Lara Trump says Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed terrorists to prosper

The daughter-in-law of incoming US President Donald Trump says Joe Biden is responsible for allowing the New Orleans terror attack to occur.

Lara Trump says when US President Joe Biden withdrew from Afghanistan he allowed terrorism to prosper, leading to the tragic New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans.

Ms Trump, who until recently co-chaired the Republican National Committee, said she believed the withdrawal has lead to the resurgence of ISIS.

“When you look at what has occurred over the last four years in this country – the fact that you had such a horrific withdrawal from Afghanistan, you left a vacuum and a space in the Middle East for terrorist cells to grow and prosper,” Ms Trump told the Daily Mail.

Lara Trump believes Biden allowed terrorism to prosper. Picture: Getty Images

The former Fox News commentator and wife of Eric Trump said she believed such a tragedy would not have played out had her father-in-law been in charge.

“Donald Trump eliminated ISIS during his tenure as president the first time,” Ms Trump said.

“And now to see that you have ISIS sympathisers and supporters carrying out terrorist attacks, at least as far as we know in New Orleans so far, that’s really upsetting and that’s really sad.

“I think it just speaks to a bigger issue that we have overall, which is that this administration, in terms of the Biden Administration, has failed on a lot of fronts.

“And I think one of the ways that a lot of people see that failure is, and probably started with that withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the way it’s allowed terrorism to kind of take a foothold and grow and, unfortunately, prosper around the world.”

HOME-GROWN TERRORISM

While Lara Trump points the finger at the Biden administration for the resurgence of terror-related attacks, notes left on the phone of the special forces soldier who blew himself up in a Tesla Cybertruck suggest a resurgence of home-grown terrorism in the US is being fueled by disenchantment with the country’s leadership and direction.

The shocking explosion outside Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on New Year’s Day was initially investigated as an act of terrorism, having come hours after the ISIS-inspired vehicle rampage killed 15 New Year’s revellers in New Orleans.

But investigators have confirmed active-duty Green beret Matthew Livelsberger’s actions and those of Shamsud Din Jabbar were not linked despite both men having served time in the US Military.

A Tesla Cybertruck caught fire at the entrance of Trump Tower in Las Vegas. Picture: Instagram/Alcides Antunes

Authorities have determined that Livelsberger, 37, shot himself in the vehicle before his rudimentary homemade bomb exploded. Seven bystanders were injured.

Livelsberger saved two letters on his phone in which he complained the US was “being led by weak and feckless leadership who only serve to enrich themselves” and that the country was “terminally ill and headed towards collapse”.

“This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call,” the 37-year-old wrote.

“Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives?”

“Why did I personally do it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”

Jabbar worked in IT during his time in the US military. Picture: 82nd Airborne Division

Matthew Livelsberger was an active Green Beret suffering from depression.

Livelsberger trained at North Carolina’s Fort Liberty, where Jabbar had been stationed as part of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

The pair also both served in Afghanistan in 2009.

FBI counter-terrorism deputy assistant director Christopher Raia declared there was “no definitive link” between the men, saying Jabbar acted alone and planted two improvised explosive devices near Bourbon St before ploughing through the busy area in a vehicle.

FBI RELEASES NEW PHOTOS OF TERRORIST

The FBI have released new photos of ISIS terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar moments before he rammed a pick-up truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans, killing at least 14 people.

The killer was captured in new images strolling around the city a little over an hour before the fatal attack on Bourbon Street.

Surveillance footage shows him walking along Dauphin Street near Governor Nicholls Street around 2.03am wearing a light brown long coat, a dark-coloured button-down shirt, blue jeans and what appears to be brown dress shoes.

The FBI also released an image of a blue-and-white cooler that contained an IED, which Jabbar placed near the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans Street, according to the federal agency.

Jabbar was captured in new images strolling around New Orleans a little over an hour before the fatal attack. Picture: FBI

Surveillance footage shows him walking along Dauphin Street near Governor Nicholls Street. Picture: FBI

Livelsberger and Jabbar both rented their vehicles on Turo, with the online platform’s chief executive Andre Haddad said no “red flags” had been raised about either man.

Two days after the incidents that shocked the US, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center warned state police forces to “remain vigilant of potential copycat or retaliatory attacks inspired by this attack and other recent, lethal vehicle-ramming incidents”.

US President Joe Biden said he would visit New Orleans on Monday (local time) to console victims of the terror attack in one of his final acts before leaving office.

As investigations continued into both incidents, the New York Post revealed Jabbar had set up a bomb-making workbench in his rundown home in a Texas trailer park.

He had also left his Koran open to a page that included the passage: “They fight in Allah’s cause, and slay and are slain; a promise binding.”

Jabbar rented a vehicle and drove to Louisiana where he finalised his improvised explosive devices at an Airbnb, placed two around the busy Bourbon St area, and then drove through at 3.15am on New Year’s Day. Dozens of people were also injured in the attack.

US President Joe Biden will visit New Orleans on Monday (local time) to console victims in one of his final acts before leaving office. Picture: Michael DeMocker / Getty

Jabbar, who also served in the Army, was described by his old friend Trevor Neill as a “great soldier, phenomenal friend”.

They had been stationed together in Georgia, CNN reported.

Jabbar and Livelsberger both served in Afghanistan in 2009 but did not appear to know each other.

Ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump and the funeral of former president Jimmy Carter in Washington DC, as well next month’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, law enforcement agencies moved to ramp up security to prevent further attacks.

Special ops police patrolling outside Caesars Superdome ahead of the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Picture: Sean Gardner / Getty

Streets near the US Capitol were locked down a day after the shocking incidents when a vehicle was spotted driving on a footpath. The driver was charged with reckless driving.

Before Livelsberger’s motive became clear, FBI special agent in charge Spencer Evans said:

“It’s not lost on us that it happened in front of the Trump building and a Tesla vehicle was used,” Mr Evans said, referring to the links to the President-elect and Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and one of Mr Trump’s closest confidantes.

In New Orleans, the city’s leaders paid tribute to the victims and vowed to make up for their failure to secure the Bourbon St area, as they bullishly tried to restore the city’s reputation by reopening the busy strip and pushing on with a postponed college football blockbuster.

“People did not die in vain. As a result, we will be a safer city,” police chief Anne Kirkpatrick said. “We will return to normalcy, and we can do that and still show respect and honour.”

Jabbar was not on the FBI’s watchlist prior to the attack. Picture: YouTube

Before the Sugar Bowl game, where a moment of silence was held for the victims, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry declared: “We’re going to enjoy ourselves.”

While Jabbar was a US citizen who grew up in Texas, Mr Trump continued to suggest the record influx of illegal immigrants under the Biden administration contributed to the tragedy, saying the US was “a laughing stock all over the world”.

“This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS, with weak, ineffective, and virtually non-existent leadership. The DOJ, FBI, and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job,” he said in a social media post less than three weeks before his inauguration.

“They are incompetent and corrupt, having spent 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.”

Jabbar was not on the FBI’s watchlist prior to the attack, which Mr Raia called “an evil act”.

As more than 1000 law enforcement officers worked on the investigation, he said they had confirmed the terrorist was “100 per cent inspired by ISIS”, which Jabbar spoke about in five videos he posted to Facebook in the hours before the attack at 3.15am (local time).

In between placing the explosive devices in eskies near Bourbon St, Jabbar ranted in his videos that he originally planned to kill his family but changed course because he worried coverage of his plot would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers”.

– with the New York Post

Originally published as Lara Trump says Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed terrorists to prosper