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CNN This Morning
Police: At Least 15 Killed In New Orleans Terror Attack; FBI Investigating Tesla Cybertruck Blast Near Trump Hotel; Johnson Fights To Retain Gavel Ahead of Friday Vote; Brutal Blasts Of Arctic Air To Bring Dangerous, Low Temps. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 02, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:35]
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: It's Thursday, January 2nd.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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ANNE KIRKPATRICK, SUPERINTENDENT, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DPEARTMENT: This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: A terror attack in the French Quarter. A driver rammed a truck into a crowd, killing 15. And now we're learning new details about the victims.
Plus --
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS.
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RAJU: Chilling recordings. What we are learning about the suspect who reportedly planned to kill his family and join ISIS.
And --
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JEAN-PAUL MORRELL, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: It is a difficult, tight rope to walk.
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RAJU: Reassessing security with three major events on the horizon New Orleans working to figure out how to protect its citizens and visitors. Then later, a Cybertruck explodes outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
Authorities now looking to see if the two New Year's Day incidents are linked.
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RAJU: It's 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at the Capitol.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Manu Raju, in for Kasie Hunt. Thanks for joining us on this second day of 2025.
We're getting new details into CNN this morning about some of the victims killed after a driver plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Year's in New Orleans early New Year's Day. The death toll now up to 15.
The University of Alabama has just confirmed one of its students is among the dead. Also killed, a 27-year-old former Princeton football player, Tiger Bech, who was a native from Lafayette, Louisiana, and who was visiting home for the holidays.
And Reggie Hunter was 37. His cousin described him as a loving father and said he was known for his sense of humor. He leaves behind two young children.
Witnesses recounted the terrifying moments following the attack.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear the screech of tires, and when I turned my head around, there's like a Yukon or Escalade or something just barreling down the street, bro. I kid you not. Like real life horror movie.
Everything in the car is hitting. It's getting thrown. It's getting thrown up into the air in a way and just -- or under the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: The incident is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism. And according to the FBI, potential explosive devices were found in the French Quarter, separate from where the pickup drove into the crowd of people. They also said an ISIS flag was found in the vehicle used in the attack.
Now, law enforcement law enforcement has identified the suspect as 42- year-old veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas. He was killed in a firefight with police.
In a video we're about to show, you can see and hear that chaotic moment. We want to warn you, though this video may be disturbing.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS) RAJU: Multiple officials briefed on the investigation tell CNN a series of videos show the suspect discussing plans to kill his family and wanting to join ISIS. Authorities believe he made the recordings when he was driving from his home in Texas to Louisiana. CNN has not reviewed the videos.
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BIDEN: The law enforcement and intelligence community are continuing to look for any connections, associations or coconspirators. We have nothing additional to report at this time. The investigation is continuing to be active and no one should jump to conclusions.
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RAJU: Now the attack took place less than a mile away from where the Sugar Bowl was supposed to happen last night. The college football game now has been postponed until today.
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ANNE KIRKPATRICK, SUPERINTENDENT, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DPEARTMENT: This city has been tried by fire before, but fire purifies. Fire makes things stronger we have a plan. We know what to do. We are going to get these people. There is a path forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:01]
RAJU: And in Las Vegas, another New Year's Day incident. A Tesla truck exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, where the driver was killed. The FBI working to determine if that incident was a terrorist attack.
Now, President Biden says law enforcement is looking into whether there is any connection between the two incidents.
Joining me now is former FBI special agent Ken Gray.
Ken, thank you for joining me this morning on this critical day we're learning. We're now on day two of this investigation. And a big focus right now is on possible coconspirators behind the attack in New Orleans. So, how are investigators can trying to find whether anyone else was behind this attack?
KEN GRAY, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
So that's the big question is, was Din Jabbar assisted by anyone? Somebody had to place those IEDs there throughout the French Quarter. And so the searches for any additional people that were assisting him in doing that. There had been a report that there was four individuals that were seen on video placing the IEDs. They have been since identified and cleared. So they -- they are not the four who was helping Din Jabbar. But somebody helped him in placing those. At least that's the -- that
is the theory at this point.
RAJU: Yeah. And you know, as you know, New Orleans is a place that has so many huge events. I want you to listen to how one city councilman from New Orleans discussed how the city is taking its safety.
