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Officials Hold Briefing on Las Vegas Cybertruck Explosion; FBI, ATF Assisting Investigation Into Cybertruck Blast; Motive of Cybertruck Explosion is Unknown so Far. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 02, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:11]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Officials in Vegas talking now about the cybertruck attack there at the Trump Hotel. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERIFF KEVIN MCMAHILL, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE: As many of you went to sleep last night and I just want to give you an update on a lot of what it is that we found through the processing of the cybertruck. This is a joint investigation involving the FBI, the ATF, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and these folks worked through the night and found a lot of stuff that is very useful for this investigation.

As you look at this cybertruck here, we had to transport this down to our fleet services so that we could really get through this thing. And I remind you that the subject inside wasn't able to be removed for a very long period of time because he was burnt beyond recognition. And so as we continue to move through this, I'm going to talk a little bit about his identity and what we believe.

But I would like to highlight a couple of things that the teams found inside of the cybertruck that are useful to the investigation and that first and foremost is a military identification. We also found a passport, we found a Desert Eagle 50 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

And if you'll notice on a lot of these guns that we're going to talk about here, they're almost just burnt beyond recognition as well. There's a SLR model B30 semi-automatic firearm. Number of fireworks that were still in the vehicle that had to be removed. Notably, we found an iPhone and a smartwatch. And then several credit cards were also in the name of our subject.

Our subject is 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger. He's of Colorado Springs, Colorado, born July 22nd of 1987. Now, as you'll see here on a picture of his driver's license. Let's see, the question really still remains for me, and I know that there's a lot of you folks in the media that are identifying this person as the person in our vehicle.

As I mentioned to you already, his body is burnt beyond recognition. And I do still not have confirmation 100% that that is the individual that was inside of our vehicle. And so as I'm calling it now the subject or person of interest, I will not come back until I have the confirmation through DNA or medical records that this is indeed in fact the subject inside of the vehicle.

Now, further complicating this identification of this individual, we also discovered through the coroner's office that the individual had sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle. One of the handguns was found at his feet inside of the vehicle. Obviously, in how we're trying to identify him, and I'm feeling comfortable to give you this information, is a tremendous amount of substantial evidence to include he rented the Turo vehicle.

There are two tattoos, one of which was on the stomach and one of which is on the arm that we can see bits and pieces of it as in comparison to what it is that we now know he had on his body. That has given us a lot of confidence that this is in fact the same person. As well as the clearly obvious, which is the credit cards, the military identification, the passport.

And then furthermore, as you'll see here, in just a very short period of time, we tracked his movements from Colorado to Las Vegas. And in a number of the photographs that we were able to determine he was the individual that was driving the vehicle. And also I'd like to iterate this point to you.

[14:05:02]

We still have only ever seen him in this vehicle and we're not aware of any other subjects involved in this particular case.

Now, I would like to acknowledge a couple of things because I know what's going on in the social media world and there are a number of things in this case that are similar to the attack in New Orleans. We do know that our subject here served in the military. In fact, he's a current member of the military. Both of the subjects served at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

What we do know about that is it's a very large military base and we have no record that they served in the same unit or even at the same years at Fort Bragg, something that continues to remain under investigation. I also know that they both served in Afghanistan in 2009. We don't have any evidence that they were in the same province in Afghanistan, the same location or the same unit.

Again, something else that remains under investigation. And we also know, of course, that they both used the rental company Turo to rent their vehicles.

As far as his military background, it's been confirmed by DOD that he was indeed in the United States Army. He was also a Green Beret Operation Sergeant who spent most of his time at Fort Carson, Colorado and in Germany. He was on approved leave from Germany where he was serving with the 10th Special Forces Group. He was also previously in the National Guard and the Army Reserve. I'd like to point out to you that through exceptional joint investigative effort, we've gotten to a place where we believe we can show you his route to Las Vegas from Colorado. And Carlos (ph) will put up the map there for you. We know that he rented the cybertruck in Denver on December 28th.

We tracked his movements through the Tesla charging stations to Monument, Colorado on December 30th. On the 31st of December, the truck was charged in Trinidad, Colorado, Las Vegas, New Mexico and Albuquerque and Gallup, New Mexico. On January 1st, the truck was charged in Holbrook, Flagstaff and Kingman, Arizona.

