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CNN This Morning
Death Toll Revised To 14 In New Orleans Attack; Families Mourn Victims Of New Orleans Attack; Hazardous Snowfall, Ice, Rain & Thunderstorms Into Next Week. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 03, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:34]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, January 3rd.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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CHRISTOPHER RAIA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: FBI bomb technicians also recovered two IEDs.
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HUNT: Retracing his steps. New surveillance footage helps create a timeline of the New Orleans terror attack and shows the suspect on Bourbon Street just hours before.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, son, please don't go. It's dangerous over there.
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HUNT: An unbearable loss. Parents recount their last conversation with their son when they begged him not to go to the French Quarter.
And --
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REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): You can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson.
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HUNT: Voting no. One GOP lawmaker adamant about voting against Mike Johnson for speaker. But will any other Republicans follow suit?
(MUSIC) HUNT: All right. It is 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the Superdome in New Orleans, that city still grappling with everything that has unfolded.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We have new details and a revised death toll this morning following the deadly attack in New Orleans. The FBI now confirming that 14 people were killed when that white pickup barreled through a crowd on Bourbon Street early New Year's Day. Officials reported earlier 15 people had died.
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JIMMY COTHRAN, WITNESS: It was just unimaginable casualty. I mean, just the disfigurement and the bodies strewn.
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HUNT: Law enforcement identifying the suspect as 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas. He was killed in a firefight with law enforcement. New surveillance footage shows the truck driving over the downed barricade, narrowly missing pedestrians.
We do want to warn you, this footage may be disturbing for some of you.
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HUNT: Wow.
CNN has obtained this exclusive video. It shows the driver shortly before the attack, where you can see him putting something in the bed of the truck, working on the hitch. Investigators say an ISIS flag was among one of the things he placed in the truck.
According to President Biden, explosives were found in ice coolers in two other locations in the French Quarter, and the suspect had a remote detonator in his vehicle.
A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation telling CNN that FBI agents and local police found chemicals typically used to construct explosives at the attackers home in Houston.
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CHRISTOPHER RAIA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI COUNTERTERRORISM DIVISION: What I can tell you right now is that he was 100 percent inspired by ISIS. And so, we're digging -- we're digging through more of the social media, more interviews, working with some of our other partners to ascertain just how -- to ascertain a little bit more about that connection.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Law enforcement are also investigating the Tesla Cybertruck explosion that happened outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas telling CNN there's no evidence so far to link the two incidents.
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ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It is not a time now to stoke fear. It is a time to calm fear. It is a time to draw conclusions based on evidence adduced in an investigation.
This is not the time for politics. This is the time for national unity. This is not a time to inflame individuals.
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HUNT: All right. Joining us now is Juliette Kayyem, CNN senior national security analyst, former DHS assistant secretary.
Juliette, good morning. Always wonderful to have you on the program.
Let's start in New Orleans. What can you tell us about what law enforcement is doing now to try and move forward in this investigation?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So they do have a lot of the pieces already, who he is, what his motivation may be. And of course, the materials, the extensive materials, as were seeing now in what he envisioned might have been an even larger terror attack.
I think there are two questions. The first, related to him and motivation. What is meant by these ISIS ties?
[05:05:00]
This is one -- one going to be one of the challenges is. When someone is inspired by ISIS, does it mean they were sort of passively reading about ISIS? Wanted a motivation for all these other issues that are going on in their lives, you know, his divorces, his money, all the things that he mentions in these, in these videos that he essentially does right before the killings. So you're going to want to see what those ties are in terms of foreign nexus, international nexus.
The second is, of course, what happened on Bourbon Street. That's going to be a second component of this is, is could Las Vegas have had stronger barriers? What was up with the bollards? You know, were secondary techniques to protect Bourbon Street insufficient? And what can we learn from that?
So that's going to be sort of the two pieces of this investigation at this stage.
HUNT: Juliette, one of the things we've been hearing about are concerns around copycat attacks. What did we hear from law enforcement on that yesterday? And what should cities across the country be doing and thinking about, considering that?
KAYYEM: Yeah. So there's two variables now that are of concern to almost every city and police department. The first is just this ISIS inspired phenomenon. It is -- we've been worried about it for a while that the FBI and Department of Homeland security have been issuing reports.
Part of this, ironically, is because ISIS strength abroad is more limited. They don't have the kind of power they once did, so they want to show their relevance by inspiring or launching or supporting these kinds of attacks to show that they're still relevant and strong.
