President Trump spent Thanksgiving at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago with his wife Melania.
Mr. Trump played golf in the morning, and he and the first lady called service members Thursday night.
Mr. Trump and Melania participated in the annual turkey pardoning at the White House on Tuesday, giving Waddle and Gobble a “full and unconditional pardon,” before heading off for the holiday.
On Wednesday night, two members of the National Guard were shot near the White House. The victims were identified as members of the West Virginia National Guard, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. Both had been stationed in D.C. since August, and had been deputized to maintain their status to conduct presence patrols less than 24 hours earlier.
Beckstrom died from her injuries in the hospital, President Trump told reporters Thursday night, and Wolfe is “fighting for his life.”
Alex Brandon / AP
Earlier Thursday, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said Wolfe was in critical condition after undergoing surgery.
A White House official told CBS News that Mr. Trump spoke to Beckstrom’s parents on Thursday night.
The suspect in the shooting has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who authorities said was paroled into the U.S. on Sept. 8, 2021, under a Biden-era program for Afghan nationals called Operation Allies Welcome. The CIA confirmed Thursday that Lakanwal had worked with the CIA in Afghanistan.
The suspect was shot by another Guard member and taken into custody, authorities said. Officials said Thursday that he had driven from Washington state to carry out the attack. The suspect is in serious condition, Mr. Trump said Thursday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that an additional 500 members of the National Guard will be sent to D.C., joining the roughly 2,200 troops who were deployed there as of Sunday morning.
Mr. Trump posted a video on social media on Wednesday night addressing the shooting, calling it an “act of evil and an act of hatred and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity.”
Mr. Trump also noted that the suspect had come to the U.S. under the Biden-era program, and vowed to “reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country.”
“No country can tolerate such a risk to our country,” Mr. Trump added Wednesday, while pivoting to discussing Somali immigrants in Minnesota.
