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One World with Zain Asher
FBI Now Believes Suspect In New Orleans Attack Acted Alone; FBI Investigating Tesla Cybertruck Blast Near Trump Hotel; Lawmakers Gear Up For Potentially Chaotic House Speaker Vote; Police: 14 Killed In New Orleans Terror Attack; Vehicles Increasingly Used As Weapons In Terror Attacks; Police Step Up Searches In Probe Of Jet Incident; Displaced Palestinians Living In Tents Battle Winter In Gaza; Actor Sues NYT Over Blake Lively Dispute Reporting; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired January 02, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: He said that there was no one else involved. Obviously, there has been some discussion about the attack that we saw in
Las Vegas outside that Trump hotel and whether or not the two were linked, given various similarities.
The FBI now saying that the suspect here acted alone. And he also gave a timeline in terms of what happened. He said the suspect rented an F-150 on
December 30th and drove from Houston to New Orleans on December 31st on New Year's Eve. That's about a six-hour drive or so.
And during that trip, he posted videos online, essentially claiming support for ISIS, saying that he wanted to kill his family, but he was worried that
it wouldn't get enough attention in the media, and so opted for this route instead. And he did leave a will and testament.
I want to bring in CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.
So, John, whew, we got a lot of information from that press conference. Just the fact that this suspect did act alone. Just give us your take on
that, because obviously there was so much debate as to whether or not the fact that the attack that we saw outside that hotel in Las Vegas, just
given the similarities, the fact that they both rented vehicles from the Turo app. They were both members of the military. A lot of people were
saying that, look, that can't be pure coincidence. It turns out that it actually might have been.
JOHN MILLER, CNN'S CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, yes. So, as you stated, we learned a lot in the press conference. We
learned that the flash examination and they will go over it and they will do a more slow and meticulous examination, but the quick examination of the
three phones and the laptops don't show any communication between him or anyone else but also don't show any communication between the New Orleans
suspect and the Las Vegas suspect, so it tends to -- it tends to isolate that picture that the New Orleans suspect is acting on his own, the Las
Vegas suspect is acting on their own.
The question that will linger now is if they are not connected to each other, are they connected to the same propaganda or the same ISIS channels
or the same ISIS communications?
Right now, the FBI's position on Jabbar, the New Orleans suspect, is he was 100 percent inspired by ISIS.
Now, we have seen in multiple other attacks, including attacks I've investigated here in New York City as a police official where there was no
communication with the terrorist group, where their radicalization, their decision to join was simply driven by watching the propaganda adopting the
message and then following the instructions.
As for the reports yesterday, that you and I talked about in an earlier broadcast about, you know, four people on the ground who might have been
part of that, they were able to discount that saying they've identified those people, they have looked at those videotapes again, and while they
are looking at the coolers where the -- where the bombs were placed, they have nothing to do with the placement.
In fact, they have video of the subject placing those coolers himself. So we have moved forward in terms of our base of knowledge.
ASHER: And just in terms of the base of knowledge, I mean, obviously you touched on the coolers on Bourbon Street with the IEDs. I mean, talk to me
about the sort of level of confusion here just in terms of the mixed sort of messaging we're getting.
And, obviously, right when the attack happened, we were initially told that it may have been an act of terrorism. Then we were told, no, no, no, it
actually wasn't an act of terrorism. We were told that the suspect may not have acted alone. Now we're learning that he did act alone. Then we were
told, obviously, that 15 people died. Now we're being told it's 14 people, but 15, I guess, if you include the suspect.
And then this idea of the IEDs and the coolers and the two coolers on Bourbon Street, they had initially thought that the various people that
they thought that they saw on surveillance videos stopping to look inside the coolers may have been involved somehow, but it just turned out they
were passersby.
I mean, give us your take as somebody who has been in law enforcement on the level of mixed messaging here from the FBI that we're getting. How
common is it, this early on in an investigation?
MILLER: Zain, I know it's going to sound funny to say this, but this is completely normal. And what I mean by that is, I've been through this as a
law enforcement official. I've been through this as a journalist.
The one rule that I always go by, and I say this on television all the time, when these things begin to unfold, active shooter, potential
terrorist attack is, the story is fluid, the facts will change. The first story is never 100 percent accurate. It's the fog of war of the details
you're able to gather at the time. So let's break it down, right?
They get to the scene. They have not yet found out the identity of the person. They haven't been able to exploit his media, so they don't know
that there are these recordings where he says he did this for ISIS. So can they call it a terrorist attack until they know the motive? So that was the
first thing.
[12:05:03]
The second thing is, they're looking at videos and they see these IEDs that they were able to render safe, but they see people opening them and looking
at them and they're saying, OK, these people appear to be involved.
But there's also a million people on the street passing by. So it's hard to tell who's doing what exactly, but more careful examination, the ability to
identify those people, the ability to see the placement of the IEDs actually by the suspect himself begins to clear that picture up.
And then the search warrant at the - at the Mandeville address, you know, where they say OK but the place went on fire, but he was already dead, how
did that happen if there wasn't somebody else?
The ATF national response team, which is in charge of the forensics there, is looking at that scene and saying, it appears the fire started after he
left the place. It doesn't appear anyone else was there. And they're trying to figure out, what was the fusing system, the initiator or the set of
circumstances that caused that fire to start.
And I believe what they're trying to tell us is, it appears it was set up by the suspect himself so that the fire would start and destroy the rest of
the evidence that was where he created these devices.
ASHER: So, obviously, yes, you -- I love what you said there just about the fact that this is completely normal. There's still so much that we don't
know at this point. It's very early on in the investigation. And actually, Chris Raia from the FBI did say, listen, bear with us because this
investigation is barely 24 hours old. So, obviously, we don't have the facts, all the facts, just yet.
In terms of the investigation and where it moves on from here, you touched on the fact that the FBI had seized two laptops, three phones. They're also
going to be looking at surveillance video as well.
Just in terms of the laptops and the phones, what sorts of information are they trying to get from those devices do you think?
MILLER: So what they're looking for is, what was he consuming in those devices? Was he going on ISIS propaganda websites? Was he watching the
popular films that ISIS has created that are meant to radicalize people?
If they can find what platforms he was using to look at propaganda, how many times did he look at them? When did it start?
They have already gotten enough exploitation so they know his claim that he joined ISIS, you know, during the summer. So this is something that they
are already examining.
But they're going to be looking for that. They're also going to be looking for who were his most frequent calls to? Who were his least frequent calls
to? Who are those people and what did they discuss?
They're going to want to -- this is -- this is what Chris Raia said, we are going to look at everything in his life, quote-unquote. That's exactly what
they're going to do through those devices and then pulling that forward by interviewing people.
ASHER: All right. CNN chief law enforcement analyst John Miller, thank you so much.
All right. I want to welcome Jamil Jaffer, again, a former counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for U.S. National Security. He also served as a
former associate counsel to President George W. Bush.
Jamil, thank you so much for being with us again. We spoke about, I want to say it was 45 minutes ago, and you and I were talking about the links,
right, between what happened in Las Vegas and what happened in New Orleans.
And you and I were saying, it can't be just a coincidence, right, that you have two people, two men who were at in the U.S. military who both rented
vehicles from the Turo app, carrying out these attacks on pretty much the same day.
Based on what Chris Raia just said there, it turns out it actually might have been a coincidence. Just walk us through, what are the chances that,
you know, these two things actually aren't linked at all? It goes against what everybody was saying and believing at the time.
JAMIL JAFFER, FORMER COUNSEL TO THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY: Yes, Zain. You know, as John was just telling you and
talking about with you, this idea of this fog of war, right? Early on, we thought there were multiple people involved in this attack in New Orleans.
We thought he didn't act alone in part because people were going by the coolers, presumably checking them to see if there were drinks in them.
And it turns out that he had placed those two coolers in place and he didn't have anybody else involved with him. At least that's what they think
as of now. Again, that may change once again, but that's what we think as of today.
I think the same thing is going on with respect to the Las Vegas investigation and the connection between the two.
What Christopher Raia has said, as you correctly pointed out, was that at this time, we're not aware of any connections. We're not aware of any link.
We understand that they were right on the same app.
But again, there are these coincidences, both in the military, the same app, ramping from far away and traveling to the destination of their
attack. Colorado to Vegas in one instance, Texas to New Orleans in another, right?
There's so many similarities here that you've got to wonder, is there something else going on here? Again, Raia, was very clear, he's the deputy
assistant director for counterterrorism by the FBI, very clear that as of today, there's no connection.
[12:10:03]
But again, we may learn more down the road, as we learn more about the new suspect there in Vegas, whether he had some connection to this individual
in Jabbar in New Orleans, or there was just some common thread between them, or maybe nothing.
ASHER: And how are investigators going to look at why this particular target? I mean, obviously, you know, if you're a terrorist, Bourbon Street
on New Year's Eve does fit the criteria if you are, you know, planning to do a ramming attack, lots of people, very busy, narrow streets. But there
are a lot of places in the United States on New Year's Eve that would also have those characteristics as well.
