The person who authorities believe died in the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside one of Donald Trump’s hotels was an active-duty army soldier, US officials have said.
Two law enforcement officials identified the man inside the rented vehicle, which burst into flames in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day, as Matthew Livelsberger, according to the AP news agency.
Livelsberger was a member of the elite Green Berets, a special forces unit and guerrilla warfare experts, according to a US army statement.
He had served in the army since 2006 and spent some time at a base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a centre in North Carolina that is home to special forces command.
Image: The man who died in the Tesla explosion is believed to be Matthew Alan Livelsberger, a US army soldier
He was still on active duty and on approved leave at the time of the Tesla explosion outside the TrumpInternational Hotel, officials said.
The explosion is being looked at as a possible terror attack, officers have said. As yet, no cause for the blast has been given, but fireworks mortars, cannisters and other explosive devices were found in the back of the truck.
The FBI has said it is “conducting law enforcement activity” related to the explosion at a home in Colorado Springs, but provided no other details.
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Fireworks and gas cannisters found in exploded Tesla
‘No definitive link’ with New Orleans at this stage
The suspect in that attack has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, who was a US army veteran. An Islamic State flag was flown from the truck.
During a news conference on the New Orleans attack on Thursday, Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter-terrorism division, said there was “no definitive link” between the two incidents at this stage in their investigations.
Authorities had said they were looking into a “possible military connection” between the two men, Sky News’ US partner NBC News reported earlier on Thursday. Jabbar also spent time at Fort Bragg but one official said no overlap in their assignments there had been found so far.
Law enforcement officers were also looking into the fact both men used the Turo car app to rent the vehicles involved in both incidents.
Image: Shamsud-Din Jabbar has been identified as the suspect in the New Orleans attack. Pic: FBI
Sheriff Kevin McMahill, from Las Vegas police, said the truck involved in the explosion in Vegas was rented in Colorado and arrived in the city at 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
“It went immediately up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before immediately pulling into the Trump Towers,” he added.
The 64-storey hotel is just behind the famous Las Vegas Strip and opposite the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall.
Tesla video helped track journey
Tesla is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk who has been a close ally of Mr Trump – donating millions to his successful 2024 US election campaign. He has also been tasked with leading Mr Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Mr McMahill said video captured at Telsa charging stations provided by Mr Musk helped authorities track the vehicle’s journey.
The Tesla boss provided officers with “quite a lot of additional information in regards to how the vehicle was locked after it exploded”, he said, “as well as being able to capture all of the video from the Tesla charging stations across the country”.
Earlier, Mr Musk wrote on X: “We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.
“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion.”
Eric Trump, one of Mr Trump’s sons, who is also executive vice president of the Trump Organisation, posted about the fire on X, praising the fire department and local law enforcement “for their swift response and professionalism”.
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
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Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
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Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
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Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
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Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
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The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
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Elon Musk has called reports that he will leave his government role in the coming months “fake news”.
A senior White House official previously told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, that Donald Trump had discussed the Tesla and X boss transitioning back to the private sector at a cabinet meeting last month.
Image: The Tesla boss has headed DOGE since 20 January. File pic: Reuters
After reports emerged of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “garbage” and added: “Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Mr Musk added in response on X: “Yeah, fake news.”
NBC News reported that the official said Mr Musk would leave at the end of his 130 days as a special government employee.
That would be 30 May, but it is unclear if the billionaire businessman will indeed leave on that date.
Previously, the White House said that as a temporary organisation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would be terminated on 4 July next year – the 250th anniversary of the US.
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It comes days after Mr Musk said some members of his DOGE team were getting death threats on a daily basis.
Mr Muskhad drawn criticism over his efforts to downsize the US federal government.
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‘Elon Musk has got to go’
In just weeks, entire agencies were dismantled, and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3 million federal workforce have been fired or have agreed to leave their jobs.
A number of lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts over cuts recommended by DOGE.