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CNN Saturday Morning News

Search for Suspect's Computer; Learning How to Make a Bomb Online; "There's Going to Be More Arrests"; Building a Better Bomb Detector; FAA Gets Help with Furloughs

Aired April 27, 2013 - 07:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Happy Saturday. Thank you for joining us. We are coming to you live this morning from Boston. It's 7:00 out here on the East Coast, 4:00 a.m. out West. We are glad you are with us. We are joining you here from a beautiful site. It is a makeshift memorial for the Boston marathon victims of that horrific bombing. It is growing by the day, messages of support from all around the world.

Also, details this morning emerging about the kinds of explosive devices the Boston bombing suspects had. We're going to explain what they were and how they learned to make them.

Plus this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER ABBOTT, SURVIVOR: If somebody had told me that I was going to have half a leg, basically, at the age of 38 before this happened I think I would have never believed it, I think I would have been devastated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Beautiful Heather Abbott, she made the choice to lose half of her leg in order to reclaim her life. How one Boston survivor is inspiring not just the victims but the entire nation.

And later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The problem is this is just a band-aid solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The flight furloughs may be ending but the White House says this is not a permanent fix, it is a band-aid. What Congress' latest fix really means for your travel.

This morning I am here joining you live from Boylston Street in Boston by the memorial for the victims for the Boston bombing. And investigation is now focus on a landfill, a landfill right near Boston, but an hour away, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. That is close to the UMass-Dartmouth campus and that is the school that suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attended. Investigators are combing it for a laptop that they believe could be in there, and they believe Dzhokhar's laptop could be there, that it could provide more information about the planning and execution of the attack.

Our Pamela Brown joins me now from outside the prison hospital where Dzhokhar is being treated, and that's in Devens.

Pamela, good morning to you. Thank you for joining us.

What can you tell us about the search for the computer this morning? What do we know at this point?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, what we know is that investigators in hazmat suits are still searching the landfill. We have learned from a U.S. law enforcement official that the leads to that search actually came from not only the suspect himself, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but also others who may know about the whereabouts of that laptop, who may have actually played a role in disposing of it, after the April 15th bombing at the Boston marathon.

But, again, authorities are still searching for that laptop at the landfill in Bedford, Massachusetts.

HARLOW: And I think one of the very interesting things is that sources have told CNN that authorities were tipped off, that others may have helped in the disposal of that laptop. So, there may be accomplices or people with knowledge of this.

Also, behind you, a lot of focus on that prison facility where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is now at the hospital. What do we know about his condition? The fact that they were able to move him there, I think, tells us a lot.

BROWN: It does tell us a lot. At last check he is still in fair condition. But we are told from sources that he is sitting up. That he's able to write. So, it seems like his condition is drastically improving, Poppy, from where he was this time last week.

So he arrived here at Devens Medical Center early yesterday morning. He was brought here by the U.S. Marshals Service. He is in a restricted part of the facility that's for high risk offenders. He has his own cell, a basic cell with very limited amenities. There's a steel door, a slot for food and a toilet and sink and that's about it.

HARLOW: Pamela, thank you very much. I know you'll be joining us throughout the morning as information develops. Thank you very much.

Well, the blood-stained boat where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was finally captured has now been moved. It was towed from the backyard in Watertown, Massachusetts, to what police say is a, quote, "secure locations". That is all we know about its location at this point in time. Sources say police did not find any guns inside of that boat despite the long standoff between Dzhokhar and authorities. They were alerted when the boat's owner spotted some blood on the side of the boat, and the tarp was flapping in the wind and then he called the police.

And for the first time in days we are getting a look at the wife of dead bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Her name is Katherine Russell, and she was spotted yesterday leaving her family's home in Rhode Island. You see her there in the head scarf and the woman next to her is her attorney. And I want to go now live to our Erin McPike, who joins us now from Rhode Island.

And, Erin, I know you were the one that saw her yesterday. You have been there for days, first time she came out in days. You tried to talk to her. Did she say anything to you?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, she didn't. I tried to ask her how she was doing and what was happening, and, no, she did not say anything. Her largest ushered her inside. What I can tell you, though, is that she looked very overwhelmed when we did try to talk to her, Poppy.

HARLOW: In terms of where she was headed, we know she was leaving with her lawyer, and we know from what we've heard, she has been cooperating and talking to authorities and obviously incredibly upset about everything that's happened, but she also understands the importance of talking to authorities.

Do we have any sense of where she was going, what she was going to do?

MCPIKE: Well, yesterday she went to her attorney's office and met with her attorney for about 90 minutes. Now, we don't know for sure whether or not she herself has spoken to authorities. All her lawyers have insisted is that she has been cooperating and they have been communicating with authorities.

HARLOW: OK.

MCPIKE: But whether or not she has talked to them, we don't know yet.

HARLOW: And we don't know necessarily where she was going. We know through her lawyer's statement, that's really what we heard, that she insists that she had nothing to do with the bombing plot, or know anything about it. Is that still the belief at this point in time?

MCPIKE: That is -- that is the case, Poppy. But we know that the FBI remains very interested in her because she, of course, was living in that very small apartment with both Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. And they think that she may know some details or something that could help them with the investigation.

And so, until she does talk to them, we don't think the interest in her will go away. We can tell you that many security vehicles have been stationed outside of her house all week, Poppy.

HARLOW: And, you know, it's interesting, is her lawyer kept emphasizing that she worked, you know, more than 12 hours a day. She worked seven days a week and her husband stayed home with the young child, and she was out of the house a lot, working. So, you know, that's a point that her lawyer made over and over again.

Erin, we'll be watching for developments. Thank you very much.

MCPIKE: Thank you.

HARLOW: Well, part of the Boston investigation has focused on an online al Qaeda magazine that teaches terrorists explicitly how to build a bomb. Investigators say one of the explosives found at last week's gunfight between the suspect and police is similar to one outlined in that magazine.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson joins us live from Dagestan this morning.

Good morning to you, Nic.

Not only are they giving instructions on how to make a bomb, but suggesting targets as well?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. What this has become is a forum for jihadists. It's all sort of bundled into a glossy, online and printed magazine. And what makes it good for al Qaeda, if you will, from their terms is they made this publication in English, not Arabic or any other language, because what they want to do is target an overseas English-speaking sort of jihadist wannabe- type of audience.

They began publishing this magazine several years ago. A lot of very interesting details in it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): As al Qaeda terror camps took a beating in drone strikes, so the radicals hone their online training in 2010, publishing the "Inspire" magazine, propelling them to leaders and cooking up jihad at home.

Issue one devoted 10 of its pages to bomb-making. Glossy propaganda written in English to inspire a generation of English-speaking radical wannabes, instructions showing step-by-step details on making a pressure cooking bomb and timing and detonator circuitry.

More issues followed up. Issue nine in early 2012 suggests targeting sporting events. Issue seven in the autumn 2011 suggests using a car to mow down pedestrians.

The ideas are often sounded outlandish, but their intent has never been less than terror.

Faisal Shahzad, convicted for a bombing in New York's Times Square in 2010, rigged a car using a cocktail of explosives similar to "Inspire" magazine instructions. And another apparent would-be lone wolf attacker Jose Pimentel followed yet another "Inspire" recipe before he was arrested in 2011.

But the magazine didn't just offer bomb-making, but ideology as well. Osama Bin laden's writings featured heavily as did vitriolic attacks of the USA. Its modern magazine style came courtesy of its creator and editor-in-chief, an American living in Yemen, Samir Khan, a member of al Qaeda's Yemen franchise, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He once boasted, "I am proud to be a traitor to America." Less than two years after issue hit the streets, he was dead, killed in Yemen, September 30th, 2011 in a U.S. drone strike.

Issue 12 was published last year. There has been nothing since.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: It's an arm of al Qaeda's propaganda that they have been trying to push for many, many years, and when it gets flattened, if you will, and put down in one place, it comes open in another place. But this English language idea behind it really poses sort of reach into the heart of the United States and Europe, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely.

