Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg fired back at President Donald Trump on Thursday after the commander in chief blasted the Democrat during a press briefing about the deadly midair collision between a military helicopter and a passenger airplane that occurred on Wednesday night.
Trump sarcastically called Buttigieg โa real winner.โ
โHeโs a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his city into the ground. And heโs a disaster now. Heโs just got a good line of bullsโ,โ the president said.
PETE BUTTIGIEG GIVING โSERIOUS LOOKโ TO 2026 SENATE RUN IN TRUMP-WON MICHIGAN
Left: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters on Sept. 27, 2023 in Washington, D.C.; Right: President Donald Trump looks on after delivering remarks at the House Republican Members Conference Dinner at Trump National Doral Miami, in Miami, Fla., on Jan. 27, 2025. (Left: Drew Angerer/Getty Images; Right: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana Mayor who served as secretary of the Transportation Department under former President Joe Biden, sounded off in a post on social media.
โDespicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch,โ Buttigieg declared in a post on X.
โPresident Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again,โ he added.
Buttigieg mounted a presidential bid in 2019, but dropped out the next year and endorsed Biden.
Buttigieg is reportedly โtaking a serious lookโ at the possibility of running for U.S. Senate in in Michigan.
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โPete is exploring all of his options on how he can be helpful and continue to serve,โ a source familiar with Buttigiegโs thinking told Fox News Digital. โHeโs honored to be mentioned for this, and heโs taking a serious look.โ
Fox News Digitalโs Julia Johnson contributed to this report