The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 1.2 New Orleans & Vegas Terrorist Attack Updates, Blake Livey Baldoni Situation Just Got Crazier &

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

I wasn’t planning on making this video but the world got too crazy to wait til the 6th… Support the show and get amazing clothes @ https://BeautifulBastard.com Up to 80% off & use code “Balldrop” for an additional 30% off ALL items!! – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas on New Years Day  08:15 - Justin Baldoni Sues NYT For Libel 12:37 - Up to 80% Off At Beautiful Bastard! 13:13 - Police Raid Jeju Air Offices After Plane Crash in South Korea 16:14 - Mike Johnson Faces Battle to Remain Speaker of the House  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino  ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #NewOrleans #LasVegas ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, so I was hoping that the first thing I'd be saying to you this year would be happy new year, but it has been anything but that. As many of you know, the first scheduled show of the year, it wasn't even supposed to be happening until Monday, January 6th, but there's been too much craziness going on not to talk about it.

So with that said, buckle up and let's just jump into it. Because we've got a truck attack in New Orleans, a bombing in Las Vegas, a shooting in New York, and just a bunch of horrible, horrible shit. Let's start with the deadliest attack. First, New Orleans. Right, because the streets of the city's historic French Quarter,

they were teeming with people Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, not only to celebrate the New Year, but also to attend a college football playoff game at the nearby Superdome. But then, at around 3.15 in the morning, a Ford pickup truck veered around a police barricade on Bourbon Street and drove straight for the pedestrians.

And this is the barrier system meant to prevent vehicle attacks like this was reportedly being repaired in preparation for the Superbowl in February. And so the truck plowed through a crowd of people with the driver reportedly a 42 year old man exiting the vehicle and shooting at the cops. With him reportedly killing 14 people

and wounding around 30 others in total before he himself was shot dead by cops at the scene. And this is you have local police saying the two officers were injured, but are stable. Now with that said, we are still learning the identities of all the victims, but some have already come out. And I think it's important to put a human face on these numbers.

So what we're seeing is that among the dead, you have people like 27 year old Nicole Perez, a mother who reportedly brought her four year old son to the deli that she managed when she was off from school and taught him math and the alphabet in the storage room. As well as 28 year old Martin Tiger Besh, a former Princeton football player whose mother reportedly told him how much she loved

and was proud of him as he laid dying in a hospital bed. As well as Kareem Badawi, reportedly a Palestinian American who had just started college and was beloved in his community. With them just being a few of the many others who I'm sure we're gonna be hearing about in the coming days.

Now with that said, as far as the suspect, we are still learning about who he was and how he did this, but information is pouring in quick. With the law enforcement source telling the Associated Press, investigators recovered a handgun and an AR-style rifle from the scene, as well as what reportedly appeared

to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle and other devices elsewhere in the French court, with these including two pipe bombs that were reportedly concealed within coolers and wired for detonation. And this, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin with information acquired immediately after the attack.

With that also, at the time, sighting surveillance footage that it said showed three men and a woman placing one of the devices, which may suggest that the suspect didn't work alone. And in fact, the FBI assistant special agent in charge initially told reporters that the agency did not believe that the attacker was solely responsible. Though a massive thing is that later the FBI announced that it actually does believe that the attacker worked alone, reversing its earlier position. Now with all this, right, what we do know is mostly what we've heard about the driver himself from law enforcement and from President Biden at a news conference yesterday. The FBI has reported to me the killer was an American citizen

born in Texas. He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years. He also served in the Army Reserve until a few years ago. The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill. With Biden there then adding that the man reportedly had an Islamic state flag flying on the truck's trailer hitch. Also, as far as his military background, it's been reported that he joined back in 2007, worked in human resources and information technology, and deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, with him then reportedly leaving the Army Reserve in 2020,

having reached the rank of staff sergeant. Right, and as far as those details that he was a native-born citizen and an Army veteran, those are important details because you have many out there that have speculated that he was an illegal immigrant. With the bulk of that claim appearing to stem from a false Fox News report that the man crossed over from Mexico into Texas two days before the attack,

which then appeared to get picked up by Donald Trump just minutes after with him riding on Truth Social. When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats in the fake news media, but it turned out to be true. With this, as vice president-elect,

