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CNN Guest Under Fire After ‘More Targets’ in DC Comments in Wake of Terrorist Attack [WATCH]

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A Democrat strategist told CNN on Wednesday that adding [1] 500 more National Guard members to Washington, D.C., would create “more targets” following the shooting that critically injured two guardsmen less than a day after they were sworn into service.

The exchange took place during CNN’s “NewsNight” as officials continued to address the aftermath of the attack.

Host Erica Hill asked strategist Donte Mills about the administration’s emergency request to keep the Guard in the nation’s capital and President Donald Trump’s directive to add 500 additional troops.

“The administration filing this emergency today saying we want to keep them in, and the president saying, I want 500 more troops. How much does that sort of muddy the waters legally, given everything that we saw today?” Hill asked.

Mills said the administration would likely use the shooting to support its position.

“I think the president is going to use — his administration is going to use this incident to further their cause of having these Guardsmen on the street,” he said.

The attack occurred Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and resulted in the critical injuries of two National Guard members: Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Thursday that both had been sworn into service less than 24 hours before the shooting.

Authorities identified the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 under humanitarian parole through the Biden-Harris administration’s Operation Allies Welcome. The program was established following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Following the attack, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said President Donald Trump asked him to deploy 500 additional troops to Washington, D.C. Mills argued that adding more personnel would not have prevented the shooting.

“The issue that we have is, if you add 500 people to this equation, 500 soldiers, it wouldn‘t have stopped what happened today,” he said.

“He walked up on soldiers and opened fire. It would have just been more targets there.”

Mills said the Guard’s current assignment places them in visible positions throughout the city.

“These people are there, their assignment is high-visibility patrol,” he said.

“So, people know where they are. They’re uniformed, so people know what they look like. And if they want to approach them or harm them, they’re in harm‘s way. So why add to that and put more people in harm‘s way, when it wouldn‘t have changed the outcome in this particular matter?”

Hill asked whether the additional troops would make the city safer.

Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran, said the deployment might only affect specific locations.

“I don‘t think so. I mean, maybe potentially in those immediate areas,” he said.

“But I think the bigger question is this. Any time the commander in chief sends men and women into harm‘s way, he has to explain why it‘s absolutely necessary. And the question should be, is this absolutely necessary?”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that the Justice Department will do “everything in our power” to seek the death penalty for Lakanwal as federal investigators continue reviewing the case.