Nic Robertson, joining us live in Dagestan -- thank you, Nic.

Back here in the United States, investigators in New York are taking a closer look at this. It is a piece of an airplane found in a small space between two buildings right near Ground Zero. New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly explained the significance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: As you get closer, on the part, you can see a serial number and you see the word "Boeing" before that serial number. You can't say with certainty what that part is, but the assumption is that it's part of the landing gear from one of the 9/11 aircraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The five-foot long piece of metal was found behind an Islamic community center, and the plane part will be examined, of course, by both the medical examiner's office and the NTSB.

We'll get back to Boston right after the break. Ahead, the latest on the investigation, and of course honoring the victims honored in this memorial, and some talk that more arrests could be coming.

And we'll also look inside the minds of the suspected terrorists and try to find out what police and federal agents are doing right now interrogating them to try to keep ahead. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back.

Well, it has been just over a week since the Boston bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured by police. In that week, we have learned more and more about his inspiration and the equipment that may have been used. But there is still a lot of work to be done by investigators. Many, many leads still to track down.

Here to help us go through the latest developments is Tom Fuentes, a CNN law enforcement analyst, also former FBI assistant director.

Good morning to you, Tom. Thank you for joining us.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Good morning, Poppy.

HARLOW: House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers told the "Boston Herald" very significantly, "I don't think this is over." That's a quote. And he went on to say there are clearly more persons of interest and they're not 100 percent sure if there are not other explosives.

What do you make of that?

FUENTES: Well, I think just what he says, that, you know, it's still difficult to believe that he could have done all this, or the two brothers could have done all this without help even before or after the event. So you know, they are looking into that. And they believe that there probably could be other even just friends or associates or classmates that may be aware of more information about the actual marathon bombing and in particular how they spent the days afterward.

You know, the attack occurred at 2:50 in the afternoon on Monday the 15th of April, they have three full days before their pictures appear on worldwide media and the Internet, and begin the events that happened Thursday night and Friday with the younger brother's arrest. So, there is an unaccounted for three full days. What did they do in that time? Did they have more explosives that they exposed of and they had more the night they encountered the police.

And the laptop in particular is important, and that's what they are searching for now.

HARLOW: They are searching for a laptop that they believe could be in the massive landfill outside of Boston.

But I wonder, in terms of the comments from Mike Rogers, he is the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, meaning he is briefed on this every single day. Can you give us a sense of what kind of information or who would be briefing him that would drive him to say something like, I think there clearly could be more people of interest and they are not 100 percent that they are not more explosives?

FUENTES: Well, he would be briefed by the FBI and also public officials from Boston and from Massachusetts and what they have been told about the investigation. So, for him to say persons of interest are being looked for, that would be an obvious point, that there must be other friends that must be aware of what they were doing.

Dzhokhar went to class afterward. He went to the gym, I think, on Wednesday of the week. He supposedly went to a party and was interacting with other friends and classmates. So, do any of them know more? Are there any other people out there that have not been talked to or have been identified to talk to by the FBI? So, they are still looking for others that may be aware of it.

And, of course, you know, he says he disposed of the laptop. They want to know more about that. Did a friend of his take the laptop in a dumpster somewhere, or was it taken out of town and thrown away, where it might -- could be in a possibly different landfill than what they know about.

So, they are taking everything he says, completely being skeptical, and the idea that there may still be others that know more about this that have not spoken is something that they are pursuing.

HARLOW: And, increasingly, Tom, as well --

FUENTES: If I could just add -- sorry. I don't think Congressman Rogers is saying that we know there are other suspects for sure. He is not quite saying that.

HARLOW: Right.

FUENTES: He is saying there are other persons of interest and that could be somebody believed to know the plot or somebody with valuable information that could help in the investigation.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Tom Fuentes, thank you for joining us this morning. I appreciate it.

FUENTES: You are welcome.

HARLOW: Well, a small bomb tears an empty car apart. Find out why it's all part of a training program for police and federal agents so that they can catch future would-be bombers.

