Donald Trump Blames Nationwide Flight Chaos on 'Bunch of Old Broken Stuff' in Bizarre Explanation
Donald Trump offered a bizarre explanation for the nationwide aviation meltdown.
Nov. 14 2026, Updated 3:49 p.m. ET
Donald Trump pointed the finger at decades-old air traffic control equipment after a nationwide FAA shutdown brought flights across the country to a halt, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The president dismissed the possibility of a cyberattack, instead blaming what he described as a "bunch of old broken stuff."
Donald Trump Blames 'Old Broken Stuff'
Donald Trump blamed aging air traffic control equipment for the flight shutdown.
Trump, 80, reportedly spoke with Fox News reporter Peter Doocy by phone, claiming the disruption appeared to stem from aging infrastructure rather than a cyberattack.
"He says it does not seem like this is a cyberattack or AI or anything like that," Doocy told Laura Ingraham. "I asked him a couple different ways, and he said it doesn't seem like that, and that that is the first thing that they always look for."
"He said there's nobody taking credit, which would be common if somebody did execute a huge cyber attack like this on critical infrastructure, but that he would let us know and the team would let us know if that is something that happened," Doocy added.
Millions of Travelers Caught in Chaos
The FAA grounded departing flights nationwide, citing 'extraordinary circumstances' and safety concerns.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop at 3:54 p.m. EST on Friday, citing "extraordinary circumstances" and "reasons of safety."
"All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice," an air traffic control advisory read. "Inbound international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis."
More than 1,000 aircraft were already in the air and headed toward U.S. airports when the order was issued, according to FlightRadar24.
Officials Struggle to Explain Outage
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin addressed reporters as officials investigated the communications outage.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the shutdown to "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers."
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also addressed the situation outside the White House, saying, "There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It's just a telecommunication outage as of right now."
Mullin insisted passengers already airborne were safe.
"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves," he said, adding that officials needed to restore communications before identifying the root cause.
Republicans Previously Blasted Pete Buttigieg
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Lauren Boebert previously slammed Pete Buttigieg over a similar FAA outage in 2023.
The shutdown marked only the second nationwide ground stop since the September 11 attacks.
The previous incident occurred in January 2023, when an FAA computer outage halted domestic departures for approximately 90 minutes.
At the time, Republicans were quick to blame then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
"This is what happens when you hire clueless liberals for jobs they aren't qualified to do," Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert wrote on X at the time.
