>> yeah. >> did you see anything like the ballards or anything like that pop up? >> it was just, like, debris and everything, and then people. i mean, it just -- it just -- it was unreal. just total chaos. total chaos. >> what was the sounds? >> a huge impact. it almost sounded like a gunshot. i mean, like, i actually looked -- maybe we did hear that, too, knowing now that the guy ended up shooting those two police officers. i remember the screeching and him gunning the car and the impact and the screams, and like i said, the screams, it was girls. i mean -- yeah, i don't think i will be able to forget that. >> i'm so sorry. daytime on nbc. ned that he was arrested. i was shocked. i was just so confused. i didn't think it was real. craig melvin: in the rarefied world of the ivy league, he was the total package-- star student, gifted athlete, wildly popular. he is one of the nicest guys ever.

ballard partner. clients such as lobbying for the country of qatar for $115,000 a month, and for corporate giants amazon and uber. when you were asked about conflicts of interest, why do you believe your work as a lobbyist does not constitute potential conflicts of interest? >> well, senator, first, that was the amount my firm received. i believe multiple people represented the country of qatar within my firm, my role, and i am very proud of the work that i did. it was a short time and i wish it had been longer, for qatar was an human trafficking efforts leading into the world cup, which is something i'd like to talk about later too. i was registered as fara, along with many members of my firm. that was the sole portion of my representation for qatar. now, if there are any conflicts with anyone i represented in private practice, i would consult with the career ethics officials within the department and make the appropriate decision. i would also like to point out to you, i don't believe that i would b

the fact that there was a ballard replacement project going on in the city, that they originally put in ballards that they found were inefficient, did not work, they were in the process of replacing them. the guy drove around and you could see went up on the sidewalk and avoided the police cruiser that was there as a stop gap measure. this is a guy who put stuff into his truck, ready to do as much damage as he could. and he indicated that this was in fact in advance of the isis agenda itself. this guy came out of the army, he wasn't a combat veteran. he was an i.t. hr guy and was on nobody's radar screen beforehand. the question is, when you have a suicide bomber, suicide attacker, it's virtually impossible to try to anticipate and stop them. cheryl: also too, jason, motive here. because the question mark and there's going to be many -- we need much more information, obviously. there's not a lot of answers but the question right now is was this somebody that was genuinely inspired by isis because they found the isis flag on the back of the truck or is this somebody that used the ideo

corporations have raced to sign ballard partners to represent them since trump's win and since wiles was announced as chief of staff, they have signed 28 new clients looking to influence, you guessed it, federal policy. judd legum is the founder and author of the political newsletter popular information. he joins me now. judd, you're going to change that name to crucial critical must read newsletter within the next two weeks, i hope. explain this to us, because before we get into donald trump, let's be honest, washington dc is filled with people who go from working in the federal government, working in the white house to being a lobbyist, and they go back and forth and back and forth. that can be said of president biden's administration. i mean, anita dunn is one of his closest advisors, and she founded her own strategic communications firm for years and years and years. and you know what they did lobbying, essentially. so this is not unusual. explain to us why the trump situation is different. >> well, i think you're absolutely right. you know, lobbying is endemic to washington, dc.

in a news conference we heard how they deliberately drove around ballard is put in place to try to stops. clearly they targeted an area of the city they knew would be busy. bourbon street is the heart of the tourist area of new orleans. this was new year's eve into new year's day, a time when there would have been crowds on the street. also there was a major american football game due to take place in the city today that also would have brought extra crowds to the city. this person knew that this was an area that was going to have a lot of people in and they knew they could use this pick—up truck as a weapon if they really tried to. confirmation on the wires from the fbi as you are reporting, they are now investigating this as an act of terrorism, contrary to what we were told that the press conference. looking at the scenes of the initial investigation, this was such a big event, new year's eve and a big football event in new orleans today. 300 officers out last night. as part of the initial investigation, they will be focusing on the vehicle. i'm told the drones were up last night so

as it relates to the ballards on bourbon street, over ten years ago, excuse me, over ten years ago, the city of new orleans implemented an infrastructure project placing llards on bourbon streets. shortly therefore, new orleans police department deemed them inefficient because they did not operate the way that they were intended to do. because the city of new orleans is hosting super bowl this year, it gave the city of new orleans an opportunity to go further and deeper with infrastructure improvements as we have been talking about. so as a result of that, we were able to build in ballard replacement into our super bowl infrastructure package, and because of that, the city of new orleans has moved forward with that infrastructure that is nearing completion they were not up because they're near completion, with the expectation of being completed, of course, by uper bowl, before super bowl. that is the reason. now, the new orleans police department chief, you can speak to the deployment in response to our needs and existing conditions. >> we have been aware of the ballard situation for a

