U.S. authorities have foiled a major terror attack plot targeting New Year’s Eve celebrations in Los Angeles, averting what officials say could have been a catastrophic incident. The FBI revealed chilling details of the alleged plan during a press briefing, confirming multiple arrests and the seizure of key evidence linked to the plot. Investigators say the suspects were in the advanced stages of planning attacks timed for NYE, prompting heightened security and swift action by federal and local agencies. Watch the full video for the latest updates, official statements, and what authorities have disclosed so far as the investigation continues.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, everyone. My name is Akil Davis, Assistant Director of Charge of FBI Los Angeles.
00:05I'm going to announce our speakers in order. It will be first Assistant United States Attorney
00:10Bill Asaley, myself, then Chief of Police Jim McDonald, Sheriff Robert Luna, and then Chief
00:17of Police for Palm Springs Police Department. So without further, I'm going to turn over the United
00:21States Attorney. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'm Bill Asaley. I'm the head
00:26of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Over the weekend, my office,
00:32along with the FBI, arrested members of a far-left, anti-government, domestic terror cell who self-identify
00:40as the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The individuals were arrested on Friday, December 12th,
00:46when the group attempted to construct and detonate IEDs out in the desert. In addition to the arrests,
00:53we executed several search warrants throughout the nation. I want to thank our partners at the U.S.
00:58Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana, U.S. Attorney Zach Keller, and the U.S.
01:03Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Lee Foley, for providing valuable assistance over the
01:09weekend with a very complex and coordinated search warrants that were done. The charges we are
01:16announcing today stem from the defendants and their co-conspirators' detailed coordinated plot to
01:22bomb multiple U.S. companies on New Year's Eve. Thankfully, that plot has now been foiled thanks
01:30to the hard work of the FBI and the Department of Justice. This investigation was initiated in part
01:36due to the September 2025 executive order signed by President Trump to root out left-wing domestic
01:43terror organizations in our country, such as Antifa and other radical groups like the Turtle Island
01:50Liberation Front. As the President made clear, recent attacks across the country have highlighted the grave
01:58threats posed by these far-left domestic terror groups. These threats are sophisticated, organized campaigns
02:06of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit
02:14political activity, and direct policy outcomes, and prevent the proper functioning of a democratic society.
02:22In direct response to the President's order, the Attorney General issued a memo to our offices implementing
02:28and mobilizing federal law enforcement to prioritize and counter domestic terrorism and political
02:35violence investigations. As a result of those directives, we built this case. Both my office and
02:41the FBI have invested substantial resources into investigating and charging these organizations.
02:48And if anyone does not believe that members of these groups are organized, sophisticated,
02:53and extremely violent, let me tell you about the plot in this case.
02:57The four defendants are Audrey Carroll, 30 years old. The pictures, I think we have them somewhere. We'll put
03:07them up here. Audrey Carroll, 30 years old, Zachary Aaron Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lay, 41,
03:15each from the Los Angeles area. Each is charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device
03:23in violation of Title 26, United States Code Section 5861D. We intend to file additional charges in the
03:31coming weeks as we finish reviewing the evidence. The defendants are all radical anti-government members
03:38of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which according to their own social media is an anti-capitalist,
03:45anti-government movement that calls for their associates to rise up and fight back against capitalism. One of the
03:53leaders of the organization, defendant Audrey Carroll, helped organize an even more radical
03:58faction of the group called the Order of the Black Lotus. Each of the defendants charged today was also a
04:04member of the Order of the Black Lotus. Carroll described this group to her co-conspirators as
04:10everything radical. As detailed in the federal complaint, which we will now make public, in November
04:162025, Defendant Carroll created a detailed bombing plot to use explosive devices to attack five or more
04:23locations across Southern California on this upcoming New Year's Eve. Carroll and her co-defendant,
04:31Zachary Page, led the effort to obtain and build the bombs and to recruit others to join in their plot.
04:39Carroll's bomb plot was explicit. It included a step-by-step instructions to build IEDs
04:45or improvised explosive devices and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles.
04:51Carroll also made clear her desires. She said, quote, what we are doing will be considered a terrorist act.
04:58Carroll and Page also discussed plans for follow-up attacks after their bombings, which included
05:04plans to target ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs. Carroll stated that those plans would, quote,
05:10take some of them out and scare the rest. Throughout early December, the co-conspirators discussed their
05:16plans during an in-person meeting in Los Angeles and through an encrypted messaging application.
05:22As part of the plan, the four defendants planned to build test bombs in the Mojave Desert. You're going to
05:28hear more details about the bombs they intended to build and how the operation went down in the desert.
