TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Addresses the National Guard Shooting in Washington, 11.26.2025
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President Trump: My great fellow Americans. Earlier today, on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, two members of the National Guard serving in Washington, D.C., were shot at point-blank range in a monstrous, ambush-style attack just steps away from the White House. They'd been deputized as part of the most successful public safety and national security mission in the history of our nation's capital: the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which has achieved an unprecedented reduction in violent crime, and crimes of all type. This heinous assault was an act of evil, an act of hatred, and an act of terror. It was a crime against our entire nation. It was a crime against humanity. The hearts of all Americans tonight are with those two members of the West Virginia National Guard and their families. The love of our entire country is pouring out for them, and we are lifting them up in our prayers.
As we are filled with anguish and grief for those who were shot, we're also filled with righteous anger and ferocious resolve. As President of the United States, I am determined to ensure that the animal who perpetrated this atrocity pays the steepest possible price. I can report tonight that, based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.
He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021, on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about. Nobody knew who was coming in. Nobody knew anything about it. His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden, a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country. This attack underscores the single greatest national security threat facing our nation. The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don't want to even know about. No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.
An example is Minnesota, where hundreds of thousands of Somalians are ripping off our country, and ripping apart that once great state. Billions of dollars are lost, and gangs of Somalians come from a country that doesn't even have a government -- no laws, no water, no military, no nothing -- as their representatives in our country preach to us about our Constitution, and how our country is no good. We're not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn't even be in our country. We must now 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. If they can't love our country, we don't want them. America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror.
And at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission these service members were so nobly fulfilling. That is why tonight I can announce that I have directed the Department of War to mobilize an additional 500 troops to help protect our capital city. We will make America totally safe again. And we will bring the perpetrator of this barbaric attack to swift and certain justice, if the bullets going in the opposite direction haven't already done that. 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 Capitol. 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, please say a prayer. May God bless them and comfort them, and may God bless and protect the United States of America. Thank you, and good night.