the terrorist hit that target because he knew the ballards weren't up? just luck he drove through that crowd? luck is a very bad word -- >> i'm with you, i think you're right. i think it's too early to determine whether or not it was luck or whether it was premeditated. the fact is he came for a specific reason, in a rented car to get the eyeballs off him of the plates getting run. he ripped through a crowd, those ballards were down so he drove into the soft area. had multiple weapons in the vehicle. you can see from some of the footage on the pod, trace, gets out of the car after there's a t o, n of bodies on the ground and then opens fire. hats off to the first responders who put him down relatively quickly but as megan said, there's a ton of soft targets. we don't know what's brewing online, between the middle east trace, what's happening in syria right now, between not having u.s. forces conducting forward operations to get us intelligence and tell us what's cooking? we're in a very defensive posture, and it's a dangerous time. we need to start getti

. >> let me ask you about your work as a lobbyist for ballard partners. did you not list your position as a lobbying for the country of qatar for $115,000 a month and corporate giants amazon and uber when you were asked about conflicts of interest. why do you believe your work as a lobbyist does not constitute conflicts of interest. >> that was the firm my firm received. multiple people represented the country of qatar within my firm. i am very proud of the work that i did. it was a short time and i wish it had been longer was anti-human trafficking efforts leading into the world cup which is something i would like to talk about later, too. i was registered as fara along with many members of my firm. that was the sole portion of my representation for qatar. now, if there are any conflicts with anyone i represented in private practice, i would consult with the career ethics officials within the department and make the appropriate decision. i would also like to point out to you i don't believe that i would be the first attorney general who has represented a

how's the latest developments for us from darrow ballard and central gaza? as negotiations for sci fi intensified is very military, exists and run because it's military attacks on very easily pill top neighborhoods in areas that what previously designated by that is really military's to be stage humanitarians. so we have caught report from eye witnesses in milwaukee area, which is only 8 kilometers away from our location here. that a group of mates shift 10 squared targeted by these valley through west one. palestinian has been confirmed, killed and destroyed that. but the significant destruction of a huge plumes of smoke with quite seen from the side of the attack and even covering the antonia horizon of the city of con you and this and elsewhere. let me show you what we have seen in the past few hours. there has been a very remarkable intensification. are watching the reboot apartments in the eastern areas of different bella events. we have been told by civilians and on the rock for 2 to complement and a very extensive deployment of is really quite cool to

there's a lot of unanswered questions regarding the ballard system.ystem was installed by former mayor mitch landrieu after the attacks in france where the truck drove into the crowd. they were literally created for this sort of instance. the council was not really made aware these balance lards would be backed up before the sugar bowl, which is a major event. the police car was on the corner and was similar to a ballard had it been present, but that being said, there's a lot of questions of, a, why weren't they repaired in time for the sugar bowl and, b, what additional infrastructure could have been or should have been behind that police car on the street? those ballards are placed every block, they come up throughout bourbon street. despite the fact the police car was there on the corner, there was no hardened infrastructure necessarily beyond that police car. those are challenges. i think the police did not believe someone would take the sidewalk. that being said, new york accounts for that. and that's something the city should have accounted for.

we establish that this unit a 2 parts and the rates on the ballard region. in march 20, 243 militants from this union were killed on russian territory. they are john francois our itself. co signed for roles from gwinnett canada. sadly. charles com all signed drawn from texas usa and patrick alexander ds goals and best from golfing berks, with specific rules, was killed by a russian sniper, the somebody as to the 1st one to bring anything to avoid. most of the, the russian states. never as one of the most sense community. most all sense enough must be the one else calls question about this, even though we will fan in the european union. the kremlin media mission, the state on rochester routing and supports the r t spoke neck, keeping our video agency roughly all the band on youtube. the question, did you say stephen twist, which is the the would be we've missed. don't you just surprise keeping up in the usage let's take a look here cuz we need an issue for people both. correct? oh good. i can be a poor job too. and i mean if i press ok and i'm pushing it, but

