Tulsi Gabbard slams Thompson for calling Guard shooting ‘unfortunate accident’

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Friday criticized Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., for calling the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., an “unfortunate accident” during a hearing this week.

Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, made the remarks during a hearing on “Global Threats to the Homeland” Thursday on Capitol Hill while speaking to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“It’s 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 risking their lives.”

The day before Thanksgiving, two National Guard members were shot and killed just blocks from the White House, apparently by an Afghan refugee. SPC. Sarah Beckstrom was killed and Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was seriously injured.

TOP HOMELAND SECURITY DEM BLAZED FOR CALLING WV NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTING “UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT”

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard criticized Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., on Friday after he called the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., an “unfortunate accident.” (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Thompson said during the hearing: “Madam Secretary, you and the gentleman from NCTC (Joe Kent) are referring to the unfortunate accident that occurred with the death of the National Guardsman.”

Noem replied: “You think it was an unfortunate accident? It was a terrorist attack.”

Gabbard said Guard members’ “direct mission was to keep the American people safe” and that the exchange between Thompson and Noem “highlights a glaring and long-standing 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 we find ourselves in the position we find ourselves in today.”

Co-host Kate Bolduan asked Thompson on “CNN News Central” Friday 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 going towards the discussion that [Kristi Noem] I couldn’t blame Joe Biden for this situation because she approved this person’s asylum application and that’s where we were going and so the problem is…”

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U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security in the Cannon House office building December 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Bolduan then interrupted Thompson by asking, “Are you saying you misspoke?”

“Oh, absolutely. Absolutely,” he replied.

Marc Tamasco of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.