Pete Buttigieg, former transportation secretary and former South Bend mayor, called Trump's comments during today's press briefing "despicable."

Trump accused former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet member, of running his department “into the ground with his diversity."

Pete Buttigieg was less than thrilled when President Donald Trump called him out Thursday during a news conference.

"Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch," Buttigieg wrote on X.

Trump left more questions than answers in his expletive attacks on Democrats and diversity practices during Thursday's press conference.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg criticized Trump on Thursday for his reaction to the devastating incident after Trump baselessly blamed the Biden administration’s policies for threatening air safety. Buttigieg called out the president for “lying” about the crash in a post on social media platform X.

Trump said he didn't know what caused the crash but "we have some very strong opinions and ideas."

After mourning the loss of victims in an air collision in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump pivoted quickly to placing the blame.

In his first news conference since the aircraft collision over the Potomac River, President Donald Trump on Thursday implied that diversity, equity and inclusion programs could be the cause, although an investigation has only just begun into the fatal disaster.

US President Donald Trump launched a political attack blaming diversity and inclusion policies championed by his Democratic predecessors for causing the incident.

I have seen zero evidence to this point that's to suggest that this collision had anything to do with DEI and speculation at this time is highly irresponsible,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a military helicopter pilot.