By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-02 16:41:31 | Updated at 2025-01-08 17:51:04
6 days ago
President-elect Donald Trump's pick for national security advisor is calling for the U.S. to close the border after the deadly terror attack in New Orleans early New Year's Day.
In an interview Thursday morning, Mike Waltz, who has been tapped as a key figure in the incoming administration, said that Trump has been kept informed.
'We've got to take a hard look at our defenses. First and foremost, close our border where we've had over 300 people on the terrorist watch list traverse our border in the last years,' Waltz said.
His comments come after Trump also zeroed in on the border following the horrific attack that left 15 dead.
The FBI identified the driver in the attack as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Texas. Investigators do not believe he acted alone.
A night of celebration in New Orleans quickly turned into chaos and terror when Jabbar drove a pickup truck into a crowd out welcoming the new year on busy Bourbon Street before he was killed in a shootout with police.
The rented truck was loaded with weapons and one 'potential' improvised explosive device. An Islamic State flag was found in the trailer.
On Thursday, Waltz said terrorists around the world 'didn't get the memo that the war on terror is over.
'They still hate us. They are plotting and planning to attack us. And we have to be on maximum guard,' he said.
Incoming National Security Adviser Mike Waltz called for the U.S. to close the border following the New Orleans terror attack on New Year's Day
Waltz said while the U.S. needs to have a defensive aspect, he also called for an 'offensive aspect, and taking a hard look at our strategy overseas.'
The Florida congressman said the U.S. needs to look at its posturing for intelligence operatives to 'keep a lid on ISIS, Al-Qaeda and others.'
Waltz praised law enforcement for their response to the attack but said there was a failure in it having not been prevented.
'We need to look at whether we had intel indicators. We need to look at how he was radicalized online,' he said.
The incoming national security advisor did note that it not yet clear who Jabbar may have been in contact with from overseas, or if the attack was completely homegrown.
'I can't emphasize enough: close the border. Secure our sovereignty,' Waltz repeated.
'The entire world knows that we have an open border. They intend to hit us, and they are pushing people into our interior to do just that,' he said.
He claimed that if the U.S. is 'looking internally' it can't 'be defending ourselves abroad.'
Police have identified the killer as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. Army veteran who was born in Texas and was inspired by ISIS to conduct the vehicle attack on people out celebrating on Bourbon Street
The rented white truck used in the attack which left 15 dead on New Year's Day in New Orleans
His remarks come as Trump has also seized on the U.S. border despite the investigation being ongoing and the attacker being identified as a U.S.-born citizen.
'This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually nonexistent leadership. The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job,' the 78-year-old wrote in a social media post just after midnight Tuesday.
The president-elect claimed that the U.S. is 'breaking down' as he prepares to return to office later this month.
'With the Biden “Open Border’s Policy” I said, many times during 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,' he added in another Truth Social post Tuesday morning.
FBI agents at the scene of the early morning New Year's Day attack on revelers and workers out late on Bourbon Street, New Orleans famous party district
A White House spokesperson said that President Biden would be convening members of his homeland security team in the White House Situation Room Tuesday afternoon to receive an update on the investigation into the New Orleans attack.
He addressed the terror attack Wednesday night from Camp David where he reiterated that the attacker was a Texas-born American inspired by ISIS and urged 'no one should jump to conclusions.'
Biden also said investigators were looking into any possible connections between the attack in New Orleans and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside Trump's Las Vegas hotel.
