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Biden Arrives in New Orleans to Meet with Grieving Families; Killer Visited NOLA Twice, Used Smart Glasses to Plan Attack; Trump Asks Court to Delay Friday's Hush Money Sentencing; Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Announces Resignation. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 06, 2025 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: In the next hour, President Joe Biden will touch down in New Orleans. He and First Lady Jill Biden are set to take part in a prayer service where the president will deliver remarks and grieve with the community still reeling from the tragic New Year's Day attack.

Meantime, new details are emerging about the man who rammed a truck into Bourbon Street Revelers, killing 14 people. The FBI says the U.S. Army veteran visited the city twice in recent months and used META smart glasses to plan out his attack. Investigators also say they're looking into his trips to Egypt and Canada for possible ties to this deadly rampage.

CNN's Rafael Romo is live for us in New Orleans. Rafael, what new details are officials revealing about this attacker?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, one of the questions that surfaced in the days after the attack was about how long in advance the assailant was planning to kill innocent people using a pickup truck as a weapon. And based on information provided by the FBI, now it seems like it might've been weeks, perhaps years. And this is because the FBI has revealed that the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, came to New Orleans at least twice in the months preceding the attack.

Once at the end of October, when he rode a bicycle through the streets of the French Quarter, recording video using META glasses. And once again in November.

Then he also traveled internationally. In the summer of 2023, he went to Cairo, Egypt. And a few days later, he went to Ontario, Canada. I had an opportunity, Boris, to ask the special agent in charge of the FBI here in New Orleans, whether he believed that a terrorist organization might've financed those trips for Jabbar or who he met with.

And this is what he had to say. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYONEL MYRTHIL, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE/FBI NEW ORLEANS: At this time, we're still trying to determine the answers to that. That is exactly what our priority is for those international trips. Essentially, we're looking at who has he encountered during those trips, who has he meeting with, where has he traveled while in those specific countries, and whether or not any visits to those countries may or may not have any indication as to the reasons behind this attack in our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Boris, New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell has said that she is asking the White House for a tactical expert to review the security measures in place and some that are in the works. Of course, President Biden himself and the First Lady will arrive here in New Orleans in about an hour. They will attend an interfaith service here at the church behind me, the cathedral behind me.

And then they will meet face-to-face with families of the victims, as well as local officials. The President previously said that he has already spoken by phone with some of the families of the victims. Now, back to you.

SANCHEZ: Rafael Romo, Life Force in New Orleans. Thank you so much, Rafael.

Let's dig deeper now with CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Chief Charles Ramsey.

Chief, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. So, we've learned that the attacker planted these two IEDs, these improvised explosive devices, on Bourbon Street, but he apparently used the wrong device to try to detonate them. What does that tell you?

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all, that's good because it would have been a lot worse had he been able to detonate those particular devices.

[15:35:00]

But, you know, this is a person who clearly planned this, scouted it out, he saw it as a soft target, and it obviously was. He was able to penetrate very easily.

The defense that they had for Bourbon Street on that particular night, and he was prepared to do some serious damage, far more than he was able to do with just his truck.

SANCHEZ: And Chief, Jabbar posted five videos on Facebook in the hours leading up to this attack. Local officials are asking why he wasn't stopped or caught after the videos were posted. Why do you think?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, can you imagine how many videos were posted on social media? I mean, the police can't look at every single one of them. And that's why when people see this kind of stuff on social media, they need to reach out and contact authorities because it is absolutely impossible to look at every single video posted on social media around the country. You just can't do it. And so we have to rely on the public that if they see something that

doesn't appear to be quite right, or someone who is saying things of a threatening nature, notify authorities so that we have a chance to dig a little deeper and find out, you know, exactly what it is that's going on with that particular individual. But we'll never be able to monitor every single social media site, nor do I think the public wants us to.

SANCHEZ: I'm also curious about some new CNN reporting that's indicative about bureaucracy, hampering efforts to secure the French Quarter. Back in 2019, there was this consulting firm that found security in the French Quarter was being hampered by politicking among stakeholders. How do you see officials overcoming issues of politics when there are these security challenges going forward?

RAMSEY: You know, now that I'm retired, you know, I do a lot of consulting work. And one of the things that really is very frustrating, you put in a lot of work, you do your research, you make recommendations, and then a report just sits on the shelf. Now, that's not true with every city and every client that we have, but, you know, it's not unusual for us to go into a location and then they say, well, you know, we had a study done about six years ago.

