More Unauthorized Leaks of Tsarnaev Post-Arrest Statements

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Trials
Posted on Thu May 02, 2013 at 07:59:24 PM EST
Tags: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Boston Marathon Bombings (all tags)

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All it takes is for one or two unnamed federal law enforcement officials to make an unsubstantiated claim and every media outlet runs with it as if it is true. The latest: Claims that Dzhokhar Tsnarnev told the FBI the bombs for Boston were made in the apartment Tamerlan Tsarnaev shared with his wife and that the brothers initially planned on bombing Boston on the 4th of July but it was so easy to build the bombs they moved up their timetable

Via CNN:

The bombs used in the Boston Marathon attack were built in the apartment that suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev shared with his wife and child, a U.S. law enforcement official with first-hand knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Thursday. The official was not authorized to release the information.

....Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, initially planned to carry out an attack on July 4, but their bombs were ready earlier than they expected and they decided to move up the date, a U.S. law enforcement official told CNN on Thursday.

Via ABC: [More...]

The sources said the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told authorities after his capture that he and his older brother, Tamerlan, only changed their plan and hit the marathon because they were surprised at how quickly they were able to build functioning explosives.

While rushing to publish the unsubstantiated report, the CNN article misses the mark on how and when the FBI obtained Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s laptop.

The computer was turned over to investigators by one of his friends accused of obstructing justice. A lawyer for Dias Kadyrbayev tells CNN that his client "turned over the laptop to the FBI." He didn't say when the laptop was turned over. A law enforcement source confirmed the attorney's account.

Maybe CNN forgot to ask Dias’ lawyer, because he told ABC exactly when Dias turned over the laptop: It was on Friday, the first time the FBI descended on the roomates’ apartment, after the shootout with Tamerlan and before Dzhokhar was captured. (News article on first raid here.)

Robert Stahl, an attorney for a friend of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said his client had taken Dzhokhar's laptop from his room but turned it over to the FBI "the very first time" agents came to see him late Friday, four days after the bombing.

What does it tell us that law enforcement is only too willing to leak Dzhokhar’s uncounseled post-arrest statements but refused to confirm for two weeks that it had his computer, and has said nothing about any incriminating information found on it? And that the only way we find out when and how the FBI got it is from defense counsel? Probably that nothing pertinent was on the computer, or they would have leaked that too.

Holder or the Judge needs to step in and stop these leaks.

In other news, Tamerlan's body has been claimed by the family for burial which means that the death certificate with cause of death can be filed. That could happen tomorrow...or not.

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More Unauthorized Leaks of Tsarnaev Post-Arrest Statements | 15 comments (15 topical)

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"so easy to build" (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Mr Natural on Thu May 02, 2013 at 08:11:24 PM EST

Gotta wonder how broadcasting that bit of info serves anybody's interest.

: Implication (none / 0) (#5)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Fri May 03, 2013 at 06:18:28 AM EST

It implies that they were just turning the crank on a proven design obtained from elsewhere, with no need for testing.

So, if the FBI has had that laptop all (none / 0) (#2)
by caseyOR on Thu May 02, 2013 at 08:41:31 PM EST

this time, why have I been hearing news stories for days about how the FBI was searching garbage dumps for the backpack and the laptop?

i don't know what to believe. i guess I just won't believe anything.

: Multiple computers? (none / 0) (#3)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu May 02, 2013 at 08:45:04 PM EST

: Excellent choice (none / 0) (#4)
by CoralGables on Thu May 02, 2013 at 08:50:01 PM EST

because unless it's from an official source, the supposed leak may be nothing more than some reporter or some newsy blog creating a story out of thin air through a phantom "anonymous source" to create traffic. (btw the report (true or false) is that they they found the backpack at a landfill after being informed by one of the three where it was dumped)

Actually (none / 0) (#6)
by jbindc on Fri May 03, 2013 at 08:44:33 AM EST

You missed this part of the story - law enforcement doesn't necessarily believe Tsarnaev:

Both law enforcement officials expressed some skepticism about Tsarnaev's account, saying that the complexity of the bombs made it unlikely that the brothers could have completed them as fast as he claimed.
"Maybe we will never know," said one of the officials, who has been briefed on the interrogation. "This is the story that he is telling us."

I saw something hinting at that in a one sentence (none / 0) (#7)
by gbrbsb on Sat May 04, 2013 at 08:40:37 AM EST

news flash on NBC Nightly News on May 03, i.e.:

FBI trying to verify Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's claims
"Officials are saying that it is probably impossible to verify all the information that the Boston Marathon bombing suspect told interrogators. NBC's Pete Williams reports."

With your article all very strange IMO, and makes me wonder what can we believe from this leaking "official/s", when so far we have been told:

Hour long gunfire exchange at the boat with Dzhokhar and his attempted suicide shooting himself in the neck; contradicted by the fact he had no gun.
Dzhokhar killed Tamerlan by running him over and dragging him 40 feet; contradicted by forensic report.
Dzhokhar's Laptop was thrown away by the friends charged with obstruction and recovered from landfill site; contradicted by newer reports that one of the friends handed it over to the FBI or police the week of the bombing on a second visit they made.
Dzhokhar's "confession" that the brothers were on their way to blowing up Manhattan; now placed in doubt by reports that it came from "Manhattan" being the only word the car jacked citizen understood while the brothers spoke in Russian.

And I may have missed some.


: So... we have a "shootout" (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by Mr Natural on Sat May 04, 2013 at 10:33:52 AM EST

in which only one side had guns, and an attempted suicide by gun, in which no one had a gun.

No, Natural.... (none / 0) (#9)
by jimakaPPJ on Sat May 04, 2013 at 10:58:44 AM EST

They had bombs and guns....

: Not quite correct from what I have read (none / 0) (#12)
by gbrbsb on Sat May 04, 2013 at 11:51:41 AM EST

as it should be "gun" not "guns". At the boat shootout it has been officially confirmed that DT had no weapons at all, while at the first shootout it has been officially confirmed TT had the only gun (the assault rifle the police first reported has been officially debunked) and unofficially reported from between 2 to 6 pressure cooker or other crude explosive devices depending on which report you read.

This needs to be tweak... (none / 0) (#10)
by heidelja on Sat May 04, 2013 at 11:31:58 AM EST

It was on Friday, the first time the FBI descended on the roomates' apartment, hours before the shootout with Tamerlan and the day before Dzhokhar was captured.

My understanding now is that Tamerlan was dead at 1:30am on Friday morning. First news reports seemed to make this out to be a few hours later. Of course, we know that Dzhokhar had been cornered after about 6:30 pm on Friday evening. If the Feebs descended before the shootout resulting in Tamerlan's death, it was on going by late Thursday night.

it's a very confusing (none / 0) (#13)
by Jeralyn on Sat May 04, 2013 at 12:35:26 PM EST

timeline due to the early morning hours shootout which makes the events that started on Thursday (killing of MIT officer, carjack, chase) extend into Friday (time Tamerlan died at hospital, 1:35 am.) I've changed it to:

It was on Friday, the first time the FBI descended on the roomates’ apartment, after the shootout with Tamerlan and before Dzhokhar was captured.

They released the photos on Thursday around 5 pm. The friends went to Jahar's dorm shortly after and picked up his stuff. Thursday night was the shootout with Tamerlan. On Friday, around 5:30 pm, while they were still searching for Jahar, they searched the roommates house and took them into custody, but let them go hours later, around 5 am Sat. They announced the search Friday around 6:30 pm. On Saturday, they went back and arrested the roommates.


: here is the boston globe (none / 0) (#14)
by Jeralyn on Sat May 04, 2013 at 12:37:39 PM EST

tweet at 5:30 pm Friday saying the Bedford search had occurred.

As for... (none / 0) (#11)
by heidelja on Sat May 04, 2013 at 11:39:26 AM EST

What does it tell us that law enforcement is only too willing to leak Dzhokhar's uncounseled post-arrest statements but refused to confirm for two weeks that it had his computer, and has said nothing about any incriminating information found on it? And that the only way we find out when and how the FBI got it is from defense counsel? Probably that nothing pertinent was on the computer, or they would have leaked that too.

My intuition suggests that likely the laptop was taken immediately to Quantico, Va for analysis. It being out of Boston takes it out of the simmering Boston rumor mill preventing the leaks of informtaion in its regard like for other matters we only hear about. This would also explain the news media confusion for its existence.

: But then from CBS Evening News... (none / 0) (#15)
by heidelja on Sun May 05, 2013 at 04:51:20 AM EST

...yesterday evening, one shouldn't discount the assessment "nothing pertinent was on the computer." It reported "per the FBI" the possible incriminating findings from Katherine Russell's computer making no reference to Dzhokhar's.