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Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former fiancée of American Flight 5342 pilot furious over Trump's DEI claims after crash
The former fiancée of American Eagle Capt. Jonathan Campos became enraged at the idea of people seeing his 'very Puerto Rican' face plastered on screens and immediately assuming he was at fault for last week's deadly crash between a passenger jet and a military helicopter. Nicole Suissa blames her frustration on racially charged remarks made by President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the midair collision that killed 67 people. 'This man's body hadn't even been pulled out of the river yet, and we're talking about him being unqualified because his name is Campos,' Suissa told ABC News of the man she met while they were students at Brooklyn's John Dewey High School. With the Jan. 29 crash freshly under investigation, Trump hosted a 40-minute press conference where he wasted little time looking for people to blame. 'We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some strong opinions,' the president said Jan. 30. Trump then equated employment practices benefiting minority groups with promoting incompetence, and indicated the fate of American Flight 5342 may have been the result of diversity, equity and inclusion hiring, or DEI. Asked how he came to that conclusion, Trump replied, 'Because I have common sense.' The National Aviation Safety Board indicated Tuesday that the chopper in the crash may have been flying at an unsafe altitude. Campos flew aircraft professionally after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2015. He'd been with American Airlines for six years. Suissa said she knew Campos for more than two decades. That period included dating on and off, getting engaged, calling it off, then ultimately deciding to remain close friends. Knowing Campos so well, Suissa says she doubts he would've done anything reckless and feels he's being scapegoated. 'What really irked me to no end was it was, the next day they published Jonathan's name and Jonathan's very Puerto Rican-looking face, all I could hear in the back of my head was all these people, all these DEI fear-mongering people going, 'You see, I knew he'd be Hispanic,' and I lost my mind,' Suissa told ABC News. She calls the situation 'infuriating' and 'abhorrent.' Trump did not identify Campos by name. Several days after the fatal incident, the Army identified the helicopter pilot as Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, putting out a statement that included the soldier's many accolades. She and the two others onboard, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara, were all killed in the collision. _____
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former fiancée of American 5342 pilot furious over Trump's DEI claims
The former fiancée of American Eagle Capt. Jonathan Campos became enraged at the idea of people seeing his 'very Puerto Rican' face plastered on screens and immediately assuming he was at fault for last week's deadly crash between a passenger jet and a military helicopter. Nicole Suissa blames her frustration on racially charged remarks made by President Trump in the aftermath of the midair collision that killed 67 people. 'This man's body hadn't even been pulled out of the river yet, and we're talking about him being unqualified because his name is Campos,' Suissa told ABC News of the man she met while they were students at Brooklyn's John Dewey High School. With the Jan. 29 crash freshly under investigation, Trump hosted a 40-minute press conference where he wasted little time looking for people to blame. 'We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some strong opinions,' the president said last Thursday. Trump then equated employment practices benefitting minority groups with promoting incompetence, and indicated the fate of American Flight 5342 may have been the result of diversity, equity and inclusion hiring (DEI). Asked how he came to that conclusion, Trump replied, 'Because I have common sense.' The National Aviation Safety Board indicated Tuesday that the chopper in the crash may have been flying at an unsafe altitude. Campos flew aircrafts professionally after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2015. He'd been with American Airlines for six years. Suissa said she knew Campos for more than two decades. That period included dating on and off, getting engaged, calling it off, then ultimately deciding to remain close friends. Knowing Campos so well, Suissa says she doubts he would've done anything reckless and feels he's being scapegoated. 'What really irked me to no end was it was, the next day they published Jonathan's name and Jonathan's very Puerto Rican-looking face, all I could hear in the back of my head was all these people, all these DEI fear-mongering people going, 'You see, I knew he'd be Hispanic,' and I lost my mind,' Suissa told ABC News. She calls the situation 'infuriating' and 'abhorrent.' Trump did not identify Campos by name. Several days after the fatal incident, the Army identified the helicopter pilot as Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, putting out a statement that included the soldier's many accolades. She and the two others onboard, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara, were all killed in the collision.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
D.C. Plane Crash Pilot's Ex-Fiancée Bashes Trump for DEI Theory: ‘Infuriating'
The former fiancée of the American Airlines pilot involved in the deadly, mid-air collision in Washington D.C. last week hit out President Donald Trump for his 'insensitive' attempt to blame the crash on diversity policies. Captain Jonathan Campos' former partner, Nicole Suissa, said that her grieving process has been complicated by Trump's comments about diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. 'This man's body hadn't even been pulled out of the river yet, and we're talking about him being unqualified because his name is Campos,' Suissa told ABC News on Wednesday. She said it was inappropriate that the president politicized the disaster just one day after 67 people were killed in the Jan. 29 crash between the passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 'What really irked me to no end was it was, the next day they published Jonathan's name and Jonathan's very Puerto Rican-looking face, all I could hear in the back of my head was all these people, all these DEI fear-mongering people going, 'You see, I knew he'd be Hispanic,' and I lost my mind,' Suissa said. 'The politicization of this man's death is entirely inappropriate. It is abhorrent. It is disgraceful. It is insensitive to say the least.' While the cause of the crash is still under investigation, Trump has claimed that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies were likely responsible. During a press conference, Trump floated that those involved in the crash 'just could have been' the product of diversity hiring. When asked how he could support his statement, given that officials had just launched an investigation, Trump said it was because he 'had common sense.' He said Friday that the Federal Aviation Association's commitment to hiring people with disabilities was 'one reason why our Country WAS going to hell.' Suissa defended Campos' ability as a captain and said he was 'doing everything right.' 'He did everything he was supposed to do,' Suissa said. 'He was a by-the-book pilot, and he did everything he was supposed to do, and I thought when you do everything right, that you get to live.'