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JEAN-PAUL MORRELL, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: So as a city in the midst of all this, we are recalibrating on a massive scale to see how we can continue to be the city everyone loves, while also making sure that we are safe. And it is a difficult tightrope to walk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: But, Ken, you know, today the Sugar Bowl will be played there after just one day of a delay. Large crowds are expected.
So what are your concerns as a security expert in holding this big event? And as you know, there's the Super Bowl next month. There's Mardi Gras in March.
How prepared is the city of New Orleans, and was it a wise decision to delay it by just one day to have the Sugar Bowl being played today?
GRAY: Well, I certainly think it was a wise move to move it from yesterday to today. They were not ready for this event to, to adjust their security posture, after having had this horrible event occur. But, the idea of moving it to today and having it occur today, I don't know if there was sufficient time to adjust their security posture, but nonetheless, that -- that's where they're at this point.
The hope is that between now and the Super Bowl, that they will be able to be able to come up with a way to secure the streets to allow New Orleans to continue to function, to have large crowds there in the French Quarters and enjoying the all aspects of New Orleans, and be safe while doing so.
The problem -- one of the problems was the fact that they had bollards, in the roads that was supposed to stop traffic from getting into the French Quarters, and they were not functioning. They had been built over ten years ago, and they were not functioning correctly. And so police cars were placed to block the streets. And the driver in this case, Din Jabbar, drove around the police car and raced down the road.
And so their security posture certainly has to be reviewed and adjusted to address these type of threats.
RAJU: And, Ken, I also want to ask you about the Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas. What does it say to you that the two cars were rented using the same peer to peer app, Turo? Do you think that means anything as the investigators look for a potential link? GRAY: Well, I don't believe in coincidences when you're coming up
looking at terrorism cases, but I don't know if this link here of both being through Turo is enough to say the two cases are related.
The driver of the Cybertruck has been identified as Matthew Livelsberger, 37 year old Army veteran. But as to why he constructed the weapon that he did in the back of the Cybertruck and parked it there at the valet entrance to the casino and hotel that is yet to be determined.
This is very early on in that investigation. It took a while to even be able to get his body out to identify him.
[05:10:00]
RAJU: Yeah, and CNN's still working to confirm a lot of those very details that you're discussing. We'll see what else we learn through the course of this day.
Ken Gray, thank you so much for joining me this morning. Really appreciate your expertise.
And coming up on CNN this morning, new overnight, a crowd shot out and shot at outside a club in New York. At least ten people injured, some as young as 16 years old.
Plus, using a vehicle as a weapon becoming more and more frequent. CNN digs into some of those attacks.
And keeping New Orleans safe, as millions of people head to the city over the next two months. Our coverage of the terror attack in New Orleans continues next.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are just bodies and the screams. I mean, you can't -- you can't think about, you know, on here that. It was chaos.
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[05:15:07]
RAJU: The attacker in the deadly incident in New Orleans used a truck as a weapon. And as CNN's Brian Todd reports, it's a tactic that's been seen more frequently in recent years.
A warning, though, to our viewers, some of the video you're about to see is disturbing.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One witness to the New Orleans attack says she can't unhear the screams of the victims. KIMBERLY STRICKLIN, WITNESSED NEW ORLEANS ATTACK: I remember the
screeching and him gunning the car and the impact and the screams, like I said, the screams of those girls. I mean, I don't know that I'll be able to forget that.
TODD: The kind of horror that many cities have experienced in recent years when attackers turn vehicles into weapons, just a few days before this Christmas. A car slams into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing at least five people, injuring more than 200. The suspect, a doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who had expressed anti-Muslim far right views.
Like Magdeburg and New Orleans, other cities have experienced horrific vehicle attacks during holidays. November 2021, a suspect with a long criminal history drives an SUV through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six and injuring more than 60.
Berlin, December 2016, a tractor trailer rams into a crowd at a bustling Christmas market, killing at least 12 people, injuring dozens of others. The suspect, a rejected asylum seeker, was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.
And the deadliest vehicle attack ever. July 14th, 2016, Bastille Day in Nice, France, a Tunisian born French resident drives a 20 ton truck nearly a mile through a crowded seaside promenade. 86 people killed, more than 200 others wounded. ISIS claimed responsibility.
Why do these vehicle attacks often seem more deadly than other tactics?
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: A vehicle attack doesn't require any special training. You just rent a vehicle, buy a vehicle and use it as a weapon.
