National Guard Attack Sparks Calls for Accountability Over Political Rhetoric

The ambush shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., should spark a national reckoning over political rhetoric, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday.
Comer referenced a recent video in which six Democrat lawmakers urged military personnel to resist “illegal orders” from President Donald Trump. He noted that the attack on the West Virginia National Guard members cannot be separated from what he called an escalating pattern of “dangerous” language from the left.
“I would vote to censure every Democrat that has said rhetoric that I think would possibly lead to what we saw today with our National Guard,” Comer said.
The video, circulated widely last week, showed six Democrats warning service members not to follow unspecified “illegal orders” they claimed could come from Trump. Republicans condemned the message as inflammatory and baseless. Comer blamed the rhetoric for creating a hostile climate toward the Guard and law enforcement.
“Role of the federal government should be to protect the people,” he said.
Washington, D.C., is a dangerous city, he added, citing chronic staffing shortages in the Metropolitan Police Department following the City Council’s decision to cut police funding and adopt policies that discouraged recruitment and retention. Comer credited Trump’s deployment of the Guard with reducing crime, arguing that Democrat-run cities “needed” federal intervention because they failed to maintain basic public safety.
He linked the attack to national-level failures under former President Joe Biden, particularly the government’s vetting of Afghan nationals following the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The suspect in Wednesday’s attack is a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the country in 2021. DHS identified him as Rahmanullah Lakamal, a criminal alien from Afghanistan who entered the United States on Sept. 8, 2021, under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome parole program.
“We’ve got all these terrorists and criminals that have come into our country illegally, and they’re a problem,” Comer said.
Calling the attack “a sad day in America,” he said Congress must hold those who encourage hostility toward U.S. troops accountable. “The book needs to be thrown at them,” he said.