President Trump fired National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman last week after the White House said it received "highly concerning reports" about his conduct, including allegations of drinking on the job, harassment of employees, and misusing government resources. Inman denied all of it and called the move a "political hit job."
The firing removes a key figure from the ongoing investigation into the January 29, 2025, mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people, including 60 passengers, four crew members, and three Army helicopter personnel. Inman was the board member on duty the night it happened and the first on the panel to respond to the scene, the Daily Mail reported.
Trump spokesperson Kush Desai confirmed the dismissal in a statement:
"The White House lawfully removed Todd Inman from the NTSB after receiving highly concerning reports."
Inman, speaking to CBS News, offered a sharply different account:
"I categorically deny the false allegations made in the White House statement."
He went further, framing the firing as retaliation:
"It has become increasingly obvious this action was a political hit job. While not my original intent I look forward to defending my reputation against those responsible with every legal means possible."
Inman's background complicates the clean narrative he's trying to sell. Former President Joe Biden selected him in 2024 to fill a Republican seat on the NTSB board. That alone raises questions. Of the five members of the safety board, only three can serve as part of the same political party, and Biden's decision to handpick the person occupying a GOP-designated seat is worth noting.
Inman served during Trump's first term as chief of staff at the Department of Transportation, and he has a background in Florida state government and government public relations. He was set to serve the remainder of his term until it expired at the end of next year. None of that makes him untouchable.
The January collision just outside of DC, occurring just days after Trump was inaugurated, was the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in years. Inman became the on-scene spokesperson and earned a reputation as a "forceful interrogator" during the investigation. He also claimed that FAA officials "may have missed warnings" in the lead-up to the crash.
That kind of public posture matters. An NTSB board member publicly suggesting the FAA dropped the ball is significant, and it's the sort of assertion that creates enemies in Washington faster than almost anything else. Whether Inman's firing was motivated by genuine misconduct or by the friction his investigation generated is a question worth asking, but only after the facts are established.
The White House did not comment further on the specifics of the claimed harassment or provide timelines that would clarify whether Inman was alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol while responding to the DC crash. That gap matters. If the allegations are serious enough to fire a sitting board member in the middle of a major investigation, they should be serious enough to document publicly.
Inman is not the first NTSB member to be shown the door. Trump fired the board's vice chairman, Alvin Brown, in May 2025. Brown is currently suing to get his job back, and a pending Supreme Court case is challenging Trump's ability to fire members of independent federal commissions and boards without cause.
Meanwhile, the administration has moved to put its own people in place. John DeLeeuw, a longtime American Airlines executive, received Senate confirmation on February 25 for a seat on the board.
The legal battles will play out on their own timeline. What's clear right now is that the NTSB is being reshaped, and the old guard isn't going quietly.
Conservatives have long argued that independent agencies operate with too little accountability and too much insulation from the elected officials the public actually chose. The NTSB is no exception. These boards accumulate personnel who serve across administrations, often answering to no one in any meaningful sense, and Biden's decision to slot his preferred candidate into a Republican seat only underscores the problem.
If Inman was drinking on the job during a probe into a disaster that killed 67 people, firing him isn't just appropriate. It's the bare minimum. Families who lost loved ones in that collision deserve investigators who are sober, competent, and focused.
If, on the other hand, the allegations are pretextual, the legal system will sort that out. Inman says he plans to fight. He'll get his chance.
But the instinct to treat every fired government official as a martyr simply because Trump signed the paperwork is a reflex the press should have outgrown by now. Sometimes people get fired because they deserve it. Sometimes the president cleans house because the house needs cleaning. The details here will determine which story this turns out to be.
Sixty-seven people are dead. The investigation into why continues, with or without Todd Inman.