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Two National Guard Members In Critical Condition After Shooting; Suspect Identified As 29-Year-Old Rahmanullah Lakanwal; Trump Vows Immigration Crackdown After National Guard Shooting; U.S. Pausing All Immigration Applications From Afghanistan; Prosecutor: "Too Soon To Say What The Motive Is". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired November 27, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome to a special Thanksgiving edition of Inside Politics. I'm Audie Cornish, in for Dana Bash.

And at this hour, we have new developments on the man accused of gunning down two young National Guard members in the nation's Capitol. The CIA revealed that the 29-year-old Afghan national actually worked with the U.S. government during the war. Rahmanullah Lakanwal was resettled in the U.S. after that chaotic withdrawal four years ago, part of a program to protect those who helped America from Taliban retribution.

Now, prosecutors say he was living in Washington state and allegedly drove across the country to carry out the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush-style, armed with a 357 Smith & Wesson revolver. One guardsman is struck, goes down, and then the shooter leans over and strikes the guardsmen again, another guardsman is struck several times. Fellow guardsmen who were there responded, immediately engaging the suspect, neutralizing the threat, and subduing him at the scene. He was transported to a local hospital, where he remains, as we speak, under heavy guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, the victims were identified this morning as 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, both of them with the West Virginia National Guard. They both remain in critical condition.

So, I want to bring in now senior correspondent Josh Campbell. Josh, what more do we know about this suspect? And even though it's early, what are officials saying about a possible motive?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we're learning quite a bit about the suspect's background. As you mentioned, authorities say he lived in Washington state, drove across the country to conduct what they believe was a targeted attack on members of the National Guard there in D.C.

Here's what we know about the suspect. He's a 29-year-old native of Afghanistan. Authorities say that he had some prior connection with the U.S. military. When the military is overseas on operations, it's very common for them to work with locals, to serve as interpreters, oftentimes on military bases, sometimes as people who can help gather intelligence. So, we're working to kind of run those details down.

We know again, he came to the country -- to the U.S. in 2021 after that chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, applied for asylum last year, and this year, was granted that asylum. So, a lot of questions, obviously, about the motive that remains under investigation.

I have to quickly point out two things. I mean, whenever we look at these past incidents, it's a bit unusual if this turns out to be inspired by a foreign terrorist organization first, because you look at the weapon that was used. Authorities say that this was a revolver, which, you know, this is grim. But as we look at these attacks and what causes people to conduct them, oftentimes they want to kill as many people as possible.

And so, the use of a revolver is somewhat eyebrow raising, versus another type of weapon that could fire more rounds and, you know, more rapid. And also, you look at the victim pool here, we're talking about two people that were shot. You know, groups like ISIS. Whenever they inspire their adherence, they want -- they don't want two, they want 20 people, right? So, they try to look for the biggest amount of casualties possible.

So, again a lot, we don't yet know, it may end up being internationally inspired terrorism, or this may be personal grievances that he was acting upon. All that Audie remains under investigation right now.

CORNISH: The other thing I want to play for you is a part of what the FBI Director Kash Patel had to say about the investigation, where it goes next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: There is confirmation now that the subject had a relationship in Afghanistan with partner forces. We are fully investigating that aspect of his background as well, to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America. That is what a broad-based international terrorism investigation looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

CORNISH: Can you talk about that, just how far reaching this investigation is going to be between the victims where they're located, the potential path that the suspect took across the country, and then this idea of his past potential connections? CAMPBELL: Right. This is now a global investigation, and you know, whenever people think about the FBI, they may think about agents here in the U.S. The FBI has a robust presence overseas, agents in about 100 countries that work in embassies, that work with their local counterparts. They also have teams that respond from the U.S. after acts of terrorism. I served on one of those teams. And you go and you try to gather what you can.

You talk to your foreign counterparts. You try to identify any associates that someone might have, again, to try to determine is this someone who is known to host nation, you know, local officials, or whether this was a motivation that came later, after he had already arrived in the U.S.

And then the last thing I'll note is that it has now become a textbook process, that whenever the U.S. government is seeking to look into someone's background after an incident like this, they'll talk to their key intelligence partners around the world that are routinely gathering intelligence. A lot of times, what happens is the U.S. will gather intelligence, and it's in their holdings, as we say.

They may not know what it actually means, what it points to, but they can go back and look at those intelligence collection items after the fact to see is this someone that we know is associated with a foreign terrorist nexus. Again, all that going on behind the scenes right now, very much a global investigation.

CORNISH: OK. Josh Campbell, thanks so much. I want to turn now to the president because he's already talking about the shooting in the context of his immigration crackdown. The U.S. immediately stopped processing all immigration applications from Afghans, and last night, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 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.