some darrow ballard and central gotcha a scalar is rarely a tax continues to escalate across different geographical locations in gaza. but the concentration has been pretty much during the past 24 hours on kansas city. the is very military is a so rotating the military attacks on residential areas. one of the latest has struck a school sheltering dozens of palestinians in the valley town. um, it's more reports coming from eye witnesses suggests that this coming line of northern garza east absolutely overwhelmed and covered with pick flex smoke coming from buildings in the valley. a refugee camp and big la here that was banned by the east. very ground forces, also medical teams and out the hospital continue to repeat. that is, but um, is it still ongoing? we build chosing old residential homes in the facility of the hospital. it's more due to ration is taking place among medical cases, less that and could be a sign of bumps is valley escalation might take place within the coming days. as their military operation has no sign of stopping or of faxing. a northern garza with different boot

i want to ask about on the ground here and what you're hearing is normally there would be steel ballards along, the protection devices, structures along bourbon street but the city had taken those out to repair them ahead of the super bowl and i know they're opening up according to nbc news, they're going to open up bourbon street later today but talk about the security apparatus that was in place and what needs toe be put in place moving forward because of the next two big events happening in new orleans. >> yeah, we have to go back to 2016 in nice, france, where 86 individuals were ran over by a as a result of that major cities decided to put in the ground, various barriers to protect the various neighborhoods what transpired is that because of the super bowl coming in two weeks here new orleans those -- barriers, now what happened is the individual driving that truck, got around the barriers up on sidewalk around bares fault to some degree the city of new orleans. when they were replacing the barriers, they put two police cars in place and in and of itself was not enough. we have to u

ballard partner. clients such as lobbying for the country of qatar for $115,000 a month, and for corporate giants amazon and uber. when you were asked about conflicts of interest, why do you believe your work as a lobbyist does not constitute potential conflicts of interest? >> well, senator, first, that was the amount my firm received, i believe multiple people represented the country of qatar within my firm, my role, and i am very proud of the work that i did. it was a short time, and i wish it had been longer for qatar was anti-human trafficking efforts leading into the world cup, which is something i'd like to talk about later too. i was registered as fara, along with many members of my firm. that was the sole portion of my representation for qatar. now, if there are any conflicts with anyone i represented in private practice, i would consult with the career ethics officials within the department and make the appropriate decision. i would also like to point out to you, i don't believe that i would

this steel ballard's were removed to be repaired because the super bowl is coming up. normally they would be in place around bourbon street but that is why they put the vehicles in place and he was able to go around and go onto the sidewalk and we have learned from this press conference he was on the ground and doing surveillance. the other issue is the portrait of this individual, which has come to light. "the wall street journal" talks about not just the two divorces but his financial troubles, his emotional vulnerability. you have to consider that. if someone is going to be open to being radicalized or inspired by isis, we will find that out in the days to come, but he put in a document he was about $27,000 behind in his home payment, bidding on credit card debt, there were restraining orders between him and his second wife. those are in court filings. when details come up, you have to look at the whole picture and it is disturbing. >> coming up, new details on the investigation into the cybertruck that exploded outside of trump hotel in las vegas. a live report nex

i'm jose dias ballard. thank you for your time.r your. >> good day everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington as a desperate escape is under way in southern california. with five wild fires burning, across all of la county, there are multiple burn victims. the worst is yet to come. >> i want to make sure that everybody understands we are absolutely not out of danger yet. >> heed the advice of first responders when they ask you to evacuate, evacuate. this is not a drill. this is in realtime. >> hurricane force wind gusts, some topping 100 miles per hour pushing the deadly flames with devastating force and frightening speed. thousandsof acres destroyed in 30 minutes. the number of mandatory evacuations keeps growing. >> they escaped on foot as the flames closed in on top of them along the famed palisades th parkway. >> the homeowners are saying they are unable to access any exit route. there is fire on both sides of the roads. >> fire crews then used bulldozers to push dozens of charred cars off the road and out of the way. these de

and it explicitly states this area also presents a risk and target air area for -- do not rely on ballards, exclusively. create a varied edge. it started a renovation of its barriers around the french quarter this past fall and were expected to complete the renovations before the super bowl next month. those renovations supposedly the city says would have prevented this attack from happening. a lot of folks asking why this didn't happen sooner? bill. >> bill: any way you look at it a tough pill to swallow for the families of the 14 that died that the barricades weren't in place the morning this happened. live in new orleans, thank you. >> sandra: dan hoffman joining us now. former c.i.a. chief of station and thanks for being here. my question -- i put this to secretary mayorkas last night as well. why was this man, this killer not on the radar of the american government considering he was posting clearly terrorist propaganda, terrorist videos on his social network site that deemed them enough of a threat to bring them down themselves. why does the government not see this and have this pers

