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The Daily

The Fallout From the National Guard Shooting

01 Dec 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: What led to the shooting of National Guard members in Washington, D.C.?

0.031 - 23.774 Andrew Ross Sorkin

This is Andrew Ross Sorkin, the founder of Dealbook. Every year, I interview some of the world's most influential leaders across politics, culture, and business at the Dealbook Summit, a live event in New York City. On this year's podcast, you'll hear my unfiltered conversations with Gavin Newsom, the CEO of Palantir and Anthropic, and Erica Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk.

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23.794 - 26.697 Andrew Ross Sorkin

Listen to Dealbook Summit wherever you get your podcasts.

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31.452 - 35.185 Michael Barbaro

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

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38.675 - 45.547 Unknown

Heartbreak over the holidays. One of the two National Guard members shot in the ambush attack near the White House has passed away.

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46.388 - 52.86 Michael Barbaro

In the days since an immigrant from Afghanistan gunned down two members of the National Guard in Washington, D.C.

52.88 - 58.389 Unknown

In response to that shooting, President Trump is ordering a review of all Afghan nationals in the U.S.

58.429 - 64.159 Hamed Aleaziz

He says he has halted all asylum decisions after the ambush attack on the two National Guard members.

64.274 - 69.142 Michael Barbaro

President Trump has ordered a sweeping new crackdown on immigration.

69.162 - 74.331 Hamed Aleaziz

He's also promising to expel millions of immigrants already here, revoking their legal status.

Chapter 2: Who is Rahmanullah Lakanwal and what is his background?

600.545 - 614.993 Hamed Aleaziz

Yeah, this was clearly good news for him to get asylum, to have a chance to remain in the United States, to gain a green card, to gain U.S. citizenship. He was on that pathway.

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615.091 - 640.152 Hamed Aleaziz

But the next thing we know is that he decides to drive from Bellingham, Washington, all across the country to Washington, D.C., where he finds himself in the downtown of the city about a block or two from the White House building. This is an area that has a lot of people going through it, and there are restaurants and coffee shops.

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641.153 - 670.303 Hamed Aleaziz

And he is walking on the sidewalk near a bus stop where he comes across two National Guard members from West Virginia, Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old, and Andrew Wolfe, a 24-year-old. And Mr. Lockenwald decides to pull out his gun and shoot both of them multiple times. As part of that gunfire, he himself takes on shots, and he is down on the ground.

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670.363 - 691.436 Hamed Aleaziz

These shots were heard by colleagues here at the New York Times. Our bureau is very close to the site of this shooting. And just a day later, we found out that One of the guard members, Ms. Beckstrom, had died from her gunshot wounds.

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692.056 - 707.135 Michael Barbaro

And suddenly all of these dramas are colliding. The war in Afghanistan, which Trump loathed as a forever war, and his use of National Guard across American cities. It's all colliding, and it's a very strange moment.

708.597 - 737.1 Hamed Aleaziz

Yeah, definitely. And you can see how for President Trump, this is something that he personally is tied to. And for him, I think it really confirms a lot of the claims that he's made in the past, a lot of his worst fears that an immigrant from a far-flung country would come here and shoot two U.S. military members near the White House.

738.717 - 751.611 Hamed Aleaziz

And I think that's really reason for him and in his mind and his advisor's mind to undertake a crackdown on the immigration system that's unlike anything that we've seen this year.

751.672 - 761.923 Michael Barbaro

We'll be right back.

767.405 - 786.679 Ivan Penn

Hi, I'm Ivan Penn. I'm an energy reporter for The New York Times. I think a lot of people take electricity for granted, but it's an essential piece of some of the biggest stories right now. The rise of artificial intelligence, the threat of climate change, and the real challenges that everyday people are facing with increasing electric bills.

Chapter 3: How did the U.S. immigration system respond to the shooting?

807.702 - 820.632 Ivan Penn

We're all working together to help you better understand and make sense of the world today. So if that sounds like something that connects with you and you're not a subscriber yet, you can go to nytimes.com slash subscribe.

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824.071 - 834.979 Michael Barbaro

So, Hamid, describe what happens to the immigration system in the days since this shooting and how the Trump administration has explained those actions.

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835.701 - 839.11 Hamed Aleaziz

And they're telling top Trump administration officials

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841.03 - 855.951 Unknown

29-year-old Afghan who entered the United States under Biden's Operation Allies Welcome, a program following the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is what happens.

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856.452 - 858.955 Hamed Aleaziz

Including U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

859.016 - 868.489 Michael Barbaro

This individual is in this country for one reason and one reason alone, the failure to vet in any way, shape or form. This individual and countless others

868.722 - 885.86 Hamed Aleaziz

The FBI director, Kash Patel. He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about. Nobody knew who was coming in. Nobody knew anything about it. His status was... And President Trump himself.

886.561 - 908.871 Hamed Aleaziz

This shooting was the result of a series of Biden administration failures, not only in the way that they ended the war, which President Trump has often criticized, but in the way that they let these Afghans, including Mr. Lackawall, into the country without, in their words, the necessary vetting.

910.471 - 927.197 Michael Barbaro

Does the White House point to anything specific as they're critiquing the vetting process? Because of course, as you told us a little bit earlier in this conversation, it's the Trump administration that grants that final asylum.

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