Biden said investigators found no links 'thus far' between truck attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas

By 
 January 3, 2025

On Wednesday, there were two apparent domestic terrorism attacks involving trucks -- one in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the other in Las Vegas, Nevada -- and there was some initial speculation that the two incidents could be connected.

During a speech on Thursday, however, President Joe Biden asserted that federal investigators had not found "any evidence of such a connection thus far," according to The Hill.

Reports indicate that there are a few, perhaps circumstantial, links between the two attacks, though, and Biden assured everyone that federal investigators would continue looking for any plausible associations in the dual incidents involving trucks.

Possible links between truck attacks?

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, a driver identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who allegedly pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State, used a truck to plow through a crowd of New Year's Eve revelers in New Orleans' French Quarter, killing 15 and injuring dozens more.

Just hours later, a man identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger, also a U.S. citizen and active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, allegedly blew up a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing himself and wounding seven others but causing little or no damage to the building.

In his initial remarks in reaction to the attacks on Wednesday while at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, President Biden shared the little bit of information that was known about the two deadly incidents as he reassured the nation that full investigations were already underway.

Of the Las Vegas truck bombing, Biden said Wednesday evening, "Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans. Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score at this time."

Biden says investigators haven't found any evidence of connections

Less than 24 hours later, after President Biden had returned to the White House, he delivered a speech Thursday afternoon about his record number of successful judicial nominations but first took a few moments to provide an update on the investigations into the two terrorist attacks involving trucks.

"And so, we’re also continuing to investigate whether or not there’s any connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion in Las Vegas," Biden said. "As of now -- as of now, I’ve just briefed they have not found any evidence of such a connection thus far."

"I’ve directed them to keep looking," he continued and later added, "I’ll continue to provide updates on New Orleans and Las Vegas as the facts develop."

Some circumstantial links

Though federal investigators may not yet have found any definitive or direct links between the New Orleans and Las Vegas truck attacks on New Year's Day, there does appear to be at least a few circumstantial connections between the two, according to CBS News.

Both of the alleged attackers served in the U.S. Army, were deployed to Afghanistan around the same time, and were stationed at Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, though it is unclear if they were stationed there at the same time or had other shared associations in the military.

Both of the alleged suspects also rented the trucks used in the attacks -- an electric Ford F-150 in the New Orleans attack and an electric Tesla Cybertruck in the Las Vegas incident -- from the same previously little-known alternative vehicle rental company.

That company is called Turo, and it is like an Airbnb service for vehicles, in which customers rent vehicles directly from the vehicle's owner instead of a big rental company. A spokesperson for Turo told CBS News that the company was cooperating with investigators and that there had been no indication that either suspect posed a threat or would have been denied service because of anything in their backgrounds.

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