We last tracked the truck in Kingman at 05:33 yesterday morning. The truck was first spotted in Las Vegas at 7:29 a.m. yesterday. And Carlos (ph) will pull up a picture of the truck pulling onto Fashion show drive here. And that picture was observed at about 7:34 a.m.

We know that he pulled into the Trump Valet and I believe we have a video of that. You can see the cybertruck highlighted there. So through extensive surveillance video we were able to track him leaving there.

And we know that he went to several different places along Las Vegas Boulevard. And he spent some time in a parking lot of a business near Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard. We didn't have a video of the truck pulling back onto Las Vegas Boulevard from the Sands.

See that there? That's north on the boulevard from Sands at 8:39, where he then immediately heads to the Trump Hotel, pulls into the valet area, and as, of course, you all know, the explosion occurs within 17 seconds of his arrival at the valet. There's some additional investigative updates that are going to be provided to you by a couple of the other speakers here, the first of which will be our Special Agent in charge of the FBI local office, Spencer Evans. Spencer.

SPENCER EVANS, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: Good morning. My name is Spencer Evans. I'm the special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas division. As the sheriff mentioned, we've been working through the night with our partners, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and other agencies to gather all the facts and determine a motive to what was initially reported to the FBI as a bombing incident to which our special agent bomb techs and others responded.

Obviously, we're always concerned in these sorts of events to ascertain what the motive is. We understand that's everybody's at the forefront of everyone's thoughts. And so looking into exactly what the motivation is remains our number one priority.

This is why the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has been brought into play. The Joint Terrorism Task Force, most important part of that acronym is joint.

[14:10:03]

It is done in concert with our partners, which are comprised of more than a dozen investigative agencies here throughout the state of Nevada.

We've been working hand in glove, side by side, tirelessly, to determine is there any ongoing threat to the public, to identify the subject, to determine any potential connection to other events going on in the world, most notably in New Orleans. And then obviously, to determine if there's anything else that we need to be tracking down.

At this time, as the sheriff's pointed out, we feel that the subject has been identified, although not conclusively waiting for DNA evidence on that front. However, we do feel like we have the subject identified. And at this time, there is no information about additional subjects that the FBI is tracking on.

We -- our resources, as I mentioned, that have been deployed in support of this event include special agent bomb techs, our evidence response team, which is processing crime scenes side by side with the forensics folks from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, our investigators, our intelligence analysts. And then outside of the FBI Las Vegas field office, we have investigative leads that are being conducted by FBI field offices both internationally and domestically as well.

As always, when the FBI is involved with any sort of case like this, we ask for help for the public. Anyone with information related to this incident, we encourage you to please call 1-800, call FBI or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. We've already received thousands of tips related to this incident.

The challenge that we face moving forward is to separate those that are pertinent and relevant and those that can be verified from those that have not. For example, one of the tips that we received just today relates to information alluding to this subject's personal experiences related to his time and activity in the military. Again, that's unverified and uncorroborated, but one of many tips and leads that we will be following up in the days that come.

If you have any additional information, again encourage everyone, 1- 800, call FBI or submit it online tips.fbi.gov. We will tirelessly work to exhaust all investigative leads and conclusively determine what the nature of this particular incident was, what the motivation was, and to the extent possible, share all that information as we obtain it. I'll now turn some time over to the Assistant Special Agent in Charge from the ATF, Kenny Cooper.

KENNY COOPER, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, ATF: Good morning, everybody. My name is Kenny Cooper. I'm the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of ATF, San Francisco Field Division. ATF is bringing our expertise in post blast investigations in our crime gun intelligence to specifically assist in this investigation. I will tell you that our special agent bomb techs are working with FBI and with Las Vegas Metro and sifting through that post blast debris to find components and investigative leads that will derive from that evidence process.

We're too early into that investigation process to give any determination as far as how this device was initiated. I will say that we do know that the components primarily consist of fireworks, mortars, aerial shells, and are all consumer fireworks. Nothing commercial grade has been discovered at this point.

And we've identified some fuel enhancers like the Coleman fuel and VP Racing fuel and some explosive targets that can be purchased at any sporting goods store. We've also, as you -- as the sheriff mentioned, we've identified two semiautomatic handguns recovered from the Tesla. We have successfully traced those firearms and I can tell you that Matthew Livelsberger lawfully purchased both of these firearms on December 30th, 2024.

We have agents following up those investigative leads. We know exactly where those firearms were purchased and we will share any developments from those leads as they come in. Thank you.