The second is just the easy use of vehicles. They're everywhere. And this is where, you know, obviously cities become relevant is we live in cities. We go to cities because were out in the street. They're vibrant. We love the activity, the socialness, the culture, the parties, as we saw on New Year's Eve.
It is very hard to make a city completely safe from this kind of technique. And so that is what cities are looking at, in particular at high profile events or dense street areas. What can be put up to better protect them, whether its layered security, sanitation trucks, and protections for pedestrians.
HUNT: Juliette, very briefly, we learned that law enforcement is saying at this point that there's no connection between these two attacks. What else did we learn about what happened in Las Vegas?
KAYYEM: So right now, the reporting suggests that this is someone who was on a suicide mission, may have wanted to kill others. If he had been successful, it would have been an extremely dangerous and likely fatal to others explosion.
I mean, just looking at these pictures, this was a big deal. And this is, you know, this is what were going to learn is why did he choose these obvious symbols? Tesla or Elon Musk and Donald Trump, was he a supporter of them, as some reporting suggests? And then what did this mean? Or was this a message of hate towards them?
But this is this is now an isolated event. Everything we've seen would suggest it is an isolated event. And someone who just who basically wanted to commit suicide and have everyone watching and talking about him, and that's a psychosis that that is just, you know, unfortunately, part of what happens sometimes in these situations.
HUNT: All right. Juliette Kayyem starting us off this morning, always grateful for your expertise. See you soon, I hope.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, House Speaker Mike Johnson about to find out whether that endorsement from President-elect Trump is going to be enough to keep his job.
Plus, a signed Joe DiMaggio jersey, four World Series rings, Rudy Giuliani allegedly refusing to part with his prized possessions. Today, he could be held in contempt.
And remembering the victims of the New Year's Day terror attack on Bourbon Street.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was just so bubbly, so eccentric. Just a light to be around.
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[05:13:31]
HUNT: Welcome back.
This morning, we are learning more about some of the victims and survivors in the senseless New Orleans attack, including 25-year-old Matthew Tenedorio, who had dinner with his family before he headed out to ring in the New Year with his friends. His parents, Lou and Cathy, begged him not to go to New Orleans and to send them a text when he got home. That text never came.
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LOU & CATHY TENEDORIO, PARENTS OF NEW ORLEANS ATTACK VICTIM: It's surreal, you know, to me, it's all of it is surreal.
Honestly, my heart is broken and --
For everyone, not just for us.
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HUNT: Jeremi Sensky from Pennsylvania survived after the truck hit his wheelchair on Bourbon Street, leaving him with both legs broken.
He spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper Thursday.
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JEREMI SENSKY, SURVIVOR: I'm going to have a hard time probably coming back to Bourbon Street for a while. I'm just happy to be alive, man. I don't want people to be afraid to go out.
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HUNT: All right. CNN's Danny Freeman has this report.
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CHRISTINA BOUNDS, MATT TENEDORIO'S COUSIN: My grandma, grandpa, everybody is just crying, wailing together. And yesterday my grandma cried nonstop for eight hours like, we just can't believe it. DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old
Matthew Tenedorio was from Slidell, Louisiana, the youngest brother of three, loved working with his dad at the superdome. Matt had dinner with his family earlier on New Year's Eve, and his cousin said matt was not hit by the truck that night, but died from a gunshot.
Matt's mother devastated.
[05:15:02]
BOUNDS: She wanted people to know that he was so lovable and kind and that he liked skateboarding, you know, and he loved his niece and nephews and, yeah, and that they're heartbroken.
FREEMAN: Matt is just one of 14 who were killed in the New Year's Day morning horror on Bourbon Street.
MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: They mattered. The families matter and matter to the city of New Orleans.
FREEMAN: Thirty-seven-year-old Reggie Hunter was a father of two, an 11-year-old and a one-year-old. He was from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
TRAVIS HUNTER, COUSIN OF REGGIE HUNTER: Reggie was a beautiful person inside and out, to know Reggie was to love Reggie.
FREEMAN: Reggie survived the initial attack, but passed away at the hospital from internal injuries.
HUNTER: He can change the environment in the room, always smiling, just a pure person. Good, pure-hearted person.
FREEMAN: Tiger Bech was 27 years old, the former Princeton football player from Lafayette, Louisiana.
