During his four years in office, the former Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, reportedly oversaw a department that spent more than $80 billion on grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

That total represented “at least half of the DOT’s entire budget for a typical fiscal year,” The New York Post reported.

Sources told the Post that at a meeting, Buttigieg told an airline industry executive that improving existing air traffic control would simply increase air traffic, “and so why would that be in his interest?” sources said.

“He was definitely pushing an agenda,” one air industry official told the Post, adding that Buttigieg had “little to no interest” and took “definitely zero action” for bringing air traffic control up-to-date.

In February 2023, on the same day a FedEx cargo plane almost crashed into a Southwest Airlines plane in Austin, Texas, Buttigieg posted a video to celebrate “Transit Equity Day.”

“Transit is not just about getting from A to B, it’s about reaching jobs, education, health care, and so much more,” Buttigieg wrote on X. “On this Transit Equity Day, we reinforce our commitment to transportation systems that serve those who count on them the most. Transit is not just about getting from A to B, it’s about reaching jobs, education, health care, and so much more.”

That same month, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy ripped the Federal Aviation Administration, saying, “We’ve essentially given you the road map on how to improve safety. … Too often we’ve seen the federal government and industry act after an incident, after lives are lost, once headlines are made. Our entire mission at the NTSB is to prevent that next accident.”

In August 2023, Buttigieg’s DOT announced the appointment of 24 members to the Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity (ACTE). “They include experts in community engagement, transportation planning, design, research, policy, advocacy, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA),” the Department of Transportation wrote.

In February 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated, “Effective immediately, the Department of Transportation will no longer participate in celebrations based on immutable traits or any other identity-based observances. These distractions do nothing to keep planes in the air, trains on the tracks, or ports and highways secure.”

Effective immediately, the Department of Transportation will no longer participate in celebrations based on immutable traits or any other identity-based observances. These distractions do nothing to keep planes in the air, trains on the tracks, or ports and highways secure. In…

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 2, 2025

A federal judge on Monday sentenced former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison to nearly three years in prison over a drug raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor in 2020.

The judge’s sentence dismissed a request from the Department of Justice that Hankison be sentenced to only one day in prison and three years of supervised release, according to The New York Times. Hankison was convicted of excessive use of force for firing rounds through Taylor’s window during a drug raid. None of the shots hit Taylor.

Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s civil rights arm, had asked the judge in the case, Rebecca Grady Jennings, for a sentence that included only one day in prison which would have essentially amounted to time served.

The Taylor family attorneys, led by Ben Crump, said in a statement: “While today’s sentence is not what we had hoped for — nor does it fully reflect the severity of the harm caused — it is more than what the Department of Justice sought. That, in itself, is a statement. The jury found Brett Hankison guilty, and that verdict deserved to be met with real accountability.”

Dhillon’s request symbolized the shift in focus of the Trump Justice Department away from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and racial justice priorities that dominated the previous administration. Taylor’s case made national waves in the wake of George Floyd’s death and was promoted as another example of allegedly endemic racial bias in law enforcement.

Police shot and killed Taylor in March 2020 while executing a drug raid on her apartment in connection with convicted drug trafficker Jamarcus Glover, who was sentenced to seven years in prison last year for violating his probation. Police targeted Taylor’s apartment in connection with Glover, who had dated Taylor previous to the raid, because Glover had stayed at the apartment and at times received his mail there.

Unknown to police at the time, Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker was with her in the apartment on the night of the raid. Police first knocked, then broke down the door, surprising Taylor and Walker. Walker, who told police he thought Glover was breaking into the apartment, fired on police officers, hitting one in the leg. Officers fired back, missing Walker, but fatally striking Taylor.

Two other officers involved in the raid, former detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany, are facing charges related to violation of civil rights and obstruction of justice.