(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Apparently the second-deadliest foreign-inspired terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11 wasn’t enough for the boss of the New Orleans FBI field office to end his vacation early.
Early on New Year’s Day, 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar rammed a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans’s famed French Quarter—killing 14 people who were celebrating the New Year. Police fatally shot Jabbar in a following firefight, and authorities later determined that the incident was inspired by the foreign terrorist organization ISIS.
Despite that, New Orleans FBI Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil took several more days to return to the office, according to a whistleblower working with the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
“Myrthil vacationed in Europe from late December to early January, which included New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the Sugar Bowl and took multiple days to return to New Orleans after the terrorist attack on January 1,” Grassley said in a Tuesday letter to FBI Acting Director Brian Driscol and Acting Attorney General James McHenry.
“The FBI failed to note this in any of the joint briefings it provided to Congress and must provide more information.”
A lazy SAC of …..
According to a whistleblower working with Sen. Grassley's office, the New Orleans FBI Special Agent in Charge did not leave his vacation early after the New Year's Day terrorist attack in his city — one of the deadliest terrorist attacks since 9/11 pic.twitter.com/fCD8vpbWWF— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) January 24, 2025
Along with questions about the vacationing SAC, Grassley’s office seeks more information about the New Orleans attack, as well as info about the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on the same day. Grassley also wants to make sure whether those two attacks were connected—especially given that the driver of the Cybertruck, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, served at Fort Bragg and in Afghanistan at the same time as Jabbar.
“Similarities do reportedly exist between Jabbar and Livelsberger. For example, both individuals had experience in the U.S. Army and the vehicles in both incidents were rented from the same company, Turo. Further, according to reports, authorities claimed Livelsberger and Jabbar “likely overlapped at Fort Bragg and again in Afghanistan,’” Grassley noted. “It remains unclear whether there are additional similarities or connections between Jabbar and Livelsberger.”
Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson seek updates on the New Year’s Day attacks by Feb. 5.
Grassley and Johnson also wrote a separate letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, asking about Jabbar’s terroristic Facebook posts in the leadup to his attack.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
