Investigators are still attempting to figure out what went wrong that resulted in a deadly mid-air collision this week near a Washington D.C. airport that involved a commercial passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter, but President Donald Trump has already named his suspected culprit.

During a Thursday press conference, Trump highlighted the "diversity, equity, and inclusion" or DEI policies of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for air traffic controllers and the military as likely being responsible for the tragedy, Newsweek reported.

Trump doubled down on those assertions about DEI being to blame in a subsequent memo addressed to the heads of the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Deadly collision between passenger jet and military helicopter

Around 9 pm Wednesday, an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members was on approach to land at Reagan National Airport in D.C. when it collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter crewed by three servicemembers, which resulted in a fiery explosion and sent both aircraft plummeting into the icy waters of the Potomac River.

Frantic rescue missions were swiftly transformed into more solemn recovery efforts as first responders quickly realized there were likely no survivors, and investigations into what led to the fatal collision were immediately launched by multiple federal departments and agencies.

Yet, before those probes could even get fully underway, and as the bodies of victims were still being pulled out of the wreckage in the river, President Trump suggested that his two most recent Democratic predecessors, former Presidents Obama and Biden, shouldered at least some of the blame.

Trump blames Obama and Biden's DEI policies

Newsweek reported that during a Thursday morning press conference at the White House, President Trump slammed former Presidents Obama and Biden for their DEI policies that, in his view, weakened aviation safety while at the same time noted that he acted to raise standards with policies that focused on merit, skill, and talent above all else.

"I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary," Trump said at one point. "Only the highest aptitude. They have to be the highest intellect and psychological aptitude that were allowed to be qualified for air traffic controllers."

Of course, Trump's remarks were blasted as inappropriate and unnecessary by his Democratic and media critics, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing to assert that Obama's and Biden's DEI policies, particularly for the FAA and air traffic controllers, had made aviation less safe.

Trump orders additional review of prior FAA policies

In a Thursday memo to Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy and the head of the FAA, President Trump ordered an "immediate assessment of aviation safety" following Wednesday's crash and wrote, "This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)."

"The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude. During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence," he continued. "But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA."

Trump pointed to his recent executive order that demanded an "immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard," and further noted that "Yesterday’s devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA."

Consistent with that order, the president instructed the relevant leaders in his administration to immediately "review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards."

"This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration," he added and further instructed the DoT and FAA to "take all actions necessary to reverse concerning safety and personnel trends during the prior 4 years, instill an unwavering commitment to aviation safety, and ensure that all Americans fly with peace of mind."