washington – Members of the House Homeland Security Committee will be briefed by the FBI on Thursday morning attack on new orleans, in which authorities say a man intentionally drove a pickup truck into a crowd in the French Quarter on New Year’s Day.
Deputy Director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, David Scott, will brief committee members and staff, along with members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation, in a call Thursday morning, according to a committee aide.
The attack, which authorities say left at least 14 dead and dozens injured, is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the FBI said. Flying from the rear bumper of the truck was a black ISIS flag. The The FBI has identified Shamsud-Din Jabbara 42-year-old Texas man, as the man driving the vehicle. Jabbar had “posted videos on social media that indicated he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.” said President Biden Wednesday
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The FBI is leading the investigation, and Mr. Biden said in a statement that he has ordered his administration to “ensure that all resources are available as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies work diligently to reach the background of what happened as soon as possible and to ensure that there is no threat of any kind.”
Democratic Rep. Troy Carter, who represents the district and serves on the Homeland Security Committee, told “CBS Mornings” he believes New Orleans is safe, citing the FBI’s assessment. He said the area has been swept and a thorough search of the entire city center has been carried out.
“There have been a number of leads that are being acted upon and, like any other terrorist event, you can never be too careful, so our precaution is to make sure that we leave no stone unturned in terms of to research,” Carter. he said
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told Fox News Thursday morning that he had spoken with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Merrick Garland, noting that “there are many, many agents of the FBI on the ground who have been sent to New Orleans” who are looking for “every possible angle.”
“We are confident that this partnership between federal and state authorities will provide us with the answers we need,” Johnson added.
Rep. Mike Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for his national security adviser, told Fox News that intelligence indicators need to be examined. Although the attacker was born in the United States, Waltz said “everybody knows we have an open border” and “they intend to hit us, and they’re pushing people inside to do it.” .
Waltz said that if the US is investigating “internally ourselves, we cannot defend ourselves abroad.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill separately told “CBS Mornings” that authorities believe the attacker did not act alone.
“We believe there were multiple people involved in working with the driver of the vehicle,” Murrill said. “With this information still unknown, the locations of these individuals unknown, I think there are a lot of questions.”