⁠Two MWAA employees charged for leaking DC plane crash video — Details explored

Two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) employees have been fired and arrested after they allegedly leaked footage of the American Airlines passenger plane and Black Hawk collision.

CNN aired the video on Friday morning, offering a new visual angle of the fatal crash. Meanwhile, CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, in her reports, referred to the footage as something that “appears to be surveillance video from the airport.” The MWAA reportedly said in a statement that the employees made an "unauthorized copy" of the leaked video.

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Here's what we know about the MWAA employees who may now face trial:

Fox News has reported that Mohamed Lamine Mbengue, 21, of Rockville, Maryland, was one of the two men charged. He was arrested on January 31, and subsequently charged with computer trespass under Virginia law. Furthermore, he was booked into the Arlington County Adult Detention Center, though an MWAA representative has reportedly revealed, that he was released.

Jonathan Savoy, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was also charged with the same charges, on February 2. Consequently, he was released, based on a summons by a magistrate pending trial. The two men are presently under indictment, for infringing on Airports Authority records, though officials say they have yet to determine how they got their hands on the footage or leaked it.

In the video, the exact moment when the collision of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 jet occurred, is visible. The crash, which claimed the lives of all 67 passengers, saw either aircraft go pummeling into the frosty Potomac River.

Search and rescue efforts have long been ongoing, with first responders working to recover the remains of the 67 people.

“We conduct an important safety mission where we take a very careful approach,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy, per New Zealand Herald. “We look at facts... and that will take some time.”

President Donald Trump's statement reads as follows:

“The FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing,” Trump said, adding that the federal agency sought people ”with severe disabilities, the most underrepresented segment of the workforce" to fill positions crucial to safety management, such as air traffic controllers.

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It remains unclear if the two men handed the video over to CNN free of cost, or demanded compensation. It's also unclear if the MWAA and law enforcement officials will be pressing further charges. However, an investigation into the same remains ongoing.