J.D. Vance also screenshot of that post and shared it on X. With this then just continuing to spread thanks to many, including Marjorie Taylor Greene. Then soon afterward, other outlets reported that there's no evidence tying the driver who crossed the border to the attack or the attacker, which then led to Fox News correcting its earlier reporting. Our sources now tell Fox that that truck

from Eagle Pass, Texas did not cross two days ago. It crossed on November 16th. And the identification of the driver that crossed the border does not appear to be the shooter. Right in this, as others have noted that Trump, nor Vance, nor Greene have taken down their respective posts about the attacker being an immigrant so far. Now, with that said, as far as why the truck

would have had two seemingly unrelated drivers, it may have something to do with Turo. Because for those who don't know, Turo is an app that's kind of like Airbnb, except you rent vehicles from private owners. And reportedly, that's how the attacker obtained the truck used in New Orleans, with law enforcement in Turo is an app that's kind of like Airbnb, except you rent vehicles from private owners. And reportedly, that's how the attacker obtained the truck used in New Orleans. With law enforcement in Turo itself revealing that the app was used not only for that attack, but also the one in Las Vegas later on Wednesday. Right, and with that one, you had a Tesla Cybertruck pulling up outside the lobby

entrance of the Trump International Hotel and reportedly idling for 15 seconds before exploding. With it first being reported that the blast killed the driver inside, though police today saying it now appears like he might have taken his own life just before the blast. But regardless there seven other people were wounded though their injuries are reportedly minor. Which on that note Elon Musk was quick to credit Tesla for. Writing on X, the evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. But it's also saying the Clark County Las Vegas metropolitan police sheriff confirming that there were gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the blast upwards. But it's also saying the Clark County, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff confirming that there were gasoline canisters and large firework mortars in the truck's bed.

We also saw them adding here that they had found no link to ISIS or any other terrorist organization. With the FBI's acting special agent in charge of the investigation telling reporters, we believe this is an isolated incident. Though at the same time, if you look around at reports, you have some outlets suggesting that the attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas,

they actually have some weird connections or at least coincidences. Right, and that not only because they both use Turo, but also because you have multiple outlets reporting that the Vegas driver was an active duty army service member. And reportedly both of them spent time at Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty in North Carolina,

though an official told PBS that there was no evidence so far of any overlap in their assignments there. And so for right now, we're gonna have to wait to see what more information comes out. And I will stress, this is still a developing situation. There are ongoing investigations. There's a lot of speculation. There's a lot of stuff happening.

And as information is still coming in, and with the little that we actually know, we've also seen some of the right criticizing the media for supposedly emphasizing certain details over others. Things like highlighting that the Vegas attack was done with a Cybertruck in their headlines, but leaving out that the New Orleans one was done in a Ford. There's even seeing Elon Musk replying to a suggestion that he sued media outlets for sabotaging Tesla's brand by writing, maybe it is time to do so.

Though there, we've also seen some pushing back to that, with for example, one user replying, was it a Tesla cyber truck? Yes. Was there an explosion that initiated inside the Tesla cyber truck? Yes. Does the story falsely state that some defect

in the vehicle was the cause? No, it does not. There's no lawsuit there, dude, come on. But then others also arguing that since the explosion occurred at a Trump hotel, and Musk is one of Trump's closest allies, the fact that it was a cyberjerk is relevant. Though that by no means is the only criticism

that we've seen in the wake of yesterday. But many Republicans have also accused Democrats and the media of refusing to call these attacks terrorism. Though there, the New Orleans attack is widely being labeled as terror by right and left alike, and the Vegas attack is under investigation as possible terrorism. With the FBI special agent in charge

even telling reporters on Wednesday. I know everybody's interested in that word and trying to see if we can say, hey, this is a terrorist attack. That is our goal and that's what we're trying to do. And also with that, you have a lot of people comparing Biden and Trump's responses. Because Biden put out this kind of relatively

measured response urging people not to jump to conclusions until the facts are out. But then Trump jumped on social media to skewer his political opponents. Writing among other things, the DOJ, FBI and Democrat state and local prosecutors have not done their job. And adding, 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. But then with all that said, lastly here, we gotta talk about the third violent attack

on New Year's that's gotten the least attention, and that is the shooting in New York, where notably, for a split second, it looked like there was another possible terror-related attack in Queens after 10 people got shot. Though there, police then quickly came out and made it clear that they do not think that this was a terror attack,

