A White House official says President Trump is receiving constant updates on the nationwide air traffic situation, even though he has made no public statement about it. CNN reported that he was not expected to speak again that night. The silence stood out because the disruption was so large: the FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon after a communication issue hit air traffic control centers, halting departures across the country for more than four hours. By the time it was lifted that evening, thousands of flights had been canceled and travelers were left stranded at airports nationwide.

Administration officials have pushed back on the idea that the president was disengaged. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at a White House briefing that Trump was "fully engaged" and has long pushed to overhaul the country's aging air traffic control system. Trump also spoke by phone with Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt on Friday night about funding for air traffic control modernization, according to the senator's office. Officials say they have found no evidence that a cyberattack was behind the outage, but the full cause is still being looked into. Many travelers are left wondering what exactly failed and whether it could happen again.