President Donald Trump has yet to publicly address the Federal Aviation Administration’s rare nationwide ground stop, even as he cleared his schedule and posted about his plans to “save” Hollywood.
The FAA halted all flights across the United States on Friday afternoon, citing “extraordinary circumstances for safety reasons” and throwing thousands of travelers’ weekend plans into chaos.
The Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) announced the nationwide flight suspension at 3:54 p.m. ET.
At about 5:52 p.m. ET, Trump posted on Truth Social about his goal of “making our entertainment industry great again.” He said he was working with lawmakers from both parties on the Motion Picture, Television and Entertainment Revitalization Act.
CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins criticized the timing of the post on X, writing: “Trump posts, not about the ground stop, but about reviving the entertainment industry in bipartisan fashion.”
The President’s weekend schedule showed only “Executive Time” at 8 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, with no other public engagements listed.
As passengers waited for updates on their flights, the Department of Labor’s X account posted a photograph of Trump giving a thumbs-up to the camera alongside the words: “That Friday feeling.”
Our News Outlet understands that Trump has been receiving regular updates on the situation.
President Donald Trump posted about his desire to “make our entertainment industry great again” as the FAA ground stop continued Friday afternoon
The flight suspension was the first since January 11, 2023, when a critical FAA computer system malfunctioned
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no sign of a threat to the United States. He described the incident as a “communication outage” and rejected comparisons with the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“This isn’t the same comparison to 9/11,” Mullin told reporters outside the White House on Friday. “That’s a road I won’t go down.”
The ground stop was the first nationwide flight suspension since January 11, 2023, when a key FAA computer system failed. It was also only the second such halt since the September 11 attacks.
While the aviation disruption unfolded, Trump continued posting about what he described as an “emptied out” Hollywood.
“Everyone feels strongly about the Motion Picture and Television Industry — and so do I, and we all want to save it,” he wrote. “It was MADE IN AMERICA, and must STAY IN AMERICA.”
Trump also used Truth Social to thank the US Coast Guard for responding after a boat capsized in the Mississippi River shortly after midday, injuring 32 passengers.
The Democratic members of the House Committee on Homeland Security criticized the administration’s handling of the ground stop in a post on X.
“What the hell is going on?” the Democrats’ account wrote. “Trump and his cabinet are completely out of their depth.”
New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou, a Democrat serving on the House Subcommittee on Aviation, urged the Trump administration to “be prompt and forthright in providing answers.”
“I do not want to speculate the cause of this crisis right now but this is a massive, almost unprecedented disaster impacting tens of millions of Americans,” she wrote on X.
The communications failure behind the nationwide ground stop does not appear to be connected to the FAA’s new AI-powered system
There was still no clear timetable for restoring flights Friday evening, leaving thousands of passengers facing disrupted weekend plans
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The FAA said Friday: “There has been a temporary telecommunications outage — out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted.
“Every flight has been accounted for, and international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”
The communications failure behind the nationwide ground stop does not appear to be related to the FAA’s new AI-powered system, which the agency is introducing to help anticipate problems in the nation’s airspace.
Known as SMART, the FAA system operates from a single site near Washington, DC. There, specialists review flight schedules, weather forecasts and hundreds of other data streams.
The office then sends recommendations to the FAA command center, which passes them to air traffic controllers nationwide for consideration.
ASI, the company that developed the technology, said: “The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC.”
Mullin also said he saw “no reason to connect” Friday’s ground stop with a global Microsoft outage the previous day that left millions unable to access the company’s subscription services.
Microsoft likewise said it had found no indication that the flight suspension was connected to its service disruption.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of a threat to the United States and rejected comparisons with the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
The FAA said international flights entering the United States would be assessed individually
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the communications problem was affecting regional air traffic control centers responsible for directing aircraft between airports.
Duffy said FAA technicians were working to identify the problem, but no timetable had been given for resuming normal flight operations.
MS NOW correspondent Eugene Daniels said stranded travelers were surprised that Trump had not commented publicly on the FAA ground stop, Mediaite reported.
Appearing on the MS NOW program Deadline: White House, Daniels said: “Obviously, we heard from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin but folks are looking to hear more information from the leader of the free world, as this is shaking out.”
“As I’ve walked and talked with people… what they would say to me was they are shocked that they have not heard from the president in front of the camera,” Daniels said.
Daniels added that one traveler told him they were “disturbed” by the lack of information “coming from this administration.”
Europe’s aviation agency suspended US-bound departures at the FAA’s request from 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday until midnight.
Mexico’s federal aviation agency also said scheduled flights from Mexican airports to the United States had been temporarily grounded.
Some international flights were permitted to depart because they were leaving US airspace.
San Francisco International Airport said flights heading across the Pacific were cleared for departure beginning at about 5 p.m. ET, or 2 p.m. local time. The flights included services to Hawaii and Asia.
Our News Outlet contacted the White House for comment.
