The White House blasted Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) after the prominent Democrat tried to blame President Trump for the shooting of two National Guard members in DC this week — noting it was the policies of the previous administration which allowed the alleged shooter into the country.
Suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal ambushed West Virginia National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe Wednesday, mortally wounding Beckstrom, 20, and leaving Wolfe, 24, critically injured, authorities said.
“This animal would’ve never been here if not for Joe Biden’s dangerous policies which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Post of suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
“The Trump Administration is taking every measure possible – in the face of unrelenting Democrat opposition – to get these monsters out of our country and clean up the mess made by the Biden Administration. Instead of defending terrorists, the Democrats should join us in protecting the American people,” she fumed.
Lakanwal entered the United States as part of the Biden Administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, which brought tens of thousands of migrants from war-torn Afghanistan to the country after 2021.
Jackson’s blistering remarks came after Wasserman Schultz — a south Florida lawmaker who previously chaired the Democratic National Committee during Trump’s 2016 race against Hillary Clinton — slammed the president Friday during an appearance on CNN.
“The president looks everywhere excerpt inward to blame his own policies. We need to make sure that we don’t have our military deployed in our cities handling law enforcement responsibilities,” she said.
Follow the latest on the National Guard shooting in Washington, DC:
The shooting “begs the question, would an individual have flown across the country to target law enforcement officers in Washington, DC? And, I mean, the answer is likely no. So, why wasn‘t the president‘s first thought, ‘Wow, you know, maybe I should reconsider deploying military troops in the nation‘s capital or in any city?’” she told host Sara Sidner.
“Particularly not when they haven‘t coordinated closely with the leadership of these cities and when we have law enforcement that are quite capable of handling the criminal justice issues that are — that we need law enforcement to focus on, and not our military.”
Authorities have said Lakanwal drove to DC from Bellingham, Washington to carry out the shooting, but have revealed little about his motive. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he fought alongside US forces in Afghanistan.
More than 70,000 Afghans came to the US under the Biden Administration’s Operation Allies Welcome, although Lakanwal got his asylum approved in April under Trump.
Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Thursday the Biden administration was to blame for Lakanwal getting into the country.
Trump ordered the deployment of an additional 500 National Guard troops to the city following the shooting. Beckstrom died of her gunshot wounds Thursday. Wolfe remained in critical condition Saturday in a DC hospital, the Joint Task Force – District of Columbia said.
President Trump declared a public safety emergency in August and ordered the deployment of the first 800 guard troops. There are now 2,000 National Guard forces to combat crime in the nation’s capital.
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