05:35Hear shortly from the FBI assistant director in charge. In preparation for the plan,
05:40the co-conspirators purchased multiple pieces of bomb-making materials and discussed their travel
05:45plans to the desert. Last Friday, December 12th, the defendants took a significant step to carry out
05:51their plans. They traveled to the remote campsite, which you're going to see some video of in the desert,
05:56and they began unloading their bomb-making materials to assemble and test the bombs. They had
06:02everything they needed to make an operational bomb at that location, and they were subsequently arrested
06:08by the FBI before they could build a functional explosive device.
06:14Shortly after the defendants were taken into custody, the FBI executed multiple search warrants,
06:19including at the defendant's Southern California residence and other locations throughout the
06:24country. I'll highlight some of the items found during those searches over the weekend. For example,
06:30in Carroll's residence, law enforcement found multiple posters and materials associated with Turtle Island
06:35Liberation Front, including posters stating, quote, Death to America, Long Live Turtle Island and
06:42Palestine, and quote, Death to Ice, Turtle Island Liberation Front. In Page's residence, law enforcement
06:49found a copy of the detailed bomb attack plan. This case is another reminder about the dangers that
06:56radicalized Antifa-like groups posed to public safety and the rule of law. Through the tireless work of our prosecutors in my office and our law enforcement partners,
07:07which you will hear from today, we disrupted this terror plot before buildings were demolished or innocent
07:14people were killed. But this is not the end of our work. My office is committed to extinguishing the far-left terror threats that we face,
07:22and will continue to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The four defendants arrested will make their initial
07:28appearance this afternoon at the federal court in downtown Los Angeles. They are each considered
07:33innocent until proven guilty. I will now turn it over to the assistant director in charge of the FBI,
07:39LA office, Akeel Davis.
07:40Good morning. Again, my name is Akeel Davis. I'm the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles
07:53division. As we're all aware, we've had a busy weekend in this country and abroad with bad news
08:00incidents one after another. Today, we are announcing a major victory in our collective effort to protect
08:06American people. The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force intercepted a scheme by members of a violent
08:12extremist group we believe determined to detonate explosives at multiple businesses on New Year's Eve.
08:19Last Friday, the FBI arrested four of those subjects near 29 Palms in San Bernardino County
08:25while they planned and rehearsed their attack. The four subjects are members of a radical faction of the
08:31Turtle Island Liberation Front, TILF, a violent, homegrown anti-government group.
08:39The subject arrested envisioned planting backpacks with improvised explosive devices to be detonated
08:45at multiple locations in Southern California targeting U.S. companies.
08:51These bombs were to blow up at the same time on midnight this New Year's Eve. The plan stated that the
08:57IEDs would be complex pipe bombs. It included instructions on how to manufacture the bombs
09:03and contained guidance on how to avoid leaving evidence behind that could be traced back to them.
09:09Our investigation uncovered evidence in that the group would test the explosives in the desert.
09:14And we're going to show footage of that here in a second. We learned that the alleged
09:19co-conspirators had recently started acquiring precursor chemicals and other items necessary to accomplish this task.
09:25In recent days, the alleged co-conspirators discussed plans to travel to the desert on the 12th to detonate the explosives.
09:33Knowingless, the FBI's JTTF and the FBI Los Angeles Field Office staged multiple SWAT teams,
09:41special agent bomb technicians, our evidence response team, along with the FBI's elite hostage rescue team
09:47in the desert to disrupt this plan before any harm could occur.
09:54Because of this, we were able to disrupt their plan. All four group members were taken into custody
09:59without incident. The TILF Instagram account publicly posts content that advocates for violence
10:06against United States officials. A recent post called for a revolution and asked for supporters
10:12to organize and be ready. The FBI, as you have seen here, can also organize and be ready. We could
10:19not have accomplished these arrests without the exceptional assistance from our partners on the
10:24Joint Terrorism Task Force. I specifically want to thank the following agencies as you see up here today.
10:32The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department,
10:37the Palm Springs Police Department, along with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
10:42I also want to recognize the following FBI field offices as this investigation across the entire
10:48country. The New Orleans Division, the Buffalo Division, Indianapolis Division, and the Boston Division,
10:54who, as you all know, have had their hands full this weekend. In fact, an additional was arrested
11:00by our partners at FBI New Orleans in support of this investigation. I will now turn it over to
11:07the Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonald. Thank you and good morning and we appreciate you being here today.
11:17Los Angeles Police Department is proud to stand alongside our federal, state, and local partners today
11:23to announce the arrest stemming from a coordinated domestic terror plot. The case underscores the
11:28persistent threat posed by extremist groups and individuals, as well as the critical need for
11:33law enforcement agencies to remain vigilant in protecting our communities. The successful
11:39disruption of this plot is a powerful testament to the strength of our unified response,
11:44driven by the collaboration and tireless efforts of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force,
11:50along with our allied agencies. Together we have prevented a potential tragedy and reaffirmed our
11:55shared commitment to safeguarding our communities. I want to personally thank the dedicated men and
12:01women from every agency involved. Their relentless work over the past several days has ensured that those
12:07responsible were apprehended swiftly and safely and without harm to our neighborhoods. Thank you.
