A Louisiana State Trooper from Troop G from the northwest part of the state, keeps pedestrians from walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.(Staff photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune)
A Louisiana State Trooper from Troop G from the northwest part of the state, keeps pedestrians from walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.(Staff photo by Chris Granger, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune)
Fox News reported Wednesday morning that the then-unknown attacker in New Orleans had driven across the southern border earlier that week. President-elect Donald Trump chimed in eight minutes later with a false claim tying the attack to one of his favorite issues.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, a day later, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser blasted Mayor LaToya Cantrell for her administration’s failure to prevent Shamsud-Din Jabbar from turning onto Bourbon Street and killing and injuring people celebrating the new year.
“I’ve held my tongue long enough,” said Nungesser. “Her lack of leadership is an embarrassment.”
The carnage had yet to be cleared after the deadly attack on Bourbon Street when people inside and outside of Louisiana began using social media or found a microphone — often provided by national media outlets — to score political points or launch accusations, even while key facts remained unknown.
Dan Claitor, a former prosecutor, radio talk show host and state senator, wonders whether all of the harsh words serve families of the 14 people killed and dozens of injured by the 3:15 a.m. attack on New Year’s Day.
“A more thoughtful response is what the victims deserve,” said Claitor, a Republican turned lobbyist in Baton Rouge.
Rough language by others – many tying the attack to longstanding national political talking points — has embroiled them in controversy in the wake of the attack.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy suggested at a press conference Wednesday that the FBI might withhold information about its investigation – and he faced a torrent of criticism.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from the Shreveport area, doubled down on Trump’s comments by tying the attacker to the Biden administration’s “wide open border” – and was reproached for making the attack “a partisan issue.”
At the same press conference with Kennedy on the afternoon of the attack, Gov. Jeff Landry offered prayers to the victims and praised the two law enforcement officers who were wounded in the final confrontation with Jabbar.
But later, Landry found himself a target after posting a photo that night showing him smiling and giving a thumbs up outside an upscale New Orleans steakhouse after dinner that night. “Proud to be part of this incredibly resilient city,” Landry wrote. “See everyone at the game tomorrow!”
Critics wasted no time in calling the image tone deaf, including Republicans Against Trump, which tweeted, “Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.”
Looking back at the past few difficult days, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy laments that public officials are facing such criticism in the difficult hours immediately after a mass tragedy.
“It kind of goes with the territory,” Cassidy, a Republican, said in an interview. “You can choose to be negative, or you can choose to be positive. I choose to be positive. I choose to assume that people are trying to do their best.”
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, said Trump and Johnson ought to be offering a message of unity.
“This is a time that we should be united as Americans to push back against terrorism, push back against terrorist threats, and to demonstrate to the American people that we will use every resource that we have to combat these kind of hateful and heinous acts,” Carter said on CNN Thursday. “This is no time for political games or trickery to suggest somehow that one party or the other may be responsible.”
Trump has taken a different approach.
Shortly after its mistaken reporting about Jabbar having crossed the border, a Fox News broadcaster said he was an American citizen and Army veteran, but Trump didn’t change his tune.
Instead, late Wednesday evening, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States is “the “laughing stock” of the world due its “open borders with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership,” and he slammed the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice and Democratic state and local prosecutors. “Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to our Country.”
Johnson, who had just received Trump’s blessing to keep his job as speaker, said Wednesday night on the social media platform X, “Biden’s FBI prioritized going after Catholics, pro-life Americans, and parents at school board meetings rather than actual terrorists.”
Kennedy faced questions about some of his statements at the press conference Wednesday, 10 hours after the attack, when federal, state and local officials still believed that Jabbar had accomplices.
After Kennedy called the attack “objective evil,” he went on to question whether the FBI and other federal authorities would provide a full accounting to the public.
“Here’s what I want to ask from the federal government: Catch these people. Catch these people, and then tell the American people the truth,” Kennedy said.
Bob Mann, a former Democratic political aide and retired LSU communications professor, ripped into Kennedy the next day, writing “planting doubt about this investigation in hopes of winning Trump’s favor by lending credence to his lies could impede the investigation by making it less likely that certain people will cooperate.”
Kennedy declined to comment Friday.
Nungesser hit Cantrell hard, he said, because he’s the state’s chief tourism officer and has been pushing for years to make the French Quarter safe for local and visitors.
Cantrell did not respond publicly.
“The City of New Orleans will not be distracted by outside commentary and welcomes everyone to join the positive efforts of the unified command partners,” an aide said in a statement.
Educator and community activist Ashonta Wyatt, however, leaped to the mayor’s defense on WBOK-AM Friday morning, telling co-host Oliver Thomas, “Now is not the time for this conversation. Now is not the time to allow these folks to beat down on her…. Billy Nungesser had no business saying what he said.”
After his initial tweet and photo in front of Bon Ton Prime Rib unleashed criticism online Wednesday night, Landry further explained his purpose.
“Safety is our top priority and we want our guests and the world to know that Louisiana does not cower to radical islamic terrorists,” Landry wrote in a second tweet. “Our restaurants and all New Orleans has to offer remain open for business.”
That prompted more criticism, with some on social media calling the photo disgraceful.
Cassidy defended Landry.
“He’s trying to show you can still have a fun time and not live in fear, and that’s the message we should have,” Cassidy said in an interview at the Caesars Superdome during halftime of Thursday’s Sugar Bowl. “By the way, that’s why I’m at the game. I wasn’t planning on coming to the game. I said, ‘Wait a second. If we’re going to send a message that we can go out and have a good time. Let me go out and have a good time.’”
Email Tyler Bridges at tbridges@theadvocate.com.
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