Biden and Trump address deadly NYE attack in New Orleans
President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump expressed their sympathies to the victims and their families after an armed driver drove a speeding truck into a crowd of New Orleans partygoers early on New Year’s Day.
The two statements from the current and future president addressed the deaths of at least 10 people and 35 others who were injured Wednesday morning in the city's French Quarter in what the FBI says it's investigating as an act of terrorism.
“Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!”
Trump's statement also decried the crime rate in the U.S.
“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 Wednesday morning. “The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”
For his part, Biden said he was being continually briefed by federal law enforcement leadership and Department of Homeland Security and that the attack was being investigated as an "act of terrorism."
"I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury," Biden said in a statement. "I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind."
Biden's statement also promised to give further updates as he learns more."In the meantime, my heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday," he said. "There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation's communities."
The attack, in the historic French Quarter district famous for its nightlife, was at least the fourth involving mass casualties killed by vehicle ramming in the last decade, according to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database.
Law enforcement has not released information on the identity of the driver, who police confirmed with USA TODAY was fatally shot by police.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden, Trump offer sympathies to New Orleans NYE victims and families