There’s also no known evidence of other target areas, Joel Pollak, of Breitbart News, said on Washington Watch Thursday.
But the two events, related or not, have stoked fears that more attacks could come as Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration draws closer.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who attacked Bourbon Street at roughly 3:15 AM CT Wednesday, and Matthew Livelsberger, who blew up the Tesla Cybertruck outside of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas hours later, both served at Fort Liberty and were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, Fox News reported Friday.
However, there is no evidence based on their military service that the attacks are related, Fox reported.
But with the odd timing of the events the unknowns of New Orleans and Las Vegas have authorities on high alert, Pollak told show host Jody Hice.
“Again, we don’t know if there’s a connection, but the fear, I think among a lot of people is that as we get closer to Inauguration Day, with President Trump already having been the target of attempted assassination twice, one that nearly ended his life, we could see more of these types of events.”
The anticipated response is tighter security around public events, more security around Trump and more security around people close to Trump like Elon Musk.
Not a terror event...with bombs?
Alethea Duncan, the New Orleans FBI Special Agent In Charge, was the first federal official to address the news media after the attack, where she specifically stated it was not a “terrorist event.”
After the press conference, the nose ring-wearing Duncan was ridiculed on social media for stating it was not a terrorist event but also informing reporters that bombs, or IEDS, were found on the scene.
Duncan, who is black, was quickly labeled a "DEI hire" by online critics for her incompetence. There is no proof her sex and race played a role in her hiring or promotion, but a Jan. 2024 article by The New York Post cites alarmed DOJ whistleblowers who said the agency has dramatically lowered its recruitment standards to increase women and minorities in its ranks.
Later, after that first press conference the agency reclassified the attack as terrorism, investigating the use of IEDs and the attacker’s possible ideological motives.
Pollak said the New Orleans attack is another example of the FBI taking its eye off the ball and will support claims by Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to run the FBI, that drastic change is needed.
“There will be questions about why the FBI said the New Orleans attack was not a terrorist attack in the hours after it happened. There’s been a lot of criticism of Kash Patel because he has said he wants to pursue dramatic reforms at the FBI. This is going to make his case stronger,” he said.
Patel’s drive for change is motivated by his belief that the FBI under President Joe Biden has been used to target political opponents.
Patel has emphasized fewer FBI agents in Washington and more in field offices around the country.
“It’s one thing if the question is about ideology and whether the FBI is simply going after particular political targets and so forth, but if the FBI is not showing the ordinary competence we expect of the agency …”
The attack by Jabbar, 42, injured more than 30 people. He died in a gunfight with police which injured two officers.
Jabbar posted videos to social media saying he was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group.
A motive for the Las Vegas explosion is not yet known.
"The teaching of Islam is completely incompatible with the West and with Christianity in the Western civilization. They cannot live with us unless they deny the tenets of their faith, many of them start to run for office and we tried to expose them because we know they're terrorists past. We knew things about them,” Sandy Rios, host of the Sandy Rios 24/7 podcast on American Family Radio, told AFN.
FBI clueless on Islamic terrorism
Radicalism of Islamists became worse during the Barak Obama administration, she said.
The FBI is less prepared to deal with terrorism because it’s less discussed within the agency.
"The FBI scrubs all of its information about what radical Islam really is. The agents now haven't got a clue. All of those experts at the FBI had were let go. They were given early retirement,” Rios said.
