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Interview with Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA): We have Evidence that There is More than One Accomplice; Latest on Investigation in New Orleans Mass Casualty Incident. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 01, 2025 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

REP. TROY CARTER (D-LA): ... It's on the ground, working, and for those who may have played a role in this horrific act of cowardice, we will find you.

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KEILAR: Congressman Carter is with us now. First off, sir, we're so sorry for what your community is going through. So many of these folks are New Orleanians. We know that you guys are reeling there, and you certainly have our thoughts with you through this.

I want to ask you about the headline that came out of this press conference. The FBI said they don't believe that this perpetrator was solely responsible. Do you have any sense of how many more? I mean, are we talking one? Are we talking more than one?

CARTER: We have evidence that there's more than one. There is an ongoing investigation which limits our ability to talk much more than that, other than to clearly say that this coward did not act alone. And our resources are on the ground, turning over every stone.

There will not be a rock big enough for them to hide. This was an act of cowardice to come at a time when people are celebrating the oncoming of the new year, to get ready for a major football game with people traveling from all over the country. This was something that was timed.

This person apparently traveled in a rented vehicle from Texas, sought and found a opening and went around police vehicles, jumped the sidewalk, gained speed, and sped into a crowd of revelers, a complete act of cowardice and one that we will demonstrate every energy we have to find them.

KEILAR: More than one suspected co-conspirator, you say. Do law enforcement know where these people are?

CARTER: There again is an ongoing investigation, and I don't mean to be evasive --

KEILAR: No, no, I -- and sir I understand.

CARTER: -- but nothing is more important than us securing and not giving information that might in other ways impede this investigation.

KEILAR: Sure, certainly understand.

CARTER: I know this for all the visitors and everyone out watching this broadcast, there will be no rest until these people are caught.

KEILAR: OK, so how can officials, as we heard them time and again during this press conference, ensuring people that the Sugar Bowl being delayed until tomorrow, it's fine to attend. The governor said it's safer today than it was yesterday. How can you ensure people that they will be safe attending a huge event, a potential soft target if there are still multiple suspected co-conspirators that have not been caught?

CARTER: As much as we can secure anything in the world, as much as we can secure anything when we have terrorists that hate America and hate Americans. We will endeavor to use every resource that we have. Kudos to the president for coming on national television and providing the full faith and credit of all resources of the United States government, from DOJ to Homeland Security, to the FBI, working with NOPD, our state police and all of our sheriffs around in the surrounding areas.

But listen, the reality is there are haters out there and there are terrorists that hate us. And so as a result of that, everywhere we must be vigilant, everywhere we must be careful, everywhere we must make sure that we shore up our bases to protect people.

Listen, the truth of the matter is we probably could have played the game today, but in an abundance of caution to make sure that we demonstrate to our residents and our visitors alike that public safety is number one. We're taking that extra step to secure the area, to make sure that there were no leave behinds by these creeps, to make sure that even if the remaining people are still at large, that we have more than secured the perimeter from any other IEDs or any other dangers.

Remember, New Orleans is no stranger to managing Mardi Gras and Super Bowls and conventions. We do this all the time and we take great pride in making sure that our visitors are safe. We will spare no resource to keep that track record up.

Some of the unknowns, the reality is with terrorism, it's a different animal because these creeps, these monsters, these evil people seek to find the weakest point to damage -- to damage Americans.

[15:35:02]

We have to redouble our efforts. And so when the governor said it's safer today than it was yesterday, that's literal because we have doubled the resources and we're going to make sure that this horrific situation is a learning experience on how we can do a better job at protecting our citizens and our visitors.

KEILAR: Congressman, let me ask you, when you say that there is, you believe, more than one co-conspirator that has not been caught at this point, are you talking about a group? Are you talking about individual associates of the driver, the shooter in this case? Or are you talking about several people? Can you give us a sense of what this is?

CARTER: We just don't know. We don't know. We know the person had an ISIS flag in their -- in their vehicle.

So we know this person has been radicalized in some form. How big or how great his conspirators, co-conspirators may be. Maybe it's one, maybe it's two, maybe it's three.

