Donald Trump used the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans to bolster his fearmongering about “criminals” crossing into the US from abroad and did not correct that assertion well after the suspect was identified as an American citizen from Texas.
“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,” the president-elect posted on Truth Social on Wednesday morning.
“The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before. Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.”
He said his incoming administration would “fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”
Fox News had reported minutes prior to Trump’s Truth Social post that the vehicle used by the suspect had crossed into Eagle Pass, Texas, from Mexico two days before the attack.
Just over an hour later, the conservative network retracted that reporting, saying its sources had advised that the truck crossed the border on November 16 apparently driven by someone else. Later in the afternoon, it reported that the truck never crossed over from Mexico.
The suspect was identified in the early afternoon by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a US Army veteran from Texas. It said he drove a rented truck. Jabbar said in a 2020 YouTube video about himself that he was born in Beaumont, Texas, according to CNN.
The suspect drove the vehicle into a crowded Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. An Islamic State group flag was recovered from the vehicle and the attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, the FBI said. The suspect died after exchanging gunfire with police.
Trump did not offer any correction to his statement, and later made an additional post attacking “OPEN BORDERS” and accusing US law enforcement of spending “all of their waking hours unlawfully attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM that has infiltrated all aspects of our government, and our Nation itself.”
He posted overnight, “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”
He doubled down further on Thursday morning, linking what he called “Biden’s ‘Open Border’s Policy’” to a rise in “Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime.”
“That time has come, only worse than ever imagined,” he wrote.
Trump’s transition team did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment earlier Thursday.
Trump was not the only Republican to use the attack to stoke division and fear about undocumented immigration, a central tenet of his election campaign.
Senator Josh Hawley wrote, “After the horrific attack in New Orleans, Alejandro Mayorkas needs to be called to testify before the Senate immediately - BEFORE Biden leaves office. ACCOUNTABILITY,” referring to the Homeland Security secretary, whom Republicans unsuccessfully tried to impeach over border issues.
Hawley cited “news reports” that the truck “may have recently crossed into the US from Mexico” in a letter shared in a second post calling for Mayorkas to testify.
Vice President-elect JD Vance shared Trump’s statement on X, condemning the “heartbreaking violence.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene amplified Fox News’ initial inaccurate report about the truck, writing, “Shut the border down!!!”
None of them acknowledged the man’s citizenship in subsequent posts on Wednesday after it was released.
Speaking on Fox News Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson also implied a connection between migration and the New Orleans attack, criticising the Biden administration’s management of the border and saying Republicans had raised “obvious concern about terrorism and the wide-open border.”
“We cannot wait. We are 18 days away from President Trump being returned to the White House and us restoring real law and order in this country,” he said.