US Vice President JD Vance said authorities “still don’t know the motive” behind the shooting that critically injured two National Guard members near the White House. Speaking during a visit with service members in Kentucky, Vance urged the public to pray for the wounded guardsmen, describing their condition as “tough” while investigators work to establish key details.
The attack occurred near Farragut Square, where police say a lone suspect opened fire on a high-visibility patrol. Other National Guard personnel quickly intervened, subduing the suspect until law enforcement arrived. Federal agencies, including the FBI, are leading the investigation to determine the motive, timeline, and weapon used.
#WashingtonDC #NationalGuard #JDVance #WhiteHouse #DCShooting #BreakingNews #USNews #PublicSafety #CapitalUpdate #InvestigationOngoing #FBIInvestigation #LawEnforcement #SecurityAlert
The attack occurred near Farragut Square, where police say a lone suspect opened fire on a high-visibility patrol. Other National Guard personnel quickly intervened, subduing the suspect until law enforcement arrived. Federal agencies, including the FBI, are leading the investigation to determine the motive, timeline, and weapon used.
#WashingtonDC #NationalGuard #JDVance #WhiteHouse #DCShooting #BreakingNews #USNews #PublicSafety #CapitalUpdate #InvestigationOngoing #FBIInvestigation #LawEnforcement #SecurityAlert
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NewsTranscript
00:00It is great to be here in beautiful Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and let me just say...
00:10I want to say first, before we get started, on a somber note, we had, and some of you may have seen this on your phones or on social media,
00:19but apparently there was a shooting outside the White House just a couple of hours ago.
00:24And we're still learning everything. We still don't know the motive. There's a lot that we haven't yet figured out.
00:29But what we do know is that a couple of National Guardsmen were injured in the line of duty.
00:34And first of all, I want everybody who's a person of faith to say a prayer for those two National Guardsmen,
00:39that they're able to spend Thanksgiving with their families instead of losing their lives,
00:43because I understand they're still in pretty tough condition.
00:46But I think it's a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they're active duty, reserve, or National Guard,
00:54our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America.
00:59And as a person who goes into work every single day in that building,
01:04and knows that there are a lot of people who wear the uniform of the United States Army,
01:08let me just say very personally, thank them for what they're doing.
01:13We're grateful to them, and we're praying that they're going to be safe,
01:16and they're going to spend Thanksgiving with their families. God bless them.
01:19Now, I'm going to talk a little bit about the business of the Army, and about what you're doing,
01:24and about why it's important to the United States of America, and why we are proud of you,
01:29every single one of our soldiers here in Fort Campbell and all across the world.
01:34We have got some incredible guests here to honor this moment, to honor you,
01:39to say thanks to so many of you for spending time away from your families here this day before Thanksgiving.
01:45And I want to give just a few shout-outs to some of our special guests before we get started.
01:50First of all, to General Travis McIntosh and Command Sergeant Major Charles Walker,
01:56thank you guys for leading this incredible facility,
01:59and thank you for serving in the United States Army and making us proud.
02:03Where are you guys? Please stand up and be recognized. Thank you all.
02:06We've got my dear friend Senator Marsha Blackburn. Marsha, please stand up and say hello.
02:19And we also have Congressman Rose. Where is Congressman Rose? Please stand up. Thank you, Congressman. It's good to see you.
02:28Now, I've got to, of course, thank my dear friend Bob Richie. You better know him as Kid Rock.
02:37But I want to say to my staff, I gave them one instruction, and that's that I don't have to follow a literal rock star before I give a speech.
02:47And they screwed that up the day before Thanksgiving, so every single one of them are fired.
02:51But thank you to Bob Richie, Kid Rock, because he's not just a great musician.
02:57He's not just a great American. He is a person who loves the soldiers of the United States Army.
03:02And we are proud and grateful for Kid Rock for being here today.
03:06I want to take another few moments and just say thanks to Major Josh Wilcox,
03:12Master Sergeant Aaron Duhacek, Mr. Jim Parks, Major Rob Wright,
03:20and every single soldier who made it possible for me to come and visit.
03:24Now, I won't say that the weather is cooperating because it's windy as hell and it is cold, man. It is cold up here.
03:31My staff told me to wear a jacket, and I said, now, just be fine.
03:35And here I am, two minutes in, wishing that I had listened because it is really freezing cold up here.
03:40But we're going to have a little fun despite that because we are here to celebrate not just the United States Army.
