A transgender helicopter pilot falsely recognized as the person who flew the helicopter concerned within the lethal midair collision in Washington, D.C., took to social media on Friday to close down bogus claims tying her to the catastrophe.
Jo Ellis, a Black Hawk pilot with the Virginia Nationwide Guard, shared a “proof of life” video on Fb after earlier remarking on the “craziness” from web “bots and trolls” who claimed she was concerned within the collision that left 67 folks useless close to Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport.
“It’s insulting to the households to attempt to tie this to some form of political agenda,” Ellis stated within the clip.
“They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this. And I hope that you simply all know that I’m alive and nicely, and this ought to be enough for you all to finish all of the rumors.”
She continued by studying an announcement, “The Division of Protection is liable for casualty notifications. There have been no Virginia Nationwide Guard personnel on that Black Hawk that collided with the jetliner on Wednesday night.”
Her remarks arrived lower than 24 hours after President Donald Trump — in a press briefing on the D.C. aircraft crash Thursday — blamed variety, fairness and inclusion efforts for the catastrophe.
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order banning trans folks from serving within the army, a transfer that Ellis was important of in an appearance on “The Smerconish Podcast” on Wednesday.
“In a time when it’s onerous sufficient to fulfill recruiting numbers within the army, why would you need to kick out extra troopers which might be prepared to sacrifice their life for this nation?” she requested.
The false claims tying Ellis to the collision have been picked up Grok — the bogus intelligence device on Elon Musk’s X platform — when plenty of customers searched her identify, NBC News reported.
The claims would later be eliminated when looking her identify on the AI device, the outlet famous.
