Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that President Donald Trump has requested an additional 500 National Guardsmen be deployed to Washington, D.C., after two Guardsmen were shot near the White House on Thanksgiving eve.
Hegseth told reporters of the president’s request on Wednesday afternoon.
“It will not stand, and that’s why President Trump has asked me, and I will ask the secretary of the Army to the National Guard, to add 500 additional troops, National Guardsmen, to Washington, DC,” Hegseth said.
“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, DC, safe and beautiful. The drop in crime has been historic. The increase in safety and security has been historic. But if criminals want to conduct things like this, violence against America’s best, we will never back down,” he added, emphasizing that Trump will “never back down.”
Hegseth said the shootings, which both he and the president said left the guardsmen “critically wounded,” were a “cowardly” and “dastardly act targeting the best of America.”
He called the Guardsmen “heroes willing to serve in Washington, D.C., serve for people they don’t know, and they’ve never met, because they love their country, and their capital, and their community.”
“They were willing to do dangerous things others were not because they love their fellow Americans. Someone decided to turn that into targeting National Guardsmen,” he added.
Trump noted that the “animal” who carried out the shootings was “severely wounded” as well in a post on Truth Social.
According to Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R-WV), the guardsmen are both West Virginians. Morrisey initially reported that both had succumbed to the injuries, but said later he was receiving conflicting reports on their status.
The attack occurred in the vicinity of the White House. Video from NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer showed the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue cordoned off with yellow tape.
NTD News White House correspondent Mari Otsu said she heard shots near the Farragut West metro station, a few blocks northwest of the White House, just after 2:15 p.m. while passing the area in an Uber.
