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Bloomberg: Times Square Targeted; Tsarnaev Moved to Prison Facility; Eerie Hints in Suspect's Twitter Page; Bombing Suspects' Dad Delays U.S. Trip; Carjacked By Bombing Suspects; Returning Home to Boylston Street

Aired April 26, 2013 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get you right though to that federal prison where that sole surviving bombing suspect is now getting medical treatment this morning. CNN's national correspondent Deborah Feyerick is there for us.

Deborah, just tell us a little bit more about this facility and exactly how -- how and when he was moved.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we're waiting for details from the U.S. Attorney's Office in terms of how they actually moved in and when they moved him. What we usually see in these situations is it is done at an early hour of the morning, 3, 4, 5:00 when most people are still sleeping or certainly there are not live cameras trained let's say on a hospital.

We don't know exactly what time he was moved, but we do know he was brought here to the Devens Federal Medical Center. This is not a military installation. This is run by the Bureau of Prisons. They have a medical facility here that sort of minor -- that takes care of the inmates, nothing major, no major surgeries and things like that.

But we are told by a spokesperson who spoke to Elizabeth Cohen that they have an extensive amount of medical practitioners on hand. Clearly Tsarnaev is getting the best possible medical care. He still has serious injuries to his neck, his hands, and his torso.

So all of that, I apologize, the top of his leg I should say so all of that is still being attended to. He has been breathing on his own. He was no longer intubated as a couple of days ago.

But they thought that this would give them a greater deal of privacy to do what they need to do. Clearly we are now significantly at a distance. As you can see, the facility is just behind us as opposed to the hospital where we're really were almost right at the front door. So this gives everybody a little bit after distance from one another -- Brooke, Jake.

BALDWIN: OK, let me just ask you, pull away from the facility for a minute, you have got some new information on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev tweets going back several years. What have you seen?

FEYERICK: Yes. We were able to actually get 2-1/2 years worth of Tsarnaev's tweets. It is really interesting. It paints a picture of somebody who is very devoted to his Chechnya roots. He had a strong sense of identity, a strong sense of pride. He talks about going to Dagestan, the exact same region where his brother was.

He was planning on visiting really almost at the same moment his brother Tamerlan was returning from that particular region. Not clear what he was planning on doing there. The tweets of greatest interest are the ones that suggest this potential attack. For example -- and we have a lot more. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): The picture that emerges of a young man proud of his Chechen roots, eager to visit what he calls his homeland, a country he had left as a child. Quote, "A decade in America, already I want out," he tweets in March 2012. The 19-years-old college student was planning to return to Dagestan last summer, arriving just as older brother Tamerlan was returning from a six-month stay there.

But his plans fell through, quote, "My passport is not going to come in time," he writes. He complains that his mother is trying to arrange a marriage for him. Quote, "She needs to chill out. I'll find my own honey," he tweets.

His trip cancelled, Tsarnaev instead takes a train to Washington, D.C. via New York complaining about a noisy child and noting New York looks ill from a far, but zoom in and it gets real dirty. Messages and a photo from the time shows Tsarnaev visited New York again with friends around Thanksgiving.

Quote, "New York is so ratchet on Black Friday its ridiculous. I'm to bed soon." Religion seems to be of growing importance over the last year. Tsarnaev seems amused. People mistakenly think he's converted. Quote, "Brothers at the mosque either think I'm a convert or that I'm from Algeria or Syria."

On another occasion he shares, "Spent the day with this Jamaican Muslim convert, my religion is truth." Other tweets are of special interest to investigators. A full year before the bombing, Tsarnaev writes in native Russian, quote, "I will die young," unquote.

Several months later, in August, he writes, "Boston marathon isn't good place to smoke." In January of this year, quote, "I got those brothers that I would take a bullet for in the leg or shoulder or something, nothing fatal though."

Finally a week before the attack, quote, "If you have the knowledge and the inspiration, all that's left is to take action."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And Jake, Brooke, another tweet that is of particular special interest to investigators that is one in which a Chechen rebel group actually reached out to Tsarnaev. Now it is clear whether this was sort of a re-tweet or whether he was on their page.

But there is a direct link to each other and again, you know, with Twitter there are different ways to phrase things, but what we understand is that he did get a communication from the Caucasus Emerit, that particular group that's there that clearly under investigation because of the connections of this family to that region -- Jake, Brooke.

TAPPER: All right, Deb Feyerick outside the facility. That is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's new home.

BALDWIN: Yes.

TAPPER: The bomb suspects' father is delaying his trip to the U.S. apparently because of health reasons. Both the parents have left their Russian home for an undisclosed location. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Southern Russia. Nic, this is all very confusing what we're hearing from the parents. Why do you think he cancelled his trip to the U.S.?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's possibly for health reasons, possibly his concern that he will be somebody that law enforcement officials want to interview when he comes to the United States. Possibly have some concerns about that.

You know, when we were at the press conference yesterday asking questions particularly on this very sensitive issue of Misha, the man who so influenced Tamerlan to make him turn towards religion and influenced his wife as well to start praying and become very religious.

It seemed to me at that moment, when I asked why, why was this man so influential? There was not a solid and good answer. They looked at each other and you really got that feeling that they're not telling everything. They're not saying everything.

Misha is such a central figure. They must know that if the father goes to the United States that's the sort of thing that is likely to be asked. So perhaps that's one of his concerns, but for right now his illness, we're not clear exactly what it is.

Not that family, the parents not in Dagestan, somewhere else in Russia. That trip indefinitely put off. Interesting listening to what Deb Feyerick was talking about there. The two brothers, how Tamerlan came back here from Dagestan and Dzhokhar wanted to go off right away.

The mother yesterday talking about this very strong connection between the two boys. Listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZUBEIDAT TSARNAEV, BOMBING SUSPECTS' MOTHER: Very close.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very close?

TSARNAEV: Very loved each other, very loved each other. When Dzhokhar used to come on Friday night home from dormitory, Tamerlan used to hug him and kiss him, hold him like -- because he was a big, big boy Tamerlan. He would have hug like this and hold him my Dzhokhar and he would kiss him like this. He would never think kissing brother was a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: There's been a lot of speculation that Tamerlan was really a strong influence to his younger brother, Dzhokhar. There you get an insight into just how strong that bond was between those two brothers -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

BALDWIN: And here in Boston, you know, there is one man who is describing his encounter with the marathon bombing suspects as 90 minutes of terror. This man is providing dramatic details about what exactly went down between the time MIT Police Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed and that huge shootout with the Boston bombing suspects.

That was not one week ago. So this man we're talking about, this was the man who was carjacked by the suspects and he shared his gripping story with two New England media outlets. At one account appears incredible piece. We're about to talk to the guy who got the get here in today's "Boston Globe."

The carjacking victim though asked to just be identified as Danny. So it was around 11:00 last Thursday night when Danny pulled his car over on Brighton Avenue just to answer a text on his cell phone.

Another car pulls up right behind him. A guy gets out, knocks on Danny's window. It turns out that that man was Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Danny in the car lowers the window, tries to hear what this guy is trying to say to him.

When Tamerlan holding a gun unlock the door, reaches in and unlocks it, climbs in. Danny said Tamerlan Tsarnaev confessed to the bombings and to killing MIT Police Officer Sean Collier.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who was in another car so there are two cars at one point in time, he would ultimately join his brother and Danny in this Mercedes that Danny was sitting in here with Tamerlan driving.

Quote, "I don't want to die. I have a lot of dreams that haven't come true yet." The men then drove through Brighton, gets to Watertown, go back to Cambridge and Danny recounted one chilling exchange with Tamerlan.

Let me quote that, "Don't look at me Tamerlan shouted. Do you remember my face? No, no, I don't remember anything." Danny answered. Danny also spoke with CNN affiliate WMUR and here is a part of the interview here where Danny talks about escaping.

But let me just be clear, when we play this for you, Danny doesn't go on camera. He didn't even want his voice recorded. So the story is actually told by this reporter from WMUR. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They asked me where I'm from. I told them I'm Chinese. I was very scared. I asked them if they are going to hurt me. They said they won't hurt me. I was thinking, I think they will kill me later.

But if that was their plan, they wouldn't get the chance. The victim told us his car was running out of gas so the men needed to fill up. Of his daring escape, he says, quote, "I thought it was a very good chance for me to run so I made a judgment.

I used my left hand to unbuckle my belt, my right hand to open the door. I jumped out of the car and ran away across the street. The guy outside the car tried to catch me using his hand. He says he heard them say an expletive when he ran.

The victim said he can't stop recording that moment when he was running out of the car. He says I was running. I was worried. It was very scary. At that moment for me, I'm so lucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Eric Moskowitz is grizzled "The Boston Globe" reporter who interviewed Danny. He joins us now. Eric, congratulations on the scoop of the week, really a great story, a great story telling. Tell us first of all how is Danny doing?

ERIC MOSKOWITZ, REPORTER, "BOSTON GLOBE": You know, it was such a privilege to talk to Danny. The first thing that comes through is that he's really a good and decent person. And that was one of his -- I mean, you think about all he went through. One of his fears is how he might be judged or just sort of how to deal with this.

He's only been back in the country for two months. He was here for three years. He was a grad student before that. He went back to China for a year and just came back. He didn't tell his parents about this until yesterday.

He told his dad via Skype. He said, Dad, don't tell mom. I don't want her to be worried. If my name gets out there then you can tell her. So he went from a run one day. He went back to start up one day, but mostly he's been in his apartment keeping a low profile.

BALDWIN: So in your piece, in this timeline that he dictates to you, was the part you say it was cash only, right? He never thought he'd be so happy to see these words, cash only at this gas station. Take me back to that moment.

MOSKOWITZ: Sure. So one of the first things that happened because Danny doesn't know -- I mean, very quickly, Tamerlan identifies himself as the guy who bombed the marathon and killed the police officer to let Danny he's serious. But Danny doesn't know if this is just a robbery or if they want his car or what.

It very quickly becomes a carjacking. He tells Danny to drive and give him his wallet. He is looking through. He takes Danny's cards and asks him for his ATM password. So you know, later, because Danny only $45 in cash. They have Danny's credit card, his ATM card. They go to the atm. The gas is low.

They ask Danny and Danny is very coolly is trying to underplay, you know, everything. They say how far do you think my car can go on this tank of gas? He says maybe 10, 20 miles. So they realize they have to get gas before getting on the interstates. They are heading west on Route 20.

They stop at a gas station that is closed. They turned around and head back into town to get gas before getting back on the interstate. You know, they pull up to two 24-hour gas stations. Who knows if they go to the right one instead of the left one?

They go to a left one. Dzhokhar is in the backseat. Tamerlan is in the driver's seat. Danny is in the passenger seat. He's been with them for 90 minutes. Dzhokhar gets out with Danny's credit card, tries to use it.

A moment later knocks on Danny's glass because Danny is sitting on the gas side and says cash only. So Tamerlan takes out money, gives him 50 bucks. It is not their money. It's not their car. They are getting the top gasoline. He says get V-Power.

The younger brother walks into the food mart. Now it is just Danny -- this is his moment. He has already been thinking about how he would do it and one of the things he thought earlier was, I'll buckle the seat belt behind me because at least that way I won't -- it will be one less thing to do when I get out.

That happened back at the ATM. He tried to buckle the seat -- Danny said he is not watching me. If he hears the click, he'll know I'd buckle the seat beat. He'll see it and says don't be stupid.

But in the car at that moment, Danny realizes the gun is now in the driver's pocket, you know --

TAPPER: Because Tamerlan has put it in the pocket.

MOSKOWITZ: This is a -- alleged terrorist, but he's also had a long day. You know, he's been on run. He's killed an MIT police officer. He's been driving around looking for gas. You know, he lets his guard down. He puts the gun in the pocket.

That's when Danny realizes if I get out now it is going to take him a moment to realize it. He gets out. Tamerlan reaches for him, doesn't grab him, curses, but Danny closes the door very quickly.

If Tamerlan is going to get a shot off, it's going to have to be over the back seats of the car, through the back window. As Danny is running between the car and the gas pumps, he doesn't shoot. Danny gets to the other gas station across the street, runs in and then runs to the backroom and asks the clerk to call 911.

TAPPER: And throughout this ordeal, throughout the 90 minutes, Danny is doing everything he can to convince them and understandably so, nobody is faulting him for this, that he's not American, to underline you're Muslim, Chinese are very good to Muslims, to be the gray man. Somebody they're not paying attention to, but don't think anything negative about.

MOSKOWITZ: Exactly. You know, Danny was exceptionally poised. He under play the amount of time he'd been in the United States. He told them his car was older than it was. He told them his lease payments were lower than it was. You know, he just sorted about everything about him. He made himself seemed like a non-threatening exchange student.

At one point actually, they asked does anyone care about you? And he says no. He said no. He just wants them to think no one will come looking for him. And then, of course, Danny does have two roommates.

At one point, one of the roommates texts him in Chinese, Tamerlan - - Danny's iPhone is plugged in and charging. So Tamerlan sees the phone and he picks it up and says he gets an app that translates. He copies on the iPhone screen, plugs into text to text Danny's roommate.

That sounds weird. It comes across not like a fluid Chinese speaker. The roommate texts back. The roommate's boyfriend called again and they don't answer. You're going to answer this. If you say a word in Chinese, I will kill you so although it would be normal for Danny to speak in Chinese.

BALDWIN: But they said we're going to kill you if you speak in Chinese.

MOSKOWITZ: They're speaking in Mandarin to him and Danny is just saying very little in English. I'm sick. I'm staying with a friend, sorry and hangs up. Tamerlan says good boy, good job.

TAPPER: It was incredible though the idea that Tamerlan actually gets -- utilizes an English to Chinese app to throw the roommate off the trail. Who would even think --

BALDWIN: What's my escape plan, how can I tell somebody red flag something is going on?

MOSKOWITZ: They're both thinking the whole time.

TAPPER: Tamerlan is not a moron.

MOSKOWITZ: No, he's not.

TAPPER: He might be an evil person. He is an evil person, but using an English to Chinese app is an interesting thing to do in that situation.