We just don't know. We have no reason to believe that it is a massive undertaking, but we're treating it as if it is all of the above, because we will not take anything for granted when providing the resources to make sure that people are safe.

KEILAR: And, sir, there's been some question of whether the death toll was changing. Can you update us there?

CARTER: I understand the death toll has unfortunately risen to 15 and 30 plus wounded. Two police officers are recovering in the hospital. There's some 30 other citizens who were injured who are in the hospital now that are recovering with varying degrees of injuries.

And unfortunately, there were -- it appears to be now 15 that that met their unfortunate demise. And we send our absolute thoughts and prayers to their family, not only those who died, but all those who also those who are recovering.

KEILAR: Well, a very upsetting news, Congressman, our thoughts and prayers go to your community. Thank you for being with us.

CARTER: Thank you very much. Appreciate you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, we have much more on the attack in New Orleans. We just learned there, according to the congressman representing the area, the death toll has now gone from 10 to 15. We'll talk about how President Biden and President-elect Trump are reacting to this tragedy ahead.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Earlier today, President Biden said he's grateful for the swift law enforcement response in New Orleans and that he's receiving continuous updates from homeland security officials. We have more now on the president's response with CNN White House reporter Priscilla Alvarez. We're also joined on the president elect's response to the tragedy with CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes.

Priscilla, what did the president have to say?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president briefly spoke to reporters earlier today, and he said that his reaction was, quote, one of anger and frustration. And that reaction came after he had also released a statement. I'm going to read part of that statement to you.

He said, quote: I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury. It goes on to say that there is no justification for violence of any kind and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation's communities.

Now, as you just mentioned, he has been working the phones. He has been talking to senior officials, being briefed by senior officials over the course of the day. That includes the DHS, with the NSC, with the FBI. He is now currently at Camp David.

That was always going to be a stop on his way back to the White House from Wilmington, Delaware, where he spent New Year's Eve. And we are expecting to hear more from him today. He said when he spoke to reporters earlier that he would share more as soon as he himself learned more details about this attack.

So we're waiting to see when he would deliver those remarks. But certainly the day has been spent, according to sources, getting these briefings and also talking to officials at the state and local level to, again, try to reinforce the message that we've heard repeatedly from the federal government, that they will be putting all their resources behind learning more about this attack.

KEILAR: And what's the president-elect saying, Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, we do know that Donald Trump is following this carefully, that he's been watching the coverage, that he has been briefed. Unclear who or by whom he is being briefed. But we do know that he's being kept up to speed. Now, it is interesting he posted on True Social, something that we now know in part seems to be untrue.

The first part of it essentially kind of indicating that this person was somebody who had crossed the border illegally, saying that criminals coming in were more dangerous than the criminals in our country. We obviously have reported that the person who perpetrated this crime was an American citizen. So that part is not true.

But then he goes on to say: Our hearts are with all the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump administration will fully support the city of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil.

Obviously, look, this is very important to Donald Trump and his team. We are just days away from him becoming the president. And as we have watched this unfold with more and more information, he needs to be kept up to speed on this. And that's what his team is saying he's doing.

KEILAR: Any idea why he said that?

HOLMES: We don't. We do know that there had been other outlets that were reporting that information at the time, outlets that we know that he follows. But we do not have any indication as to where he got that information at this time.

KEILAR: Very interesting. All right, Kristen Holmes, Priscilla Alvarez, thanks to you both.

And still ahead, we're going to be joined by a former mayor of New Orleans to talk about how the city can move forward after this attack.

They have now taken the Sugar Bowl, which was supposed to go on this evening, postponed to 24 hours tomorrow amid still huge questions about security.

[15:45:00]

We'll have more after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Right now, the FBI, state and local officials in New Orleans are looking for a range of suspects linked to the deadly New Year's Day attack on Bourbon Street. But despite the ongoing investigation, they say they're comfortable with college football Sugar Bowl going forward tomorrow night. They're reassuring thousands of people who are visiting New Orleans for the game that they are safe.