MCMAHILL: We also have the Clark County Fire Chief here, John Steinbeck, and he didn't have any additional updates, but if there's any questions in regards to what the fire department did during this, he's here to answer those questions as well. With that, I'd just like to say before I take a couple questions from all of you, you'll notice that we're not releasing information that we haven't corroborated and verified. We're very well aware of all of the things that are going around on social media.

But that's just the way we're going to conduct this investigation. We're not putting it out until we can tell you for a fact what information it is that we're putting out. And so we're going to continue to do that.

[14:15:00]

But I'm also confident to tell the Las Vegas community and this great nation that we don't believe there's any further threat from this subject or anybody associated to him here in Las Vegas. With that, Denise (ph), I saw you had your hand up. If you could just identify yourself, please.

WOMAN #1: (Inaudible). Did the suspect have any other connection to Las Vegas? Had he ever been here before or any reason to be here?

MCMAHILL: So the question was, did the subject have any ties to Las Vegas or had he ever been here before? I do believe we had had one instance a number of years ago where he stayed at a local hotel, but we still trying to verify that information as well. Sir.

MAN #1: (Inaudible). There was -- you have a gentleman in a cybertruck Trump Hotel. There's information that the FBI was in Colorado Springs last night, possibly at the gentleman's home. Any information about why?

MCMAHILL: I think I'll let Spencer answer that question.

EVANS: So, as I mentioned, the motivation at this point is unknown. We are, as I mentioned earlier, following investigative leads both domestically and internationally as well. And so that includes search warrants and witness interviews, collecting forensic information and basically trying to compile the facts. And so there's investigative activity taking place literally around the globe, trying to determine what the potential nexus is. But at this time, at this particular moment in time, as the sheriff aptly said, we have to focus on what we know and what we don't know. We know we have a bombing, absolutely.

And it's a bombing that certainly has factors that raise concern. It's not lost on us that it's in front of, you know, of the Trump Building, that it's a Tesla vehicle. But we don't have information at this point that definitively tells us or suggests it was because of this particular ideology or the, you know, any of the reasoning behind it. That's the purpose of the investigation that we're conducting, is to get to the bottom of exactly what happened, why and how.

MCMAHILL: Sir.

TIM CAPUTO, ABC REPORTER: Tim Caputo with ABC in Los Angeles. You mentioned a number of similarities between this case and the one in New Orleans. How far in the investigation process do you guys go to try to rule out that they are connected, knowing that you already have a couple things that seem to connect them together?

MCMAHILL: So the question is, how are we working to rule in or rule out any connections to the New Orleans event? And the answer to that is every tip and lead that comes in, every piece of evidence that comes in, we don't discount it. We work it through. You know, it's an interesting thing during these kinds of investigations that if these turn out to be simply similarities, very strange similarities to have.

And so we're not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point. There's lots more for us to do in this investigation. We haven't even gotten into the phones or the computers, which are usually very, very instructive and informative to us as we investigate.

And we've got a lot more work to do to trace him, to see the stores that he went to, to rule out anybody else. Lots and lots of investigative work to do. And we're just trying to give you an update on what we know now that is factual.

WOMAN #2: (Inaudible). Was the gunshot went to his head self- inflicted?

MCMAHILL: We believe the question is, was the gunshot self-inflicted? And we do believe it was since he was the only person in the vehicle and it occurred immediately prior to the vehicle blowing up. Back there, Sir.

MORGAN CHESKY, NBC NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, sir. I'm Morgan Chesky, NBC News. With the evidence you've seen so far, are you comfortable now calling this a suicide mission?

MCMAHILL: The question is, am I comfortable calling it a suicide mission? I'm comfortable calling it a suicide with the bombing that occurred immediately thereafter. I'm not giving it any other labels.

CHESKY: And with the friends and family you've spoken to so far, have they shared any prior red flags?

MCMAHILL: The question is, did we have any of the family members share any particular red flags? Again, I'll go back to what I know is circulating on social media, but none of that has been verified at this point.

CHESKY: Final question real quickly. All the components you found inside the cybertruck, were they all purchased in Colorado?

MCMAHILL: The question is, did we -- were all the components found inside of the cybertruck purchased in Colorado? And I don't know the answer to that. That's part of why we're doing the extensive part of the investigation.

MAN #2: (Inaudible) Associated Press. Can you talk a little bit about the security measures you have in place at the hotel now?

