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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard slammed Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Friday for referring to the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., as an “unfortunate accident” during a hearing this week.
Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, made the remarks during a “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland” hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill while speaking to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
“It is absolutely infuriating,” Gabbard said on Fox & Friends. “He cannot and refuses to directly identify this attack for what it was, a terrorist attack on our own soil against our National Guard, men and women in this case, who are putting their lives on the line.”
On Thanksgiving Eve, two national guard members were shot blocks from the White House, allegedly by an Afghan refugee. Spc. Sarah Beckstrom was killed and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was critically wounded.
TOP HOMELAND SECURITY DEM BLASTED FOR CALLING WV NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING ‘UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT’
Thompson said during the hearing, “Madam Secretary, you and the gentleman from NCTC (Joe Kent) reference the unfortunate accident that occurred with the National Guardsman being killed.”
Noem responded, “You think that was an unfortunate accident? It was a terrorist attack.”
Gabbard said the guard members’ “direct mission was to keep the American people safe,” and that the exchange between Thompson and Noem “points to the egregious and longstanding problem.”
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The director said leaders on both sides of the political aisle “have refused to identify this Islamist terrorist threat for exactly what it is, which is one of the reasons why we find ourselves in the position that we’re in today.”
Thompson was asked Friday on “CNN News Central” by co-host Kate Bolduan if he stood by his assertion that the shooting was an “unfortunate accident.”
“Oh, absolutely not,” the Democratic representative replied. “And obviously, let me be clear, I was moving toward the discussion that [Kristi Noem] could not blame Joe Biden on the situation because she approved this person’s asylum application and that’s where we were headed and so the issue is…”
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Bolduan then interrupted Thompson, asking him, “You’re saying you misspoke?”
“Oh, absolutely. Absolutely,” he responded.
Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.
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