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President Donald Trump asked a White House reporter if she was a “stupid person” on Thursday when she pressed him about the suspected murderer of U.S. National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom.
CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes confronted Trump with reports that the suspect in the shooting of Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe on Wednesday was vetted by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security before being allowed into the country from Afghanistan. She then asked why Trump accused former President Joe Biden of letting the suspect in with no vetting.
“Your DOJ IG 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?” she asked.
“Because they let him in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” Trump fired back. “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.”
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The exchange came a day after authorities say 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal shot Beckstrom and Wolfe just blocks from the White House in what officials called a “targeted” attack.
Wolfe is still “fighting for his life,” the president said Thursday, after announcing Beckstrom’s death. Lakanwal is in custody and recovering in the hospital after being shot and wounded by other National Guard members.
Lakwanl entered the country on the heels of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 under the Biden administration. Lakanwal arrived in the U.S. a month later under “Operation Allies Welcome.”
Trump accused the previous administration of allowing Lakanwal and other Afghan refugees into the country without proper vetting during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
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In a Truth Social post following the attack, Trump shared an image of Afghani refugees on board a U.S. plane, and stated, “This is part of the horrendous airlift from Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of people poured into our Country totally unvetted and unchecked. We will fix it, but will never forget what Crooked Joe Biden and his Thugs did to our Country!”
Former Biden Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said during a September 2021 press conference that 120,000 people had been evacuated from Afghanistan since the beginning of the U.S. withdrawal, just months earlier. The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center found that nearly 800 aircraft evacuated thousands of people over just a 17-day period in August 2021.
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At the time, Mayorkas insisted that the U.S. had properly vetted these refugees before bringing them into the U.S., flagging anyone who had concerning backgrounds.
Cordes told Trump that his DOJ recently reported that there was thorough vetting of these refugees, undercutting his claim that Biden allowed a free-for-all. The remark prompted Trump’s insult. He followed up by doubling down on his claim that the Afghani nationals were unvetted.
“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,” Trump replied, elsewhere adding, “And they came in, and they shouldn’t have come in, and frankly the whole thing was a mess. The whole Afghanistan situation was a mess.”
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It’s the latest testy exchange Trump has had with a female reporter, after calling one “piggy” and telling another she was a “terrible person” earlier this month.
Biden posted on X that he was “heartbroken” over the attack on Wednesday and called for all to unite against “violence of any kind.”
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