We must now re-examine 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: I'm joined now by CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem and CNN anchor and CNN chief national security analyst, Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much to you both. Jim, I want to start with you because Afghanistan is not just any country. It's a country where the U.S. was involved for many years, and therefore there were many contacts with many Afghans. Give us the context for this community, of which I think under this program in 2021, 190,000 Afghans were resettled in the U.S.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. So, let's to begin. Let's stipulate the awful circumstances of this case. And to Josh's point, we don't know yet whether this suspect was radicalized while in Afghanistan or afterwards, or if there was a personal grievance that led him to carry out this awful act.

But bigger picture, the concern in the Afghan community now many of whom came to this country after service alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan is that they will now be guilty by association and the president's words speak to that.

And the truth of the matter is that it is not true that millions came in unvetted. The SIV program, for instance, the Special Immigrant Visa program, which was designed specifically for Afghans who served alongside the U.S. military or served in some other government role, does have a vetting process to it, and it's quite a difficult one.

I was involved following this quite closely, and families sometimes wait years right, to get through that program, and there are multiple steps along the way. And to be clear, Audie, the reason that SIV program was initiated was in part because those people who served alongside the U.S. and Afghanistan face very real risk.

The Taliban was literally hunting them in the country, finding many of them, killing, and worse, those that they found. I was personally in touch with an Afghan family who for years, where the male who had served alongside the U.S. military was in hiding for years because of that threat. And that's why this program has had -- the SIV program in particular, has had broad bipartisan support.

Republicans and Democrats, many of them veterans themselves, who served alongside these Afghans there during wartime and saw the sacrifice that they made and made a great effort to get many of them out.

So, I think it's very important in this situation to acknowledge the awful circumstances of this attempted murder, while also acknowledging that you have a large cohort of Afghans in this country who did nothing wrong, are contributing, and in fact, serve the U.S. and face a great risk, if the president follows through on a threat and sends them all home.

[12:10:00]

CORNISH: One of the reasons why I'm raising that is it's also a line for investigation, right? You're going to be able to go through that extensive vetting process to understand this person's path from the country beginning from 2021 all the way to the granting of their asylum in April of 2025.

Juliette, you and I have been talking about this investigation today. Can you talk about based on what you've sort of been hearing from investigators. Where do you think this investigation is going to sort of lean hardest? Are we looking at something that is, as the president said, the single greatest national security threat facing our nation? JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, no, I mean, obviously China, Russia, you know, cyber threats are greater threats to the United States. The president is picking up on tragedy and amplifying the threat that may exist in the United States. So basically, whenever a tragedy like this happens, and the horror that we're seeing, you know, that happened in D.C., and for those families specifically, you're going to look at two things.

One is, of course, the risk, which Jim was looking -- was talking about, and that's where the investigation is going to go. What was the vetting process? What's this, you know, what was the suspect, sort of chain of radicalization, we would call it. If he was properly vetted by the Trump administration this year. What has happened in the last couple months? Those are the kinds of questions that would lead to this kind of action by him.

But also, the military is going to look at this from the perspective of vulnerability of the troops. What these troops we now understand are armed? You know, what is their force protection, so to speak, using the language of war here? And what kind of sort of mission protections or mission readiness did they have? And then does that make you, how does the military want to address this?

You know, I'm of the belief that it's hard to get the National Guard ready for a sort of poorly defined mission, and that we now know that the Pentagon and the White House were aware of statements by the commanders of the National Guard of concerns about the vulnerability of the National Guard, not simply from terrorists, but any nefarious actor.

CORNISH: OK. You guys, both of you, thanks so much for speaking with us. Coming up. Our reporters in Palm Beach with the president have some new insight on the administration's response to the attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CORNISH: We're still learning more about the suspect in the shooting, but Republicans, including the director of the FBI, wasted no time blaming the attack on former President Biden and Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATEL: This individual is in this country for one reason and one reason alone, because of the disastrous withdrawal from the Biden administration and the failure to vet anyway, in any way, shape or form, this individual and countless others.

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): We will be very clear. This has Democrat fingerprints all over it, because in 2021, Joe Biden, Elissa Slotkin, Mark Kelly, and the rest of those Democrats, they had no problem, whether it was Afghanistan -- Afghanis coming in recklessly without proper vetting. REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I would vote to censor every Democrat that's said rhetoric that I think would possibly lead to what we saw today with our National Guard. So, you're preaching the choir with me. I think that, you know, the book needs to be thrown at him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. This morning, the president arrived at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The two National Guard members sent to Washington on his orders remain in critical condition.

I'm going to bring in my panel of political reporter CNN's Kristen Holmes, Francesca Chambers of USA Today, and Jeff Mason of Reuters. First, I want to talk about how this investigation is playing out because we saw Kash Patel. You heard in that tape earlier. He wasn't just there to deliver a message of this is the suspect. This is what we think.

