Tipsheet

CNN's National Security Analyst Dropped an Interesting Take About the Tesla Cybertruck Bomber

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  January 02, 2025 3:35 PM

The suspect who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas has been identified as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs. According to the US Army, Mr. Livelsberger was on leave from his assignment in Germany. 

He was an active member of the special forces, specifically the Green Berets. He rigged this vehicle to explode using firework-mortars and gasoline cans. Only Livelsberger was killed, though several others were injured. Police now say that he shot himself before the vehicle exploded: 

Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill added that this incident was likely a suicide (via WaPo):

The sheriff said at a news conference Thursday that the investigation indicates that the driver sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head before the vehicle exploded. He said one of the guns found in the vehicle was at the driver’s feet. 

He added that investigators do not have complete confirmation of the driver’s identity because the individual’s body was burned beyond recognition. However, he said there was mounting evidence that the driver was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs. 

Livelsberger was on leave from his Special Forces unit in Germany at the time of his death, Army officials said. The soldier first enlisted in 2006.

 He added that investigators do not have complete confirmation of the driver’s identity because the individual’s body was burned beyond recognition. However, he said there was mounting evidence that the driver was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger of Colorado Springs. 

Livelsberger was on leave from his Special Forces unit in Germany at the time of his death, Army officials said. The soldier first enlisted in 2006. 

“This activity is related to the explosion in Las Vegas,” the FBI said in a statement.

At the same time, authorities continued to probe what they believe to have been a separate deadly attack in New Orleans that left 15 New Year’s revelers dead and injured dozens of others just hours before.

 Wait, didn’t the FBI just say there’s no “definitive link today?”

And leave it to CNN to have a national security expert say that we don’t know if Livelsberger was anti-Trump or not: 

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This bombing occurred within hours of the New Orleans terror attack committed by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, who killed 14 people. He served on the same base as Livelsberger. The incidents were being investigated for connections, but the authorities quickly claimed both as isolated incidents preliminarily. The FBI initially called the Nola attack, which was committed by a man who pledged his allegiance to ISIS, a non-terror incident. 

Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill