‘Biden Administration Was a Disaster’: Trump Blames Predecessor ... Speaks Out on U.S. Aviation Crisis After Two Days

[Financial News] U.S. President Donald Trump spoke out for the first time on the nationwide air traffic shutdown on the 15th (local time), two days after it occurred across the United States, blaming the crisis on the administration of his predecessor, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that day, “The Biden administration was a disaster for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Everything they touch goes wrong.”
He also criticized the administration, saying, “They foolishly spent vast sums of money and made the outdated, broken system worse than it was when they started.”
The crisis occurred after the FAA issued a nationwide “ground stop,” barring aircraft from taking off at airports across the United States at 3:53 p.m. Eastern Time on the 13th, following a failure in the air traffic control communications system.
The measure, which lasted about 4 hours and 30 minutes, brought air traffic in the United States to a complete halt, and flight cancellations and delays continued through that day. According to flight-tracking service FlightAware, more than 3,000 flights were delayed or canceled that day.


Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference the previous day that the shutdown occurred during work by FAA contractor L3Harris Technologies to replace cables in its air traffic control network. At a press conference on the day of the crisis, Duffy called on Congress to provide an additional $50 billion (about 67 trillion won) to replace all the aging air traffic control network cables.
Trump urged Congress to act, saying, “We have the know-how and plans for an air traffic control system, and we need Congress to provide funding quickly.”
In another post, Trump also said, “If Congress approves the urgently needed funding for air traffic control, we can build it quickly and efficiently,” adding, “It will be the best system, with nothing like it anywhere else in the world.”


He also said, “Most of the current air traffic control system is 50 years old, which is absurd. We’ve already started work, but we need to do it all at once, not piecemeal,” adding, “Congress must approve it. The Biden administration delayed this for years.”
Ultimately, in two Truth Social posts that day, Trump blamed the Biden administration for having done nothing to replace the outdated air traffic control system, holding it responsible for the crisis.
But he did not acknowledge his own responsibility for failing to handle the situation properly during the nearly two years of his second term in office.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, criticized Trump on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “You have literally controlled Congress for the past two years. Apparently, there has always been money for projects to satisfy your vanity,” and adding, “Trump should prioritize aviation safety over that pathetic triumphal arch.”


[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter