Meet the Press NOW — January 2

If it's Thursday. Breaking developments on two attacks on US Soil as investigators say the New Orleans attacker who killed 14 people was 100% inspired by ISIS as Bourbon street reopens for the first time since the horrific rampage. Plus, new details on this cybertruck explosion outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. Authorities identify the man who rented the vehicle as an active duty special forces soldier.

As investigators say there's still no definitive link between the Vegas and New Orleans incidents and New year, new Congress, new speaker. Ahead of tomorrow's road, House Speaker Mike Johnson is fighting to hold on to the gavel and avoid the spectacle that kicked off the last Congress. Welcome to meet the Press Now, I'm Krista Welker in Washington. We're following breaking news on the investigation into two attacks on U.

S. Soil on New Year's Day. Right now in New Orleans, Bourbon street has just reopened with new security barriers in place after an attacker plowed his truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon street, killing 14 and injuring dozens of people. And in Las Vegas, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is now involved in the investigation after a rented cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel, injuring seven and killing the driver.

FBI officials in New Orleans saying today there is no definitive link between the two incidents. And the Las Vegas sheriff noted that there are similarities in these cases and they are not ruling anything out. Police today share new details about what the New Orleans attacker was doing in the days and hours before the attack, which included planting two IEDs in the French Quarter. Officials today also saying 42 year old Shamsa Dinjabar, an army veteran who was born in Texas, proclaimed his support for ISIS in a series of videos posted the day before the attack.

This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act. We recovered an ISIS flag from the back of the vehicle. Jabbar declared his support for the terrorist group on social media as I stated before, as he made his way to New Orleans.

That's the stuff in the coming days as far as that path to radicalization that we're really going to be digging into and making a priority, making a priority, making a priority of. So what I can tell you right now is that he was 100, inspired by ISIS. And officials also clarifying they now believe Jabbar acted alone. We do want to warn our audience.

The video we're about to show you the moment of the attack is disturbing. This is video showing the moment a white pickup truck driven by Tobar turned and accelerated onto Bourbon street where people were out celebrating the new year it was. It comes as we're learning more about the victims who died in the attack, ranging from a recent high school graduate to a father of two. The parents of one of those victims, 25 year old Matthew Tendorio, spoke with NBC News earlier today about the devastating loss of life.

Just starting life at the job of his dreams. We just our hearts go to all the other families that lost their loved ones too. We just grieving right now. When we couldn't reach Matthew, we tried his friends and they said we got separated and they, you know, they witnessed everything that happened and they were trying to reach him too.

We knew something dreadfully wrong happened. And then the next thing was we went to, you know, University Medical center to the morgue, the entire nation warning with those families. After convening with his Homeland Security team in the White House situation when President Biden, his capacity as consoler in chief addressed the heinous attack, speaking about the spirit of the city of New Orleans. New Orleans is a city of tremendous spirit.

They can't keep it down. You really can't. People in New Orleans are sending unmistakable message. They will not let us attack or the attacks attackers deluded ideology overcome us.

Joining me now at the very latest on the investigation is NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent Kendallanian. And NBC Scotty Schwartz is on the ground in New Orleans. Thanks to both of you for starting us off on a very big day. Ken, let me start with you.

You've been tracking this since this first began in the early hours of yesterday. What is the very latest on the investigation? Because there's been a lot of moving parts in terms of whether there was an accomplice or not. Police are not saying they believe this suspect.

Yeah, that's right. That was the big announcement today by the FBI after yesterday. First you had an FBI agent saying it wasn't terrorism. Then later in the day she said we don't believe he acted alone.

Both of those things turned out to be wrong. So today he had an FBI supervisor from Washington coming in and addressing the media and saying A, it was absolutely terrorism premeditated and B, we believe he acted alone. And that's based on a review of five devices that he had, three cell phones and two laptops and hundreds of interviews, including relatives and a scattering of any kind of public record they can find about him. They just don't see any communications that would suggest he was working with accomplices.

And what are we learning about his path to radicalization? Obviously, one of the incredibly disturbing components that has come out he did have that ISIS flag with him during the time of the attack. What are we learning about that? Well, and keep in mind, this is a man who converted to Islam, according to his brother.

Born in Texas, spent many, many years in the US army, serving with distinction, according to one of his superv, college educated, had a six figure job at a big four accounting firm. Father of two, 42 years old. And then at some point recently, they believe he went on this path to radicalization. And they say that on his way in this rented truck from his home in Texas to New Orleans, he recorded these videos where he said he contemplated killing his family, but decided that wouldn't draw enough attention and so he wanted to do this attack.

And I should also add that they revealed new information today about the bombs that he planted. IEDs, they're actually pipe bombs filled with nails that had detonators. They're not exactly sure why he did not detonate them or what his plan was supposed to be. And just to be very clear, none of those went off.

That's right. Talk a little bit, Ken, if you would, about the information that we're getting about the security and the apparent gaps in security when the truck was able to just drive down Bourbon Street. Apparently some of the ballers that should have been there were out of commission. Or what are authorities saying about that?