we have all walked bourbon street, and you know, there's ballards in a lot of places, metal ballards.ly that's difficult to do or did they breach a wooden police barrier, that is grossly inadequate to protect the card. one of the white boards on horses, that's just a, you know, a visual blockade. it doesn't stop any kind of a vehicle. if you want to stop vehicles, you would think that would be planned for this evening, in an impacted area that would be targeted, you would need dump trucks, filled with sand, backed up to each other, even sanitation trucks, garbage trucks, line those detail where vehicles can't penetrate that. even a truck would hit that, it would stop it, and then the police could respond, so there's a lot to be seeing here today. there's a lot to unfold at the next presser with the police commanders. and, you know, of course we also have the questions of was the person acting alone? is there any other bombs? was there someone else killed at the location where this person lives? and we don't know the status of that person. are they in custody? are they deceased? there'

there is something called ball ballarding.ound pilings that belong traffic from come in and out of a street. now, somehow the city of new york brings dump trucks in. they block streets and protect trump tower that way. but the city of new orleans hasn't figured it out. they had one cop car and what i would call a road closed sign. just a little, you know, a sign in the street that's what blocked our turning down bourbon street. this terrorist had no civic duty. he went right around onto the sidewalk and took those people out. the city of new orleans spent in $2,017, $40 million. mitch landrieu got it to put security expansions in place because of the truck driving accident, the terror attack in 2016. because landrieu feared we would have a pedestrian terrorist accident like this and we couldn't protect our visitors. for some reason, that money vanished. we don't have proper working to protect these walkways in the city of new orleans. if you are going to close the city down. if you are going to close the street down, make sure

local law enforcement there talking about the ballard's that were not up at the time.is about a month away from the super bowl. they were preparing the new orleans area, the french quarter, to be the safest possible. they had police officers in place to avoid anything like this. they set the terrorist circumvented their backup plan. they say it will never happen again. they will find out how to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. but as of right now, ten people are dead, 35 people injured after a horrific new year nightmare at about 3:15 in the morning in the french quarter in new orleans. ten people are dead, and some of those injuries, i understand, jonathan, are critical and very serious. we will be watching the fallout there. the families have still been notified, so they're not releasing names of any of the people of the victims. >> jonathan: yeah, and i believe it was the attorney general of louisiana, julie, who said during that news conference that some of those injured are "fighting for their lives" right now. a couple of other big headlines,

i'm jose dias ballard. thank you for your time. r your. >> goo

. >> let me ask you about your work as a lobbyist for ballard partners. you did not list your current position as a part of the lobbying firm nor the work you've done for ballard partner clients such as lobbying for the -- for $115,000 a month and for corporate giants amazon and uber when you're asked about conflict of interest. why deeply to work as a lobbyist does that constitute potential conflict of interest? >> senator, first that was about my firm received. i believe multiple people represent the country of qatar within my firm. my role and i'm very proud of the work that i did get it was a short time and wish it had been longer for qatar with antihuman trafficking efforts leading into the world cup which is something i'd like to talk about later, too. i was registered along with many members of my firm. that was the sole portion of my representation for qatar. now, if there are any conflicts with anyone i represented in private practice, i would consult with the career ethics officials within the department and make the appropriate decision. i woul

if you look at the end of the streets, normally there are ballard's bollards rather about 3 or 4 blocks down in those or post in the road. the block cars from coming in with those were being replaced the head of the upcoming super bowl in a month. and so there was a police car parked at the end and the driver pulled around the police car at a high speed in a white pick up, much like the one we're seeing right here. and rammed revellers in the street and ended up crashing somewhere on this block. and when he didn't, so he ended up firing at people until police fired back and were able to take him down. and the concern is why that was allowed to happen here on a street that had been protected. they put those fathers f in 2017 a year after attack on best deal day in france. killed a number of people there. but other than that, i would say there is a kindly return to normalcy. they were revellers in the street. here it's morning time is that what you're seeing is the workers who are setting up the street for the people who will fill in the road later in the day. so i sense of normalcy in th