Sean Duffy, the new transportation secretary, is going through his first main disaster simply hours after his swearing-in.
Duffy, who was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday, rapidly emerged as a public face of the federal authorities’s response to the lethal aircraft crash at Reagan Nationwide Airport, the closest airport to Washington, D.C. An Military helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew members Wednesday evening whereas the aircraft was touchdown, sending it careening into the frigid Potomac River. All onboard are feared lifeless in what’s shaping as much as be the deadliest U.S. air crash in many years.
“Our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy — his second day on the job when that occurred. That’s a tough one,” Trump stated as they appeared collectively throughout a White Home briefing Thursday.
“Nice gentleman. Simply began. It’s not your fault,” he later stated.
Listed below are some issues to learn about Duffy:
He was on scene on the airport and by Trump’s aspect on the White Home
Duffy appeared alongside Washington, D.C.’s mayor and different native officers at airport briefings in a single day and early Thursday, representing the administration. And he joined Trump within the White Home briefing room Thursday, the place the brand new president provided prayers to the victims and lamented the tragedy, but additionally made a sequence of politically charged accusations that he acknowledged weren’t based mostly on reality.
Duffy started his remarks by complimenting Trump, saying his “management has been exceptional throughout this disaster.” And he assured victims’ family members that he was dedicated to attending to the underside of what occurred as rapidly as attainable.
Whereas Duffy didn’t explicitly echo Trump’s claims that range hiring and decrease requirements have been someway in charge for the tragedy — it’s nonetheless unclear precisely what occurred to trigger the crash – he additionally didn’t refute them.
“After we cope with security, we will solely settle for the perfect and the brightest in positions of security that influence the lives of our family members, our relations,” Duffy stated. “We’re going to take duty on the Division of Transportation and the FAA, to ensure now we have the reforms which have been dictated by President Trump in place to ensure that these errors don’t occur once more.”
He’s a former actuality TV star, lumberjack and congressman from Wisconsin
A former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, Duffy’s résumé contains stints as a lumberjack athlete, actuality TV star, prosecutor and Fox Information host.
He was featured on MTV’s “The Actual World: Boston” in 1997 and met his his spouse, “Fox & Mates Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of MTV’s “Street Guidelines: All Stars” in 1998.
Duffy later labored as a particular prosecutor and the district legal professional of Ashland County in northern Wisconsin. He received election to Congress as a part of the tea party wave in 2010.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, who succeeded Duffy in Congress, stated he first knew of Duffy when he was a lumberjack within the Nineteen Nineties earlier than both of them entered politics.
“He’s acquired an enormous job forward of him right here,” Tiffany stated. “It’s leaping proper into the frying pan with a scenario like this.”
An underdog who served 9 years
When he first ran for Congress, Duffy was thought of an underdog. However he attracted nationwide consideration together with his marketing campaign adverts, which featured him dramatically chopping wooden whereas donning a purple flannel shirt. He advised voters he got here from a “lengthy line of lumberjacks” and would carry his axe to Washington.
Duffy served within the Home for almost 9 years. He was member of the Monetary Providers Committee and chair of the subcommittee on insurance coverage and housing.
Fox Information defender
After leaving Congress in 2019, citing the necessity to take care of his rising household, Duffy grew to become a contributor to Fox Information and one in every of Trump’s most seen defenders on cable tv. He served as co-host of “The Backside Line” on Fox Enterprise earlier than being picked for the brand new administration.
He was one in every of a number of Fox personalities that Trump selected to fill his Cupboard, together with Pete Hegseth, the brand new protection secretary.
A father to 9
Duffy has 9 kids, the youngest of whom was born with a heart condition.
In saying his choose, Trump famous that “Sean is aware of how vital it’s for households to have the ability to journey safely, and with peace of thoughts.”
Due to his massive household, Duffy can have empathy with the kin of crash victims, stated Mark Graul, a longtime Republican operative in Wisconsin who has recognized Duffy for greater than 25 years.
“When you will have the dimensions of household he has, empathy is a part of the method there,” Graul stated. “He’s going to wish to carry certainty to everybody who’s hurting from this.”
Graul stated Duffy is an “extremely respectable individual” and “very approachable,” which is able to assist him as he navigates this crash.
“His household is the middle of his universe and greater than most politicians he cares a terrific deal about being profitable,” Graul stated. “He doesn’t wish to simply do issues to get consideration. He likes having success.”
A sprawling company
The Transportation Division oversees the nation’s advanced and getting older transportation system, together with its highways, railroads and airspace. It units security requirements for trains, automobiles and vans.
The division regulates the airline trade by way of the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been grappling with a scarcity of air visitors controllers. The company additionally contains the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration, which regulates automakers and units gas economic system requirements for automobiles and vans.
In his assertion saying the choose, Trump had stated Duffy would “prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Magnificence when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports” and stated he would “make our skies secure once more by eliminating DEI for pilots and air visitors controllers.” DEI refers to “range, fairness and inclusion” packages, which Trump has labored to bar by way of federal motion since returning to workplace.
In his first act after his swearing-in, Duffy rolled back fuel mileage standards put in place by the Biden administration.
His affirmation listening to
Throughout his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Duffy had promised to scrutinize Boeing ’s issues of safety and “restore world confidence” within the beleaguered firm, in addition to to rent extra air visitors controllers amid a nationwide scarcity. (The aircraft concerned in Wednesday evening’s collision was a CRJ-700 manufactured by Canada-based Bombadier.)
Duffy additionally stated he would minimize DEI packages on the company and create federal guidelines for self-driving automobiles as a substitute of leaving that to a patchwork of state laws, a key precedence of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who’s working Trump’s authorities effectivity effort.
Duffy assured lawmakers that he wouldn’t intrude in ongoing company investigations into Musk’s electrical automobile firm over the security of Tesla autos.
He was accepted by a bipartisan 77-22 vote.
—Jill Colvin, Related Press
Related Press author Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