He's from Texas. He drove six hours to New Orleans. Why? Why this particular target?
JAFFER: Well, I think a couple things one of the things you just laid out the gathering of a lot of people one space revelers. And like and then you
think about the fact that if he was radicalized by ISIS, as we now believe he was, he may be offended at a moral level by the activities in New
Orleans, the drunkenness the shows of sexuality, right, that might be something that he finds particularly offensive and wants to target as a --
as a, you know, because of his mental health status, because of his beliefs system and the like.
You know, what we've heard about him was that in recent weeks and months, he had been isolating himself. He kept to himself. And he wasn't even seen
at his local mosque. So one wonders how much of this was his religious identity, or his believed religious identity, versus his own mental illness
that we think he had, his financial troubles, the troubles of his family, and the like.
We know there's something going on in this man, obviously, in crisis, and then acting out in a way that killed 14 innocent civilians. Obviously, a
terrible situation.
ASHER: One thing that stuck to me in terms of what Chris Raia just said there was that during that long-distance road trip from Houston to New
Orleans, when he was posting those videos or recording those videos, he said that he initially wanted to harm his family, but he was worried that
it wouldn't get enough attention or it wouldn't get the sorts of attention that he wanted from the news media, so he chose this route instead. What do
you make of that?
JAFFER: I mean, can you imagine? This is a man who had -- who was married twice, divorced twice, had two older daughters, a younger son, as we've
learned. He wanted to kill those people and wanted to do it to get media attention. That alone suggests a level of depravity, a level of mental
illness that goes beyond, you know, anything that we can conceive of. And then he decides, oh, no, that's not good enough. Let me drive to New
Orleans and set -- try and set off two bombs and then drive a car into a crowd.
One might wonder also give more the bombs replaced whether, you know, in a lot of these attacks you set off one bomb, the people are killed. And then
as the first responders are coming in, you set off a second bomb to attack the first responders. Maybe that's what he was trying to do as well, force
people to move from the bombs he had set off, that he put in place at one hand and then maybe ran into them.
There may have been some coincidence there. They didn't obviously go off at the time he expected or he didn't set them off for whatever reason and now
we are where we are.
ASHER: All right. CNN senior law enforcement analyst and -- Jamil Jaffer, sorry. I read the wrong thing, I apologize. Jamil Jaffer, thank you so much
for being with us. We appreciate it. It's live television, hey, what can I say? We always appreciate you. Thank you so much.
JAFFER: I appreciate the promotion.
ASHER: OK.
JAFFER: Thanks, Zain.
ASHER: Yes, I gave you a promotion. Thank you so much. OK.
CNN's Natasha Chen joins us live now from Las Vegas. So, Natasha, we learned just a moment ago from that news conference that the links that we
thought that there were between what happened in Las Vegas and, of course, what happened in New Orleans turned out to be pure coincidences. Just walk
us through what more we're learning at this point.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, Zain. That coincidences, of course, are that they have ties to military service and
that the two vehicles used in these incidents seem to have been rented from the same platform, Turo.
In this case in Las Vegas, that the vehicle, the Cybertruck, seems to have been rented from Colorado. And that's what we're hearing from the FBI
there, saying that specialized teams are doing what they call law enforcement activity at a residence in Colorado Springs right now.
They said that they will be there for several hours. We have a crew there observing what's going on at that townhome complex. And they said that that
is connected to this explosion that happened a day ago here just behind us at the Trump International Hotel.
There is some caution tape up at the moment, but the hotel still allows full access for guests to come in and out at the moment. Everybody's able
to check in. There's still a bit of police presence.
But we are waiting for more information to see if the FBI will name the person connected with this explosion.
Right now, from several U.S. officials telling our colleagues over at the Pentagon, they say that the man that's connected to the rental of the
Cybertruck was Special Forces. That he is 10th Special Forces group, ranked him a Master Sergeant, a senior enlisted rank, and that he was on active
duty and was on leave from Germany where he was serving at the time when this happened behind us yesterday.
[12:15:13]
So all we know is that the truck was rented in Colorado and that the driver drove it here by 7:30 AM on New Year's Day drove up and down the Vegas
strip that's close to us right now about an hour before the explosion, drove past the hotel and then came right here to the valet, drop off.
Actually, we see another Cybertruck pulling up around that same spot right now. That's about where he would have pulled up.
So, again, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police saying that the damage from this explosion actually was quite limited because of the
construction of the Cybertruck and the way that it was made.
And so actually the glass of the front of the hotel was not even damaged. And that's why we're seeing activity and operations as normal today, Zain.
ASHER: All right. Natasha Chen, live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right. Still to come here on ONE WORLD, actor Justin Baldoni says "The New York Times" failed to vet his co-star Blake Lively's sexual harassment
allegations. He's suing the paper. We'll have details for you ahead.
Plus, the high stakes U.S. Speaker vote Friday on Capitol Hill, why votes against Speaker Mike Johnson could hamper the certification of Donald
Trump's presidential win. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. To U.S. politics now and fresh drama brewing this New Year on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives vote Friday
to elect the chamber's leader, even with President-elect Donald Trump's endorsement, House Speaker Mike Johnson, must race to win over a number of
Republican holdouts to hang on to the top job.
And he's facing the narrowest House majority in nearly a century. He's essentially cannot afford to lose more than one Republican vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHSNON (R-LA): It's a numbers game. We have the smallest margin in U.S. history. We'll have a margin of probably two votes tomorrow during
that, so we can only afford to lose one or two.
But I think we'll get it done. I really do, Lawrence. I've talked to every single one of those friends and colleagues over the holidays. We'll be
talking about process reforms inside the House. And I've encouraged all of them.
And I think the reason they're all going to vote yes is this. We're shifting into a brand-new paradigm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Our senior data reporter, Harry Enten, joins us live now in New York with that grin on his face. What is -- what is that grin for? Just walk us
through what happens just in terms of if he cannot win this vote.
[12:20:11]
We've obviously been here before, Harry. We've seen the chaos that ensues. If he doesn't win the vote, if not Mike Johnson, then who?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I have to ask you a question beforehand. Do you remember the show Blossom that was on in the early '90s?
ASHER: Of course, I watched it. It was a big hit in the U.K., actually.
ENTEN: Right. Joey, the, you know, the brother on that show said, whoa, that was a line that he used. And that's --
ASHER: Yes, yes.
ENTEN: -- sort of the -- that's the word I would use to describe this entire situation that we have going on in the U.S. Congress. All right?
And, you know, I just want to note just the numbers game here, you know. You've been talking about it. Mike Johnson's been talking about it. But I
think it's even more extreme than you let on in your intro read there, because, yes, back in 1931, after the 1930 elections, the GOP had this very
narrow majority.
But then, of course, there were vacancies. And in fact, the first session didn't take place until like December of 1931. And by that point, the
Democrats actually had the majority and it was wider than what we're seeing right now.
So Mike Johnson's potential major headache, it's the smallest majority at the start of a first session since at least 1917. My goodness gracious.
Look at this. Republicans with 219 votes because Matt Gaetz says he's in fact not going to sit in this Congress. The Democrats right nearby with 215
likely to divide tomorrow.
And, you know, when we look at that math, you know, you -- Mike Johnson was kind of doing it. So I want to break this down in terms of scenarios in
which GOP representatives can sink Mike Johnson's speakers bid on a given ballot, if at least -- all right. Let's take a look at scenario number one.
If two Republicans vote against Mike Johnson, of course, assuming there are 434 members who vote and no Democrats vote for Johnson, if just two
Republicans vote against him, he does not, in fact, become speaker in a given ballot.
How about scenario number two? Because I like two scenarios. If one Republican votes against him and two abstain, that is vote president, Mike
Johnson, in fact, does not become speaker.
So this is a game that we've played before, right? We were mentioning it earlier on in the segment.
Look at this. Ballots it took to elect a speaker. The last two times that we've had this sort of wonderful string of events come together, back in
January of 2023, it took 15 ballots. Fifteen ballots, my goodness gracious, for Kevin McCarthy to become the speaker. That was the most since 1859,
1860. That was long ago.
I know that we have some old folks in our society right now. I don't think any of them are quite that old. And it was the first multi-ballot race
since 1923.
And in fact, we've had two of those, two of those in the last two years. Mike Johnson, of course, it took four ballots to get him. If we don't get
one on the first ballot to answer your question at the top, well, we'll go to a second ballot. And then if we don't have one, we'll go to a third
ballot, if we don't have a majority.
And then I think the question is, if not Mike Johnson, then who? How long can he actually stand being put up for speaker and getting denied it, if in
fact he is denied on that first ballot? That's a question of which I do not have an answer to at this particular point.
But I may have to develop one because the bottom line is starting tomorrow, we could be in for many ballots and I hope you'll join with me in watching
those votes.
