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Donald Trump and his Republican allies have held the New Orleans terror attack to blame on Joe Biden and unleashed a final burst of criticism of his policies in the final weeks of his presidency.
At least Dr 15 people diedAnd the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas also fueled the Republican narrative and claims that crime is out of control — and only Trump’s new national security team and a crackdown on immigration will fix it.
“With Biden’s ‘open borders’ policy, I’ve said, many times during rallies, and elsewhere, that radical Islamic terrorism and other forms of violent crime will become so bad in America that it will be hard to imagine or believe. The time has come. , worse than imagined” Trump Truth wrote on Social on Thursday morning.
Trump and others republican It was initially claimed – falsely – that the New Orleans attacker was an immigrant from across the southern border. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect authorities say was inspired by the ISIS terrorist group to carry out the attack and was killed during it, was a 42-year-old US military veteran from Texas who worked for financial services groups including Accenture. and Deloitte.
On Thursday, the FBI said he acted alone. The agency also said it had not established a link between the New Orleans attack and the cybertruck explosion in Nevada, which killed one person and injured seven.
But Trump’s allies have doubled down on Biden’s demands immigration The policies — or immigration in general — were behind the violence, echoing the lines of attack Trump used to defeat Vice-President Kamala Harris in the 2024 US presidential election.
“Islamic terrorism is an import. It’s not ‘native,'” wrote Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller at X. “It wasn’t here before immigration was brought here.”
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told Fox News that the US has “relaxed” on national security, emboldening groups like ISIS. “President Trump is going to come into office and we’re going to secure that border. We are going to carry out an evacuation operation. We focus on and prioritize threats to public safety and threats to national security.”
Republicans close to Trump are also trying to capitalize on the attack to boost their campaign to secure quick Senate confirmation for some of the president-elect’s top national security jobs.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be secretary of defense, Tulsi Gabbard, his pick to be director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, his nominee to lead the FBI, are controversial picks facing Senate confirmation battles in the coming weeks.
“The US Senate must confirm President Trump’s national security team as soon as possible. Lives depend on it,” John Barrasso, a Republican senator from Wyoming, wrote in X soon after the attack in Louisiana.
“That’s why it’s so important to join President Trump’s cabinet,” Congressman Mike Waltz of Florida told Fox News on Thursday, adding that Trump had become his national security adviser. “It must be on the first day, friends, for it is a moment, of change, of vulnerability.”
Trump allies have also resurfaced with deep suspicion of US federal law enforcement after the New Orleans attack. Lawmakers close to the president-elect have criticized the FBI for focusing too much on “diversity, equity and inclusion” and their role in Trump’s prosecution by the Justice Department.
Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican, questioned why FBI Special Agent in New Orleans Alethea Duncan initially said the attack was not a “terrorist incident.” Iowa Republican Ashley Hinson called FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to testify before Congress about the attacks.
“The FBI must restore the trust of the American people. That means full transparency and accountability throughout the investigation. It means doing away with DEI and creating confusion and focusing solely on addressing threats to protect Americans,” Hinson wrote Thursday in the X.
Biden spoke about the attack in New Orleans on Wednesday and the investigation from Camp David, and on Thursday called his homeland security team to discuss the latest developments.
On Trump’s behalf, Waltz has been in touch with Biden’s national security adviser Jack Sullivan, but said they are not counting on the outgoing administration too much.
“They are trying to gather information. But we’re not looking forward to what we’re getting from this White House. Everyone has their feelings so we keep President Trump as informed as possible,” he said.