Kristen, he delivered basically a political commentary at the same time. What is the White House talking about?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, they're talking about exactly that. And one of the big questions yesterday that they were watching for, they were talking about during these various briefings that they were getting from law enforcement agencies as well as the attorney general, was this idea of motive? Was this political?

In particular, we didn't have as many details yesterday about the suspect, but as we've talked about extensively on CNN, the idea of the National Guard in these major cities has become somewhat of a political flash point. We've had reporters on the ground talking to these guardsmen who have been spat at and attacked. Now that's not everybody who talks to the guardsmen. There are plenty of people who thank them for their duty, but it is a political flashpoint.

So, there's a lot of questions as to if the motive itself was political. And you can see that the administration is skewing that way, even if we don't know what this person, this suspect's motive was. They are now taking a more political approach to all of this. And you can imagine that it's not going to just be Republicans. It's going to be across the aisle, just in terms of talking about this program.

[12:20:00]

Now that we know that this suspect came in under this U.S. government program after the withdrawal of Afghanistan, there are going to be some questions that I think both sides are going to want to get to the bottom of. But this is a political issue that President Trump wants to be in front of, because we know that immigration is one of the only issues that he still remains popular when it comes to his various policies, and that's something that he knows, and he's going to obviously continue to push this idea of a intense crackdown.

CORNISH: And you could hear that in the speech that the president gave yesterday, in which it started out this conversation about this shooting, about Afghan nationals, and then broadened into Minnesota and Somalia. I want to play that for you guys.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: There's no connection to that just now. But Francesca, is it the sense that just about anything can be folded into those two concerns, right, immigration or cracking down on cities?

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY: Well, and last night, we also saw on social media that Vice President J.D. Vance also invoked the issue of immigration in response to this shooting yesterday. With respect to Afghanistan, you know, over the some of the president issued that broad reaching travel ban that affected both immigration as well as travel to the United States. And Afghanistan was one of the countries that was on that initial list.

There was an exception at the time for the Special Immigrant Visas for individuals who had worked with the U.S. government in Afghanistan before the withdrawal. But now we see the Trump administration saying yesterday, I believe, or today, that they will now be completely shutting down immigration to the United States from Afghanistan.

CORNISH: I want to play for you guys, how Democrats are talking about this. Some were asked last night, and they have been focused on just the mere presence of the National Guard in D.C. and our in many cities where they believe it's inappropriate. And in the meantime, the president is looking to add 500 more troops to the city. Here's Robert Garcia and James Walkinshaw, two Democrats from the House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): At the end of the day, those are decisions that should be made by local law enforcement that are on the ground at local at the state level. And so, for the president to order additional National Guard, whether it's in D.C. or in other states, without that input and discussion, I don't think is the right approach.

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): If that's going to happen and when that's going to happen, I think it's incumbent upon the administration to lay out a clear plan to ensure their protection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Jeff, what are you going to be listening for in the coming days? This isn't the kind of story that's just going to go away because of the holiday, especially with such a far-reaching investigation ahead. JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Well, that's for sure. I think number one, I'll be listening for whether the president addresses this again tonight. He is scheduled to make calls to troops abroad for the Thanksgiving holiday, and the press will be brought in for that. So, we're hoping we have a chance to ask him a couple questions about this incident and about his administration's response.

I think, broader to the question that you're asking, Audie, I think we'll be looking to see politically if this changes, or leads to the president calling for more National Guard elsewhere in the country, his reaction of calling on Defense Secretary Hegseth to bring in 500 additional or this additional group of National Guard to Washington D.C. could -- is clearly meant to bolster his argument that they needed to be there in the first place.

But as my co-panelists were referencing already, that has created a political flashpoint in the nation's Capitol, just as it has in the other primarily democratic run cities where he has sent National Guard. So, the focus on the politics of that, and whether or not, it is either making the cities more safe, as he contends, or creating safety concerns, including for these National Guard members themselves, I think that will be a focus as well.

CORNISH: OK, Jeff, thanks so much. And Francesca and Kristen, appreciate your time. Stay with us. Next, I want to talk about the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who says one of the National Guard members targeted had volunteered to work on Thanksgiving. We're live in West Virginia, with new details on the two injured service members.

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CORNISH: Right now, the two National Guard members targeted in what authorities call an ambush-style attack in Washington, D.C., remain in critical condition. Attorney General Pam Bondi says their condition is key to the charges that the suspect faces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Right now, we will base our charges, based on their prognosis, you know, they both came through surgery. I'm not going to talk about their conditions right now. I know their families are with them. I'd like to add something about the young woman. She volunteered to be there on Thanksgiving, working today. She volunteered, as did many of those guardsmen