ASHER: Well, listen, Kevin McCarthy, it took 15 rounds, OK? So we'll see how many, what kind of stamina Mike Johnson has in terms of the number of
rounds he's going to go.
ENTEN: We will find out. We already know that, you know, it took four times to get him back in October of 2023. Remember, he wasn't even the first one
that was put up that time around. So we'll see, but I think any of these folks who get put up will have more stamina than I am because, to be
honest, after New Year's, I'm kind of a little burnt out.
ASHER: Despite Donald Trump telling everyone, get in line, support Mike Johnson, it's unclear if they will. We'll see what happens tomorrow, Harry.
ENTEN: We'll see.
ASHER: Harry Enten live for us. Thank you. I love that "Blossom" reference, by the way.
ENTEN: Thank you.
ASHER: Harry Enten, live for us. Thank you.
All right. Still to come --
ENTEN: Whoa.
ASHER: Authorities are rushing to piece together why a Texas man rammed a truck through Bourbon Street in New Orleans killing 15 people. We have the
latest for you on the investigation, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:25:00]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher.
The FBI is piecing together a troubling picture of the suspected New Orleans attacker. The FBI says they now believe 42-year-old U.S. Army
veteran, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, acted alone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER RAIA, DEPUTY ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR: This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and it an evil act.
This was obviously a critical incident and with that lots of information and tips come pouring in from law enforcement, first responders, and the
public. We have been aggressively running down these tips and information.
As you all know, that takes time and we will continue to do so until every lead has been followed through on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Authorities have searched a Texas home they believe is tied to the suspect. Police are reviewing videos Jabbar made as they rushed to piece
together how he went from a military veteran to perpetrating a deadly rampage.
Early Wednesday morning Jabbar rammed his truck through a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street killing at least 15 people including himself and injuring
dozens more.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports on what we know about the attacker so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The suspect behind the terror attack in New Orleans up until several years ago appeared to be
quite normal, an army veteran who went to college and worked in real estate and I.T., had started to have some financial troubles.
He posted a YouTube video, though, as recently as four years ago, where he described that he had been born in Texas, that he was trying to get this
real estate company off the ground. He identified himself as a veteran.
We want to play you a short clip of this, even though this video has been taken down because it gives you a window into the background of this
suspect.
SHAMSUD-DIN JABBAR, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: So I'm born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and now live in Houston. And I've been here all my life, with the
exception of traveling for the military, where I spent 10 years as a human resources specialist.
LAH: You're looking at a picture from the U.S. Army. It comes from a 2013 U.S. Army Facebook post that identified him as an army staff sergeant
working as an information technology team chief for the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team.
[12:30:14]
Now looking online, he appeared to have very much a normal background. He went to college. He went to Georgia State University. The university
confirms that he did graduate with a bachelor's degree. He worked in real estate in Texas for four years.
And then things started to change. There are divorce records that show in 2012, from his first wife, she sued him to try to get child support. And
then in his second marriage, there was a filing that the suspect, the would-be suspect, would eventually file, saying that he was tens of
thousands of dollars in debt from his business, that he was at risk of foreclosure, and that he had credit card debt.
And that's why he was petitioning the judge to try to back out of some of those payments.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Time now for The Exchange. Joining me live now is Colin Clarke. He's the director of policy and research at the Soufan Group, which
is a global intelligence and security consultancy. He also wrote the book, "After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future of the Terrorist
Diaspora. Colin, thank you so much for being with us.
I mean, not sure if you could hear our reporter Kyung Lah's piece there, but she was essentially describing how seemingly normal this individual
was. A lot of people who interacted with him described him as cool, calm, collected, no red flags, your ordinary guy. How does somebody like that end
up radicalized, Colin?
COLIN CLARKE, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH, SOUFAN GROUP: Thanks for having me. Well, there is no typology of what a quote-unquote typical
terrorists looks like. People come from different age brackets, different demographics, different ethnic and religious backgrounds. It seems that
according to some reporting I read, his ex-wife said that he converted to Islam at some point in the last year or two and began to radicalize over
that time.
So really the Islamic State and pushing out their propaganda. They're looking for people that have cognitive openings that are vulnerable. And
it's so -- just so happens that this individual may have been kind of hooked by what ISIS is attempting to do.
ASHER: So when you say vulnerable, I mean, if you look at his profile, I mean, obviously, there were financial difficulties. He was divorced twice.
He had, obviously, kids that he had to pay financial support for. One of his wives, I believe, sued him for child support.
When you talk about vulnerabilities, is that what you're looking at? Those sorts of things? And obviously there was turmoil in his life.