MCMAHILL: So, as you all know, we had just successfully completed a New Year's Eve event where hundreds of thousands of people come to Las Vegas. I've extended our posture just like it is for a New Year's Eve event where I have thousands of police officers that are working day in and day out, obviously dozens and dozens of people that are working on this investigation as well. We'll continue to look at what that security posture looks like, but I'm confident in the safety of our community as we move forward. Go ahead in the middle there.

MAN #3: (Inaudible) Channel 13 here in Las Vegas, ABC. Did Livelsberger have any sort of criminal record at all? Also do you know when that Turo vehicle was (inaudible).

[14:20:04]

MCMAHILL: The question was, is there any criminal record? None that I'm aware of that has not been brought to my attention that he had a criminal record. And I said that the cybertruck was rented on December 28th in Denver, Colorado. Right here.

Hi. Stepheny Price, FOX News.

MCMAHILL: Hi.

STEPHENY PRICE, FOX NEWS JOURNALIST: Hi. Have you guys been able to verify that he checked into the Resorts World Hotel the day before this?

MCMAHILL: The question is, do we know if he checked into the Resorts World the day before this? I'm not aware of that information. Sir.

MIKE ALLEN, FOX5 ANCHOR & REPORTER: Mike Allen, Fox5 Vegas. You mentioned increased security presence at the Trump International. That one extend further along the Strip or is it just there? And how long do you anticipate that?

MCMAHILL: The question is generally about the security posture and that's entirely our entire community, not only Fremont Street and the Strip but surrounding neighborhoods as well. Just to make sure that we have the community feeling that level of safety that they need to feel after an event such as this. Right next to you there.

WOMAN #3: Katie (ph) from the Las Vegas Review Journal. How exactly were you guys able to use the charging stations to track the cars through?

MCMAHILL: The question is how were we able to use the tracking -- the charging stations to track the vehicle all the way through? And I'm not exactly sure how to answer that question just yet. I know that there's some capability by being able to determine that the car is connected to the charger.

One of the things that we're looking for is anybody that may have been at the charging location at the same time. We're looking to try to identify them because their vehicles would have also had cameras that would have taped anybody in and around them. We're trying to get people that may have been in the same locations at the same time that have video on their vehicle that could provide that video to us as well. I'll take two more. Go ahead.

WOMAN #4: (Inaudible). Was the -- can you talk about the damage being contained by the cybertruck itself and do you think that plays into whether he was aiming to hurt others or was it a public suicide?

MCMAHILL: Yeah, the question is about the cybertruck and the lack of damage to the cybertruck and containing the explosion. Carlos (ph), if you could put that truck back up there, it might be helpful. But, you know, you'll see if you look on the outside of that vehicle, it's hard to tell from that photograph.

But other than the windows being gone, that's a bit more disassembled than it was at the scene and the back area being blown off, there's no evidence of physical damage to the sides of that vehicle. And so the explosion that was in that vehicle sort of vented out and up, but it didn't even damage the glass doors at the Trump.

So I'm not sure what that means. I also know that there's a number of unexploded pieces of the things that he had inside of that vehicle. And so I just don't think that it was done as well as he was expecting it to be done. But go ahead.

WOMAN #5: Sofia Rodriguez (ph) with (inaudible) Vegas. I was wondering, were you able to recover the video from the cybertruck, or was that destructive?

MCMAHILL: So the question is, are we able to recover the video from the cybertruck? And many of you may know that those cybertrucks contain a tremendous number of cameras. Again, Mr. Musk has sent out a number of his folks that will be arriving here this afternoon with the intent to try to capture the part of that -- that captured all of the video from inside of the truck. Sir.

MAN #4: Just quickly, you had mentioned a number of the components in the back of the truck that did not go off. Maybe this is a better suited question for ATF, but when it comes to the rudimentary nature of the bomb, I think we mostly think of a bomb that is connected. This seems like individual, kind of incendiary and combustible components put together. Can you speak to how you think this is a bomb, or was it just several pieces of things that might blow up and might explode that were just lit and gone off at the same time?

COOPER: Yeah, I'll tell you, it does appear that it was -- I just want to be careful with my language here. But it -- the level of sophistication is not what we would expect from an individual with this type of military experience. That most of that -- the materials inside that Tesla were fuel to help fuel a greater explosion. But it's too early to answer any question as if there was sophisticated connectivity to those components to make it ignite in the way that it did.

MCMAHILL: There was one last hand over here. I'll take your last question.

