Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said Friday that President Donald Trump bears responsibility for the death of a National Guard member killed in an ambush-style shooting in Washington, D.C.
The attack on Wednesday left National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom dead and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe in critical condition.
Left-wing commentators have argued that the shooting occurred only because of Trump’s orders to deploy National Guard personnel in U.S. cities.
During an interview on CNN, host Sara Sidner asked [1] Wasserman Schultz about the incident as officials continued to investigate the attack.
Wasserman Schultz said the shooting “begs the question, would an individual have flown across the country to target law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C.? And, I mean, the answer is likely no. So, why wasn’t the president’s first thought, ‘Wow, you know, maybe I should reconsider deploying military troops in the nation’s capital or in any city?’”
She added, “Particularly not when they haven’t coordinated closely with the leadership of these cities and when we have law enforcement that are quite capable of handling the criminal justice issues that are — that we need law enforcement to focus on, and not our military.”
President Trump has said he ordered the deployment because local law enforcement had been unable to address rising crime in cities suffering from years of public safety problems.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference earlier this year that the federal surge contributed to a reduction in crime, including an 87% decrease in carjackings.
Authorities said Wednesday’s shooting was carried out by an Afghan national.
Following the attack, Trump called for halting mass migration from what he described as the “Third World” and announced plans for “reverse migration.”
Sidner noted that “days before the shooting, the public learned through reporting that the Trump administration had planned to review and reinterview refugees that came in during the Biden administration.”
Wasserman Schultz said, “I just think that any administration needs to be careful about making sweeping generalizations. 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.”
She said Trump should examine his own decisions.
“The president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies. We need to make sure that we don’t have our military deployed in our cities, doing — handling law enforcement responsibilities,” she said.
“We certainly need to make sure we always have the proper and appropriate and tight, tight vetting processes, and those should be reviewed. But it’s never the president’s fault or his policies when it comes to his reaction, and it’s pretty disgusting.”
Rep Wasserman-Schultz attempts to blame Trump for NG shoot*ng, cites deployments in cities and “gun violence” as causes:
“The president looks everywhere except inward to blame his own policies…and it’s pretty disgusting.”
This is what they’re actually going with here. Sick. pic.twitter.com/BX5TAd367V [2]
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 28, 2025 [3]
The White House issued a response Friday criticizing Wasserman Schultz’s comments.
Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote, “This animal would’ve never been here if not for Joe Biden’s dangerous policies, which allowed countless unvetted criminals to invade our country and harm the American people. The Trump administration is taking every measure possible — in the face of unrelenting Democrat opposition — to get these monsters out of our country and clean up the mess made by the Biden administration. Instead of defending terrorists, the Democrats should join us in protecting the American people.”