03:47We're here to celebrate each and every one of you.
03:50And I know we've got some units here at Fort Campbell.
03:53And I want to give a shout out to each of the great units.
03:56So if you are with the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles, let me hear you a little bit.
04:03Where's the 101st Airborne?
04:05That was pretty damn good.
04:15That was pretty damn good.
04:17Let me say that the 101st Airborne is one of the proudest units in the entire United States Army for all warfighters everywhere.
04:26Everybody knows the prestige, everybody knows the professionalism, and everybody knows the greatness of the 101st Airborne.
04:36So when the nation calls on the 101st Airborne, you all execute, you make us proud, you kick the enemy's ass, and you come home safely.
04:45And that's exactly what we want our soldiers to do.
04:48We are honored.
04:54Somebody said, I agree.
04:56I appreciate that endorsement.
04:58We are also honored to be here to welcome the men and women from the Strike and Destiny Brigades who just finished deployments in Europe and the Middle East.
05:11We're the Strike and Destiny Brigades.
05:13I want to say to those of you who are here for the first time back home in a few months, we're proud of you, we're grateful to you, and from the Vice President of the United States, welcome home.
05:28We also want to recognize the Legionnaires.
05:31Where are we got some Legionnaires at?
05:35Like five or six.
05:39We got some Legionnaires.
05:41How about the Night Stalkers of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment?
05:45We got some Night Stalkers out here?
05:47A few?
05:48Like three.
05:49They're all working right now.
05:52And I also want to give a shout out to the 52nd Ordinance Group, members of the 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery, the men and women who run the elite training schools here, and many, many more soldiers who make this one of the proudest military installations anywhere in the United States Army.
06:13And I want to tell you, just to give you a message from the President of the United States, I know he couldn't be here, but the President is proud of our soldiers, and he's proud of every single one of you.
06:22So from the President of the United States, he just wanted to make sure that you knew he wished you a happy Thanksgiving, and he's grateful for all you do.
06:30Now, I'm proud and happy to serve with a lot of very good people, and one of them is my dear friend Dan Driscoll, who's the Secretary of the Army.
06:38Dan is doing a great job, and I also want to give a shout out to our incredible Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
06:44I think he's doing an amazing job.
06:49And you know, Pete gave a speech at Quantico, which is a Marine base, don't hold it against us, but he gave a speech at Quantico a few months ago that I think is one of the best speeches that I've heard about the United States military.
07:02Because he was talking about the incredible esprit de corps, and he was talking about the importance of holding the United States Army and all of our branches of the military to the very highest possible standards.
07:14And I listened to this speech, and I'm thinking as I'm watching this speech, man, Pete, this is a hell of a speech.
07:20This guy is one amazing orator, and he was talking about the importance of military standards.
07:27He said, and I'm going to quote here from his speech, the new war department-grown rule is this, do unto your unit as you would have done unto your own child's unit.
07:37Would you want him serving with fat or unfit or undertrained troops or alongside people who can't meet basic standards?
07:44He was talking about the importance of bringing the highest standards possible to the United States Army.
07:50And I hear Pete saying that, and I'm like, hell yeah. That's exactly what we want out of the United States Army.
07:55I see a lot of you nodding your heads.
07:57And then he talks about the importance of this job and why we have to have the very best people doing this job.
08:05He says, because this job is life or death, standards must be met, and not just met at every level.
08:12We should seek to exceed the standard, to push the envelope, to compete.
08:17And this means that the war department, first and foremost, we must restore a ruthless, dispassionate, and common sense application of standards.
08:25And I'm like, man, this is awesome. We're talking about bringing the highest standards in the world to the very best United States Army.
08:32I'm ready to run through a wall with this guy. And then Pete goes, no more beardos.
08:39I'm like, what the hell is that all about? He's talking about me.
08:45And I said to Pete afterwards, I was like, man, you had me. This whole speech was amazing.
08:50But you know what? The point is here that we believe in you so much.
08:55We believe in your mission so much that we know that you guys can meet the highest standards in the world.
09:03And when you look to your left and to your right, we want you to know that you're serving with the very best and the very brightest this nation has to offer.
09:12Before I came over here, I was at the chow hall, and we got to serve some food to the soldiers there.
09:18And I was talking afterwards, just sharing a meal with a few of the soldiers, and a guy said to me something really interesting.