According to his sister, Virginia, Tiger was walking back to his hotel with his best friend on New Year's Eve when they were both struck. His friend survived, but Tiger passed away at the hospital. Tiger's sister Virginia, telling CNN she's heartbroken, but evil will not prevail.
Twenty-one-year-old Hubert Gauthreaux was killed in the attack as well. His high school in Marrero, Louisiana, asking the community to pray for the repose of Hubert's soul, his family and friends during this difficult time.
Drew Dauphin graduated from Auburn University in 2023. Words cannot convey the sorrow the Auburn family feels for Drew's family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time, wrote the university's president, Christopher Roberts.
The University of Alabama confirmed student Kareem Badawi was also one of the victims. The president of that school, writing, I grieve alongside family and friends of Kareem in their heartbreaking loss.
We're still learning more about the 14 people lost and the dozens injured on New Year's Day. Parents, siblings, students, locals and tourists loved and not forgotten.
Danny Freeman, CNN.
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HUNT: All right. Ahead on CNN THIS MORNING: our coverage of the New Year's Day attack on Bourbon Street continues. The former mayor of New Orleans is going to join me live to discuss.
Plus, 1,000 pound ring falls from the sky where officials think it may have come from. That's next in our "Morning Roundup".
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[05:21:45]
HUNT: All right, 21 minutes past the hour.
Here's your "Morning Roundup".
This weekend, services honoring former President Jimmy Carter will begin in Georgia. On Saturday, a processional will take him from his hometown in plains to Atlanta, where he will lie in repose at the Carter Center. Then next week, he'll be moved to Washington to lie in state for his state funeral.
All right. Later on this morning, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani ordered to appear in a New York federal courtroom for a contempt hearing. It comes after he failed to turn over assets in a multi- million dollar defamation judgment brought by two Georgia election workers. Some of those assets, they include lease to his ritzy Manhattan apartment, a Mercedes, a signed Joe DiMaggio shirt and four Yankees World Series rings.
In southern California, two people are dead and 19 injured after a small plane crashed through the roof of a warehouse. At least 200 people were working inside. The plane crashed just two minutes after taking off. The people who died were believed to have been on the plane. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
A huge object falls from the sky, crashing into a remote village in Kenya. Kenya's space agency says that giant metal ring looks to be a fragment of a space object. The massive ring, measuring about eight feet tall and weighing more than 1,000 pounds. The space agency believes it is a separation ring from a rocket.
All right, time now to check in on weather as temperatures continue to drop. A major storm about to bring this winter's most dangerous weather yet.
Let's get to our meteorologist Elisa Raffa with more.
Elisa, good morning.
ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. We're looking at major impacts from this winter storm as we go through
the weekend. We're talking about difficult to nearly impossible travel, heavy blowing snow, significant ice that could cause sporadic power outages, problems with trees and power lines. You can see a lot of this coming across Missouri into parts of Illinois, Indiana. And a lot of this continues to spread east as we go into Monday.
Right now, we have winter storm watches in effect through Kansas. A lot of Missouri and southern Illinois, Indiana, and then in parts of Kentucky as well. Right now, the watches stretch nearly 900 miles. Again, this continues to spread east as we go into Monday. And a lot of these watches are in effect for some heavy snow and significant ice.
The storm really starts to develop on Saturday. We'll start to find the first inklings of it, but it really blows up with more moisture by Sunday. And you can see what were very much worried about. You see this stripe of snow and ice that cuts across Missouri and southern Illinois.
There will be a fine line with a lot of these different types of wintry precipitation. We'll have rain and even some storms down the front as you get towards the Gulf Coast. And then again, all of this spreads east as we go into Monday.
The icing and the snow problems will continue across Kentucky and then parts of West Virginia as well. So we're looking at as far as precipitation types, a whole bunch of them. Heavy snow, the strip of ice we're talking about sleet, freezing rain. We'll have rain and then even some storms across parts of Louisiana.
We do have a severe risk because we're looking at a threat of damaging winds and a few tornadoes.
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That's how dynamic and powerful this storm is -- Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Good to know. Elisa Raffa, thanks very much for that.
All right. Coming up after the break here on CNN this morning, New Orleans is beginning to sound like itself again.
Bourbon Street back open. There is heightened security. The former mayor of New Orleans joins me live next.
Plus, a test of Donald Trump's power. Mike Johnson facing a vote on the House floor to retain the gavel. Will Republicans fall in line?
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think it's going to be okay, Larry. We'll have maybe one no vote, I think -- I think we get it done on the first round.
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