instead calling it another senseless shooting by three to four gunmen. With the silver lining here being that the NYPD has stated that all 10 are expected to recover with non-life-threatening injuries. And as far as the details, you had investigators saying that the shooting happened just after 11 p.m. on New Year's Day at a club. And this is ABC7 reported that the 90 people there were celebrating the birthday and life of a local teen who was murdered in 2024. With the gunmen here who police say are in their late teens to early 20s and walking up to the club and firing at least local teen who was murdered in 2024. With the gunmen here who police say are in their late teens to early twenties and walking up to the club and firing at least 30 shots

on a group waiting outside. And so far, no arrests have been made though police are looking into a sedan with out-of-state license plates that was used as the getaway vehicle. But then in completely unrelated news, Justin Baldoni is now suing the New York Times for libel, claiming that it's reporting on allegations

from the set of It Ends With Us, push narratives fabricated by Blake Lively. As you might remember, Blake was the lead of the movie and Justin was her co-star and the film's director. Back in December, while the show was on break, Blake filed a complaint accusing Justin of two major things, sexual harassment on set and launching a smear campaign against her during the film's release.

And according to that complaint, Blake had to hold a meeting to ask Justin and a producer to stop discussing porn and previous sexual experiences in front of others, as well as discussions of people's genitalia and questions about Blake's weight. It also alleged that Justin improvised intimate acts of Blake had no Kate and claimed that he and the producer would walk into her trailer while she was topless

or breastfeeding. And really the list of accusations that goes on and on before then also alleging that Justin and his production company hired a crisis PR team to quote, "'Launch a retaliation campaign against Blake Lively.'" Right in there, claiming that they were coming up with a massive scheme to preemptively discredit Blake in case she made her complaints public.

And there, it showed alleged texts of a publicist saying, "'Justin wanted Blake to feel like she could be buried,' and other alleged messages of the PR team discussing news coverage, social media, and appearing to take credit for negative coverage about Blake." And the New York Times, they included all of these details and much, much more in an explosive report

that took the internet by storm and made everyone really rethink the rollout of the film, "'It Ends With Us." Because whether there was a smear campaign or not, at the time the film came out, there was a ton of online hate for Blake. And so when a lot of people read the Times' report and the complaint, many thought, wow,

this was Justin's fault all along, and he started getting a ton of backlash. Which then brings us to this week when Justin and his publicist hit the New York Times with a $250 million libel lawsuit claiming that the outlet quote, "'Delayed almost entirely on lively's unverified and self-serving narrative, lifting it nearly verbatim

while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives." And arguing that they didn't give Justin and his team enough time to respond and even publish the article ahead of schedule, shortening an already brief window. They also went on to allege that the Times intentionally omitted text messages

that gave more context and disputed Blake's narrative, adding there, if the Times truly reviewed the thousands of private communications it claimed to have obtained, its reporters would have seen incontrovertible evidence that it was lively, not plaintiffs, who engaged in a calculated smear campaign.

Them then further alleging that Blake also took control of the film away from Justin in her efforts to harm his reputation. But the Times here is saying they are planning to defend itself against the allegations and adding in a statement that quote, "'The role of an independent news organization "'is to follow the facts where they lead.'"

And adding, "'Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. "'It was based on a review of thousands of pages "'of original documents, including the text messages "'and emails that we quote accurately "'and at length in the article.'" With them then also noting that they published the full statement that Justin's team gave in response.

Now with all that said, for her part, Blake's team has said that the lawsuit here doesn't change any of the allegations. And in fact, on Tuesday, she followed up her legal complaint against Baldoni with a lawsuit. So far with all this, the response to this is a little bit all over the place, especially depending on where the coverage was focused.

Right, you have some going back to Justin's side, thinking that he is the one that's owed an apology because people were so quick to believe Blake's allegations. With a number of people here noting things like some articles have included additional alleged text messages, including ones where it appeared that the publicists are only kidding about publishing negative stories

about Blake or where it seems like Blake is expressing some degree of comfort on set. Or like many outlets reported that one of Blake's biggest claims was that Justin would walk in on her while she was undressed and breastfeeding. But there was an alleged text where Blake invited him to the trailer while she was pumping milk. But then also on the flip side,

some outlets have gotten backlash for the way that they presented those alleged texts. With Variety, for example, putting some of those messages in the lead of its story, reporting that Blake ended one of her texts just with quote, X, the universal symbol for a kiss, before referring to the message asking him to her trailer while she was pumping.

