Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is facing fierce backlash online after suggesting President Donald Trump is to blame for a small plane crash in Georgia last weekend.
Swalwell took to social media to declare that Trump has had “more planes crash” in his first month in office than any other U.S. president. He then doubled down on the comment with a blunt statement to Fox News Digital.
“Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trumpâs fault,” he said.
The lawmaker made his initial comment in reaction to a small private plane crash that took place this weekend in Covington, Georgia, which left two people dead.
Social media users began to pile on immediately, calling out Swalwell for what they saw as an unfair connection to Trump.
“Are you suggesting the catalysts for those crashes were all caused by policies changed in the last month?” one user wrote.
“You really do have TDS. Grab some coffee and take a walk,” wrote another user who goes by the name of SouthernRepublicanMomma.
Georgia’s crash saw a single-engine airplane take off from the Covington Municipal Airport at 11 p.m. on Saturday. Ground control lost communication with the plane roughly 20 minutes later, at which point police officers located the plane crashed near the runway.
The plane’s two occupants were immediately announced dead at the scene.
“On February 15, 2025, the Covington Police Department officers responded to the Covington Municipal Airport at approximately 11:21 p.m. after receiving a call from the FAA in reference to a single-engine aircraft that had taken off at approximately 11:00 p.m. There was no further communication from the aircraft after takeoff,” the Covington Police Department said in a statement.
White House communications director Steven Cheung tore apart Swalwell in a statement reacting to his claim.
“Swalwell must be taking his orders from Fang Fang or suffering from a severe debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome because there is no other reason anyone with a functioning brain would make that that type of false and disgusting claim. He is a complete disgrace not only as an elected official, but as a human being who has continued to beclown himself,” Cheung said.
The incident comes in the wake of multiple other plane crashes in recent weeks, the most dramatic being the collision of a helicopter and a commercial airliner in the skies over Washington, D.C. last month.
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