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Donald Trump and his Republican allies have used the terrorist attack in New Orleans to blame Joe Biden and deliver a final burst of criticism of his policies in the final weeks of his presidency.
The incident, which killed at least 15 people, and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas have also fueled Republican narratives that claim crime is out of control — and that only Trump’s new national security team and a crackdown on immigration will fix it.
“With Biden’s ‘Open Border Policy,’ I have said, many times at rallies and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism and other forms of violent crime will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe. That time has come, only worse than ever imagined,” Trump wrote on Social Truth Thursday morning.
Trump and other Republicans initially claimed — falsely — that the New Orleans shooter was an immigrant from across the southern border. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who authorities said was inspired by the Isis terror group to carry out the attack and who was killed in it, was a 42-year-old US military veteran from Texas who had worked for financial services groups including Accenture . and Deloitte.
On Thursday, the FBI said he acted alone. The agency also said it had found no link between the New Orleans attack and the Cybertruck explosion in Nevada, which killed one person and injured seven others.
But Trump allies still doubled down on claims that Biden’s immigration policies – or immigration in general – were behind the violence, echoing the attack lines Trump deployed in defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 US presidential race.
“Islamic terrorism is important. It’s not ‘native,’” senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller wrote on X. “It didn’t exist here before migration brought it here.”
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that the US was “weak” on national security, encouraging groups such as ISIS. “President Trump will come into office and we will secure that border. We will carry out a deportation operation. We focus and prioritize public safety threats and national security threats.”
Republicans close to Trump are also trying to take advantage of the attack to inject momentum into their campaign to secure swift Senate confirmation of some of the president-elect’s top national security jobs.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be secretary of defense, Tulsi Gabbard, his pick to be director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, his nominee to head the FBI, are all controversial picks facing battle to secure Senate approval in the coming weeks.
“The US Senate must confirm President Trump’s national security team as soon as possible. Lives depend on it,” John Barrasso, a Republican senator from Wyoming, wrote on X shortly after the attack in Louisiana.
“This is why the induction of President Trump’s cabinet is so important,” Mike Waltz, the Florida congressman selected by Trump to be his national security adviser, told Fox News on Thursday. “This has to be in place on day one, guys, because this is a moment, in transition, of vulnerability.”
Deep skepticism from Trump allies of federal law enforcement agencies has also resurfaced after the New Orleans attack. Lawmakers close to the president-elect criticized the FBI for focusing too much on “diversity, equity and inclusion” and for its role in the Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump.
Mike Collins, a Republican from Georgia, questioned why Alethea Duncan, the FBI special agent in charge in New Orleans, initially said the attack was not a “terrorist event.” Iowa Republican Ashley Hinson called on Christopher Wray, the FBI director, and Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, to testify about the attack in Congress.
“The FBI must regain the trust of the American people. This means FULL transparency and accountability throughout this investigation. It also means eliminating DEI and waking up distractions and focusing only on countering threats to protect Americans,” Hinson wrote in X on Thursday.
Biden spoke Wednesday about the attack in New Orleans and the investigation from Camp David, and convened his homeland security team to discuss the latest developments Thursday.
On Trump’s side, Waltz has been in touch with Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, but said they are not counting on the outgoing administration much.
“They are trying to gather information. But we’re not expecting what we’re getting from this White House. Everyone has their own feelings so we can keep President Trump as informed as possible,” he said.
