Republican senator takes shot at media during New Orleans attack press conference

A Republican senator known for his antics in front of the cameras made some curious remarks during a press conference on Wednesday where officials updated the public on the investigation into a car attack in New Orleans that left 15 people dead.

John Kennedy, appearing alongside law enforcement officials and the state of Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, used the opportunity to take shots at reporters and outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In one widely-circulated clip, the senator is seen questioning several reporters in the room to determine which outlets they worked for. Then, a woman informs him that reporters for NBC News were to his right.

The senator couldn’t resist a shot at the network and its politics: “That’s an unusual position”.

His comment drew chuckles from a few people in the room, and a confused reply from a woman off camera: “I don’t get it.”

“You wouldn’t,” he snidely told the reporter.

The senator’s comments about federal support — which by all reports is underway — were dripping with contempt. Kennedy said he’d spoken to Mayorkas, telling reporters: “I did talk to the Secretary of Homeland Security a little while ago, and I told him that, with all the respect I could muster, that we expect [him] to put the full force and resources of the federal government behind this investigation.”

In the friendly arms of a Fox News interview, the senator would go even further, and baselessly suggested that the Biden administration might seek to orchestrate a “cover up” of the attacker or their motive(s).

“I don’t want to hear anyone in the federal government claiming they lack resources. They need to saddle up and ride,” said the senator, evoking one of his typically folksy quips. “We need answers about what happened in New Orleans…No cover ups.”

“You never know what they’re not telling us,” he added. “But I know how to probe pretty hard.”

Kennedy is no stranger to spectacle, and has been repeatedly rebuked by everyone from his Democratic rivals to foreign governments for the comments he makes in front of TV cameras. In 2023, the government of Mexico described him as “vulgar” and “racist” after the senator suggested that, “figuratively speaking,” the people of Mexico would be “eating cat food out of a can and living in a tent behind an Outback [Steakhouse]” were it not for U.S. foreign aid.

Lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee were due to receive a briefing on the New Orleans attack with updated information Thursday morning, according to reports. The situation is being investigated in concert with the response to a Tesla Cybertruck, apparently packed with fireworks and other explosives, in front of a Trump property in Las Vegas, though no connection has been established by law enforcement. At a news conference Thursday morning, FBI officials said the agency believed that the New Orleans attacker acted alone.

The deadly car attack in New Orleans’s famous French Quarter came as the city’s cultural districts were packed with tourists and locals alike for New Year’s celebrations. Fifteen people are reported dead and dozens more were injured in the attack. FBI officials say a black flag associated with the terrorist Islamic State ideology was found on the pickup truck driven by the New Orleans suspect.

The FBI on Wednesday named 42-year-old U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar as the suspect in the New Orleans attack; he died in a shootout with police.