D.C. Attorney Janine Pirro, the FBI Director Kash Patel, and others on that update on the shooting that occurred yesterday in Washington, D.C. with those National Guard members, Sarah Bextram, Andrew Wolfe, the FBI director talking about the investigative phase and where they're at.
The D.C. attorney talking about the possible legal charges that face the suspected shooter, all that.
And you can comment on those from now until the end of the program.
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Right at the top of today's press conference, the D.C. attorney, the D.C. lawyer, Janine Pirro, talked about the identities of the two National Guard members, gave more information on that.
First and foremost, our hearts go out to the victims and their families.
These are dedicated service members who were performing their duties in service to our nation, and they are currently in critical condition.
They have undergone surgery.
We pray for their well-being as they continue to be cared for in the best possible way.
We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.
The two National Guard men that we're talking about are Sarah Bextrom, who's 20 years old, and Andrew Wolf, who is 24 years old.
They were uniformed members of the West Virginia National Guard, and they were in D.C. to keep D.C. safe, pursuant to President Trump's executive order to make D.C. safe and beautiful.
They answered the call.
They took the charge.
They volunteered.
They put their lives on the line for people they don't even know.
And that, unfortunately, is becoming a reality more and more for the members of law enforcement.
That was just about 15 minutes ago from the Washington Post.
They also post that the Attorney General, you've probably heard this during the course of the press conference, that Pam Bondi says the Justice Department intends to charge with terrorism offenses, the suspect in the shooting of the two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. James in California, Independent line on the shooting from yesterday and the update we just heard.
But I think it's a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they're active duty, reserve, or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America.
And as a person who goes into work every single day in that building and knows that there are a lot of people who wear the uniform of the United States Army, let me just say very personally, thank them for what they're doing.
We're grateful to them and we're praying that they're going to be safe and they're going to spend Thanksgiving with their families.
Hey, I just wanted to say this has been such a sad Thanksgiving, but what I hate and don't appreciate is the quickness with which this is becoming a political matter.
No National Guard soldiers, nor for that matter, military members should be used to politicize issues that long ago didn't have anything to do with them.
Going back and saying that it was a Biden administration policy that led to this, it's like the previous caller said, jumping ahead of the solution.
Now, I would give credit to the FBI and the law enforcement folks for doing their due diligence and investigating the matter, but it appears that they're trying to set this up to be a political matter going into the election year.
Okay, well, I'm going to pause you only there because we're going to keep to the tone of the previous press conference, the shooting of the National Guard soldiers that took place yesterday, the update we just got from federal officials.
So if you want to comment on that, feel free to call the lines 202-748-8000 for Democrats, 202-748-8001 for Republicans, and Independents, 202-748-8002.
Let's hear from Michael.
Michael in Michigan, Democrats line.
unidentified
Hello.
Yes, hi.
Like the two other previous callers, it's a blame game by Trump to, again, put it back on Biden, Biden, Biden, talking about why weren't they vetted?
Well, as those folks were getting out of Afghanistan, I mean, there wasn't much time to vet anybody.
I'm sure they were, in fact, vetted before they got here.
I don't know about the guy himself, but they're trying to put it on Biden.
Biden, Biden.
It's old.
It's wrong.
Wake up, World.
They're the Passe Cumatadis.
Those soldiers should not have been in D.C. Thank you.
I just wanted to say that in New York in 2022, Governor Kathy Hochold deployed National Guard to the New York City subway system, and they're still there.
They're at least 750 troops, and I believe it's been increased since then.
And it absolutely is effective.
It eases the mind of commuters and visitors alike.
I believe it was done after 9-11 as well.
And there's every reason in the world they should be in New York.
They should be in Washington, D.C., and any other city that's experiencing an abhorrent number, amount of violence.
And it's ironic that Democrats are against it when a Democratic governor has been doing it for years.
We don't hear about any court cases against that or any motions filed with judges to disband that.
And let's leave national security to the president, and let's get away from it.
Yeah, good morning, Pedro, and happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Just wanted to say that, you know, the rhetoric is out of control on the Democrat side.
And I just feel that, you know, I find it really ironic that you'll have six congressmen talking about illegal orders when certainly bringing in unvetted Afghani refugees.
None of them said a peep.
None of them said a peep when COVID mandates came out.
Nothing about illegal orders.
Nothing about the rule of law.
And the truth is, you know, ICE is here to try to pull people who aren't supposed to be here out of here.
The National Guard are trying to protect citizens trying to live their life.
And speaking out against them is gotten out of control.
And this is what happens when you do it.
And I think all six of those congressmen should be ashamed of themselves.
Anyway, thank you, Pedro.
And my thoughts and prayers go out to their family.
Scott in Virginia, calling about the events of yesterday, the president adding his own thoughts on his Truth Social site in a video that was posted.
It's reported by the Hills and others.
