Politics
Schumer Eats His Words After Claiming DOGE Is To Blame For Brooklyn Bridge Crash
The U.S. Coast Guard has rejected a wild claim by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that reforms by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency are to blame for the Brooklyn Bridge crash on Saturday which claimed the lives of two passengers.
A tall ship with the Mexican Navy was hosting citizens for a harbor cruise when it apparently lost power and drifted off course, striking the bridge in harrowing video capturing the scene. In a press release on Sunday, Schumer said he had been briefed on the crash and suggested that the Coast Guard may not have been “fully functional during the incident” because of DOGE.
“We know that the Trump administration has been meddling in U.S. Coast Guard operations, from staffing to command and comms, and I have the general sense of a DOGE dysfunction in parts of the Coast Guard, to put it mildly,” Schumer wrote in a statement. “After being fully briefed on last night’s Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is very clear. There are many more questions than answers as to how the accident occurred and whether it could have been prevented.”
“There are indications that this service called the VTS may not have been fully or adequately functional in light of that hiring freeze. We don’t know the answer to that question. We need answers. If this were the case, Brooklyn Bridge accident could be a national harbinger, demanding immediate attention,” Schumer said.
“The current hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, which the Coast Guard is part of, may have limited the ability of the Coast Guard to fully staff up at the VTS, the vehicle traffic service, the shore-wide system that provides quote air traffic control for the seas, especially in congested areas and restricted waters like New York Harbor,” he added.
Now, the Coast Guard is firing back, saying Schumer was talking out of turn and that its Vehicle Traffic System (VTS), which controls traffic along the coast, was fully staffed and monitored at the time, despite a hiring freeze by the Trump administration.
The Coast Guard told Fox News Digital that VTS was “fully functional during the incident and operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation.”
“Our response included launching a crew from Station New York, establishing a temporary safety zone, and coordinating with NYPD, FDNY, and NYC DOT,” they added.
In response to the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board announced on Sunday that it will be sending a “go-team” to the site of the crash for further evaluation.
The deployment comes after New York Governor Eric Adams declared that the Mexican navy tall ship Cuauhtémoc “lost power and crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.”
“At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” the mayor wrote on X.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum extended her condolences to the families of two crew members who “lost their lives in the unfortunate accident at the port of New York.”
“Our solidarity and support go out to their families,” she wrote after 1 a.m. on X. “The Secretariat of the Navy, with the support of local authorities, is attending to the injured. The Ambassador of Mexico to the United States and staff from the Consulate General of Mexico in New York are assisting the Secretariat of the Navy.”
