Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., claimed earlier this month that "no president" has presided over more plane crashes during his first month in office than President Donald Trump. But data obtained by Fox News Digital shows there were more plane crashes during that same time period under President Joe Biden.
"No president has had more planes crash in their first month in office than Donald Trump," Swalwell posted Feb. 17 on X, a comment viewed over 7 million times on X.
Department of Transportation data provided by a senior administration official contradicts that data and shows more plane crashes during the first few weeks of Biden's term.
Swalwell had posted in response to a small plane crash in Georgia that left two dead.
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There were 55 aviation accidents in the U.S. between Biden's inauguration on Jan. 21, 2021, and Feb. 17, 2021, compared to 35 during the same period for Trump.
Worldwide, there were 91 aviation accidents during that same time period for Biden and 50 during Trump's first few weeks.
"Eric Swalwell is a habitual liar and fraud, who continues to beclown himself every single day because he suffers from a debilitating and severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his brain," White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.
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"As an elected official, he should actually tell the truth for once, but it's understandable he's incapable of that since he has Fang Fang on his mind all day."
Swalwell told Fox News Digital in a statement he was referring to commercial airliners, although his initial post stated "planes."
"There have been two U.S. commercial airliner crashes, where people died or were seriously injured in Trump's first month," Swalwell said. "Please show me a president who had more in their first month."
Several Democrats have blamed Trump for high-profile plane crashes in recent weeks, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who suggested Trump's cuts to the FAA were to blame in the Toronto crash, which resulted in serious injuries but no deaths.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back at the time, pointing out that the "crash unfortunately took place in Canadian airspace with Canadian air-traffic controllers overseeing it."
She then disputed the Democratic attack line about Trump firing FAA officials.
"And the facts about the FAA are that no air-traffic controllers have been let go by Secretary Duffy or this new administration. In fact, Secretary Duffy has put great emphasis on hiring the best and the brightest air-traffic controllers who want to be part of the FAA," Leavitt argued.
Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
