The Trump White House issued a proclamation Friday recognizing February as Black History Month around the same time the Defense Department issued guidance declaring "identity months dead.''

Sixty-four people aboard a commercial airliner died Wednesday after it collided with a military helicopter midair near Reagan Washington National Airport. Both the American Eagle jet and Army Black Hawk are in the Potomac River.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held a press briefing Friday afternoon, just days after a fatal plane crash that killed more than 60 people outside Washington, D.C., provided an early test for the Trump administration.

Following the catastrophe of Flight 5342, President Trump named an interim replacement for the vacant position of FAA administrator after the SpaceX founder chased out predecessor Mike Whitaker.

Forty-one sets of remains have been recovered and 28 of those victims have been positively identified, Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly Sr. said at a news conference Friday. Next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families as of 6 a.m. Friday, he said.

At a news conference Thursday, President Donald Trump — without evidence — cast blame on the helicopter pilots and baselessly alleged that diversity initiatives had undermined air safety.

Donald Trump is a moral issue. His actions and policy prescriptions as a president are, as they should be, subject to the political process. His values and sense of right and wrong, however, are another matter. Trump’s convictions matter. His behavior, too.

The crash around 9 p.m. threw one of the world's most tightly controlled airspaces into chaos, 3 miles south of the White House and U.S. Capitol. Officials were probing the cause Friday as they searched the river.

President Trump at moments of national tragedy has always been more comfortable finding fault than providing comfort or expressing empathy.

Donald Trump claimed, without citing evidence, that DEI initiatives at the FAA were partly to blame for the tragic plane and helicopter collision in D.C.

The National Transportation Safety Board said the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the American Airlines jet that collided with the Black Hawk helicopter have been recovered from the wreckage in the Potomac River and are now at the NTSB labs for evaluation.

No evidence has emerged that rules seeking to diversify the FAA played any role in the collision Wednesday between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed