This was an example of one of Shep Smith's teases. He teased the story at the bottom of the hour that the mayor moved "his friends" up in the line for the busses at the Superdome.
When he actually did the story, it turns out it was foreign guests staying at the Hyatt. I'm not sure that is properly characterized as "the mayor's friends", but that's what Shep had said.
I heard...Mayor took over the Hyatt for his command office and brought in buses for the foreign tourists and told them to go to the front of the line. They weren't his friends but it was prob a payback.
Thank you.