Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman deleted a post on X in which he raised the possibility that the midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter near Reagan Airport on Wednesday night may have been the result of a terrorist attack.
“How does an incredibly maneuverable military helicopter fly into a regional aircraft by accident with all of the sensors and warning devices designed to prevent an accident like this one?” Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, wrote to his 1.6 million followers on X on Wednesday night.
Ackman deleted the post but screenshots of it were saved by others.
The post prompted scathing reaction on social media.
One X user wrote: “This is ridiculous that a man with his influence was saying the crash looks like a terrorist attack.”
Another X user wrote that Ackman “took conspiracy theories to the extreme, claiming that the collision ‘sounds more like terrorism than an accident’.”
Ackman declined to comment. In a subsequent X post, Ackman wrote that he has “incredible sympathy” for the victims and their families but that he was “just struggling to understand how this could have happened.”
In the aftermath of the plane crash, high-profile left-leaning commentators, including CNN’s Bakari Sellers, posted messages which appeared to blame President Donald Trump — particularly in light of his executive orders from last week aimed at the federal civil service.
An American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.
There were multiple fatalities, according to a person familiar with the matter, but the precise number of victims was unclear as rescue crews hunted for any survivors.
Three soldiers were onboard the helicopter, an Army official said.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport were halted as dive teams scoured the site and helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in a methodical search for bodies.
Ackman, who has a net worth valued by Forbes at $9.3 billion as of Thursday, has been an active and influential presence on X in recent years, utilizing the platform to share his perspectives on a wide array of topics, including politics, business and social issues.
In July 2024, Ackman publicly endorsed Trump for the Nov. 5 election, expressing his support on X.
This endorsement came shortly after Trump survived the first of two assassination attempts over the summer.
Ackman has also been vocal about leadership at Ivy League institutions which he has accused of failing to adequately crack down on antisemitism.
In November 2024, he compared Yale University to Hamas, suggesting that the university’s culture was “potentially even more dangerous” due to its influence on future leaders.
Leveraging his substantial following on X, Ackman has explored ways to integrate social media into his business ventures.
He proposed raising $25 billion for a new investment vehicle, Pershing Square USA, aiming to attract retail investors by communicating his investment ideas directly through X.
Ackman has used his platform to denounce antisemitic incidents, particularly following attacks in Amsterdam in late 2024.
In response to these events, he announced plans to delist Pershing Square Holdings from Euronext Amsterdam, citing both moral and business reasons.
He emphasized that concentrating the listing on the London Stock Exchange would align with good business practices and moral principles, highlighting his commitment to combating antisemitism.
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