President Donald Trump raged over the Wednesday shooting on a D.C. street that has left two National Guard members in hospital in critical condition.
Trump, 79, took time from his Thanksgiving vacation to address the country on Wednesday night, which he called a “monstrous ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House.”
“This heinous assault was an act of evil and act of hatred and an act of terror,” Trump said. “It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity.”
The president also attacked the suspect, who has yet to be officially identified, saying the Department of Homeland Security “is confident” the man in custody is a foreigner who entered the U.S. from Afghanistan, a country Trump called “a hellhole on Earth.”
He warned that his administration will now “re-examine every single alien” who had entered America from Afghanistan.
Officials have identified Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, as the suspect, CBS and NBC reported. NBC cited four senior law enforcement sources who had been briefed on the investigation, while CBS cited “multiple law enforcement sources.”
The motive behind the shooting remains unclear.
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about,” Trump claimed.
“Nobody knew who was coming in. Nobody knew anything about it. His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden, a disastrous President, the worst in the history of our country.”
Trump used the shooting to ramp up his attack on immigrants, saying the incident underscored “the single greatest national security threat facing our nation.”
He added, “The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t want to even know about. No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”
“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” the president added. “America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror. And at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission the service members were so nobly fulfilling.”
Trump then announced his “Department of War” would mobilize 500 more troops to protect Washington.
“We will bring the perpetrator of this barbaric attack to swift and certain justice, if the bullets going in the opposite direction hadn’t already done that,” Trump said of the suspect, who was shot and remains in hospital.
He added the two National Guard officers “had taken a selfless oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that is exactly what they were doing when they were gunned down in a savage attack. I want to express my extraordinary gratitude to every member of the United States military, who is deployed tonight at home and abroad.”
Vice President JD Vance was quick to lash out on X, echoing Trump’s agenda.
Trump’s directive to send more troops to D.C. was quickly seized upon by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Miller, who has called for increased ICE raids, gushed that Trump’s message to the nation was “among the most moving that I have ever heard. It was perfect for this incredibly tragic occasion.”
He told guest host Kellyanne Conway on Fox News on Wednesday evening that Afghanistan is one of the “most failed societies on earth.”
Miller doubled down on Trump’s message to review “every person added to this country over the last four years, all 20 million.”
“Obviously, if you’re an illegal you’re out automatically,” he said, repeating the president’s claim that anyone who was “not someone who loves this country, if you are not adding benefit to this country” would be deported.
The suspect had served alongside U.S. Special Forces troops in Afghanistan before heading to America, NBC reported, citing a close relative who said he came to the U.S. after the Taliban took over in Afghanistan.
“We were the ones that were targeted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” the relative said. “I cannot believe it that he might do this.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump addressed the shooting on his Truth Social account.
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” Trump wrote.
He continued: “God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People. I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”