And then we take a look at that study and nothing has changed. And so, you know, why bother to hire someone to come in and take a look at what you're doing if you're not going to follow the recommendations? It makes no sense.

And politics plays into everything and it becomes a cost thing. It becomes about money. Well, it's going to cost us too much to do this, that, and the other.

Now you've got a tragedy on your hands. And guess what? You've got to spend the money, probably more than you would have had to spend had you taken it and done it initially. And you could have done a little bit over time. Now they've got to do it all at once. And they've got some big events coming up.

They got Mardi Gras, they got the Super Bowl coming up. So, you know, time is not on their side and they've got to make some changes and make them fairly quickly.

SANCHEZ: We'll see how they respond. Chief Charles Ramsey, appreciate the perspective. Thanks for joining us.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, a last minute legal battle. The Manhattan DA has just responded to President-elect Donald Trump's attempt to hold off his criminal sentencing ahead of inauguration.

We'll be right back.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: The Manhattan District Attorney has just responded to President-elect Donald Trump's request for a delay in his sentencing over his hush money conviction. Trump is set to be sentenced on 34 counts of falsifying business records this Friday, just weeks before his inauguration. Let's bring in CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, Paula Reid. Paula, what is the DA saying here?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the brief is pretty legalistic, so let me translate it. Essentially, they're saying don't grant this delay, but they give some reasons. They're saying, look, you're not going to suffer any prejudice from this sentencing, because the judge has already said you're not going to see any penalties.

They're also saying, look, you can do this virtually instead of in person, and also a reminder that you need the sentencing. You need the entry of judgment so that you can pursue the appeals that you've repeatedly said you want to pursue. Of course, since Trump was convicted, he's been trying to get this conviction tossed.

Since he was reelected, they've been using his status as President- elect to try to get this case tossed. They've also tried to get this case tossed based on the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, arguing that some of the evidence that came in at trial could be official acts, and therefore, the conviction should be tossed. None of this has worked with the judge, but on Friday, Judge Juan Merchan did concede one thing to the Trump team.

He said, look, I get there are physical and mental demands on you as the President-elect, so I'm going to let you attend this sentencing virtually, and he also made it clear he's not going to apply any penalties to the President-elect.

Look, it's not clear if this is going to be successful, Boris, it's unlikely this is going to be successful, but if there is any delay, that makes it highly unlikely that Trump would be sentenced before Inauguration Day, which means that this would just kind of be hovering over him for about four years, and Judge Merchan.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it'll be interesting to see if that happens, what the scenarios are for after Trump leaves office.

REID: I don't think Merchan is going to go for this.

SANCHEZ: Yes, yes. Paula Reid, thank you so much.

Let's discuss further now with Defense Attorney Misty Marris. Misty, thanks so much for being with us. The Manhattan DA is urging Judge Merchan to deny this request by Trump to delay the sentencing. I wonder what you make of that, and what potentially is next.

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, I wasn't surprised to hear that Alvin Bragg was going to oppose the Trump team's application to delay this sentencing. And look, what they laid out in their response is the legal standard for what's called a stay, and that's what President- elect Trump is looking for. He's looking for this to be postponed. And a stay requires a showing of irreparable harm. So if this were to go forward, there would be irreparable harm, and there's a likelihood of success on the merits, and the merits in this case would be that underlying appeal that they intend to make with respect to the immunity ruling.

[15:45:06]

We know Judge Merchan denied their request to overturn the conviction based on the Supreme Court's decision about immunity, but the Trump team wants to bring that up to the higher-level courts in New York State to make that determination.

So you see Alvin Bragg and his team attacking that legal standard, as well as the thing that's really the most compelling is that in order for Trump to actually pursue this other bucket of appeals, it's important to separate the two, one relating to immunity, one an appeal of the verdict itself based on the evidentiary decisions and all the other appellate arguments that would exist, federal supremacy and all that, all those appeals cannot be done until the sentencing goes forward. So that's the push-pull we're seeing here between the two sides.

SANCHEZ: I also wonder on Trump's side, what's the legal strategy behind wanting to avoid this sentencing, even though he kind of, I mean, he knows the outcome, he knows he's not going to face any jail time.

MARRIS: Right, and he would be able to move forward with those appeals where he'll be able to actually attack the evidentiary issues, which of course has been spoken about in great detail by his team in legal filings about the trial itself.