And you had a number of people here saying that by leading with those messages, Variety was sort of using them as a gotcha and acting quote, like her inviting him to her trailer once gave him carte blanche to do so any other time he wanted, which woo boy. And so with that, it is worth noting that there's still a lot of support for Blake

and anger at Justin amid this lawsuit. But then also one standout part of Justin's lawsuit, not even having to do with the New York Times, but Blake's husband, Ryan Reynolds. And that because the lawsuit said that Ryan quote, "'aggressively berated' Justin during a meeting at their penthouse in New York, "'accusing him of fat shaming lively.'"

But there, what we're seeing online is kind of most people seeing that accusation and siding with Ryan, not Justin, writing things like, "'Oh yeah, this makes Ryan Reynolds super bad "'for defending his postpartum wife. "'Good job, Justin Baldoni's PR team.'" But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see where all this goes, especially,

because this is obviously the start of a much larger legal battle. Likely a ton more is gonna come out and we're gonna have to see not just what we learn, but how the public responds to it. Because at its core, a huge chunk of this story is about attempts to manipulate media narratives. So seeing when narratives actually prevail,

it's crucial to the story itself. And it's also gonna be wild to just watch unfold. But then taking a quick break from the news, with this not being a scheduled show, today's show is not sponsored. So to knock out two birds with one stone over at beautifulbastard.com, we got discounts. And it's in the form of three things.

One, just general discounts on site that go up to 80% off. Two, we still got graphic tee mystery boxes where you have shirts that were up to $45 for $20. You just gotta choose your side. And then three, pretty much everything other than the mystery boxes, if you use coupon code BALDROP, you'll get an additional 30% off

even if that item was already discounted. So yeah, engage in a little retail therapy, get some amazing, awesome gear. I truly think our stuff's the best. Also at an amazing discount and it helps support the show. But shifting gears from there, we've got tragic news, not just in the United States, but also in South Korea, where on Sunday,

a Jeju Airlines flight going to the Southwestern city of Muon crash landed and killed 179 of the 181 people on board. And since then, South Korean authorities have been working around the clock to find answers and identify victims. With that, by among other things, raiding Jeju Air's offices in Seoul this morning

for documents while simultaneously raiding the regional offices of Muon Airport. And in fact, we're seeing that the CEO of Jeju Air has been banned from leaving the country as investigations continue. Also at the same time, there's been a massive recovery and identification effort at the crash site itself. Many family members camping out in tents at the airport

as bodies were being identified. We're also seeing with this celebrity chefs starting up kitchens to feed those families and rescue workers who've been clearing and digging into the wreckage, which we notably is no easy task considering how the airplane ended. Because flight 2216 was nearly completely destroyed

after attempting this landing, which ended in the plane slamming into a concrete safety wall at the end of the runway and exploding. And from the photos, it seems like the only part that wasn't completely destroyed was the very back of the plane, which is also why it's not surprising

that the only two people who survived were flight attendants in the back. And not only did they survive, but they both reportedly have non-life-threatening injuries, though officials also say they don't really remember the crash. Now, obviously you have a lot of people demanding answers here, but they are especially doing so

after a second Jeju Airlines flight was found to a faulty landing gear just after this flight crashed. Which is why South Korea's acting president has already ordered an investigation into every Boeing 737-800. The United States also announcing it would send a team to help investigate. Also, quick tangent with us mentioning

the acting president of South Korea. It has been a crazy first few days on the job. This crash happened two days after he replaced the last acting president following his impeachment, which on that note, apparently this current guy is also possibly gonna be getting impeached

depending on whether he approves or blocks the appointment of a special counsel to investigate suspended President Yoon. And all of this is then going back to the plane. We're still waiting for the black box information to be released. So as far as hints to what happened here, you do have officials saying that just minutes

before landing, air traffic control warned the flight about a potential bird strike. With that seemingly then confirmed after the pilot radioed in, Mayday, mayday, mayday, bird strike, bird strike going around. We're also seeing the local outlets have released footage that they claim shows an engine going out

because of the strike. But then that led to just more questions and answers online with many wondering how a bird strike would then prevent the landing gear from being used. Especially because in another angle of the video, you can allegedly see that at least one engine was working, leading to speculation like, "'Engine One' should have been enough

to perform a go around and give the pilot enough time to address the landing gear issue, or even prepare for a landing without the gear. Speculation is circulating that the pilot may have shut down the wrong engine. Though this is others feel that it may be due to poor maintenance of the airplane, which appears to be backed up by the other Jeju Air 737-800 having a landing gear malfunction. Which also, when we're talking about the plane, like you shouldn't confuse these with the 737 MAX 8s, which infamously killed a ton of people due to poor design decisions. Especially because one of the big things with this news is

that the 800s have been in production for decades and they've rarely had accidents. Which you know, for a lot of people just adds to how scary this situation is. But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what other information comes out and just in general, what comes from these investigations. With that said, switching gears to political news,