He went to Truth Social on Wednesday saying that his administration would review cases of the individuals from Afghanistan who entered the United States, that during the Biden administration.
Here's a portion of those thoughts from yesterday.
During this time of the year, when we gather at home with loved ones, these two patriots were wearing the uniform of our country patrolling the streets of our capital.
They had taken a selfless oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
And that is exactly what they were doing when they were gunned down in a savage attack.
I want to express my extraordinary gratitude to every member of the United States military who is deployed tonight, at home and abroad.
I also want to thank the Secret Service and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department for their work today.
This Thanksgiving, I ask every family to say a prayer for the two great heroes who were so horribly shot and for their loved ones.
Well, first of all, I'm heartbroken over what happened to the two guards persons.
Secondly, the caller who said that the guard in the subways have made it safer.
It is not safer.
The NYPD have been missing in action since the city of New York no longer indemnifies them for any behavior they have.
The subways are very dangerous, so you can forget about that point.
Next, try to imagine what it's like to be 18 or 19 or 20 in West Virginia and put in a snake's nest like Washington, D.C. or North St. Louis, North Philly, or Baltimore.
Beth's Concerns About Militarizing Rural Guards00:08:15
unidentified
You're coming from a rural area.
You are not trained for law enforcement.
You are not of the nature of the police.
You are not an in-your-face, aggressive type of person.
You're a young person who's trying to make some extra income, and at most you're supposed to be deployed if there's a flood or something like that.
You're putting sheep to the slaughter.
This is totally wrong to do this this way.
Hire more police.
Hire more police.
Hire the people who want to eat red meat every morning and, like the police here in Flemington and Meriden Township, thrive on aggressivity.
These guards people are young people.
They do not have the nature or the natural protective mechanisms.
Welcome is what people have been referring to Newsweek as an explainer of what it is, saying that according to the Department of Homeland Security, which was appointing the lead coordinating agency back in 2021, the purpose was to provide a safe, orderly pathway into the U.S. for vulnerable Afghan allies and their immediate family members who had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021.
Under the program, Afghan evacuees underwent multi-layered security vetting conducted by DHS, the FBI, Department of Defense, the National Counterterrorism Center, and other intelligence partners.
DHS guidance states that individuals were admitted under humanitarian parole while their immigration cases, special immigrant visas, asylum, or other pathways were processed.
The program saw the arrival of more than 88,000 Afghans, according to the White House and DHS.
Many were initially housed at U.S. military bases before being assisted by resettlement agencies.
There's more there on that program.
If you want to read it for yourself, Sam in Michigan, Democrats line.
unidentified
Hello.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
First of all, as a retired veteran, I'd like to send prayers out to all military service members that are serving throughout the globe and especially to those service members that were harmed yesterday in execution of their duties.
I'm also going to pray for this administration that a sense of calm comes about them and that they don't politicize it too much.
But in the scope of taking accountability, this person was granted asylum in April 2025.
We don't need to get into a time machine.
This is where we take accountability for where we place those soldiers and what vetting and security procedures we took to ensure that they would not become targets.
I just would like to thank C-SPAN for existing and giving us a chance.
And for those of its listeners, I'd like to suggest that they do some web surfing and look for statistics on the violent crime rate among Afghan refugees.
I did a quickie.
I'm not going to tell you what I found.
But I'd just like to encourage everybody to stop and think before every Afghan in the country is painted with the same brush.
Yes, I'm calling because there he goes again, the Bonesburg president trying to divide us.
I mean, we all know that we all are for the National Guard.
We all treasure our National Guard, Republican, Democrats, Independents.
But there he goes again, trying to divide us.
And when they made this, what do you call it, this conference thing, right a few minutes ago, they never mentioned, they didn't even want to mention that the Afghan was, he received asylum through Trump.
That's how they tried to divide us.
I mean, why do that?
Americans know that we all support our National Guard.
But there they go again.
The president trying to divide us.
I mean, I hate that.
I hate that because they take everything really politically.
Okay, Miriam in Texas ending off this program on this Thanksgiving day.
Thank you for giving us your time, especially.
And from me and the rest of the staff of the Journal and all of us at C-SPAN who keep this program operational dawn this holiday, a happy Thanksgiving to you.
Another edition of Washington Journal comes your way at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning.
We'll see you then.
unidentified
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Friday, on C-SPAN's Ceasefire, at a time when finding common ground matters most in Washington, host Dasha Burns sits down with Cornell West, Union Theological Seminary professor, and Robert George, Princeton University professor, for a civil dialogue on rising political polarization in the U.S. and top issues facing the country.
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This is the Washington Journal for November 27, Thanksgiving Day.
At this hour, there is no update on the condition of two National Guard members recovering from what officials are calling a quote targeted shooting in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
The guard members and the alleged shooter, an Afghan national, are under medical care.
The FBI and the D.C. Attorney's Office are investigating the incident.