Trump Lashes Out at Reporter: 'You're a Stupid Person'

President Trump blasted a female reporter as a "stupid person" Thursday after she questioned his claims about the vetting process of an Afghan national suspected in the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, DC. The exchange began when the reporter told Trump: "US officials say that the suspect worked very closely with the CIA in Afghanistan for years, that he was vetted and the vetting came up clean," Mediaite reports. Trump dismissed the suspect's vetting, saying, "He went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts. It happens too often with these people."

He said: "There was no vetting or anything. They came in unvetted and we have a lot of others in this country and we're going to get them out," per Newsweek. The reporter then cited a recent report from the Justice Department's inspector general, which found that Afghans brought to the US had been thoroughly vetted by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. She pressed Trump on why he was blaming the Biden administration for the suspect's actions despite the vetting.

Trump responded sharply, "Because they let them in. Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn't be here and you're just asking questions because you're a stupid person." Trump continued to criticize the process that allowed the suspect into the US, claiming it was "disgraceful" and that a law had been passed making it "almost impossible" to remove individuals once they were in the country. Rahmanullah Lakanwal came to the US in September 2021. He applied for asylum in December 2024 and it was granted in April this year, Newsweek reports.

Trump said his administration was considering deporting the suspect's wife and five children, the New York Times reports. When asked if he was blaming all Afghan nationals for the crime, the president said, "No, but there's a lot of problems with Afghans." He also criticized the Biden administration's handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying it was a "mess" and that he would have handled it differently. The press conference was held after Trump announced the death of 20-year-old West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, who was shot on Wednesday. Another Guardsman, 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe, was also shot and remains in critical condition.