As first weeks on the job go, few could likely compare to Sean Duffy’s as Secretary of Transportation. Duffy was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday afternoon and sworn in on Tuesday evening.
Honored and humbled to be officially sworn in as our country’s 20th Secretary of Transportation. I’m ready to advance @POTUS’ agenda for safety and innovation in transportation. Thank you to Justice Thomas for administering the oath and spending time with our family. pic.twitter.com/D2BnxGl3Cg
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) January 29, 2025
By Wednesday evening, Duffy was faced with the horrific mid-air collision of a PSA Airlines regional passenger jet with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, with the tragic crash of a medical transport jet in northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just after take-off on Friday evening following right on its heels.
Army UH-60 Helicopter on Training Flight Collided With American Airlines Jet at Reagan National
Aircraft in Philadelphia Plane Crash Was Medical Jet Carrying ‘Pediatric Patient’; Fires Put Out
Through it all, Duffy has been regularly providing updates via press briefings, DOT press releases, and his X account.
On Sunday, he also made the rounds on the Sunday shows, including CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper.
One of Tapper’s lines of questioning, of course, had to do with President Donald Trump’s statements following the Wednesday collision regarding DEI. This is actually a fairly good exchange between Tapper and Duffy regarding Air Traffic Control staffing, and worth the full watch:
“I just don’t know of any evidence… that DEI had anything to do with the tragedy itself.”@jaketapper challenges Transportation @SecDuffy to back up Trump’s claims that diversity hiring initiatives played a role in the midair collision in DC that claimed the lives of 67 people. pic.twitter.com/JQkUK3vG8D
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) February 2, 2025
But here’s a key moment from Duffy in response to Tapper’s query as to whether there’s evidence at this point of a direct connection between DEI policies and Wednesday’s crash:
“I don’t care your race, your religion, your color, your sex, your sexual preference. I don’t care about any of that. I just want the best and the brightest keeping Americans safe — and that should be the standard,” says @SecDuffy.
“We’re going back to our mission of SAFETY.” pic.twitter.com/CuNoXlh1l2
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 2, 2025
DUFFY: My commitment to the American people is — I don’t care your race, your religion, your color, your sex, your sexual preference. I don’t care about any of that. I just want the best and the brightest keeping Americans safe — and that should be the standard in this department, and that’s coming back. That’s what we’re bringing — we’re going back to our mission of Safety.
Duffy continued to emphasize safety as the core mission of DOT and where the department’s focus will be under this administration:
.@SecDuffy: “That is the mission — safety. Making sure people get from point A to point B as intended, safely, is our mission, and that is going to be ramped up under this administration.” pic.twitter.com/nElGxh3wEo
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 2, 2025
TAPPER: For the American people out there who are rattled by these two accidents in two days, is it safe to fly?
DUFFY: Yeah, that’s a great question. Of course it’s safe to fly. So, if you look at the American airspace, we have the safest airspace in the world. And air travel is the safest form of travel that you can undertake in the country.
Now, we’ve seen some cracks, and it rattles people when they see these disasters, but air travel is safe. And just a side note: If it wasn’t safe— if something happened with air traffic controllers and staffing — the FAA might not tell you this, but they’re going to shut down the airspace instead of letting people fly in an environment that isn’t safe.
So, again, that is the mission: safety. Making sure people get from Point A to Point B as intended, safely, is our mission, and that’s going to be ramped up under this administration and it’s mission-critical for the American people.
He’s definitely got his work cut out for him but thus far, our new Secretary of Transporation appears to be up for the job.