Also, details on why Texas Governor Rick Perry is demanding an apology for a cartoon about last week's deadly fertilizer plant explosion. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back, everyone. It is 23 minutes past the hour.

Investigators at this hour combing over every piece of evidence of the marathon bombing. At a special training facility, other police and federal agents are learning how to retrieve every single piece of evidence in an explosion so that they can catch future would-be bombers. They are doing it by blowing up cars.

CNN's Alina Machado is at the facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, the goal is to reconstruct exactly what an investigator would find after a blast. When we first got here, this was a complete car. Obviously, it's been stripped down. And this whole process started when an ATF agent actually place a bomb right in here.

(voice-over): Inside this car is a small bomb -- ready to burst.

(EXPLOSION)

MACHADO: The force of the blast is captured by our cameras, each showing thousands of shards of glass and evidence shooting into the air, evidence left for investigators to process. This demonstration is part of a training exercise run by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, better known as the ATF. Here in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, the ATF trains police and federal agents on how to investigate explosions.

On this day, they are working with a group of agents heading overseas. We can't show you their faces for security reasons.

JOHN SLOVER, ATF INSTRUCTOR: These people are going where America is a target or where the host country may have targets. In this situation, it enables them to go on the blast scene and not be overwhelmed by it.

MACHADO: The techniques they learned here are the same used by the hundreds of ATF agents who deploy to scenes like the Boston marathon bombings, and the fertilizer plant blast in West, Texas.

SLOVER: That's cool. Put that in the evidence, in the bucket.

MACHADO: John Slover shows agents and officers how to dissect a bombing.

(on camera): How do you stay ahead of the terrorists?

SLOVER: As debris is recovered, or as devices are recovered and reconstructed and reengineered, then you look at the tactics and techniques that they use and you learn from it.

MACHADO (voice-over): The ATF says that most bombs involve simple gun powder and an energy source like batteries.

MICHAEL KNIGHT, ATF: What we may have seen five years ago may be different today. But five years from now, it may be the same thing. So, it's cyclical based on the availability of products.

MACHADO: As this car bomb explodes, vital evidence needed to recreate the device scatters everywhere, including window glass and bomb fragments like these batteries and even these screws, a common technique used by bombers to inflict more serious injuries. We saw this most recently in Boston where BBs and nails were hurled into the crowd.

MASTER SGT. MARK JOHNSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: A half inch quarter adapter.

MACHADO: Master Sergeant Mark Johnson is with the Air Force.

JOHNSON: The theory is like everything that was there to begin with is still there, it's just in a lot of smaller pieces, as is everything else, like -- and we spent hours sifting through stuff, tearing the car apart that.

MACHADO: Agents removed the windshield.

SLOVER: There you go, real careful.

MACHADO: And totally strip the car down.

SLOVER: What happens inside these cars is when that blast hits, a lot of times, it will pick the carpet under the floor, and debris will go under the carpet and it comes back down on it. So, we want to clean the top of the carpet and then go underneath it.

MACHADO: Ultimately, the goal they say is to find that one nugget, that one piece of evidence that may bring answers to a tragedy and hopefully prevent another.

(on camera): There are about 30 sessions like this a year. The ATF tells us they continually update their techniques to stay ahead of the bombers -- Poppy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Alina Machado, reporting for us in Huntsville -- thank you, Alina.

Well, we are learning more about the social media life of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, including the presence of a deleted account. We're going to have more information on that for you and what it means for the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: And mortgage rates falling to another record low this week. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It's 7:30 a.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back. I am Poppy Harlow. I am joining you live from Boston.

I want to bring you up-to-date on five stories we are also following from here in Boston this morning.

Number one, investigators looking into the Boston bombing. They are searching a landfill about 40 miles away from where I am standing, hoping to find a laptop computer used by bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. It could have very important information about the attack and sources say police were tipped off to the landfill by Dzhokhar himself and others.

