Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida has placed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Washington, D.C., on President Donald Trump, despite the suspect being an Afghan national admitted to the United States during the previous administration.
The attack, which occurred the day before Thanksgiving, claimed the life of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia. The shooter, brought into the country following the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, opened fire on National Guard troops in the nation’s capital.
The former Democratic National Committee chairwoman made her remarks while responding to President Trump’s announcement that his administration would review the vetting procedures for Afghan refugees admitted under President Biden’s watch.
Wasserman Schultz acknowledged significant failures in the screening process. “We need to make sure that we have tight and appropriate and proper vetting,” she stated. “If there were gaps that admitted this person, they would have failed over multiple levels of gaps, and this individual was trusted enough to participate in assisting our military during the war in Afghanistan.”
However, the congresswoman then redirected her criticism toward the current administration. “The president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies,” Wasserman Schultz said. “We need to make sure that we do not have our military deployed in our cities, handling law enforcement responsibilities, and we need to make sure that we address gun violence.”
She continued, “We certainly need to make sure that we always have the proper and appropriate and tight vetting processes and those should be reviewed, but it is never the president’s fault or his policies when it comes to his reaction, and it is pretty disgusting.”
The congresswoman’s comments notably omitted reference to warnings issued at the time of the Afghan evacuation. Pentagon spokesman and Army Ranger veteran Sean Parnell had cautioned that some Afghans who worked alongside American forces had previously betrayed their trust when circumstances demanded loyalty.
The incident raises serious questions about the vetting procedures implemented during the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. That operation, widely criticized as poorly executed, resulted in the deaths of thirteen American service members and left thousands of Afghan nationals seeking refuge in the United States.
The timing of Wasserman Schultz’s remarks has drawn scrutiny, as the suspect in this case entered the country under policies enacted by the Biden administration, not the current one. President Trump’s proposal to review those vetting procedures appears to address precisely the kind of security gap that may have allowed this individual into the country.
As the nation mourns Specialist Beckstrom, the debate over immigration vetting and national security continues to divide Washington along familiar partisan lines.
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