U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at a female reporter on Thursday, calling her a “stupid person” for asking a question about the vetting of the suspect in the shooting of two National Guards in Washington, D.C.
During the press conference at Mar-a-Lago about the shooting on Wednesday of two National Guards by a suspected Afghan national, the reporter said, “U.S. officials say that the suspect worked very closely with the VIA in Afghanistan for years, that he was vetted and the vetting came up clean.”
Trump said the asylum process for Afghans who worked with U.S. forces and arrived by plane was ineffective, and it failed to vet people properly.
“He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts. It happens too often with these people. You see them. But look, this is how they come in, they’re standing on top of each other,” Trump responded. “That’s an airplane. There was no vetting or anything. They came in unvetted and we have a lot of others in this country, and we’re going to get them out.”
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The reporter then asked, “Actually, your DOJ IG [Department of Justice Inspector Genera] just reported this year that there was thorough vetting by DHS and by the FBI of these Afghans who were brought into the U.S., so why do you blame the Biden administration for what this man did?”
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“Because they let them in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” Trump said after cutting off the reporter. “Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.”
Trump claimed that “it’s almost impossible” to remove the people who came in as part of the immigration policies of former U.S. president Joe Biden, including Operation Allies Welcome, a program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021.
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Trump continued: “You can’t get them out once they come in, and they came in and they were unvetted, they were unchecked, there were many of them, and they came in on big planes and it was disgraceful.”
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He also announced during the press conference that one of the victims, Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died in Wednesday’s shooting in Washington.
Trump said Thursday that Specialist Beckstrom had died from her injuries and that a second National Guard member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, “is fighting for his life” and “in very bad shape.”
“She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down on us right now,” Trump said. “Her parents are with her. This just happened. She was savagely attacked. She’s dead. She’s not with us.”
Trump used the announcement to say the shooting was a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan war to enter the U.S.
“The monster that did this is also in very serious condition,” Trump added.
The victims were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard to the U.S. capital as part of Trump’s crime-fighting mission that involved taking over the local police department. There were nearly 2,200 guard members from various states in D.C. for the mission.
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Trump says National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom has died after shooting in Washington
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The brazen daytime shooting of two National Guard members in the nation’s capital by a man authorities identified as an Afghan national has raised multiple questions.
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Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, drove across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver.
On Friday, Pirro announced that charges against Lakanwal have been upgraded to first-degree murder.
Video reviewed by investigators showed the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, according to Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief.
Troops ran over and held down the shooter, Carroll said, and he was taken into custody. Authorities believe he was the only gunman.
Carroll said that it was not clear whether one of the guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect. Investigators so far had no information on a motive.
The exchange between Trump and the reporter comes one week after he said to another reporter, “Quiet, piggy,” while speaking with the press about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Footage captured aboard Air Force One shows the president pointing and saying, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” after a female reporter, not visible on camera, asks him a question about the Epstein files.
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The president cuts her off, wagging a finger in her direction.
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Trump tells reporter ‘Quiet, piggy’ in response to Epstein question
The exchange came amid heightened scrutiny over Trump’s relationship with the disgraced New York City financier after Democrats released a collection of emails Epstein sent in which Trump was mentioned by name.
Republicans responded by of documents containing correspondence between Epstein and other prominent figures.
Congress has since passed and Trump has signed legislation compelling the Justice Department to give the public everything it has on Epstein before Christmas.
— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.