Secondly, just like school shooters look at Columbine or other famous school shootings and kind of obsess about them. And terrorists examine other terrorists and they say, well, what worked? Clearly, vehicle rammings work.
TODD: October 2017, an Islamic extremist from Uzbekistan jumps a curb in a rental truck in Manhattan, drives down a bicycle path along the West Side Highway and kills eight people. Authorities found a note near the truck claiming the attack was in the name of ISIS.
A couple of months earlier, a domestic extremist, a white nationalist, slammed his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one woman and injuring almost 20 others.
Analyst Peter Bergen says vehicle attacks with their blood curdling optics have a distinct psychological impact.
BERGEN: Certainly, there is a short term effect where it terrorizes people. People are worried about going out in places where there are a lot of people gathered.
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RAJU: Just devastating violence. CNN's Brian Todd, with that report.
All right. Ahead on CNN this morning, the fight to retain the speakers gavel. Could Mike Johnson keep his job atop the House?
Plus, a truck explodes outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas just hours after that terror attack in New Orleans. Now, police in both states are looking to see if there's a link.
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[05:22:43]
RAJU: Twenty-two minutes past the hour.
So here is your "Morning Roundup".
New overnight, a shooting outside a New York nightclub, injuring at least 10 people Wednesday, including some minors. This video from the citizen app, taken in Queens. Police say four men attacked a group of 15 people in line for a private event, firing about 30 rounds, and then took off in a light colored sedan. No one is in custody at this point.
In Hawaii, three people are dead and multiple others are injured after a massive explosion of illegal fireworks.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My feeling was it was a bomb went off, really?
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RAJU: Local reports say most of the patients taken to the hospital were critically injured, with burns over large areas of their bodies. Three children were among the injured.
And Congress is ringing in the New Year with the big question. Can Mike Johnson get the votes to stay as speaker? Johnson has virtually no margin for error in trying to retain the gavel, and is banking on an endorsement from President-elect Trump to tamp down skepticism on the right. Johnson can only afford to lose a single Republican defection when the House picks its new speaker on Friday, and that's if every member votes for a candidate.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they'll support Speaker Johnson. I think we're going to have a great time in Washington, and I think we're going to get great support.
He's the one that can win right now. People like him, almost everybody likes him.
Others are very good too. But they have 30 or 40 people that don't like 'em. So that's pretty tough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, a Republican, has already said he will not vote for Johnson, and several other conservatives have raised concerns.
All right. Time to break out the new sweaters you might have gotten over the holidays. For much of the country, it's about to get very, very cold.
So let's go get more from Elisa Raffa, our meteorologist.
So, Elisa, tell us how bad it's going to get.
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Some of the coldest air of the season so far, really starting out 2025 on a very cold note. We have lake effect snow that has been pumping across the Great Lakes because we have this cold air coming across those relatively warmer waters. We've got winds gusting 40 to 55 miles per hour, and those winds are gusting even along the East Coast from Long Island up towards Boston.
Here are those lake effect snow warnings that go through much of the weekend, where we could still get an additional one to two feet of snow off Lake Erie and Ontario. As we continue to pump that colder air.
[05:25:03]
So you can see where it doesn't really stop going into the weekend. We'll continue to get those lake effect snow bands coming off of the Great Lakes again, another foot or two possible at least through Saturday. Some snow down the spine of the Appalachian Mountains as well.
Now, as we go towards the weekend, we're going to find another storm system developing on Saturday that really starts to blow up on Sunday, and it could bring a corridor of some ice and snow across the midsection here of the country, from St. Louis to D.C. and then well have a cold, nasty rain for much of the Southeast.
So we're looking at multiple types of precipitation as we go into the weekend. Ice could be very dangerous. All of this will trigger that arctic outbreak -- Manu.
RAJU: Yeah, brace for the winter. It's already here in full force.
Elisa Raffa, thank you for that report.
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, an explosion outside a hotel in Vegas just hours after the terror attack in New Orleans. The similarities between the two incidents that has authorities looking for links.
Plus, New Orleans set to host a Sugar Bowl tonight. The city is now beefing up security. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will mourn and pray for our country, and we have support systems around here for anybody that needs someone to -- to talk to or have support. But we also have to be prepared for this great opportunity that we have tomorrow in the Sugar Bowl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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