Number two, investigators in New York are taking a closer look at a piece of an airplane believed to be from one that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. The five-foot long, four-foot wide piece of landing gear was found in a small space between two buildings near Ground Zero. The third story, Governor Rick Perry of Texas asking for an apology from the "Sacramento Bee." That's a California newspaper that published an editorial cartoon appearing to link Perry's push to less regulation to the recent fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people and injured many others.

Take a look. It's an image of Perry bragging that business is booming and it's juxtaposed with a picture of an explosion. Perry responded saying, quote, "I won't stand for someone mocking the tragic deaths of my fellow Texans and our fellow Americans." For their part, at this point, the paper is standing by the cartoon and it was a disregard for Perry's disregard for workers safety, not an attempt to disrespect any victims.

The four story we're following -- LivingSocial says it has been hacked. The online discount site sent an email acknowledged a security breach saying that their names and passwords may have been affected. The site says the credit card information of its 50 million customers was not affected.

And number five, one-time tabloid fixture, Manti Te'o, got drafted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIOP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the 38th selection in the 2013 NFL draft, the San Diego Chargers proudly select Manti Te'o, linebacker, Notre Dame.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This coming in the weeks since that bizarre story broke that his online girlfriend never actually existed, that it was a major hoax that was played on him. And the Notre dame linebacker was picked sixth last night in the second round of the NFL draft. And despite all of that, the Chargers liked him so much they traded up several picks just to get him.

Back here in Boston, there are still 30 victims from the marathon bombing that remain in the hospital. One of them remains in critical condition. Things got pretty emotional at the Garden last night when the Boston Celtics played their first home game since the bombing.

Before the game, they honored the victims and they paid tribute to them and, of course, to the first responders. You see some of them walking there on to the court -- very emotional and meaningful night to the city and for the country.

And Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the suspected bomber, is waking up a prison hospital ward in Devens, Massachusetts. That's before being moved, authorities say he was able to sit up, interestingly, and that he was able to write. So it looks like his condition is improving. He is less forthcoming with information since being read his Miranda rights.

Investigators are learning more about the social media presence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, including a now deleted Instagram account. The profile is no longer active but sources tell CNN the user "jmaister1", that's apparently his name on Instagram, may have belonged to Tsarnaev. While the account is no longer active, some information is still available.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM ALTMAN, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: We can also go back in time thanks to the Google web cache. Here is some data around that, back from April 10th of the same photo, so we can see that there are the same six comments today, and here are a list of users that like the photo, most of which are already there and there have been new ones since April 10th that have liked it as well. But there is one that liked it on April 10th, there's on the page, jmaister1, that it's not -- you can see on current version.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And, of course any information that they may be able to get from that is critical for authorities. One security analysts told CNN that for the investigation, the deleted accounts are the most significant.

Well, could a bomb-sniffing dog have prevented the Boston marathon attacks or could a machine? New technology is pitting highly trained K-9s against man-made detectors.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr takes a closer look.

Good morning, Barbara.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBAR STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, some new advances in bomb detection technology are s coming that experts hope will keep everybody safe.

(voice-over): From the Boston Marathon to U.S. troops on patrol in Afghanistan, in the life-and-death challenge to detect bombs. It's a debate over dog versus machine in the search for the best solutions.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is focusing on technology. This bunch of boxes and computer screens is actually a prototype for detecting explosives.

MARISSA MORALES, OAK RIDGE ENGINEER: So what the sensor does is that it combines infrared sources with optics and an infrared detector.

STARR: Simply put, lasers shoot out. The target here, a suitcase, reflects certain colors. Advanced computers analyze the colors. And within seconds, detect explosives.

This has two critical advantages. The laser finds small amounts of explosives nearly a football field away. And it can be put on a truck, moving, scanning the crowd like the marathon.

PANOS DATSKOS, OAK RIDGE SENIOR SCIENTIST: You need a device to look out over a large area and so on. So it's a difficult question to answer. I would say the technology could do it.

STARR: Scientists say a dog's nose is the best detector. But Pentagon officer sergeant Sarah Lagasse says even Aldo, her bomb-sniffing partner, has limits.