So Boris, I think it's less of a legal question and more of the impact on what that means from the public perception perspective, because the difference right now is that he's technically not a convicted felon until that sentencing hearing moves forward. And if he is actually going through that sentencing proceeding, that would be the difference, that label of convicted felon.

So it seems that his legal team is trying to punt this out so that that still is up in the air and not something, a label that would be on him as he's inaugurated.

SANCHEZ: Misty, while we have you, there was a bit of news that just came down, and that is that a federal judge has found Rudy Giuliani in contempt for failing to turn over information to two former Georgia election workers that he defamed after the 2020 election. Remember, they're pursuing Giuliani for $150 million in damages. They've had a hard time trying to collect that.

Giuliani's had all sorts of issues after he was found liable in court over this. What would be next in the case, Misty?

MARRIS: So right now, yes, this is an issue about his Palm Beach residence primarily and whether or not that can be used to satisfy the judgment. And his argument is this is his private residence and there's laws in Florida that can help shield your private residence from being something that would be subject to a judgment collection. So that's where this all stems from.

This hearing was about all of these documents and information and evidence that he was supposed to turn over to establish whether or not it would qualify under those restrictions as far as collection. And he admitted, Boris, in his contempt hearing that he did fail to turn over evidence and information that he was supposed to and he was ordered to do. He gave excuses, but he said that he didn't do it.

And that was really, you know, the nail in the coffin because at that point, it was almost inevitable where you're going to see this contempt finding. This means that additional charges can be added. There's going to be additional financial penalties relating to this.

And also now all of that stuff that he needs to turn over has to be done ASAP. So there's a lot of legal repercussions coming down the pike with respect to this contempt hearing that's outside of all of his other legal troubles.

SANCHEZ: Misty Marris, thanks so much for being with us.

MARRIS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: When we come back, it's the end of an era in Canadian politics. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying he will resign. We'll explain his thinking in just moments.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Some news just in to CNN. The Louisiana Department of Health says the first person diagnosed with severe symptoms of bird flu has died. They were hospitalized after exposure to a backyard flock of birds. The person was over the age of 65 and already had underlying health issues. The CDC says the risk to the population is low and there's no evidence so far of any human to human transmission.

Meantime, after nearly a decade of testing, as Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau says he plans to step down.

Here's his announcement from earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I intend to resign as party leader, as Prime Minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process. Last night, I asked the President of the Liberal Party to begin that process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Trudeau's decision comes as he faces tariff threats from Donald Trump and some disastrous opinion polls. CNN's Paula Newton is live for us in Ottawa. Paula, why is Trudeau resigning? Why now? PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, the bottom line is his own party didn't think he could win the next election, Boris. I mean, by his own admission, Trudeau has said, look, I'm a fighter. He wanted to stay in this, but his members of his cabinet, members of parliament of his own party were saying, look, we just don't think you have it in you. You know, the Conservative Party had opened up a 20 percent lead in the polls, an election has to be held at latest this fall.

At issue, Boris, is always, and I know this will ring true for so many, inflation, rising legal immigration that was putting a strain on public services, and obviously, as well, that issue of affordable housing. It's all come home, especially as Canadians are looking for what will be economic challenges ahead as President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

I want you to listen now, though, to Justin Trudeau talking about some of his regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:55:00]

TRUDEAU: If I have one regret, particularly as we approach this election, well, there are probably many regrets that I will think of, but I do wish that we'd been able to change the way we elect our governments in this country so that people could simply choose a second choice or a third choice on the same ballot so that parties would spend more time trying to be people's second or third choices. And people would have been looking for things they have in common instead of trying to polarize and divide Canadians against each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, you can see, Boris, that the Prime Minister, still Prime Minister Trudeau, believes that that is what would, you know, cure Canada of a lot of polarization that they see here. Many Canadians are saying, come again? If we had just had some relief from inflation, had a government that really understood our kitchen table issues, perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation.

Again, a lot of runway here up until an election, possibly in summer or fall, and the Liberal Party now needing to pick a new leader and Prime Minister.

SANCHEZ: Paula Newton, thank you so much for that update from Ottawa.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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SANCHEZ: As President-elect Trump returns to the White House, a critic will assume an important post nearby. Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He'd been a staunch defender of refugees, the environment, and Catholics in the LGBTQ movement. The move comes as President Biden prepares to meet Pope Francis on Friday.

Thanks so much for sharing your afternoon with us. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

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