A Fox News segment turned tense as a host clashed with a contributor over President Donald Trump’s decision to send hundreds more National Guard members to Washington, D.C., after two troops were seriously injured in a shooting near the White House.
Jason Chaffetz, guest-hosting The Ingraham Angle on Wednesday, rejected attorney Ted Williams’ assessment that deploying more guard members to the capital was unnecessary and could have disastrous consequences.
“One of my deepest concerns right now is that the president has decided to send 500 additional National Guard members to the District of Columbia. And I’m asking, why in the hell are you doing that, President?” Williams said. “The National Guard are out there on the streets, and they are deeply concerned. They know that two of their fellow National Guardsmen have been shot and they are going to be on a high state of alert. And the last thing we need in the District of Columbia or anywhere else is another Kent State.”
A visibly stunned Chaffetz then chimed in to ask whether Williams believed the National Guard were “the good guys or the bad guys” in this situation.
“I can’t believe this,” Chaffetz added, stopping Williams from interrupting him. “Why do you want less good guys? I’m shocked to hear you say that.”
“The National Guard members are not trained to do law enforcement work,” Williams, a former member of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, replied. “We are happy in the District of Columbia that they are on the streets of the District of Columbia, but I think we have to leave politics out of it.”
Trump ordered that 500 more National Guard troops be deployed to D.C. after the shooting on Wednesday at the request of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Thousands of troops have been stationed in the capital for months as part of the Trump administration’s federal crime crackdown in D.C.
A suspect, identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, has been detained in connection with the shooting near the White House in what authorities believe was a targeted attack.
In a video statement, Trump called the attack an “act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.”
Trump added that the suspect was “flown in by the Biden administration” in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a program launched to help resettle Afghans in the U.S. following the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
However, Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted it in April under the current Trump administration, law enforcement officials told CNN.
Elsewhere during the squabble about whether more troops are needed in D.C. after the shooting, Chaffetz dismissed Williams’ argument that more law enforcement—rather than more guard members—was required.
“You got to say your bit, but I’m going to keep going here,” Chaffetz said. “But I want you to really think this thing through, because less of them [National Guard] is not the answer to this. More of them is the right answer.”
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