Despite ‘no definitive link,’ Trump border czar has ‘gut feeling’ New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks are connected

Donald Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan told Fox News on Thursday that he had a “gut feeling” that the explosion of a Cybertruck in Las Vegas was connected to the deadly terror attack in New Orleans, despite the FBI saying there’s “no definitive link.”

Pressed by Fox News anchor Sandra Smith on whether he was “privy” to any information proving such a link, Homan acknowledged he was not before saying he felt there were just “too many coincidences” between the two incidents.

Additionally, Homan repeatedly tied the “threats at the southern border” to the two deadly events, claiming that they showed the United States “needs to secure the border” because it’s in “grave danger” — even though both of the suspects were American-born citizens who served in the military.

During a press conference on Thursday, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters that the man who died in the Cybertruck explosion outside Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas was Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old U.S. Special Forces soldier. According to a family member, Livelsberger was a “100 percent patriot” who loved Trump.

Noting that Livelsberger appeared to shoot himself before the rented car exploded, McMahill also said on Thursday that they had not found any evidence connecting the bombing to any outside terror group.

Briefing the media earlier in the day on the latest developments in the New Orleans massacre, FBI Deputy Assistant Director of Counter Terrorism Christopher Raia said that nobody else was involved in the attack besides Shamsud-Din Jabbar. Revealing the 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran had recently posted videos about joining ISIS, Raia noted that “there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas” at this point.

Bringing Homan on shortly after the Las Vegas presser wrapped, Smith pointed out that the police said they could not directly tie the two events together even though they were aware of some similarities between the two individuals. Notably, they both used the same car-sharing app to rent their vehicles and once served at the same Army base.

“Well, I think, the further the investigation goes, I think they’re going to find a connection between the two incidents,” Homan insisted. “But look, they are both suicide events. The man in New Orleans certainly had no plans of going home after getting out and trading gunfire with law enforcement. I think both of these guys realized they weren’t going home after this event.”

From there, Homan pivoted to immigration and border security, warning that the “threats aren’t over” while sounding the alarm “about the threats coming across the southern border.” Trump and other prominent conservatives have sought to blame migrants for the New Orleans terror attack, especially after Fox News falsely reported Jabbar’s truck crossed over the U.S.-Mexico border two days prior. The network soon retracted the story, but not before the president-elect said the attack proved he was right that “the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in” the United States.

“This country is in grave danger,” Homan continued. “We need to secure the border. Despite what has happened the last two days, in Las Vegas and New Orleans, this administration is not stopping. They are still releasing thousands of people every week through the CBP One app.”

Eventually, Smith steered the conversation back to Homan’s claim that he felt investigators would soon find that the two incidents were linked.

“You just referenced a terrorist connection in Las Vegas. The police chief said they haven’t identified that yet. But to your point, you say you believe as this investigation carries out in Las Vegas that… you believe they will find a connection. Do you have any other information, or have you been privy to any other information other than what we just directly heard from the police there in Las Vegas?” Smith wondered.

“No, I don’t. This is a gut feeling,” the soon-to-be border czar replied. “I have done this for three-and-a-half decades. I just think there’s too many similarities and too much coincidence. I think something down the road they’re going to show some sort of connection where there’s some same network or where they got the tools to pull these terrorist attacks off.”

Homan concluded that while he “could be wrong,” this was his “gut feeling.”