In the wake of the horrific New Year’s attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, that left fifteen people dead and dozens injured, an attack that appears to have been connected to ISIS or other Islamist terror networks and carried out by a radicalized Muslim United States Army veteran, President Biden gave a press conference that one Fox News host described as “very strange.”
In the press conference, which took place in Camp David and involved Biden reading off a teleprompter and not answering questions, the president said, “I know I can speak for all Americans when I say our hearts are with the people of New Orleans after the despicable attack that occurred in the early morning hours. To all the families of those who were killed. To all those who were injured. To all the people of New Orleans: we’re grieving today. I want you to know I grieve with you. Our nation grieves with you. We’re going to stand with you as you mourn and as you heal in the weeks to come.”
The president then added, “Here’s what we know so far. The FBI has reported to me the killer was an American citizen born in Texas. He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years. He also served in the Army Reserve until a few years ago. The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill, desire to kill.”
He further noted, connecting the attack to ISIS and describing the weapons found at the scene, “The ISIS flag was found in his vehicle, which he rented to conduct this attack. Possible explosives were found in the vehicle as well, and more explosives were found nearby. The situation is very fluid and the investigation as a preliminary stage.”
The president also said, commenting on potential co-conspirators, “The law enforcement intelligence community are continuing to look for any connections, associations, or co-conspirators. We have nothing additional to report at this time. The investigation is continuing to be active and no one should jump to conclusions.”
Concluding the brief statement a bit later on, Biden said, “So I know, while this person committed a terrible assault on the city, the spirit of our New Orleans will never, never, never be defeated. It always will shine forth. We’ve seen that time and time again throughout its history. And I know we’ll see it again in the days and weeks ahead. May God bless the people of New Orleans. May God bless our police and our first responders. May God protect our troops and we’ll keep you fully, contemporaneously informed. Thank you.”
It was that very short statement from the president that Fox News host Tammy Bruce panned when filling in for Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” and interviewing President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Border Czar, Tom Homan on the night of Wednesday, January 1. She was mainly unimpressed with its brevity and some of the details claimed by Biden within it.
Commenting on the matter, Bruce said, “When you see this — and Biden’s statement, three minutes long, not really encouraging, very strange kind of statements about, you know, who he was and that he was an American, like that. It’s very strange because now we have millions of people, we don’t know who they are, hundreds of people regarding the terrorist watch list, people who are dangerous, who are roaming about.”
Watch her here:
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