MIKE CARTER, NEWSMAX NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (Inaudible). This is for Special Agent Evans. Mike Carter Newsmax. Any idea of the suspect has been in touch with any outside terrorist groups? Has this investigation extended globally?

MCMAHILL: The question is, do we know whether the subject's been in touch with any outside terrorist groups or if it's been investigated globally? And. Spencer, you want me to -- Okay.

[14:25:01]

EVANS: So the -- the. Yeah, the question about whether it's being investigated globally, absolutely. Like I said, we're running down investigative leads around the world. No information that we're aware of right now that connects this individual to any terrorist organization around the world. But that's obviously the thrust of the investigation is ruling out that there's any sort of, you know, terrorism nexus and then again, getting at what the ideology is.

MCMAHILL: We appreciate you all coming, and we will be back before you when there are substantial updates to provide to you. Thanks for all your great work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And we're here now with CNN's Evan Perez and former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis coming out of this press conference where officials in Las Vegas are updating us on the cybertruck explosion that happened outside of the Trump International Hotel yesterday. Let's just go through, really, I think, the big headlines, which are the identification of the individual.

They still have to do medical records, they still have to do DNA. That's very clear. But they have a lot of evidence indicating that this is an active duty Green Beret. So an elite Special Forces soldier currently serving in the U.S. Military.

But, Evan, I know something that stood out to you was, look, this was quite a scene. There's questions about what kind of message is someone sending when they blow up a cybertruck in front of a Trump Hotel. And they're trying to figure out things about the motive here. EVAN PEREZ, SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right? The fact that nothing has been readily available to the FBI. Nothing is readily visible. You know, obviously we compare it to the New Orleans attacker. You know, that person plainly made clear what they were trying to do. They had an ISIS flag, they had writings about what they were intending to do. They had recorded videos.

This person committed suicide, gunshot -- self-inflicted gunshot and then detonated a firework which exploded the cybertruck. Obviously, the fact that this was a cybertruck, it's an -- it's a Tesla. And given Elon Musk's proximity and support for Donald Trump and the fact that this is a Trump Hotel, that this happened at, it leads everyone to ask the obvious question.

And the FBI is obviously saying, not yet. We don't know what exactly he was intending to do. And that makes a huge difference for the FBI because they need to know motivation to be able to say that this was a terrorist attack or this was an attempt to do a terrorist attack.

Keep in mind, when he drives up into the entryway there for the -- the Trump, the Trump Hotel. I can't pronounce that, Porte-cochere? Is that what they -- they keep calling it --

KEILAR: What the entryway?

PEREZ: Entryway? Yeah.

KEILAR: Just call it the driveway.

PEREZ: The driveway.

KEILAR: Yes. The drive.

PEREZ: Yesterday the police really took time to pronounce it correctly. They -- when that person drives into that area, you know, he could have waited for there to be a crowd, for there to be some people to injure. He clearly was just -- it seems to me, was trying to hurt himself. And so that's what -- was the message here, it appears, at least from what the investigation has found.

KEILAR: I think that's a really good question. And is this someone who was trying -- they raised questions about the kind of bomb this was. Is this someone who's trying to make a bomb that is going to injure a lot of people, or is this someone who is trying dying by suicide in spectacular fashion and drawing attention to it?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: That's a very good question, Brianna. And I think it seems to be more the latter at this point in time. If this was a plot to blow up something or to murder people, it's a very disorganized plot. He was armed with two firearms, very powerful firearms.

And if you look at the front of that building, there's a lot of talk about bollards. There does not appear to be any bollards in front of the Trump building. So he could have driven that vehicle directly into the lobby if he wanted to create a fire inside and more damage. This is a Special Forces individual, a guy who's a master sergeant in the Green Berets. He knows how to do this, and he did not do significant damage to other individuals. So maybe his plan was simply to go out and make a statement of some sort. But exploitation of his telephone is going to tell us a lot. Interviews with his friends and acquaintances will tell us a lot as well.

KEILAR: Yeah, that's -- and that's the thing. They haven't gotten into phones or computers yet. That was something they mentioned in the press conference here. And they also said that there is -- they are globally investigating right now. So you would expect, as this is someone who based -- who is in 10th group based in Germany, would have fellow soldiers there in Germany, people that he had worked with there that they would want to be talking with.

DAVIS: No question, they'll do a deep dive into all of his acquaintances on the base in Germany. And then his travels outside the base. You know, they will do -- they will do everything they can to determine who --

End