Retired Army Officer Says Matthew Livelsberger Emailed Him About Car Bomb

Matthew Livelsberger, driver in the New Year's Day Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, wrote in an email sent less than 24 hours before the attack that he had a car bomb, according to a retired U.S. Army officer.

Why It Matters

The former officer, Sam Shoemate, on Friday shared his account in an interview on The Shawn Ryan Show, a popular podcast whose host has over 1 million followers on Instagram, including Joe Rogan and Ivanka Trump. He also has 3.58 million subscribers on YouTube.

Shoemate said he passed along the email to the FBI, which Newsweek contacted via email for comment on Friday.

A photo provided by police shows Matthew Livelsberger's identification found inside the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day. A former Army officer on Friday said that... Las Vegas Police Department via AP

What To Know

Shoemate said during his interview that the email sender identified themselves as Livelsberger, adding that the message was sent at 10:42 a.m. ET Tuesday with a "manifesto" claiming he was being tracked by federal agents.

The writer said the feds wouldn't "move on me" because he was armed with a "massive VBIED," an acronym for vehicle borne improvised explosive device.

"In layman's terms, a car bomb," Shoemate said, which was "what we saw" in Las Vegas, when the Cybertruck exploded in front of Trump International Hotel, killing the driver and injuring seven others.

"So ... he says, 'I am armed and I have a massive VBIED. I've been trying to maintain a very visible profile and have kept my phone and they are definitely digitally tracking me,'" Shoemate said, reading from the email.

The person who wrote the email also made a number of other claims, including that China was going to attack the U.S. and that World War III was coming.

Ryan posted a screenshot of the email to X on Friday.

Shoemate said the individual initially reached out to him via Instagram direct message and first emailed him on Sunday, three days before the explosion.

He described the Tuesday email—in which he said he had a VBIED—as a "manifesto."

"When I started reading this, my initial take was, OK, this is off the deep end," Shoemate told Ryan. "It's bonkers. I can't validate or verify any of the stuff in this manifesto."

Shoemate said he conveyed that to the sender and that they responded by asking to be put in touch with Ryan, Fox News and Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary.

Shoemate said the last time he was in contact with the email sender was on Tuesday, when Shoemate told the sender that he couldn't connect them with the people to whom he wanted to speak.

Shortly afterward, Shoemate referenced the email in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that was intended to be in jest.

"My inbox was especially eventful today," he wrote on Tuesday afternoon. "Allegations of war crimes, government anti gravity technology, and fears about being tracked and watched by the feds. It's always 'the world is ending and I have this information that needs to get to the media' and never 'how you doing, brother? Everything alright?'"

The day after the explosion, Shoemate said, he heard from a friend in a military-related group chat who asked him if he knew anything about the driver, who was an Army veteran.

"I'm f***ing shaking, bro," Shoemate responded via voice note. "You don't understand. This guy emailed me and told me he was being watched by the FBI and Homeland Security, but they weren't gonna do anything to him because he had a VBIED. I'm not f***ing playing, dude. I have the email. I'm shaking, man, this is, this is nuts."

What People Are Saying

Shoemate explained his decision to publicize the email, writing on X: "I knew taking this public would insert me into the 'glowy boi' conspiracy cycle, especially since I'm an intelligence officer. I had no choice. Dude dumped it in my inbox. When I saw his name in the news, I had little choice but to hand it over to the feds. I knew the FBI wouldn't release it, or at least without an agenda attached, so I took it to @ShawnRyan762 because he has the platform to handle the magnitude of this information and will do so as objectively as possible."

Ryan said shortly before the episode was released that he and his family will be "disappearing" for a few days: "My account will be active but it will not be me behind the wheel. What we are about to release is mind boggling and will raise a lot of questions."

What Comes Next

The FBI is still investigating details surrounding the explosion, including Livelsberger's possible motives and any warning signs that officials may have missed.