Suspect in National Guard shooting near White House had helped CIA
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Law enforcement and National Guard respond to a shooting near the White House on Nov. 26 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
The suspect in Wednesday's shooting of two West Virginia National Guard troops is an Afghan national who entered the U.S. in 2021 after working with the CIA and other U.S. government agencies during the war, CIA Director John Ratcliffe tells Axios in a statement.
The big picture: After the withdrawal from Afghanistan, "the Biden Administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. Government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar," Ratcliffe said.
- The Guard members remain hospitalized in critical condition after what President Trump labeled "an act of terror."
- The 29-year-old suspect — accused of a brazen afternoon shooting roughly two blocks northwest of the White House, near the Farragut West Metro station — was shot and taken into custody. His wounds aren't believed to be life-threatening, the AP reported.
Catch up quick: Hearing gunfire, other troops in the area ran over and held down the gunman after he was shot, D.C. police said.
- Investigators, led by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, are seeking clues to the motive.
What they're saying: Trump said in an address last night from Florida, where he's spending Thanksgiving weekend, that the suspect "was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous [Operation Allies Welcome] flights."
- Trump added: "[W]e will not be deterred from the mission the [wounded] service members were so nobly fulfilling. ... I have directed the Department of War to mobilize an additional 500 troops to help protect our capital city."
- Biden was among the many lawmakers to immediately condemn the attack.
The latest: Shortly after Trump spoke, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of Homeland Security, announced: "Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols."
- Ratcliffe said in the statement, first reported by Fox News Digital: "This individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here."
In his five-minute address, Trump called the shooting "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," he said from behind a presidential podium. "It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity."
- "As we are filled with anguish and grief for those who were shot, we're also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve. ... I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price."
What's next: "We're not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn't even be in our country," Trump continued. "We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under [President] Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country."
- "During this time of the year when we gather at home with loved ones, these two patriots were wearing the uniform of our country, patrolling the streets of our capital. ... I want to express my extraordinary gratitude to every member of the United States military who is deployed tonight at home and abroad ... This Thanksgiving, I ask every family to say a prayer for the two great heroes who were so horribly shot, and for their loved ones."
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