Trump Faces Backlash Over FAA Shutdown Silence – Until Now: President Donald Trump is facing criticism over his response, or lack thereof, to the nationwide shutdown of American air travel that occurred on Friday, November 13 — having spoken out about the issue only days after the news broke.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights for more than four hours after a major communications failure. It was an unprecedented decision that left thousands of passengers stranded across the country, but during that period, the president made no public appearance to address the emergency.
President Donald J. Trump boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, October 5, 2026, en route Joint Base Andrews for a trip to Nebraska. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
President Donald J. Trump disembarks Marine One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on Saturday, October 10, 2026, and boards Air Force One en route Campbell Army Airfield in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
Instead, the president posted on social media about the entertainment industry and other political issues.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in the absence of the president and with no current White House press secretary, were left to explain the shutdown and defend the administration’s handling of the situation.
By Sunday, November 15, new details about the technical failure behind the order were revealed.
U.S. officials have identified a telecommunications router that was installed by defense contractor L3Harris as a potential cause of the more than 6,600 flights that were canceled on Saturday alone.
Trump Remains Out Of Sight
As federal officials were working to coordinate the restoration of air traffic on Friday evening, President Trump was posting on Truth Social about bipartisan legislative efforts to encourage movie and television production companies to return to the United States.
The president said that he was working with Republican Senator Tim Scott and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, along with a number of other legislators from both parties, on the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act.
“The support and popularity of doing this, and bringing Entertainment back to the United States of America, has been unbelievable!” Trump wrote.
“Hollywood, and so many other places, have been virtually ‘emptied out’ by the Tax Incentives, and much more, given by other Countries. Everyone feels strongly about the Motion Picture and Television industry — and so do I, and we all want to save it,” he said.
But according to reports, President Trump did speak privately about the FAA shutdown with Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, telling the reporter that the failure was caused by a “bunch of old broken stuff.” He did not, however, personally address the matter to the public in any way. By Saturday, President Trump continued to post on social media about other issues, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and his plans to redevelop Washington, D.C.’s East Potomac golf course.
So, What Happened?
On Saturday, November 14, Duffy provided new details about the shutdown and revealed that the failure occurred while defense contractor L3Harris Technologies was replacing copper telecommunications cables with fiber-optic wires at a remote FAA facility. The problem reportedly caused more than 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, which overwhelmed the communications network and affected 17 of the FAA’s 22 regional air traffic control centers.
“We’re working to determine whether we had incompetence, meaning was it user error or installer error from L3Harris, or did they install a faulty router? We haven’t determined what the fault was,” Duffy said.
“We had over 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, and what that did was give us issues with our communication with airplanes, and it caused some disruption with our radar,” he continued, adding, “we were able to deploy fixes to reduce the overloading on our switches, that we’re able to bring the networks back online and our [air traffic control facilities] and our centers back online.”
In a statement, L3Harris said that it was supporting the FAA in its investigation and explained the nature of the work that was being conducted before the problems began.
“L3Harris has been modernizing the communications infrastructure supporting the National Airspace System in close coordination with the FAA,” it said.
“We are supporting the FAA in its investigation to understand the conditions that led to the Nov. 13 ground stop of our nation’s air travel. L3Harris takes the nationwide ground stop and its impact on travelers, airlines and air traffic operations seriously.”
Trump Responds On Sunday
On Sunday, President Trump finally addressed the shutdown and publicly called on Congress to approve additional funding to modernize the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the FAA’s aging equipment needed to be replaced. He also criticized the previous administration for letting the problems get worse.
“If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently,” Trump said.
“It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World. Much of the current air control system is 50 years old – RIDICULOUS! We have already started the work, but it should be done all at once, not in drips and drabs. Congress must approve. The Biden Administration set it back years!” he continued.
About the Author: Jack Buckby
Jack Buckby is a British researcher and analyst specializing in defense and national security, based in New York. His work focuses on military capability, procurement, and strategic competition, and he produces and edits analysis for policy and defense audiences. He brings extensive editorial experience, with a career output spanning over 1,000 articles at National Security Journal, and has previously authored books and papers on extremism and deradicalization.
