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President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Monday met with families, survivors and local law enforcement affected by the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people and wounded dozens of others.
They met privately shortly before Biden arrived at St. Louis Cathedral, where he’s scheduled to speak at an interfaith prayer service Monday evening.
Upon his arrival in New Orleans, Biden was greeted by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat, and others, including the special agent in charge of the investigation for the FBI, Lionel Myrthil, and the wife of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Laura Cassidy.
The Bidens stopped at Bourbon Street in the afternoon. Jill Biden laid flowers at a memorial honoring the victims, and they both stood quietly with their heads bowed.
The White House announced Monday that the Biden administration would allocate additional federal resources to support New Orleans’ preparations for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras after it determined that the events “require extensive federal inter agency support.”
“We will use every tool available to fill local capability shortfalls to assure safe and secure events,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“Federal assistance could include explosive detection canine teams, cyber risk assessments, venue screening and field intelligence teams and air security and tactical operation support, in addition to the support already provided by state and local governments,” Jean-Pierre added.
Referring to the suspect, Biden said in a national address last week that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, an Army veteran from Texas whom federal investigators identified as the attacker, had posted videos on social media “indicating he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”
Jabbar rammed a rented pickup truck into crowds celebrating the dawn of the new year on Bourbon Street in the early hours of Jan. 1. He was killed in a shootout with police shortly after the attack.
Zoë Richards is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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