Police investigating vehicle explosion at Trump hotel in Las Vegas
KTNV
(LAS VEGAS) — Authorities are investigating a vehicle explosion and fire on Wednesday outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel in Nevada.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it was investigating a fire at the entrance to the tower. The public was told to avoid the area.
The driver pulled into the valet area of the hotel and the vehicle exploded, according to an official. The driver is apparently dead and, so far, the only casualty from the incident.
Investigators do not know what caused the blast, such as whether something was wrong with the vehicle or whether something external prompted it. Determining what was behind the explosion is the key focus of the probe.
The property is the subject of frequent threats and heightened security given its connection to President-elect Donald Trump.
Eric Trump, his son, posted on social media about the incident.
“Earlier today, a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas,” he wrote. “The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response and professionalism.”
The hotel also issued a statement on X suggesting the car involved was electric.
“Earlier today a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas,” the hotel wrote. “The safety & well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response.”
(WASHINGTON) — The family of Austin Tice, the American freelance journalist and Marine Corps veteran who was kidnapped while reporting in Syria in 2012, said it has been in contact with a “significant source” that confirmed he is alive and well.
“We have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government that Austin Tice is alive, Austin Tice is treated well, and there is no doubt about that,” said Tice’s mother, Debra.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with the family of Tice, who has been missing for more than 12 years after he was abducted on Aug. 13, 2012, at the White House on Friday.
“Jake Sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained Americans,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said following the meeting. “We’re going to continue to make sure that we get Americans who are wrongfully detained, Americans home to their families.”
The Biden administration has successfully brought 75 unjustly detained Americans back to the United States.
Although reporters asked for more information about the source, the Tice family said it could not share more, claiming the U.S. government is restricting it from doing so for reasons the family does not understand. ABC News reached out to the family.
However, Tice’s father, Marc, said the family is “working toward” making more information public and that the source is “very different” from others who had given the family false hope in the past.
“We are confident in that this information is fresh,” he said. “It indicates as late as earlier this year that Austin is alive and being cared for.”
The U.S. government has continuously operated under the assumption that, despite his lengthy captivity and limited intelligence about his whereabouts, Tice is still alive. But its belief is primarily founded on a lack of evidence to suggest he is dead rather than evidence proving he is alive, according to multiple sources.
Questions about who exactly is holding Tice have cropped up over the past few years. The Biden administration has been careful with its wording on this, issuing statements saying that “we know with certainty that he has been held by the Government of Syria” because officials believe it is possible Tice is now in the custody of another group. However, the administration still believes the Syrian government has the power to bring about his release.
If the new source does have legitimate insight into Tice’s conditions, it stands to reason the source would likely also have information about whatever entity is holding him in custody, which could provide clues to his exact location.
The Syrian government has never publicly acknowledged playing any part in Tice’s disappearance, but during talks under the Trump administration, Syrian officials said they would provide proof of life in exchange for the United States fulfilling sweeping demands, according to officials familiar with the private negotiations. The Trump administration did not comply, and the Syrian government did not hand over any information about Tice.
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the safe location, recovery and return of Tice.
(WILMINGTON, Del.) — Two days after President Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon to his son Hunter Biden, the younger Biden’s federal gun case in Delaware was terminated Tuesday by the judge overseeing the case.
“In the absence of binding precedent” for a case that had yet to reach sentencing, “all proceedings in this case are hereby terminated,” U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika wrote in a brief docket entry Tuesday.
In a court filing Monday, prosecutors had urged Noreika to terminate the case instead of dismissing the indictment, in order to allow the record of the case to continue to exist.
Prosecutors in special counsel David Weiss’ office, who brought both the gun case and separate tax-related charges against Hunter Biden, on Monday made a similar filing to the federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case in California.
President Biden on Sunday issued a blanket pardoned to his son, who earlier this year was convicted on federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax-related charges, and was scheduled to be sentenced in both cases later this month.
(NEW ORLEANS, La.) — Nearly a month after a terrorist drove a truck down Bourbon Street, killing 14 people, New Orleans is set to host Super Bowl 59.
At a press briefing Monday, officials said there were no credible threats to the game, or its many surrounding events.
“Right now we have no specific credible threats to this event … which I think should give us all a sense of security,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in New Orleans on Monday. “We recognize the importance of making sure that we’re doing due diligence and being prepared for events as proactive as possible, and pre-deploying resources and partnerships that will help us make sure that these events come off safely and with a focus on security.”
She added, “We have partners that we are dedicated to working with to make sure we get through these types of events in a way that has been important to focus on the priorities.”
NFL Chief of Security Cathy Lanier said in the days after the terrorist attack, the NFL changed their security plan.
“We have reviewed and re-reviewed all the details of what happened on Jan. 1,” Lainer said. “We have reviewed and re-reviewed each of our roles within the overarching security plan, and we have reassessed and stressed tested — our timing, our communication protocols, our contingency measures and our emergency response plans multiple times over, over the past several weeks.”
There will be over 2,700 state, federal and local law enforcement members securing the game, according to officials.
Lainer said the event is a “no-drone zone” meaning drones are not allowed anywhere near the stadium. A drone that was not cleared to fly over M&T Bank Stadium briefly halted the Steelers-Ravens wild card game last month.
Noem was on Bourbon Street on Monday at the site of the terrorist attack. Bollards that were not in place during the New Year’s celebrations, due to repair, are now back in place.
“We have an opportunity to learn from what happened,” Noem told reporters earlier in the day, she said she also wanted to honor the victims lost. “The Super Bowl is the biggest Homeland Security event we do every single year.”
The game gets a SEAR 1 rating — meaning there is a federal coordinator that is in charge of the security, in this case Eric DeLaune, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations’ New Orleans field office.
DeLaune is a Louisiana native and securing the game is personal for him, he said.
“I have worked to coordinate the security of the land, air and local waterways, with the vital support of our partners, leveraging a united front of all of those law enforcement entitles,” he said. “In the days ahead, there will be a significant increased law enforcement presence in New Orleans, some of which will be visible and obvious.”