I do just want to go over some key headlines that we heard just moments ago from a pretty extraordinary press conference that we got from local, state and federal officials. They said that the suspect or the perpetrator here was a 42-year-old Army veteran who had been honor of charge.

[15:50:00]

But I also just had an interview with the congressman representing this area who I asked if there were additional perpetrators, what he could tell us about that because of in the press conference, they said they did not believe that this one person was solely responsible, that Congressman Troy Carter saying we have evidence that there's more than one.

That is what he said when I asked him about perpetrators. He said he didn't -- they're not sure if there's one or there's two or there's three big questions outstanding here about how they can assure people that things are fine ahead of a huge, huge tourist event like the Sugar Bowl scheduled for tomorrow, now been postponed one day.

I do want to bring in now Mark Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans.

This is horrific what your what your New Orleans is going through. What do you think as you're learning more information?

MARK MORIAL, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: Well, first of all, this is a tragic incident and that's been reported throughout today. And I'm joining with everyone and sending prayers and sympathies for those who are victimized by this. So let me offer these thoughts.

First of all, the city should immediately conduct a fast, quick and comprehensive assessment of all of its safety protocols around the French Quarter and around the heavily trafficked areas to determine exactly what went wrong with an eye to not casting blame in as much as tightening, strengthening and fortifying the security protocols around the Vieux Carre, the French Quarter and the downtown area where people by the millions visit New Orleans each and every year. I think that's crucially important in this instance.

I think number two, those who are watching who are not in New Orleans should understand that a terrorist attack of this type could happen in any American city, in any American shopping, in any American downtown community.

And it is so crucial and critical at this point that everyone understand and assess and reevaluate their security protocols so we can balance appropriate security with our right to be free and unfettered by fee.

Number three, I think it's good to see the mayor, the governor, the members of the Senate, the members of the House from New Orleans standing together, notwithstanding that some are Democrats, some are Republicans. They may not be on the same page with respect to many public policy issues. And I hope they will remain together and that people refrain from rhetoric that is designed to score political points and is, in fact, divisive.

So what do we know?

Some early suggestions were that this was an immigrant or someone who had entered the country illegally. We know that was a falsity, that this appears to be an American citizen who was somehow radicalized into doing something heinous and hateful. We need to learn what is radicalizing American citizens, what is impacting them to take not their thoughts and their views to the -- if you will, the institutions of democracy, which are peaceful, but to resort to the violence of the type that we have seen.

KEILAR: And then mayor, no doubt. And I'm sorry to interrupt you, but because we did learn as well that this is -- and we have limited time, which is why I do want to interrupt you to ask you about this.

We do not believe that he was solely responsible. That's what we heard from the FBI. So certainly we do want to get to the bottom of radicalization, but that is a problem that we have seen for years and that you've seen law enforcement struggle with, which is why fortifying these soft targets is essential.

But also of the most acute nature right now in New Orleans is who are these additional potential perpetrators? What concerns do you have there, especially as the Sugar Bowl is still scheduled to go on tomorrow?

MORIAL: That they are still out there and that they could do a repeat act. That is the fear, that is the concern. And I'm hopeful that citizens -- look, it was a citizen who was diligent out in Pennsylvania, which is why the killer in New York was identified.

[15:55:00]

We need people, citizens who are in the quarter, who may have seen something, who may have seen something suspicious to help in terms of ferreting out who these people are.

So the question is, was he part of a much, a small network of people or maybe a much larger network of people that may be planning other actions, maybe not only in New Orleans, but in other parts of the United States?

KEILAR: Yes, so important. Former Mayor Mark Morial, thank you for taking time for us.

MORIAL: Thanks Bianna.

KEILAR: We do appreciate it. And our hearts are with New Orleans.

Ahead, we have some breaking news. We are getting some new details about a Cybertruck explosion at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. We have an update ahead.

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KEILAR: We have this just in. A law enforcement official briefed on that Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas tells CNN that the incident is now being investigated as a possible terrorist act. Police say it took place at around 8:40 a.m. local time. There was one person inside the vehicle who died and seven other people suffered minor injuries.

The FBI is involved in this investigation and we are going to stay on top of the story and bring you updates as we get them.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.

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