WASHINGTON — Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) referred Thursday to the deadly ambush attack against two National Guard members in DC as an “unfortunate accident” — prompting harsh blowback from the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress.
“With reference to the unfortunate accident that occurred with the National Guardsman being killed,” Thompson began during a line of questioning at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quickly interjected.
Kristi Noem testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security on Dec. 11, 2025. Getty Images“Unfortunate accident? It was a terrorist attack. He shot our Guardsmen in the head,” Noem fired back about the Thanksgiving Eve attack just blocks from the White House.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” Thompson doubled down. “But you blamed it solely on Joe Biden.”
“That was a murder that took place in DC,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) erupted at Thompson. “It was not an unfortunate incident. Those comments are f–king disrespectful. I expect better from the ranking member.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unloaded on Thompson in an X post that it was “a disgraceful thing to say.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson at Kristi Noem’s testimony on Dec. 11, 2025. REUTERSRahmanullah Lakanwal executed National Guardswoman Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and left Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, in serious condition in the daylight ambush as they patrolled the streets of the nation’s capital.
National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent shared later in the hearing that the US Intelligence Community was aware of as many as 2,000 known or suspected terrorists who came into the country as part of a Biden administration program for Afghan refugees.
That program, Operation Allies Welcome, let around 88,000 Afghans into the US.
Another 16,000 known or suspected terrorists also entered during former President Joe Biden’s term, Kent said.
Many have ties to ISIS, al-Qaeda and recently designated foreign terrorist organizations that traffic drugs like the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua or MS-13.
A picture of the National Guard gunman and the aftermath of the shooting. Elizabeth Gomes via Storyful
National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the horrific DC terrorist attack. REUTERS
The shooting left Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, in serious condition. REUTERSThompson had earlier called on Noem to resign during his opening remarks for the hearing.
“Do a real service to the country and just resign,” Thompson says, “that is, if President Trump doesn’t fire you first.”
The Mississippi Democrat accused Noem of “putting her own interests above the law” in enforcing immigration crackdowns and making America “less safe.”