CLARKE: Yes. There's always a range of social, financial and other pressures or triggers that we look at. And we try to take a step back and
look comprehensively at the entire picture.
But there have been terrorists that have been radicalized while married, while well off financially. Again, it would be a lot easier if people came
from the same background but, you know, we're typically looking at the behaviors of these folks.
And it turns out now this is somebody that recorded a video and pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State and was inspired. This is exactly straight
out of the ISIS playbook. They're looking to inspire Westerners to commit these kinds of attacks.
This is going to be of extra value from them -- for them from a propaganda perspective because he was a former U.S., you know, a U.S. Army soldier.
And so that's going to be something that they'll likely highlight in the propaganda that they put out on the back end of this attack.
ASHER: Well, it's also interesting. I mean, yes, of course, he was radicalized and at least, at the very least, inspired by ISIS. They're
looking into seeing whether he was directed by ISIS, but at least, you know, inspired by ISIS.
What's interesting is that at the press conference we had from the FBI just about an hour or so ago, they were saying that while he was driving to the
site of the attack, to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, driving from Houston to Texas, obviously Houston rather, to New Orleans, he posted videos or he
recorded videos while driving, essentially saying that he wanted to kill his family and he was going to kill his family, but he was worried that
wouldn't get enough attention.
So this is the route he chose instead, this ramming attack in New Orleans that ended up killing 14 people. Just give us your take on that, the fact
that he was sort of debating as to whether or not to just sort of kill his family and that was going to be the route he took versus doing something
like this.
CALRKE: Yes, it's really interesting from that perspective. It's someone that wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and he thought that merely
killing his own family wouldn't be enough. So some clear mental issues, right?
But we can't always divorce these from more sinister and nefarious motives like wanting to glorify the Islamic State or die for a cause what he
considers greater than himself. In this case, Jihad, right? And what ISIS is attempting to push.
[12:35:00]
So really, there's a lot of different triggers here coming from multiple factors and something that the FBI is going to unearth in the coming days
and weeks ahead.
ASHER: Yes. So for a lot of people who are radicalized and who end up sort of committing these acts of terror, how much of a motivating factor is
fame, glorification, having the world know your name?
CLARKE: That's part of it. Just like we see with school shooters sometimes wanting to die and go down in infamy. That's absolutely part of this.
And so some of these events can be more kind of quotidian, more run of the mill. But this is going to get a lot of mileage. We already see online in
the broader kind of Islamic State ecosystem what we call fan boys or cheerleaders promoting him, praising him.
And again, this was a fairly complex and sophisticated attack, multiple layers of redundancy built in here, not just a vehicle, but an assault
rifle, improvised explosive devices. That's why I'm kind of waiting to see if he was actually in touch with someone from the Islamic State, if this
was what we call cyber coaching or the result of a kind of virtual entrepreneur attack, that would, you know, make sense.
Or he may have just been merely inspired and gone about the tactics, techniques, and procedures on his own. We'll have to see.
ASHER: All right. Colin Clarke, live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. The attacker used a truck as a weapon to kill people on crowded streets. That's very popular with tourists. As CNN's Brian Todd reports
using vehicles and terror attacks has become more common in recent years. We want to warn you that some of the video you're about to see is indeed
very disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One witness to the New Orleans attack says, she can't unhear the screams of the victims.
KIMBERLY STRICKLIN, WITNESSED NEW ORLEANS ATTACKS: I remember the screeching and him gunning the car and the impact and the screams, like I
said, the screams of those girls. I mean, I don't know that I'll be able to forget that.
TODD (voice-over): The kind of horror that many cities have experienced in recent years when attackers turned vehicles into weapons.
Just a few days before this Christmas, a car slams into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing at least five people, injuring more than
200. The suspect, a doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who'd expressed anti-Muslim, far-right views.
Like Magdeburg and New Orleans, other cities have experienced horrific vehicle attacks during holidays.
November 2021, a suspect with a long criminal history drives an SUV through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six, injuring
more than 60.
Berlin, December 2016, a tractor trailer rams into a crowd at a bustling Christmas market, killing at least 12 people, injuring dozens of others.
The suspect, a rejected asylum seeker, was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.
And the deadliest vehicle attack ever, July 14th, 2016, Bastille Day in Nice, France, a Tunisian-born French resident drives a 20-ton truck nearly
a mile through a crowded seaside promenade, 86 people killed, more than 200 others wounded. ISIS claimed responsibility.
Why do these vehicle attacks often seem more deadly than other tactics?
