Trump Slams Reporter Over DC Shooting Question: ‘Are You ...

By Alia Shoaib

News Reporter

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President Donald Trump berated a reporter who questioned his claims that the Joe Biden administration improperly vetted Afghan nationals brought to the U.S. after the fall of Kabul in 2021.

The exchange came after news that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members, one of whom has died, in Washington D.C., arrived in the U.S. under former President Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome scheme.

CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes asked Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday: “Your DOJ IG [Department of Justice Inspector General] 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?”

“Because they let them in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” Trump responded.

Why It Matters

The shooting of the National Guard members has renewed scrutiny of the program that brought roughly 70,000 Afghan nationals to the U.S. after the chaotic withdrawal from Kabul.

Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly said that Afghans were not properly vetted before being brought to the U.S. Official reports show that screening and vetting procedures were in place, but questions have been raised about gaps during the rapid, large-scale evacuation.

Trump’s exchange with Cordes, during which he called her “stupid” three times, also comes after he faced backlash last week for telling another female reporter “quiet, piggy.” He has been frequently criticized for targeting journalists, particularly women, with personal insults.

What To Know

Speaking to Trump on Thursday, Cordes said about Lakanwal: “U.S. officials say that the suspect worked very closely with the CIA in Afghanistan for years, that he was vetted, and the vetting came up clean.”

Trump responded that the suspect had gone “cuckoo,” and continued to criticize the Biden scheme.

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Trump added about the Afghan nationals: “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.”

The Department of Homeland Security said Lakanwal came to the U.S. on September 8, 2021. Reuters reported that he applied for asylum in December 2024, and it was approved this year on April 23, while Trump was in office.

Lakanwal was also likely to have been vetted when, he began working with the CIA in Afghanistan, as CIA Director John Radcliffe mentioned, and again before he was granted asylum in April.

Following the shooting, Trump has called for all Afghans who entered the U.S. under Biden’s scheme to be reexamined, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was halting the processing of all immigration requests for Afghan nationals pending a review of security and vetting protocols.

Trump also announced on Thursday that he was halting migration from "all Third World Countries."

Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of the two National Guard members shot near the White House on Wednesday, died on Thursday. The West Virginia National Guard member and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, who was also shot, were in Washington, D.C., since August as part of the federal surge in the nation's capital to tackle crime and immigration operations.

What People Are Saying

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson previously told Newsweek: “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.”

Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac, which works to resettle Afghan refugees who helped the U.S. government during the war, said in a statement: “Afghan immigrants and wartime allies who resettle in the United States undergo some of the most extensive security vetting of any population entering the country.”

"This individual's isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” he added.

What Happens Next

Authorities continue to investigate the shooting of the National Guard members, and the suspect’s motive remains unknown.

The Trump administration has halted the processing of Afghan nationals’ immigration requests, and officials have said they will review all Biden-era asylum cases.

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