Donald Trump
Role at the time: President of the United States, answering reporters' questions in the Oval Office
Statement summary
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on September 30, 2026, President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Prime Minister Netanyahu at length about the flydubai incident and that "it seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job," and that he stabbed the pilot. He relayed an account of an Israeli passenger who took the controls and said, "I don't know if it's true." He then said: "They said he wanted to crash. They don't know that. They don't know that kind of information."
“It seems as though the co-pilot was perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job, and he stabbed the pilot. ... I don’t know if it’s true ... They said he wanted to crash. They don’t know that. They don’t know that kind of information.”
Jerusalem Post report on President Trump's remarks to reporters on September 30, 2026; the page is timestamped 00:41 on October 1, Israel time. It is the text source for the quoted remarks, which the White House video feed shows separately. The report says Trump repeatedly cautioned that he was relaying an account he had received.
Why we used this label
The case asks whether a pilot deliberately tried to crash FZ1073. Trump said "They said he wanted to crash" and then "They don't know that," which treats the crash intent as unestablished. He said his account came from Netanyahu and others and did not say who had made the claim that the co-pilot wanted to crash. He also said the co-pilot was "perhaps a terrorist or perhaps a whack job" and that he stabbed the pilot. We labeled it Mixed or conditional because the statement relays the account that the co-pilot wanted to crash and also says its basis is not known.