12:13I'm going to call up Sheriff of Los Angeles County, Robert Luna.
12:21Well, good morning everybody and thank you for being here to cover this, what I believe is a very,
12:26very important story for our community. This successful operation was a result of quick, proactive,
12:33investigative work, and I want to emphasize strong collaboration.
12:37And A. Dick Akil Davis mentioned it and gave credit to all the law enforcement here in Southern
12:43California. It is better here, it always has been, than anywhere else in the country and we're very proud
12:51to be part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. For us at the Sheriff's Department, we've been part of it
12:58since after 9-11. Their ability to share intelligence across multiple agencies, investigating threats like
13:07this one is second to none anywhere else. The way we coordinate with partner agencies and act quickly
13:15was critical to the success of this operation. And like I said before, there's no other area like
13:22here in LA County with our partnership that has been here for years with the FBI and LAPD and the other law
13:29enforcement agencies around us. Since this threat was uncovered last week, our Sheriff's Task Force
13:35officers and intelligence analysts working closely with our law enforcement partners have been working
13:41around the clock to verify information, identify targets, and piece together this plot that you've heard
13:48described. Their strong investigative efforts, sharp situational awareness, and rapid response ensured that this
13:55threat was stopped before it ever had a chance to be carried out. I'm incredibly incredibly proud of the
14:01professionalism and dedicated shown by the by the men and women who work tires tirelessly to bring this threat to
14:08an end before it could cause harm to any anybody in our community. To our community, I know hearing about these
14:16incidents like this can be unsettling, especially in the light of the recent Brown University mass shooting
14:23and the Sydney Australia, Sydney Australia terrorist attack. But today serves as a powerful reminder
14:30that strong collaboration between federal state and local enforcement law enforcement can prevent violence
14:37before it occurs. As we enter the holiday season, a time when families and friends come together across
14:44traditions, cultures and beliefs. This incident is a stark reminder of the importance of vigilance and to
14:53be prepared at all times. Vigils whose goal is to divide us to instill fear and to target the very diversity
15:02that makes our country strong. I want to be very clear if this what you see here, this investigative work
15:09and the follow up that's been done shows that they will not succeed. Our community's diversity is our
15:15strength and protecting every member of our community is our primary duty. Whether you are celebrating
15:22Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's or simply gathering with loved ones, you deserve to feel safe.
15:30We are committed to ensuring that safety today and every day. We remain dedicated to protecting our entire
15:37community through ongoing intelligence gathering and threat assessments, strengthening partnerships across
15:43all of our agencies, engaging with the public to promote awareness, vigilance and resilience.
15:50And finally, I encourage everyone to stay alert, trust your instincts and report suspicious activity.
15:57And as we always say in law enforcement, if you see something, read something or say something,
16:02your awareness, your eyes and ears can help us protect the entire community as we did in this
16:08incident. I will now introduce the police chief of the Palm Springs Police Department, Andy Mills.
16:20Well, good morning. And first of all, thank you so much, Assistant Director Davis for
16:24the spectacular job that the FBI did on this case. We were just in a very supportive role
16:30only making sure that the FBI had what they needed in the desert to execute their mission.
16:35But on a larger perspective, I just want our community to know that this gives me hope.
16:40It gives me hope because of the unified effort of all law enforcement from the sheriff's office to LAPD,
16:47San Bernardino sheriffs and the FBI working together to make sure that people like this are removed from
16:53the community so they can be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office to make sure that all of us can live
16:59in peace. And this is what our mission is, is to make sure that there's hope in all of our communities.
17:04So thank you very much for the spectacular job that the A-Team showed up and did.
17:09Yeah, I just want to reiterate that obviously there's some disagreements amongst our agencies
17:15over things like immigration enforcement. But when it comes to other areas of law enforcement
17:20where it matters to keep the public safe, whether that's protecting the girls on Figueroa
17:25Street or the Palm Springs investigation, there is no gap in the cooperation between the federal
17:31government and local government. And we do thank the sheriff, the police chiefs for your valuable
17:36assistance. It would be very difficult for us to do a lot of what we do without their assistance.
17:40So I do want to thank you, each and every one of you. With that, we'll open it up to a few questions.
17:45We're going to play the video. Oh, we're going to play the video. All right, play the video.
