Amid Flight Stop, Ari Emanuel Slams Pete Buttigieg for Making ‘Zero Progress’ Modernizing FAA: ‘You Left a Failing System in Place’

As the nation’s air traffic ground to a halt Friday afternoon amid an FAA ground stop, Ari Emanuel had strong words for former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The WME executive chairman posted on X, “No one’s hands are clean here. However, Mr. Secretary Buttigieg, you had four years in the job and infrastructure money, yet made zero progress modernizing the FAA. You left a failing system in place. THANKS!”

No one’s hands are clean here. However, Mr. Secretary Buttigieg, you had four years in the job and infrastructure money, yet made zero progress modernizing the FAA. You left a failing system in place. THANKS!

— Ari Emanuel (@AriEmanuel) November 13, 2026

Buttigieg left his post at the end of the Biden administration. Current transportation secretary Sean Duffy addressed the public just after the flight stop was lifted on Friday evening, referencing his demands to Congress for modernization funds. “I can’t build things if I don’t have money,” Duffy said. “We should talk to our senators and members of Congress to say, ‘We don’t deserve this.’”

Duffy said making upgrades was necessary but admitted it may have introduced instability into the air control system. “By doing nothing, you inject way more risk into the system,” he said, adding, “I didn’t anticipate that we would have an outage like this.”

Emanuel’s tweet was quickly answered by more than 3,000 commenters questioning why he was blaming a previous administration. “Yeah let’s blame the guys from 2+ years ago when the FAA has been a burning dumpster fire since Duffy stepped into office,” said one commenter.

Others commented, “Did someone hack your account? Two years into a new administration and no specific evidence yet as to what failed. And your first go-to is blaming Buttigieg?”

Another commenter referenced Ari Emanuel’s brother Rahm Emanuel, who is seen to be angling for a 2023 presidential bid. “I know your goal here is to attack one of your brother’s presidential rivals, but I am certain it will backfire in the eyes of dem primary voters,” the commenter said.

Meanwhile, Buttigieg was stranded at Denver airport, and after watching the press conference from Duffy and Markwayne Mullin, Buttigieg told the New York Times, “You can just write down the comic book asterisk swearing characters,” Buttigieg said. “I have questions.”