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: A vehicle attack doesn't require any special training. You rent a vehicle, buy a vehicle and use it
as a weapon.
Secondly, just like school shooters look at Columbine or other famous school shootings and kind of obsess about them and terrorists examine other
terrorists. And they say, well, what worked? Fairly vehicle rammings work.
TODD (voice-over): October 2017, an Islamic extremist from Uzbekistan jumps a curb in a rental truck in Manhattan, drives down a bicycle path along the
West Side Highway and kills eight people. Authorities found a note near the truck claiming the attack was in the name of ISIS.
A couple of months earlier, a domestic extremist, a white nationalist, slammed his vehicle into a crowd of counter protesters at the Unite the
Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one woman and injuring almost 20 others.
Analyst Peter Bergen says vehicle attacks with their blood-curdling optics have a distinct psychological impact.
BERGEN: Certainly, there is a short-term effect where it terrorizes people. People are worried about going out in places where there are a lot of
people gathered.
TODD: Security analysts say one somewhat common characteristic of these vehicle attacks is that many of them took place in cities where tourism is
a key part of the local economy.
One official with the New Orleans Tourism Association says it's too early to tell what effect this attack will have on tourism in that city, which
was still trying to recover from tourism declines stemming from the covid pandemic and even from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Breaking news in CNN. We've just learned in the last few minutes, sources are saying that the man who rented the Tesla Cybertruck
that exploded in Las Vegas has been identified and confirmed dead. The man who rented the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas has now been
identified and confirmed dead.
[12:40:11]
Sources say that Matthew Livelsberger rented the vehicle that exploded in front of the Trump Hotel. He was actually an active Special Forces Sergeant
in the U.S. Army and had been on leave at the time of his death.
We'll be right back with more after the short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: South Korea's impeached president is vowing, in his words, to fight to the end. Yoon Suk Yeol is facing an attempt by authorities to arrest him
on insurrection charges over his short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3rd.
Yoon was impeached in mid-December, suspending his presidential powers, while the Constitutional Court reviews his case.
Separately, police in South Korea are stepping up the investigation of Sunday's crash of a Jeju Air jet that killed 179 people. They've been
searching Muan International Airport, the scene of the tragedy as well as the carrier's offices.
The search comes after South Korean officials announced that a damaged flight data recorder from the plane will be sent to the U.S. for analysis.
CNN's Mike Valerio picks up that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the biggest headline today is certainly about the cockpit voice recorder. And we now know that South
Korea's transportation ministry has a transcript of what was said on that voice recorder. Communication between the cockpit and the control tower.
But in terms of when we, the public, are going to be able to see that transcript or hear audio from the voice recorder, those are still
unanswered questions.
However, South Korea's transportation ministry was able to reveal just one specific detail about what they've heard on the voice recorder. And they
told us this. They can't verify, they cannot verify the specific timing of when the cockpit and control tower had difficulty communicating.
Now, we do know, before landing, the control tower warned the plane about birds in the area. Minutes later, the pilot called out, mayday, mayday,
mayday, and then bird strike. The plane would then crash a short time later.
Now, as for the police searches of the airport and airline offices, a search warrant was issued on charges of, quote, professional negligence
resulting in death and injury. That's according to South Jeolla police, and South Jeolla is the province where the crash happened.
[12:45:04]
So, what we're looking for in the days ahead is a concrete time frame on when the flight data recorder is going to be sent to the United States. It
is too damaged to be assessed here in South Korea. The NTSB is taking the lead on that front of the investigation.
Certainly, a somber start to the new year here in South Korea. The headlines and the pictures in the paper certainly tell it all. So many
families and loved ones leaving offerings on these tables that are just steps away from the crash site in memory of the victims, and more than
1,500 people volunteering their time to help families at the airport.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Palestinians in Gaza are beginning the New Year the same way they ended it last year, living in constant fear of airstrikes. An Israeli drone
attack today on central Gaza killed eight people working at a gas station, that's according to a local hospital.
Earlier, Israel targeted a tent cap sheltering displaced families in Southern Gaza. Authorities say at least 11 people were killed, including
children and the head of Gaza's police.
The Al-Maswami (ph) area in Khan Yunis was designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone. A Palestinian describes the chaos in the aftermath of
the strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was sitting with my children and my brother's wife in the area when we suddenly saw something fall. It
turned the entire area into dust, took away the tents and the entire area. We were screaming. I did not know where my children were or where my wife
was. I started running like crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Harsh winter weather is making the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza even more dire. Thousands of displaced people are living in
makeshift tents. Several people, including children, have died in recent days due to severe cold weather. And now heavy rainfall is flooding the
tents and adding to their misery.