MOSKOWITZ: They're paying attention to Danny. I mean, when Danny tries to buckle the seatbelt behind him. They know what Danny is doing. When they load the heavy objects that Danny thinks are luggage from their car to his car when they consolidate. They tell him not to turn around. They were paying attention to what Danny was doing, what they were doing and how they were relating to each other. TAPPER: You came across the story because Danny reached out to one of his mentors at North Eastern University who also is a journalism expert at North Eastern University who you know.

MOSKOWITZ: Danny and I have a couple of second degree contacts. Danny doesn't have a huge network in the U.S. He is no longer in grad school, but his professor is very much still his mentor. His professor is somebody I knew a little bit from the Engineering Department in North Eastern.

So he just went to him and said this happened to me -- after he talked to the FBI, the state police, local police, sort of being debriefed, let back out in the world. You know, where does he go? He goes to the home of his professor.

They then you know start to tell the story to a few friends and to reach out to people and see, you know, what would happen if Danny talks to anyone other than the authorities because he is not, really, he is not looking for attention.

He was very worried -- he said to me he was very worried that people would think that somehow he was in cahoots with them. That is not the case. I mean, Danny was a hero and was so poised. Any other person with a different background, different time of night, you never know, how could it played it out.

You know, Danny survived and immediately led the police to his car, which had the Mercedes tracking device and Danny's cell phone, his iPhone driving away with it. They can track both and they get them very quickly instead of the trip to the New York they were alluding to.

TAPPER: Is Danny seeking any sort of professional help given the trauma that he's been through?

MOSKOWITZ: There was something that I've asked him. I don't know. I couldn't speak to that.

TAPPER: It is something that he probably should consider if you would pass that on to him along our appreciation.

MOSKOWITZ: Absolutely. You know, I've been texting with him a little bit. He seems to be in OK spirits. Yesterday, he went for a run for the first time since this had all happened. I mean, he is trying to piece his life back to normal.

TAPPER: Great story. Congratulations on the scoop and the sensitivity with which you treated the story.

MOSKOWITZ: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Yes, thank you very much. What a story? What an ordeal? Back here live in Boston, we're going to talk next about returning home, but far from returning to normal. We'll talk to someone who lives right here in Boston who is now back inside her apartment on Boylston Street. The whole thing was closed through this whole ordeal just a couple of days ago. Special coverage continues after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We're continuing our live special coverage in Boston. Many residents of Boylston Street are finally getting settled back into their homes after being kept away for a week.

BALDWIN: And Stephanie Prashad is one of them. She joins us now right here on Boylston and you live just that way on Boylston.

TAPPER: It is a beautiful neighborhood.

BALDWIN: It is beautiful. I'm sure it's nice to see people out and about once again. Tell me where were you last Monday?

STEPHANIE PRASHAD: I was actually right near the finish line right before the first blast went off. So I was just doubling back trying to get back home when the first blast went off. We didn't really understand what was going on.

By the second blast, me and the families that I was around finally realized people were bleeding and running towards us. But there's still a lot of chaos. No one sat down and explained to us what was going on.

So I actually ended up walking all around to here and then back down Boylston before I ran into a runner who explained to me that there have been like a massive terrorist attack. That people were bleeding, people lost limbs, it was a jarring effect. I finally got a hold of my parents.

TAPPER: You live right near the incident?

PRASHAD: I live about a block away.

TAPPER: Were you given a warning to gather your stuff and you'll not be allowed in your home?

PRASHAD: Absolutely not. I left the house with my wallet and my cell phone. And that was it.

TAPPER: That was it and you couldn't get back in?

BALDWIN: For a week?

TAPPER: Where did you stay?

PRASHAD: I depended on the generosity of others. I slept on couches. I went home a little bit, but if you work in Boston, you can't be traveling that much. So it really depended on other people in Boston to take care of me, which is a terrifying feeling.

TAPPER: Did you know a lot of friends who lent you clothing or did you have to go shopping? How did you deal with that?

PRASHAD: Everyone was so amazing. I got so much clothing. It's never the same as being home. The first thing I did when getting home was I jumped into my bed because it's so jarring to just be left out in the cold for so long.

BALDWIN: You're fortunate you're OK. Obviously that really is priority number one. Now that Boylston has reopened, can you just help explain to people whoever never been to Boston does the city feel back to you.

PRASHAD: Already, judging by how alive it was last night alone, it is like nothing ever happened. There are still a lot of memorials and people are very upset, but people are still out and about. It was the same way when we were outside our homes. People were going out the dinner.

BALDWIN: Stephanie, thank you.

TAPPER: Thank you so much for your time. A Marine corporal who lost his legs in Afghanistan is bringing a message of hope to Boston bombing victims in hospitals. We'll have that story when our special coverage continues right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)