Mike Johnson is fighting for his political life right now. Because the house is gonna be voting tomorrow on whether they wanna keep him as speaker, but there are still some major holdouts who could sink the whole damn thing. And that is especially significant because those holdouts come even after Donald Trump himself threw his support behind Johnson, posting on Truth Social earlier this week. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hardworking, religious man. He will do the right thing and we will continue to win. Mike has my complete and total endorsement. Make America great again." And not long after that, we saw his new bestie, Elon Musk,

whose word has become increasingly influential in Congress, also voicing his support for Johnson. With Johnson posting a tweet, sharing Trump's statement and Musk responding by saying, "'I feel the same way. You have my full support.'" But despite all that, it's been reported that nearly a dozen Republicans have refused to commit

to backing Johnson as Speaker. With this notably including members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, who say they want Johnson to provide a clear plan for how he is going to unite the narrow majority in the House to pass Trump's policy agenda while also reducing spending. And many also reportedly pissed at Johnson

for teaming up with Democrats to pass major spending measures, including aid to Ukraine and a short-term spending bill to fund the government and prevent a shutdown. Also, amid all the grumbling, at least one right-wing politician has explicitly said he will vote against Johnson's speakership. With that being Representative Thomas Massey,

who made a lengthy post on X expressing his views one day after Trump's endorsement of Johnson, writing, "'Even if Mike's entire goal is to do everything Trump wants "'without debate or question, which I would argue "'is not healthy for the institution of Congress, "'he's not going to be good at it.'" With the matting, he already demonstrated this month that he won't tell the president what is achievable

and what is not achievable in the House. And he lacks the situational awareness himself to know what he can pass and what cannot. Right, and that last bit is in reference to the fact that Johnson tried to pass a version of the spending bill that Trump had asked for at the last minute, but he failed when nearly 40 Republicans joined Democrats and blocked the move.

With Massey then continuing by saying, we want a speaker who inspires the public and who can make our case in the media so we can keep the majority for the second half of Trump's term. Saying Johnson nearly led us to the minority in what was a banner year for Trump. He is certain to lose us the majority in 2026.

With him then going on to argue that Johnson only won the speakership last time by being the least objectionable candidate and he no longer possesses that title. With him specifically there pointing to the fact that he had compromised with Democrats. Right, so we're seeing pretty strong words of opposition. You know, Massey's comments and moves here,

they are super significant because if all members are present for the vote tomorrow, it means that just one more undecided Republican would need to vote against Johnson to tank his reelection as Speaker. Republicans have a slim majority and Democrats have vowed that they will not come to Johnson's rescue if he fails to get enough support

from his own party. Now, notably here, I will say that Trump has said that he still thinks that Johnson will win tallying reporters on New Year's Eve. I think they'll support Speaker Johnson. He's the one who can win right now. People like him, almost everybody likes him. And while Johnson himself has expressed some confidence,

he's also been working ferociously to sway the skeptics and whip his party. With him, along with others, warning Republicans that a prolonged speakership battle, it could delay Congress's certification to Trump's election victory, which is slotted for this coming Monday. Which, like a lot of things in politics

over the last decade, would kind of be unprecedented. Congress has never tried to certify a presidential election without a House speaker. It's actually unclear what would happen if no one's seated come January 6th. So there's just a ton at stake for the here and the now, but also for the future and for now. We're gonna have to wait to see

how all this plays out tomorrow. But that is where I'm gonna leave things for now, though I will say this. One, let me know your thoughts, opinions, and reactions to any of the stories we covered today that stood out to you in those comments down below. You know, this is a news show, but I also want it to be a conversation,

and some of those comments may show up in the next Monday video. Which that brings us to two, the Philip DeFranco Show is returning on Monday, January 6th, and is back on schedule, so you'll be getting a show on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, like usual. Yeah, then I guess finally three,

I love yo faces, stay safe out there, and I'll see you next time.