That's a really inferior story. What they're saying is that there was a plan in place to replace the bollers, those hydraulic pillars that come out of the ground, because they weren't working very well and they were rushing to get that done for the super bowl, which is gonna be held in a few months in New Orleans. And not really thinking apparently about the risks that all these people gathering on Bourbon Street. And what witnesses are saying is that this truck really had no problem at all accessing this street and getting up to a high rate speed.

Now the police are saying they parked vehicles across where these balls were supposed to be. But whatever they did, it wasn't enough to deter this attack. All right, Ken, just tireless reporting over the past few hours. Thank you so much for being here to start us off.

We really appreciate it. Guys, shorts, let me turn to you now. You are there in New Orleans. You are on Bourbon Street.

It's now reopened. I imagine a somewhat somber mood, though. What is the scene like there on the ground? It's interesting to hear you and Killinian speaking because I'm standing exactly in the that that police car was parked to try to prevent traffic from coming in.

We've got Canal Street. We just flip the camera over here. We've got the Homeland Security investigations, a big bearcat here. And then we've got officers that are monitoring this intersection.

But again, this intersection right here, this is where that police car was. And this is right where the truck came around, was able to get up on this curve. We've been talking a lot about the bollards. There were no bollards here.

But now there are these makeshift barriers, temporary barriers we're going to walk through. This is now Bourbon street, completely real. We're going to work our way around here. It's a little bit of a makeshift memorial here for some of the victims.

Right next to these, these are new. These are temporary barriers that have been placed. There's two right there. There's two right here.

And then there's this temporary wedge that's been placed here too. All of this happening in the matter of the last probably six hours. We were one of those press conferences. The reason why this wasn't installed before is because they had problems with the hydraulics and they were fearful that if something happens, if somebody was hurt in one of these crowds during the new year, they wouldn't be able to get an ambulance in here to get them out if these things weren't working.

So that's why they didn't have one of those. But these, I mean, we've had no explanation as to why something as simple as this wasn't here on the sidewalk. Now this is where that truck started to accelerate. It was an F150 Lightning, an electric truck.

We've all seen how quickly they can accelerate. The eerie thing about what we're hearing from witnesses is when you hear a car or truck accelerate and pick up and get a lot of speed, there's almost like this relevant engine. This one was an electric truck. So it was completely silent and it picked up speed so, so quickly.

Unfortunately, here in the next block is where most of the victims fatalities occurred. Then a little bit further down the way, people were starting to get, get out of the way because they can hear the screens. But something that's very important to talk about almost, if you're watching at home, it doesn't really fit being here. I got to say, it does make sense.

This is the Big Easy. We're here in music. So if you don't mind, we're going to walk by some of these musicians. They've been saying that this is part of the healing process here in New Orleans.

It's come out with the trumpets who are Armstrong, you stop set. Music is a healer. And so we're just going to swivel around the permit street. How they're happening right now.

You can see the cows are stopping, the crowds are getting moved by the music. I mean this is part of the healing process. A little bit further down you've got people coming out, you got people selling beads. We're talking to a lot of locals here at they say love Bourbon Street.

This is not usually something that locals do. It's something for the tourists. Tonight many of those locals are going to the game. Many of those locals afterwards are coming here to Bourbon street and just celebrate that resilience to show that Bourbon street will survive that.

They've been through so much before. They've been through Katrina. They were, they went through 9, 11 when they say that the businesses here shut down for months and months and months and so many people were suffering out of work. That's not going to happen this time.

They want to get back to the business of celebrating. And one other thing that they said is that there was a fearlessness. It's almost like this fearlessness that comes with hospitality, especially here in New Orleans tonight that's expected to be on full display. Kristen Guy, what a powerful site there.

I can't think of anything that better captures the spirit and the strength and the resilience of New Orleans and the people there. Then that just breathtaking scene that you just showed us. Thank you for sharing that with us. We really appreciate it.

Great, great work. Thank you. We do want to turn out to Las Vegas and the investigation there into a Tesla Cyber truck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel yesterday. As we mentioned, the FBI in New Orleans says there is no definitive link between this attack and Las Vegas incident.

The Las Vegas police say they're not ruling anything out at this point. Police in Vegas had identified Matthew Allen lberger as the subject of their investigation, saying that he's the man who rented the Tesla Cyber truck that exploded. Based on evidence found in the vehicle, they believe levels were sustained a self inflicted gunshot wound before the explosion. Let's say they are waiting for DNA evidence for final confirmation.

Authorities today also confirming Liefelsberger was an active duty special operations soldier who was on approved leave at the time of his death. NBC News correspondent David Noriega is covering the story for us. According to QB is at the Pentagon with more on the suspects military connections. David, let me start with you.

We now have a name in connection with this cybertruck explosion. Officials calling a press conference today. What is the Very latest that they are saying about this investigation, that stands out to you. So, Kristen, the first question that has been very close to fully answered today is that question of whether Lurker had been identified as the person who rented the cybertruck, was also the person who was inside the cybertruck and died as a result of the explosion.

We now actually died as a result of what authorities believe is a self inflicted gunshot wound. They are stopping just short of saying with 100% certainty that that person is Leibelberger, simply because, as you said, they're waiting for DNA results. But you know, even though his body was burned, in their words, beyond recognition, they do have a lot of evidence suggesting that it and they do believe that it was him. For example, beyond his IDs, the two firearms that they found inside the vehicle had been purchased by him.

The ATF has records of that and they have the radio to identify tattoos on the remains inside the vehicle that corresponded to tattoos that Labelsburg was known to have. Now, the self inflicted gunshot wound prior to the explosion in the car suggests that one of the motives behind this incident was suicide. The authorities were asked at the press conference whether they considered that this was a, quote, suicide mission. The sheriff of the Las Vegas, Nepal Police Department stopped just short of saying that.

He said that he is comfortable saying this was a suicide, which was followed shortly thereafter by an explosion. They did find also a number of explosive elements inside the vehicle, all of which are sort of consumer products though. So, you know, fireworks, not even commercial grade fireworks, but consumer grade fireworks and some other sort of exclusive targets. For example, you buy the sporting goods or that kind of thing.

A lot of those materials inside the car. The big missing question, Kristen, is motive. All right, David, thank you so much for that reporting. Really appreciate it.

Courtney, let me turn to you. We know that Lipsberger wasn't actively Special Forces. What else do we know about his service? What can we glean about his background?

Yeah, Chris, one thing that really stands out to me is he was a master sergeant in the U.S. army. So that's a pretty senior non commissioned officer enlisted soldier. Especially when you're talking about these more elite special operations or special Forces soldiers.

To attain the level of master sergeant is pretty notable. So that's one thing. He was in the US army in active duty. He entered in as a green beret in 2006.

He served for about five years on active duty. He did a little bit of time in the National Guard in the Reserve about a year or so. Then he went back on active duty. In 2012, and he served there until recently.

That's another thing that stands out to me. He had almost 20 years in the US army, almost most of that on active duty. 20 years is when a US soldier or any US service member is able to retire with a retirement from the US Government, from the US military. So he was just shy of that when he appears died in this explosion in the Tesla cybertruck yesterday in Las Vegas.

So those are two things. He had a number of deployments under his belt, somewhat unusual, frankly, to the Congo. He was in Ukraine in 2014. But he also had several deployments to Afghanistan during that time.

We know that he received several Bronze Star medals. Those are a very high level combat award. At least one of those was with valor, Chris. And that indicates that he did serve in combat, that he did so at least in certain cases he served with merit and with valor.

Frankly, when I look at what we have from his releaseable military service record, it appears he served honorably. And I don't see any red flags that would potentially give us some sense about why he drove to Las Vegas in a cybertruck and appears to have, number one, killed himself. As we heard from that press conference earlier today, it appears that there was a self inflicted gunshot wound and then blown up that cybertruck system. Just fascinating details.

Court, let me ask you, you talked about his time in Afghanistan. We know that the attacker in the New Orleans incident also spent time in Afghanistan. There are a number of, what a lot of people calling coincidences, walk us through them. And what does the military saying about those?

Yeah, so I mean, there were a couple of times where these men may have overlapped in their time in the Army. One was the deployment during Afghanistan. It does not appear that they were in the same place at the same time though. And keep in mind 2009 during that time frame when, when at least one of them was there.

We don't know the exact dates of when Leibelberger was there on several different deployments, but these were times where there were tens of thousands of times where there was 100,000 US troops innocent, not all soldiers, submarines, others. But the chances that the two of them overlap there are not great. There's also a possibility that they may have overlapped at a base, potentially Fort Liberty, formerly known as, for bragging, North Carolina, again, an enormous base. These two men had very different jobs in the Army.

Even if they overlap their service dates or locations, I doubt that they served with one another in any close way. Question. All right, Courtney, fantastic reporting. Thank you.

So much for joining us. Really appreciate it. I want to bring in now terrorism expert Evan Coleman. He is also the founder and CEO of cloudburst Technologies.

Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Let's dive right in. I want to pick up where we left off with Courtney.

There's so much talk about these coincidences between these two incidents. Authority saying at this point in time, the President saying there is no known connection. What are your takeaways when we hear about these potential overlaps that Courtney just laid out? Look, I think people see the same rental car app and they see two US Military servicemen, they start drawing links that I really don't think are there.

There's a lot of differences between these two events. First of all, the event in New Orleans, the assailant was obviously a convert to Islam. There were obvious signs of radicalization. It took very little time for us to discover that the image will record video of himself pledging allegiance to isis.

We have nothing like that. The incident in Las Vegas, rather. And I think if you look at the background here, again, just because the fact they served before liberty, maybe at the same time, that's like someone coming to you and saying, well, you live in New York. You must know somebody else that lives in New York, right?

No, that's not how it works. And in terms of Afghanistan, it's not even clear that they were serving the same province together. Right. Afghanistan is a huge country.

Right. So I think that's a lot of speculation. I think people need to be very careful about that. We know very little about what motivated the individual in Las Vegas right now.

People are drawing conclusions based on the target, based on, obviously, the presence of cyber shock. Is it possible there's some significance? Yeah, it's possible, but I would be very, very careful about that. To me, this looks like these look like two different events.

And again, I said this before. Just a few weeks ago, we had a car ramming event in Germany. Immediately, as soon as it happened, everyone assumed that was isis. Right.

It turned out to be. The person that carried that out was someone else, was not affiliated with ISIS or Al Qaeda. He actually was apparently anti Islamic. Right.

So just because someone carries out a terrorist attack and they use these kind of techniques or these tactics, that alone does not say anything about why they're doing it. So be very careful there. Well, it's so important, I think, to hear your perspective on that and to help us sort through what we these details that we are starting to get. Let's talk about the attacker in New Orleans Authorities saying they believe he acted alone, that he was a lone wolf, that he was radicalized.

He, of course, had the ISIS flag. What are the biggest takeaways for you, Evan? Well, look, the biggest takeaway for me right now is trying to figure out this guy was currently inspired by isis. That's the language that's being used by right now.

Did he have any direct contact with her? You know, not that necessarily makes any difference at this point, but it's good to know, to understand whether or not this person is a lone wolf or, you know, honestly, really a lone nutcase, or whether or not this someone was being directly, you know, organized by the organization, sent out directly. You know, isis, for the most part, most of these attacks that take place, these are individuals that have no direct contact with the organization, or if they do, it's very, very little. And it's another reminder that again, you know, we keep focusing here on border security and legal immigration and whatnot.

None of that would have meant anything to stop this event. It would have meant nothing. Right? And it's an important reminder because we keep looking at terrorists and expecting we're going to see the 911 hijackers.

And that's not what terrorists look like nowadays. Most of the time. These individuals are native bor in whatever country they're in. We've seen plenty of folks with ex military, ex police background, that kind of thing.

These are people that do not fit the profile. And that's the whole point. That's why ISIS is trying to recruit them. That's why other terrorist groups are trying to recruit them.

So if we keep looking to the border, into immigration, with the idea that that's going to solve the problem? No, that's not going to solve the problem. That's not where these people are coming from. Like, the vast majority of terrorists these days are being recruited online.

Why is that? Well, guess what? You set up a terrorist training camp. It's pretty obvious, right?

The US Comes in the US Army, US Air Force, and they bomb it. That's what just happened a few weeks ago in Syria. A massive ISIS train camp was basically blasted out of commission. Right?

There's no way to import Americans into Syria or Afghanistan or anywhere else. Import them, train them, and then send them out. So if you want to stop these folks, you have to understand how they're being recruited. They're being recruited virtually online.

So if you really want empower law enforcement to stop these events from happening or try to prevent them from happening, the way is to give law enforcement the skills and the capabilities to be able to see what these folks are doing. And right now, there's a challenge. They're using apps like Telegram, Gemspace, Rocket, Chat, not all these applications. The, you know, the people in charge are willing to listen to subpoenas or they're willing to follow subpoenas from law enforcement.

Right. Not to mention they're not voluntary information either, about the people that are using their platforms. As long as that persists, this is going to be an issue. And you can see it, you know, not just in the US but also in European countries with the same exact thing that's happening.

And it's such an important point because you have US Intelligence agencies who are warning about the threat of domestic terrorism attacks. How do you go about. And you're talking about these apps. Is it about training?

Is it about resources? What more needs to happen and to prevent these types of attacks from becoming the norm? Sure. I mean, part of his technical.

Right, observing these apps, tracking them, stuff like that. Part is a technical challenge. Part is also a legal challenge. Last summer, the CEO of Telegram was arrested when he arrived in France.

A lot of people were wondering, why is it the French government arrested him? Is it a French national? And the answer likely is because of the fact that the French are extremely concerned about the idea of French nationals and other residents within the country of France being recruited by groups like isis. And that's what they wanted, and that's what we need.

We need more pressure on the folks that are responsible for these applications, these software applications to adhere to U.S. and European law. That will make a big change. All right, Evan Coleman, thank you so much for bringing your expertise to us today.

We really appreciate your insights. Thank you. And we are following the investigations into both attacks very closely. And we'll bring you any updates as we get them.

Coming up, a live report from the White House on how the current president and the incoming president are responding to horrific attacks in the New Orleans and Las Vegas. Plus, we'll speak to an Orleans city council member and Louisiana attorney general about the investigation and what the Bourbon street attack means for public safety protocols going forward. Stay with us. You're watching the press now.

Welcome back. As the investigation into the New Orleans terror attack continues, we are now hearing directly from a survivor. Just spoke with Jeremy Sensky, who believes he was hit by that white truck on Bourbon Street. Jeremy, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, underwent surgery for broken femurs.

He says his wheelchair was bashed into pieces and he heard the gunfire. Take a look. I heard a massive noise And I thought that something fell and I turned around and that's when I turned around. That's pretty much all that I remember until I was on the ground.

And I came back and there was this people screaming and I was laying on the ground and I saw all my wheelchair reports on the ground beside me. Somebody came finally. Cop, his name was Patrick. He came over and he told me that a lot of people didn't make it and they were dead and I was lucky to be alive.

And I just told. I kept asking for someone to help me get me out of there. What a horrifying account. You can hear more of that emotional interview tonight on NBC Nightly News.

I now want to turn to. New Orleans City Council member Eugene Green joins us. Thank you so much for being with us and my condolences to you and your city for the loss of life and just the collective tragedy that you've suffered. And I thank you and Beat the Press now for giving us the opportunity here in our city to talk about what has happened and where we're moving from here.

I do want to thank the nation for your outpouring of support to the city of New Orleans at this time, a very challenging time for us. We're a relatively small city with a big easy because that's the way we do life in many respects. But at this time, it's a challenge for us. But it's so important that we have the support of the people of our nation.

And we appreciate it. You truly do. Our hearts are with you all. And I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that.

Let me start with what is happening now there today. Bourbon street reopening less than 48 hours after this attack. The Sugar bowl moving forward today. Are you confident that both of these things will now be safe in the wake of this horrific attack?

I'm very confident because we responded in a manner that you would expect us to respond to with such a tragedy having occurred. There is a law enforcement presence in the city right now that is unprecedented. I want to make it clear to anybody who would even try to support this type of terrorist activity. He lost.

Nothing was achieved. The Sugar bowl is being held now, 24 hours later. There are tens of thousands of visitors in our city who are at the game. Bourbon street is reopened.

There's music. People are enjoying themselves. The purpose of the terrorists and taking on Bourbon street was to take on people who were having a good time. It was an attack on humanity.

It didn't work. We are continuing to live the quality of life Here in our city and we're sharing with our nation as we continue to, as we've always done so the terrorists did not win. The citizens, the good people are winning right now. And it's basically life is going to be back to normal.

We got to continue to do those things that enhance our quality of life here in the city. And also Council Member Green, we are learning that the bollards in the area, which would have prevented a vehicle like that potentially from being able to drive straight down Bourbon street, were out of commission. They were apparently being upgraded. To what extent should this be the focus of the investigation?

And how concerned are you that on such a big night, on a holiday night, that there wasn't the proper security? Kristen, I'm going to tell you that in a city such as ours which hosts major events, I mean, certainly it's unfortunate and my condolences to the family members of those who lost their lives. And my hope is that those who are injured will recover fully and quickly. We just recently hosted a major event, for example, the Taylor Swift concert, which is three nights with 50,000 persons each night, plus 10 more thousand visitors in the city.

We are a city that is posted successfully every year a Sugar bowl. We've hosted 10 Super Bowls. We host every year the Essence Festival, the Bayou Classic Festival, the Jazz Festival. We are a city that has hosted success, Mardi Gras, I cannot forget Mardi Gras, the biggest outdoor event, 80 seconds of the Carnival.

In real. I mean, in real. The bottom line is that we have host hosted so many events and they have been safe. I'm certainly sorry that what you saw happened a couple of days ago, but I do want to emphasize that if you see those flashing lights, that there was a flashing light, there was a police vehicle at the entrance to Burger Student Canal.

And who could have fathomed that someone would run over persons on the street, Canal street, which was almost as crowded as Bourbon street, and go down the street quietly mowing down human beings as it was done, we take additional precautions. Certainly I wish that we had bollards on the sidewalk. Those sidewalks are not going to be secure. But I want to emphasize that someone who is hell bent on killing other people, someone who hates himself, someone who has created an ideology that he thinks means something, is going to be able to get around situations such as we had with the violence there.

I do remind the public or maybe advise the public that we had barricades on one street, Bourbon street, we recognize the significance of it. The French Quarter, there's many more streets than Bourbon Street. We didn't have. We've never had barricades because that's not our desire to limit access to that very important and very enjoyable area.

We recognize that there are improvements that need to be made and they're being made. But we are responding in a very appropriate and positive manner to make our citizens and visitors safer. Council Member Greene, just finally, what is your message to people who are preparing to come to your city for the Super Bowl? Should they feel safe?

They should feel safe. I can tell you that we've certainly learned from this particular instance. But I want to let you know that the city of New Orleans, as I mentioned, I can go over those events again. We host annual events.

We're soon to host a Super Bowl. We're soon to host. Right now we're hosting the Super Bowl. There won't be an incident tonight.

We'll host the Mardi Gras celebration, which starts on January 6th and goes all the way through March. A lot of people don't know that Mardi Gras is basically a two month event. We bring in hundreds of thousands of people to our city. We are very concerned.

We are a city that has experienced a bit through Hurricane Katrina. We were hit hard by the pandemic. We recognize the need to keep our visitors and our residents safe. And we have done so.

For the most part. This is an outlier event created by someone who hated themselves and who hated mankind. Mankind. Humanity.

But the bottom line is that we're recovering, we're adjusting, and you can know that the city of Wall street is safe. And we welcome visitors from throughout the world. And I thank visitors from throughout the world for expressing their support to our city at this time of challenge. Well, and those images that we see of Bourbon street reopening, the music playing there already underscores the spirit of your great city.

We thank you for joining us, Council Member Green. Again, our thoughts are with you during this time of healing. Thank you. Thank you very much for your report and for your support.

We really appreciate the press now for giving us this opportunity to talk about the favorables relative to our city coming visit the city New Orleans. And we are standing strong for New Orleans, but we're also standing strong for our nation. Thank you. Thank you.

So being here and joining now is Louisiana Attorney General Liz Merle. Thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it. Yeah.

Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. And I extend the same condolences to you for what has happened in Louisiana. We are so very sorry that we're Having this conversation under these circumstances.

What is the very latest in the investigation that you think people should know? Well, you know, yesterday we. We had information from the FBI that they believe that there were multiple actors that were still at large. And so, you know, today they confirmed that they do not believe that to be the case, that they believe this was a single individual actor.

And that some of the information that had been received suggesting that other individuals might have been involved was just being misinterpreted. And so, you know, a lot of activity over the last 36 hours, a lot of video that had to be reviewed and a lot of other data. They did recover two laptops, cops, according to the FBI, at the Mandeville street location. And they also recovered three cell phones from the individual.

So there's still a lot of data to go through, and there's certainly still a lot that we don't know about how he came to be so angry and. And determined to kill people yesterday. Well, I know that that's gonna be a key focus of the investigation. I do want to play you something that the New Orleans police superintendent said today when Bourbon street was reopening.

Take a look at your reaction on the other side. This is not a matter of pointing blame anywhere. A terrorist is hell bent on destruction. This man was going to do his best, and if it hadn't been on Bourbon, he was going to go somewhere else.

Correct. What is your reaction to that? Of course, given what we've been discussing, the fact that there weren't bollards that had been put up to potentially, we don't know if it would have, but potentially try to block a vehicle like that from coming in and carrying out such a horrific attack. You know, I've been to the scene, Kristen, and I.

I'm not sure that the. The bollards that are there, it's a kind of a large metal flap that lifts up. It was not operable, and they were replacing it. So there was a vehicle that was placed there and.

And it was a large suv. So I think the individual was able to whip that truck around it and go up on the sidewalk. Had, had there been bollards placed in the sidewalk, it. It might have been a deterrence.

The bo that was there, that was not cover the sidewalk. It only covered the street. So I'm not convinced that it would have blocked him from doing what he did because he. He FL on the sidewalk.

I do agree with the chief. I think it's natural for us to ask questions. It's right for us to look at what happened and evaluate if we could have prevented it, what could we have done, and what could we have done better? I mean, people died, so we need to ask those questions.

But I agree with her that he was determined to. To hurt people and I believe to kill himself. So, you know, he didn't kill himself. The police had to shoot him.

But he came out of that truck shooting at the police, which guaranteed that they were going to shoot back. So I. I think he was determined to hurt people. Are you satisfied with the security that is in place there on Bourbon street now?

Should people feel confident and secure going to Bourbon Street? Oh, absolutely. I mean, I just got back from New Orleans, and, you know, everywhere you look, their police officers and SWAT teams, it is incredibly secure right now. And I believe that that will continue through the super bowl and through Mardi Gras.

You know, I mean, you don't go through an event like this and not take a hard look at. At your vulnerabilities again, especially in. In light of. Of what occurred, because you want to make sure that we don't have additional events that are quickly on the table of this one.

So, you know, everyone's gonna be taking a really hard look at that over the next weeks and months, but today, the city is more scary than it's ever, ever been. You. We only have about less than a minute, but you've said the sugar should have been delayed until Friday. Why is that?

What are your concerns, and do you have security concerns about that event moving forward today? No, and it wasn't about security. It was simply because until yesterday evening, we still had bodies on the ground. So, you know, it was just more about respect and, And.

And making sure that law enforcement had the time to do what needed to be done to secure the scene. They did, in fact, have the time that they needed. People worked, you know, incredibly hard. Our law enforcement personnel have been very, very hard at work, and I think, you know, additional assets have been brought in by the FBI.

But it was first, and it is first and foremost a crime scene. And so, you know, my first priority was to. To keep that the priority. But I did leave and walked, you know, out with a lot of people who were streaming toward the Superdome to go to the game.

And. And I felt, you know, really comfortable in that because it is getting us back to where we need to be. We needed to have the game and not bow to the threats of a terrorist event. All right, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrell, thank you so much for your perspective and all your great information.

We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Coming up next, new Congress, same drama. The latest on Speaker Mike Johnson site to retain the gavel with the House set to vote tomorrow.

Stay with us. You're watching. Welcome back. We want to turn to the White House now where President Biden met this afternoon with his Homeland Security team on the terror attack in New Orleans and vehicle explosion in Las Vegas.

Here's what he said. Just moments ago, I directed my team to accelerate these investigations so we have answers for unanswered questions and making every single resource available to get the job done. I'm going to share the facts as soon as I learn them so American public doesn't have to wonder. NBC News senior White House correspondent Kelly o' Donnell joins us at the very latest from the White House.

So, Kelly, know the president got an update from his Homeland Security team on the investigation. What does the White House say? Well, what's notable in some ways about the clip that you just played is the sense that President Biden feels an urgency to get answers and to accelerate the investigation. Now, in every case when there is a matter of important national interest, they want the job done and they want it thorough.

But you almost get a sense of how the clock is ticking with two and a half weeks left in his term that he would like to be in charge of getting that information out to the American people. So that photo also gives you a sense of no matter how the White House and in these final weeks is trying to plan for legacy events and things where they're doing important messaging, there you see the business of trying to get these answers with his key national security and homeland security team around him. The vice president also participated in that. Officials are saying that they're getting some answers now as the president indicated that the FBI has learned more and there's more work to do.

Separately, I've also learned that Jake Sullivan, the president's national security advisor, has been in touch with Michael Walsh, who will be Donald Trump's national security advisor in his second term in a couple of weeks. So there's some coordination that's going on as well. But certainly when you have two incidents and you have the kinds of issues that have been raised by this with ISIS being involved, lots of questions about the motives still to be determined. There is a real sense of wanting to get answers as quickly as possible.

Absolutely, Kelly. On the point of President Elect Trump yesterday, he did make multiple posts claiming that there was a link to the southern border in that attack in New Orleans. Here's part of what he posted Quote, this is what happens when you have open borders with weak, ineffective and virtually nonexistent leadership. The doj, FBI and Democrat, state and local prosecutors have not done their job.

They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent. Me, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside. And it goes on and on and on. You get the point.

Kelly, my question for you though, of course we have learned that the attacker was born intact Texas. So has there been any retraction, any clarification from the transition team from the President elect himself? They've not addressed that. And what we really see is that he just adds more posts which is very typical.

Covered the first firm of President Trump and we know that he's not want to back away from something. He will add more and he did that in terms of referencing crime. But it's important that in these early hours when the President elect did some posting and we're only in the first full day after this attack, that facts will evolve and change as new information comes together. The FBI had said there might have been indications of others involved because of what they had seen on video.

And then we're declaring today that after reviewing that, they don't believe that's the case. Those were simply passers by. So for President Trump, he has information available to him through his team and to gather more and we'll have to watch to see how we uses it. All right, Kelly o' Donnell at the White House, thank you so much.

We want to turn now to Capitol Hill where new Congress is coming to town tomorrow. But the same infighting in the House Republican Conference may cause some drama in tomorrow's speaker election. With an ultra narrow majority, any two House Republicans could potentially block Speaker Mike Johnson from the Speaker's gavel. Kentucky Republican Congressman Tom Massey is a hard no on Johnson.

The one bit of good news for Speaker Johnson, he got a very public show support from President Trump earlier this week. Joining me now to discuss this is at BCB's Capital Hill correspondent Ali Vitale. Ally, thank you for being here in person. So how is the speaker feeling?

How's his team feeling about his chances for retaining Congress? Never changed. I mean the fact that we're going to yet another speaker battle after two years ago with some 16 rounds, it almost feels fitting after two years of chaos, I believe. SCENE but here's what Speaker Johnson is saying.

He's saying he expects it to go smoothly in just the last few minutes. He says the plan is to wait on the first ballot when is that not the plan? Of course, that's what he would like to see happen. What could happen though is the fact you've already got one vote in the no column and that's really all you can afford to lose.

The best case scenario is that everyone goes along to get along. The other scenario is making people get lost on the rate of the floor and the vote tallies get lower because people going present we're being absent could help us. Speaker, we have about a minute left, Ally. But very quickly, the fact that President Trump has endorsed him, that must have an impact.

You would think definitely good news. But when you look at some of the folks who are already saying and maybe I won't get on board, or in Nancy's case, if he's a no, he's already survived a Trump backed challenger for people like Chip Roy, he's already faced Trump's ire. Some of these folks who are saying that they could be the problem children are not necessarily the ones that would be placated with Trump either calling them or calling them out or primary ing them. So it also is important who these specific people are, not just that Trump controls the bulk of the conference.

Yeah. All right, Alex, thanks for breaking. I know you'll be watching closely along with the rest of us. Appreciate it.

Coming back for the break, a year of sweeping political change in the US and abroad after voters in more than 70 countries hit the polls. You're WATCHING THE PRESS now. Welcome back. This new year will deal with the sweeping consequences for one of the biggest years yet in US and global elections.

In 2024, over 70 countries went to the polls. That's more than half of the world's population. NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley takes a look at what drove voters to the polls all around the globe, from the US to the EU from India to Latin America and beyond, one thing ran through with the polls of 2024. It's the economy.

Across Europe, rising cost of living, inflation and anxieties around immigration spurred anti incumbent. In this summer's European parliament elections, the 27 nation bloc shifted to the right. The centrist coalition remains in power. But far right parties made major gains.

The surprising results prompting French President Macron to call a snap election at home. In the first round of elections, the far right National Rally Party led by firebrand Marine Le Pen leapt into first place. Donacien Rouille at the center for Strategic and International Studies says the party's ability to tap into the people's discontent with the economy and Immigration was key to its recent success. The national rally party, the far right party of Mine Yu Bend has seen an increase in its vote share significantly election after election.

And you can see the French electorate moving more in that direction. That also includes some more blue collar workers. In the second round, French voters backed the coalition of left wing and centrist parties which formed a block A national rally majority led by Crown's political stimulus weakened heading in 2025. The anti incumbent sentiment also looked large in the United kingd where after 14 years of conservative rule, the centre left Labour party swept the election in a historic landslide sending Keir Starmer to number 10 Downing Street.

You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now and Britain's veteran political disruptor Nigel Farage and his anti immigration reform UK party secured five seats in Parliament. In Romania, an unprecedented constitutional court decision reset November's presidential election results. The court annulled the first round results days ahead of the runoff.

There's some very serious allegations of foreign influence, particularly from Russia into the election. Romania, Akin NATO ally and the eastern flank sharing a border with Ukraine. The documents that the Romanian intelligence services have declassified and shared with the court have convinced them that there's enough of a problem. The far right candidate who won that first round called the decision a coup.

It could be months before a new election there. Other countries saw challenges the single party rule reining in the power of the majority party. Driven by high unemployment, rampant corruption and stark racial and economic inequality. South Africa's ANC party lost its outright majority, forcing a coalition government for the first time since the apartheid In India, the world's largest democracy.

Unemployment and inflation outweighed Prime Minister Narendra Moi's appeal to his base. His BJP party also fell unexpectedly short of an outright parliamentary majority. Despite predicting a landslide victory, the editor in chief of foreign policy, Rabia Garabal says it's a good sign for democracy. It's healthy when people get to make choices that are unpredictable, are truly of their own volition that lead to changes in trajectory not just for party or government, but also for society.

Mexico made history electing its first female president, Claudia Scheinbau. President Scheinbau is facing down her country's deficit, worsening cartel violence and new pressure to stem the flow of migrants to the US southern border. But now we have a new president, Mexico. I'm going to inform her on day one or sooner that if they don't stop this onslaught of criminals and drugs coming into our country, I'M going to immediately impose a 25% tariff on everything they send in to the United States of America.

Violent crime concerns also down to the elections in El Salvador where populous President Aid Bukele was reelected in a landslide. The millennial leader's profile, boosted by his TikTok account where he has more followers than the total population of his country's, hardline approach to crime drastically cut the country's homicide rate. But his tactics blur lines into authority rule. Will Freeman, fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, says his tactics spark concerns about the erosion of democratic norms in this vulnerable region.

This is a guy who's kind of made himself the face of a certain approach to crime in the region. Many people know that he put 8,000 people in mega prisons during his first year, year and a half in office. Shocking, brutal. Very little respect for law or due process.

In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro faced one of the greatest challenges to his rule. Voters coming out of the polls in large numbers. For the opposition, Maduro is clinging to power despite United States international observers saying he tampered with the vote. It wasn't a surprise that Maduro the dictator stole those elections, but it was still crushing.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin's decade long rule remained unchallenged. Russia's election was barely an election. It was an election in name only. And, and I think what it tells me is that someone like Putin, he still cares about a fig leaf of democracy.

For some reason it matters to him. In Iran, years of sporadic vocal unrest that were met with harsh crackdowns made way for a reformist candidate following the death of the country's hardliner president in a helicopter crash. However, the supreme Leader's absolute authority serves as a significant obstacle to any meaningful change. New President Nasua Possession can act across the globe, economic challenges and social turbulence shaped the 2024 elections.

And now heads of state are tasked with delivering on the campaign promises of change. I think leaders are going to look inward a lot more than they were before. They are going to hear people when they say that they're worried about inflation, they're worried about the hollowing out of rural society societies and they're worried about immigration, especially when it is illegal. I think countries and parties within them are hearing them.

And our thanks to Matt Bradley for that comprehensive reporting. We are back tomorrow with warning the press now that the news continues with Yasmin Vesuvian in for Hallie Jackson right now, Everyone, I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of today and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot my years as a parent. Mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet.

And I'm not the only one. This is my new podcast, the Parent Chat. Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real world advice about parenting. I'm over here just, like, winging it.

Hey, I'm trying not to screw my own kids up. I'm YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.