Paula Hancocks reports. We have to warn you that some of the video she's going to show you is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I did everything I could my son, I swear I did.
A father seeks forgiveness from his 20-day old baby. Juma (ph) froze to death in a tent in Gaza.
His twin, Ali (ph) is fighting for his life in intensive care.
His father says, I came from the north, from Beit Lahiya because of the Israeli bombing, only to come here and watch them die from cold and hunger.
Juma is one of at least five babies to have died from hypothermia in Gaza in recent days.
As funeral prayers are recited above two tiny bodies, children look on. Trauma buried in eyes that have seen almost 15 months of horror.
Ali is fighting sepsis. His doctor says he is in critical condition.
They live in a tent, the doctor says, in this freezing winter weather, even adults suffer from the cold. So, imagine the severe threat to young
children.
Juma's mother folds up clothes he will never again wear. She shows a heating device given by a U.N. agency the day before he died. She never had
the chance to wrap him in it.
Since Juma's death, conditions in Gaza have only worsened, storms and torrential rain making surviving in makeshift tents almost impossible.
This man from Jabalia Camp stands outside his flooded tent. He says it collapsed under the weight of the rain. His family's bedding is soaked. As
children walk by, he says, more water comes in.
This barefooted boy tries to dig a mud defense for his family's tent. But the sheer volume of water makes most barricades worthless.
Despite the heavy rains transforming streets into rivers, drinking water remains scarce, causing chaos at the stations when the water trucks arrive.
Some try to see the fun side of the rain, shoeless children running between the water-logged tents.
But the misery is acute. This new born baby, Sala Mahmud Al Fazi (ph) froze to death on Christmas Day. The cruel irony, she died in a tent in Al-
Mawasi, an area Israel has designated a humanitarian zone.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:50:09]
ASHER: The actor accused of orchestrating a smear campaign against actress, Blake Lively, is suing "The New York Times" for $250 million.
Justin Baldoni, Lively's co-star in the film "It Ends With Us," says "The New York Times" failed to vet Lively's sexual harassment claims and that
the paper relied almost entirely on Lively's version of events.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Actor, Justin Baldoni, who also directed the hit movie "It Ends with Us," is now
suing "The New York Times" for $250 million, launching a counter attack in an escalating controversy with his co-star, Blake Lively.
JUSTIN BALDONI, AMERICAN ACTOR: What's your name?
Baldoni and his team saying the newspaper was party to a, quote, vicious smear campaign by Lively who filed an earlier complaint accusing Baldoni of
sexual harassment on set and retaliation during the promotion of the film.
It's just the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between the two actors that erupted during production of the movie, in which Baldoni plays
Lively's on-screen abusive husband.
The complaint filed by Baldoni and a total of 10 plaintiffs, including his producing partners and publicist states. "The Times" relied almost entirely
on Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim while disregarding an abundance of evidence.
Lively's original complaint was filed with the California Civil Rights department almost two weeks ago and was first obtained by "The New York
Times." It alleges Baldoni and his team tried to destroy Lively's reputation after she raised concerns about repeated sexual harassment and
other disturbing behavior by Mr. Baldoni.
"The Times" published their article December 21st, highlighting excerpts from the civil rights complaint, including text messages from a crisis PR
manager for Baldoni, that say, quote, we can bury anyone.
"The New York Times" telling CNN, they will, quote, vigorously defend against the lawsuit, saying, our story was meticulously and responsibly
reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: And vetting the allegations and reviewing the material, that's where they ended up. But I think it's going to take a
little while to determine and see exactly where all this falls, because there's a lot of conflicting claims, but that's what litigation is for.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Baldoni's complaint alleges the paper omitted text messages to serve Lively's narrative, saying, the article central thesis
encapsulated in a defamatory headline designed to immediately mislead the reader. The complaint says, it was Lively, not plaintiffs who engaged in a
calculated smear campaign.
[12:55:06]
Further saying, Lively used sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production. And that Lively's
public image suffered as a result of a series of high-profile blunders --
BLAKE LIVELY, AMERICAN ACTRESS: Grab your friends. Wear your florals.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- what she tried to deflect with her complaint.
Attorneys for Lively sent CNN a statement on Tuesday, saying nothing in this lawsuit changes anything regarding her claims.
Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. That does it for this hour of ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher. Thank you so much for watching. Our breaking news coverage of the New
Orleans terror attack continues on "CNN NEWS CENTRAL," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:00:00]
END
