>>> in the spotlight tonight, the latest on the boston bombings. it has been two weeks since two bombs at the boston marathon killed three people, injured more than 260. only 23 patients remain hospitalized tonight, and for the first time since the bombing, none of the patients are in critical condition. and this evening, investigators announced that female dna was found on at least one of the bombs used in the attacks. nbc news justice correspondent pete williams has the latest. pete?
>> reporter: alex, good evening. legal sources say tonight prosecutors and lawyers for the surviving bomb suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev, he could give a full accounting to the fbi in exchange for the death penalty . in rhode island , an fbi team conducted a search at the house where tamerlan tsarnaev's widow katherine has been living since the bombing. she says she was shocked by the attack, had no idea he was planning it. law enforcement officials say they took a sample of her dna to compare to female dna found on a piece of the pressure cooker from one of the bombs, but caution it could have come from employees at the stores where the parts were bought. u.s. officials confirm reports that it was a russian wire tap of tamerlan tsarnaev's mother in which she spoke about jihad that prompted the russians to ask the fbi for more information about him two years ago. some members of congress say the russian intelligence service should have been more explicit.
>> if the russians had given the fbi the information they had regarding the mother and the son and their views on the mother's radicalization and son's radicalization, it would have dramatically changed the investigation.
>> reporter: tonight, u.s. officials say they doubt it would make a difference. it was clear two years ago they thought his mother was becoming extremist, but she spoke about jihad only generally. the fbi is looking at whether tamerlan met in dagestan . one was a boxer from canada, killed by russian special operations forces in july in dagestan . the other was killed in another russian operation last may. back home, law enforcement officials say they found nothing in local landfills, but are searching garbage containers thinking someone may have carried something out of the college dorm room a few days after the bombings. authorities say it is not clear whether whoever may have done so knew evidence could be destroyed or did something just to help a friend. late today the judge in the case approved a request from dzhokhar tsarnaev's public defenders to add an experienced death penalty lawyer, judy clark , of california, to his legal team. she recently represented jared loughner.
>> joining me from boston, nbc news national correspondent michael isikoff . thanks for joining me. how important is the new information about the female dna found on at least one of the bombs?
>> i don't think we know yet. i think this is a sort of standard investigative technique the fbi would go through, as pete pointed out in the piece, it could have well have come from the employee where the pressure cookers were sold. the larger points is in many respects, the needle moved in this investigation. last week, the general tone you were getting from the fbi is it was these two guys, we found no evidence of any outside accomplices, no indication of ties to international terror groups. the case is moving towards rapid closure. i think now the tone and what you're hearing from investigators is somewhat different and somewhat nuanced. this is an open question . there are some large unanswered questions here, six months in russia, large time particularly in dagestan that ties to this radical mosque. did tamerlan tsarnaev visit that mosque. did he meet with some of these radicals. that mosque and area in dagestan is a hot bed for islamic jihadists. it seems more and more something would have happened there that would have helped radicalize tamerlan and also may have have encouraged him. it is no coincidence within a month of him returning to the united states last year after that trip, he sets up that youtube account where suddenly you're seeing all these postings from the radical preacher in australia, fie ez muhammad, and vide videos, a sign his radicalization has progressed much further. you put it together with what we are now learning from the russians about the transcripts they had in 2011 with his mother discussing jihad, not information the russians provided earlier. and questions about time earlier in the united states , whether they could have made these bombs themselves.
>> to that point, piecing together what happened in dagestan when tamerlan tsarnaev went back to that region, as pete williams mentioned in his piece, russian special ops killed two men considered radical muslims who apparently con sorted with tamerlan tsarnaev in some way, one was a boxer like him. do we know anything about the auspices under which they were killed?
>> well look, one of the issues here, there was perhaps the original russian report wasn't taken as seriously as now in retrospect people should have been is that there's a general sense that the russians tend to view any insurgents, any opposition to the putin government as terrorists and so therefore the russian request may not have been about genuinely finding terrorists who we would worry about but more about finding political opponents to their regime. that's been the dilemma from the beginning. the fbi without more information was a little skeptical about that original russian report.
>> michael isikoff , thanks for your time tonight.
gop debate republican debate lewis black kirkwood chris brown and rihanna nightline brady quinn
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.