09:24He said that 250 years ago, when the army started, there was a Prussian military leader who came over and helped train the very first United States Army.
09:35Because, of course, back then, we didn't have very many military experts in our country. We were still in our infancy.
09:41And what he said was very fascinating. I think the guy's name, he said, was Von Steuben.
09:45Von Steuben said that it was only the Americans who just didn't need an order, but also needed to be told why they were doing what they were doing.
09:55And I thought that was a fascinating insight to the soldiers of 250 years ago and a fascinating insight to the soldiers of today.
10:03We don't just want people who mindlessly follow orders. We want people who think.
10:08Because we know that the most powerful weapon in the United States arsenal, the most powerful weapon anywhere in the world,
10:16it's not a rifle, it's not a tank, it's not a helicopter or an airplane.
10:21The most dangerous and lethal weapon anywhere in the world is a United States soldier.
10:28And we're proud of you and we're going to stand behind you every step of the way.
10:37And with that basic mindset of not just telling you what we need you to do, but why we need you to do it,
10:44I think you all should expect from your military leadership, from the president on down,
10:49you should expect us to explain what it is that we're doing and why we care so much about it.
10:55Why do we care so much about high standards? Not just because we think that standards got a little lax in the last administration.
11:02We care about high standards because if, God forbid, the president of the United States asks you to go to war,
11:09we want to make sure that the people that you're fighting with are the very best.
11:13We owe it to your moms and dads, your grandmas and grandpas, to only send the very best people off to foreign conflicts.
11:20And that is why we care so much about standards.
11:23You've heard our secretary of the army, our secretary of war, you've heard the president of the United States.
11:28If you've listened to anything that they've said over the last few months,
11:32they talk a lot about preparing the army and the whole military for the age of modern warfare.
11:38Because it's changed a lot. We've got drones now. We've got cyber warfare.
11:43We've got satellites in space that are as important to the modern warfighter as anything, as any rifle or tank or airplane was 20 or 30 years ago.
11:53Now, yeah, of course, we still got a lot of tanks. We still got a lot of rifles.
11:57We still got a lot of the things that we've always had.
12:00But in this new generation of warfare, we need to give you the technology and the training to be the very best.
12:08And we know that you are the very best, but part of training you to be the very best is to make sure that you have the ability to use the modern weapons of warfare better than anybody else.
12:19When we look at the battlefield of the future, when we look at the next war, God forbid, if we're called on to fight it,
12:25it is going to be, if anything, a war up here as much as any other conflict in the history of the world.
12:33If you look at what's going on in Russia or Ukraine, or you look at what's going on in some of our counterterrorism missions,
12:39or you look at what could happen in the future in the next military conflict, it's not going to be the war that we fought 20 years ago.
12:46It's going to be a much different war.
12:48And one of the things I want every single one of you to know is that the President of the United States has given us a very simple mission,
12:55that we have got to equip you with the resources, with the training, and with the equipment to win the battle of the future.
13:05Now, I happen to believe that one of the mistakes that we made in this country, and let's be honest, it wasn't just Democrats,
13:12it was Democrats and Republicans, is that we were far too willing to send the bravest people in the world,
13:19our best natural resource, you all, the young people who put on a military uniform and are willing to fight and die for their fellow countrymen,
13:27we were too willing to send you off to battle without a clear mission, a clear definition of what you were supposed to accomplish.
13:35That was the mistake of Democrats and Republicans, it is the great stain on the political leadership of this country,
13:42that we had the best troops in the world, and very often, we went and sent you off to battle without a clear mission.
13:49And that is something this President and this administration is never going to do.
13:53If we ask you to go off and do something, if we ask our soldiers to risk their lives to defend their countries,
14:00what I promise you is that we're only going to do it with a clear mission and clear guidelines.
14:06And we're going to give you the tools necessary, we're going to give you the resources necessary,
14:11and we're going to empower you to do a very simple thing, which is kick the enemy's ass and come home safely.
14:18That's what the United States wants from its soldiers, and that's what the President of the United States asks of each and every one of you.
14:25It's not that hard, but that's what you should demand of your political leadership.
14:29Just as you follow orders of the President of the United States, this President stands by you.
14:35And if he asks you to do something hard, it's only going to be for a very good reason.
14:40You know, one of the things that I love about Thanksgiving, it's probably my favorite American holiday.
14:46If you think about all the holidays that we celebrate, Thanksgiving is the most uniquely American holiday.