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Infuriating': Former fiancee of American Airlines Flight 5342 pilot rebukes Donald Trump's DEI allegations
For the family and friends of Jonathan Campos -- the captain of American Airlines Flight 5342, which plunged into the Potomac River on Wednesday after colliding with a Black Hawk helicopter -- the feelings of grief that followed the news of his death were quickly replaced by anger. As President Donald Trump made unfounded claims blaming diversity, equity and inclusion policies for contributing to the midair collision, Campos' former fiancee said her loved one's death quickly became politicized, overshadowing his life story and interrupting the family's grief. "This man's body hadn't even been pulled out of the river yet, and we're talking about him being unqualified because his name is Campos," Nicole Suissa told ABC News. MORE: Trump rails against DEI after DC plane crash, but it doesn't apply to air traffic controllers One day after the deadliest American plane crash in over two decades, Trump suggested during a White House briefing that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation were partially to blame for the collision. "We want the most competent people. We don't care what race they are," the president said. "If they don't have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they're not going to be very good at what they do and bad things will happen." While the cause of the crash remains undetermined and families only beginning to grieve, blaming diversity hiring on the crash was "enraging" and "infuriating" Suissa said. "What really irked me to no end was it was, the next day they published Jonathan's name and Jonathan's very Puerto Rican-looking face, all I could hear in the back of my head was all these people, all these DEI fear-mongering people going, 'You see, I knew he'd be Hispanic,' and I lost my mind," Suissa said. "The politicization of this man's death is entirely inappropriate. It is abhorrent. It is disgraceful. It is insensitive to say the least." As of Tuesday, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were in the early stages of identifying the cause of the midair collision that killed 67 people combined on both aircraft. Authorities have been able to identify 55 sets of remains and are continuing to recover the fuselage of the commercial airliner from the Potomac. As the recovery operation and investigation continues, Suissa said she hopes people remember Campos for the man she knew and loved for the last 20 years -- someone who overcame the hardship of his life to achieve his goal of being a professional pilot before that dream was cut short. "He was doing everything right. He did everything he was supposed to do," she said. "He was a by-the-book pilot, and he did everything he was supposed to do, and I thought when you do everything right, that you get to live." MORE: DC plane crash victims: Figure skaters, newly engaged co-pilot among the 67 killed Suissa first met Campos during their freshman year at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, New York, watching him work for years to achieve his life goal of becoming a pilot. A 2015 graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Campos flew aircraft for over a decade, including for at least six years with American Airlines. If anyone would have been able to safely land that plane last week, Suissa said she believes it would have been Campos. "He would have done everything, everything in his power to land that plane because there were 60 people on it, and he never took that lightly," she said. Campos admired his father, who was an officer with the New York Police Department. But when his father died in 1999 of liver failure when Campos was just 9 years old, it fell on his stepmother and aunt to raise him. Both women traveled to Washington, D.C., after the crash to identify their son, Suissa said. "I still wanted him to, you know, live this long, happy, fulfilling life, and I wanted him, I certainly wanted him to outlive his father," she said. "For 15 years of my life, I thought I'd be signing his marriage license, not his death certificate. So here we are." MORE: Family members of the DC plane crash victims visit crash site Suissa herself knew Campos for more than 20 years, dating on and off, getting engaged before breaking it off, and ultimately settling on being close friends. "It's funny, actually, we each went to prom with someone else -- more out of spite than anything," she said. "Over the years, we had kind of accepted that the romantic piece of it was over, and we remained friends. We never really stopped talking to one another." Suissa -- who is planning Campos' funeral and serving as the family spokesperson -- recounted their pastime of doing escape rooms across the country, including in Las Vegas, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Orlando, Florida. "We would beat the whole thing, just the two of us, in under an hour," she said. "We sort of complemented each other in that way. Our temperaments didn't complement each other, but our talents did." She described Campos as the ultimate adrenaline junkie, learning to instruct other pilots, fly helicopters, scuba dive, snowboard and skydive. While Campos liked pushing his limits during his hobbies, Suissa said he took nothing as seriously as he did flying commercially. Epic Flight Academy -- where Campos worked as an instructor -- remembered him as "a skilled and dedicated pilot with an undeniable passion for flying." As she plans Campos' funeral, she said she's come to terms with the fact that he's gone, though the political debate surrounding his death continues to enrage her. "I don't doubt for a moment that if there was anything at all he could have done to avert it, he would have," she said. 'Infuriating': Former fiancee of American Airlines Flight 5342 pilot rebukes Donald Trump's DEI allegations originally appeared on
