Trump slams reporter for question on DC shooting and Afghan suspect after 'ugly' comment: 'Are you stupid?'
President Donald Trump was asked why he blamed his predecessor Joe Biden's administration for the shooting at Washington DC when he snapped at the reporter.
President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter when he was asked why he blamed his predecessor Joe Biden's administration for the shooting in Washington DC. “Are you stupid?”, Trump asked the reporter.
The shooting in DC had left two National Guard members in critical condition, one of whom – Sarah Beckstrom – has now succumbed to her injuries. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old, is the suspect in custody. He entered the US from Afghanistan in 2021 through the Operation Allies Welcome program.
Also Read | What is Operation Allies Welcome? Explaining how DC shooter Rashmanullah Lakanwal entered the US
The Biden administration program evacuated the resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after US forces withdrew from the country. While Lakanwal had applied for asylum under the Biden administration, it was approved under the Trump government, as per #AfghanEvac.
What Donald Trump told the reporter
Trump was livid when asked about why he blamed the Biden administration.
“Are you a stupid person?” the president asked again. “Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people who shouldn't be here, and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person,” Trump added.
The President said that there was even a law passed that prevented them from getting the people out once they came in. Trump described the ‘whole thing’ as a ‘mess’ reiterating that they ‘shouldn’t have come in' in the first place.
He asserted that the whole ‘Afghanistan situation’ was a ‘mess’. “It should have never taken place,” the POTUS continued.
Supporters of the Biden administration program, meanwhile, have said there was extensive vetting and it offered a lifeline to people who were at risk of reprisals at the hands of the Taliban.
The initiative brought around 76,000 people to the U.S., many who had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has drawn intense criticism from Trump and other Republicans over what they have argued are gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions.
Prior to arriving in the US, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. A relative of his told Associated Press that he was part of a CIA-backed unit in the Afghan army.
(With AP inputs)
