, and has been sidelined for his efforts.

Trump and Musk, through the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” have attempted to overhaul and slash the federal workforce, with poor results. What happened to Gottlieb is an example of the consequences for opposing the tech mogul and fascism enthusiast, as well as the president’s ill-thought-out executive orders. And just like the president’s firing of several agency inspectors general last week, it’s probably illegal. Will there be any consequences?

Less than 24 hours after Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, tried to convince Democrats he doesn’t have an “enemies list,” six senior FBI leaders were ordered to retire or resign if they don’t want to be fired by Monday, CNN reported.

Some of the officials, who oversee everything from cybersecurity to criminal investigations, were demoted during Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, where he failed to clearly answer a number of questions about his plans to go after Trump’s enemies in the bureau.

The Trump loyalist has previously said he would shut down the FBI’s Hoover Building and “replace it with a mausoleum of the Deep State,” sparking concern that Patel would use his power to weaponize the country’s national security organization.

In recent weeks, the FBI Agents Association urged Patel not to punish agents investigating Trump and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Fear in the bureau escalated this week after Trump fired a number of career Justice Department lawyers who worked on his criminal cases, just the latest move in his gutting of the federal workforce.

On Thursday, Patel feigned ignorance of, but showed no regret about, his plans to go after the president’s adversaries.

“I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI,” Patel said at the hearing, as several officials promoted by former FBI Director Christopher Wray were told to resign the same day.

Patel hopes to join alcoholic Pete Hegseth, fossil fuel ally Lee Zeldin, and former WWE executive Linda McMahon in Trump’s Cabinet.