14:52You know, Christmas, of course, the birth of Jesus, all of these other holidays, they're very important.
14:58And I love Christmas as much as anybody, I've got three little kids, but Christmas is a holiday that 1.8 billion Christians celebrate all over the world.
15:07Thanksgiving, what we celebrate tomorrow, that is a uniquely American thing.
15:12That's why, for example, we have, you know, turkey.
15:16Think about turkey.
15:17Who really likes, be honest with yourself, who really likes turkey?
15:21You're all full of shit, everybody who raised your hand.
15:27I know.
15:28Think about it.
15:29And here's how I know that every single one of you who raised your hand is lying to me.
15:36How many times do you roast an 18-pound turkey just randomly?
15:41Just, you know, a nice summer afternoon, we're going to go get an 18-pound turkey.
15:46Nobody does it because turkey doesn't actually taste that good.
15:49But on Thanksgiving, on the most American holiday, I've got a fan over here, on the most American holiday, we're going to cook a turkey, by God, because that's what Americans do.
16:00We cook this gigantic American bird, and we do all kinds of crazy things to make it taste good.
16:06I talked to a soldier today who she said she's going to deep-fry a turkey, and I'm actually going to deep-fry a turkey myself tomorrow.
16:13And look, here's the thing.
16:16If you've got to deep-fry something to make it taste good, it probably isn't that good.
16:20That's a pretty good rule of thumb when it comes to food.
16:23Chicken is good all the time.
16:25Chicken is good when you deep-fry it, but it's also good outside of it.
16:28But here's the thing about Thanksgiving.
16:30It is so American because at the heart of it is the spirit of gratitude.
16:36And I know that every single one of you has something tomorrow to be very thankful for and to be grateful for.
16:44And that's what I think, you know, really separates.
16:48People ask me all the time for advice.
16:51And the only piece of advice I can ever give that I think is true for every single person in every circumstance
16:57is that the happiest people that I've ever met, the most successful people that I've ever met,
17:03they live their life with a spirit of gratitude.
17:05They recognize that they would not be there but for the grace of God and a lot of great people in their lives.
17:12And so, if I may, as your Vice President, that's the one piece of advice I want to give to you on this day before Thanksgiving,
17:19is to live your life in the United States Army, to live your life everywhere with a spirit of gratitude.
17:25To recognize that you wouldn't be wearing that uniform were it not for somebody in your life who loved you and cared for you.
17:32That you wouldn't have this incredible opportunity to serve the United States.
17:35And yes, it's tough.
17:37And yes, it's a life of sacrifice.
17:39But I happen to believe that the life of service and sacrifice is the greatest blessing that we have in this room today.
17:47Because what an amazing country it is that takes people from all walks of life and makes them part of the same United States Army,
17:55the same sword and shield for the American people, the same organization that for 250 years has kept us safe.
18:04So tomorrow, I'm thankful for a lot.
18:07I'm thankful for my beautiful wife and our three beautiful kids.
18:11I'm thankful to have the opportunity to serve as Vice President of the United States of America.
18:17I'm thankful for my family.
18:19I'm thankful to Almighty God for the incredible blessings that he's given this country and also he's given to me personally.
18:27But one of the things at the very top of the list that I'm thankful for is the United States Army and for the people in this room.
18:35Now, I know that a lot of you are going to spend tomorrow with your friends and families.
18:40But I also know that a lot of you are not going to have that opportunity.
18:44That you've got deployments you've got to prepare for.
18:47That you're stuck on this base.
18:49You're not able to travel home because you've got to prepare for the mission.
18:53And when I think about all the many blessings that are very, very present in my life, there is nothing that compares to being the Vice President of the United States at a time like this.
19:05Vice President of all of you.
19:08Vice President of the greatest fighting force that exists anywhere in the world, the United States Army.
19:17You guys, you guys make this a happy Thanksgiving for me because every single day you show up to work, you put on that uniform and make your nation proud.
19:27You make me proud to be your Vice President.
19:30So happy Thanksgiving, soldiers.
19:32Keep on doing what you're doing.
19:34And never forget that the most deadly weapon anywhere in the world, it's not about technology.
19:40It's not about what you're holding in your hands.
19:42It's about what's up here.
19:44You are the most dangerous weapon anywhere in the world and America is counting on it to keep us safe.
19:51Happy Thanksgiving, soldiers.
19:52Thank you for having me.
19:53God bless you.
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