Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is trying to blame President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for a Mexican Navy tall ship hitting the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, leaving two people dead.
Schumer argued a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) system may not have been operating at full capacity when the incident occurred, Fox News reported on Monday.
The Senate Minority Leader further claimed it was due to a hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but the U.S. Coast Guard is pushing back on his arguments.
“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 his statement.
The Brooklyn Bridge has a 127 foot clearance. The tallest point on this Mexican Navy ship is 160 feet. Explain to me how this was supposed to successfully pass under the bridge. Explain to me how anyone associated with this ship and this waterway allowed this to happen. pic.twitter.com/bvA338wcYW
— SquirrelTribe (@SquirrelTribe) May 18, 2025
He also shared his claims in a social media post on Sunday, stating that “Trump relieved Admiral Linda Fagan as Commandant of the USCG, and that position is still vacant. And the hiring freeze has limited the ability for the USCG to staff up the Vehicle Traffic Service, that’s their traffic control operation that acts like Air Traffic Control but on water”:
With the Brooklyn Bridge strike last night:
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 18, 2025
I’m fighting for answers about whether Trump and DOGE have impacted water traffic control.
We know they’ve been meddling with U.S. Coast Guard staffing.
Trump relieved Admiral Linda Fagan as Commandant of the USCG, and that position…
However, the Fox article noted there were no additional ships linked to the incident that would have involved the VTS, and the Coast Guard countered Schumer’s claims about the crash, which also injured more than a dozen people.
According to the USCG, the 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,” officials said.
Moments before the crash, the ship, which was lit up, sailed closer and closer to the Brooklyn Bridge, eventually colliding with the structure. Its masts then toppled over as people watched in shock, per Breitbart News.
One video that showed the crash recorded someone shouting, “There’s people up there!”:
This is insane footage of the Mexican Navy ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge.
— Bruce (@bruce_barrett) May 18, 2025
What would you even do if you were up on that mast?
pic.twitter.com/6vJeCNer2w
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said a mechanical issue caused the ship to lose power and the water’s current pushed the ship backward, which caused it to hit the bridge, per WRAL:
A search and rescue operation was conducted following the crash and authorities are now investigating the incident, per Breitbart News.