17:49And this is, the video is, do you want to describe the video? Yeah, I'll describe the video. So,
17:53as I mentioned in my talking points, on December 12th, a group of individuals, again, members of this
18:01anti-government group traveled out to the desert to test their explosive devices. They had precursor
18:07chemicals there, and they were going to create these bombs in the desert. What they are starting to do
18:15is put their chemicals and wares and the components out on the table there. This footage that you're
18:23watching is from our surveillance plane. And then what happened after this is the Los Angeles FBI SWAT
18:30team, along with the FBI's hostage rescue team, moved in and arrested all four subjects without incident.
18:37So now we'll take some questions.
18:44Yeah, we're not naming the victim companies, but I'll generally describe them as logistic centers.
18:50You can think of, like, Amazon-type logistic centers, but we're not naming the specific
18:55companies at this time. There were at least five locations that they intended to target within
19:02Orange County and Los Angeles County. Again, we're not giving out the specific sites. But they were
19:09willing and wanting to do more if they could recruit more members to their radical efforts there.
19:15There are definitely more members to this group. As far as who was specifically involved
19:28in this New Year's Eve terror plot, we believe we've arrested all the members who were specifically
19:34involved in that particular plot.
19:37We did execute search warrants to people who are also part of this group. As we review that evidence,
19:43if we determine that there are any other individuals who knew about this or provided any assistance,
19:47we will obviously be charging them as well.
19:51Person arrest in Louisiana is not directly tied to this incident, but he is a member of this group.
19:56And when they executed the search warrant out there, he posed a great threat to the agency. He
20:01threatened the agents. And so that's why he's under arrest.
20:11Well, obviously, the FBI has a very robust national security investigators. They look out for domestic
20:20terrorism as far as as well as international terrorism. You want to talk more about your
20:24activities with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. So this investigation is is ongoing, as you know,
20:29just just stated. This members of this group or associates of this group or any collaborators in
20:35this group, we are looking at as a result of this investigation. To answer your question, we do believe
20:40that we have disrupted this plot for New Year's Eve. But like I said, the investigation is ongoing.
20:46As far as we're always looking, we're always looking for other people who might be plotting or
20:53are doing this. And let this be a warning. If you you can avoid being detected by the FBI or the federal
20:58government, if you think you're going to be able to design one of these plots, think again. We have
21:03very sophisticated, experienced agents and we will find you and we will infiltrate you and we will arrest
21:09you as we did with this group. They didn't see it coming. And each and every one of them is right now in
21:13custody. So we're very proud of the work done by the agents. Uh, yes. Any other questions?
21:22Uh, the names are done for a situation for done?
21:24What's it? What's it? What's the relationship?
21:26I'm sorry. The name of the operation?
21:28Yeah. Oh, just the name. It's just a name.
21:31It looks like one of the names is missing.
21:34Yeah. Why is that name off? I think that was a
21:47That's page. Zachary Aaron page 32.
21:54Okay. Any other questions?
22:00Did you want it? Yeah, go ahead.
22:05Good morning, everybody. It's Captain Mike Lant, the media relations division. As I
22:08discussed earlier with you guys, the chief has agreed to give you an update on the tragedy
22:12of the minor family home. Um, just understand this is based on some updates of the tireless work
22:16of our investigators from last night and through tonight. Um, we're still at the very early stage
22:20of this investigation, but again, uh, chief's prepared answering questions as you do. Thank you.
22:25No, thank you. Uh, thank you, Captain Bland. As, uh, as he said,
22:29the information at this stage is still limited, but I'll share what we can.
22:33First of all, our hearts go out to the family and friends of the Reiner's,
22:36uh, a tragic incident. Uh, yesterday at, uh, 12, uh, December 14th, about 340 in the afternoon,
22:45LAPD responded to a residence, uh, the residence of, uh, Rob and Michelle Reiner located in West
22:52Los Angeles division. At that location, they found two deceased adults, a male and a female,
22:58uh, through the night working with the coroner's office. Uh, they were able to identify them,
23:03uh, definitively as Rob and Michelle Reiner. Uh, we have our robbery homicide division handling
23:09the investigation. They worked throughout the night on this case and were able to take into custody,
23:16uh, Nick, uh, Nick Reiner, a suspect, uh, in this case. He was subsequently booked for murder
23:23and is being held on $4 million bail. Pretty much. That's what I can share at this point. Um,
23:30but again, a very, very tragic incident.
23:32Can you talk about, I know, uh, Jeffy Hamilton talked about, uh, the search warrant,
23:37and how important that was because that was something inside. Can you talk about where
23:41that was going to go over this and what you guys needed to get access?
23:44Yeah, you know, we, we use search warrants to be able to further our investigation, as you know,
23:50on, uh, on all of these cases. I wouldn't, uh, be in a position to talk specifically about what
23:55the object of the search warrant was, but it's a critical, uh, piece of our investigations to be
24:00able to ensure down the road of prosecution. Thank you all very much.
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