SERGEANT SARAH LAGASSE, PENTAGON OFFICER: Some dogs can search a really long time. Some dogs don't search as long. They get fatigued just like people do.

STARR: And dogs have to get close up to their target.

LAGASSE: If it's a very large event like the marathon, you'd have to have numerous teams and just do a grid. Get through it.

STARR: At Auburn University, dogs are trained to sniff for vapors.

CNN's Randi Kaye asked if that could have helped in Boston.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You think that if you had a vapor wave dog in Boston, they might have detected the suspects before they were able to place those backpacks down?

PROFESSOR JIM FLOYD, AUBURN UNIVERSITY: Had one of our dogs been in place on that corner with those two guys walking there with those backpacks, I think they would have alerted on them.

STARR: The Oak Ridge team says its advantage -- in Boston it could have identified the precise explosives in seconds.

DWIGHT CLAYTON, OAK RIDGE ENGINEER: If I'm on a bomb squad, I want to know right now, is this a dangerous package or not? Not have to blow it up unnecessarily or put my life in risk.

STARR (on camera): The Oak Ridge prototype is just one of many ideas being worked on right now to detect bombs containing small amounts of explosives. But experts say for now, they will use anything they can, dogs and technology in this deadly challenge -- Poppy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Very interesting, Barbara Starr joining us this morning -- Barbara, thank you.

And a break for air travelers as Congress steps in to try and stop major delays at the nation's airports. What you need to know straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It has been a frustrating week for travelers. You know it if you have been on a plane, and I certainly have felt it as furloughs brought on by those forced spending cuts caused thousands of flight delays across the country.

It seems, though, the Congress listened pretty quickly to all that grumble, lawmakers passing a bill this week that allows the FAA to avoid future furloughs and those critical air traffic controllers.

Joining me now, travel expert, Mark Murphy. He's the author "Travel Unscripted."

Good morning, Mark. Thanks for coming in.

MARK MURPHY, TRAVEL EXPERT: Good morning.

HARLOW: I think first question for anyone -- good morning -- anyone flying, does this mean we are done with the delays immediately?

MURPHY: No. No. You got to understand, with the airlines, things stack up, and as they stack up, it takes several days to unwind. So, we are looking at several days to get back to normal for the traveling public. At least 72 hours.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: OK, at least 72 hours. I know I sat on the runway on Wednesday night for four hours and the captain of my plane said you can write a letter to your congressman or woman. So in terms of how bad things they were, give us a sense across the board?

MURPHY: I have sources at Newark airport that were screaming about the problems. You had a Web site that went up, dontgroundAmerica.com. The airlines really get it because they're seeing those delays. And literally, if you look at a board at Newark airport, at least half the flights were either canceled or delayed, and in some cases, 2/3 of the flights on that screen.

So, it was a real headache for passengers. It got to a point where they were thinking about abandoning the passenger Bill of Rights which fines airlines if they leave people on the ground like you for more than three hours.

HARLOW: Well, you know, Jay Carney and the White House coming out, although, you know, they are going to sign this legislation, saying that this is just a temporary fix, this is just a band-aid fix, right?

MURPHY: Well, you know what? I own a business and when I run a business I have to make divisions on how I allocate my resources. The government should be doing the same thing. They should be looking at what those budgets are, how they're going to allocate those resources and not create a crippling affect.

We are talking about the FAA in 2013 at 2010 levels, and I got to believe, with fewer flights in the air today than there were in 2010, that the FAA can operate and keep us safe and keep us traveling. And I think the challenge is, we've got basically a political football which became the travel industry, and not only is the travel industry suffering, the entire economy, as well as all the travelers, and that's the challenge, we've got to get the politics out of it and use some common sense.

HARLOW: In terms of costs, of course, employing all of these people, and there's a significant cost that comes with it, and their role is critical to safety, to efficiency. Is there any idea about whether or not the cost is going to get passed down to us, to the people that buy the tickets and take these flights? Are we going to have to pay more as a result, or is it a purely government budget issue?

MURPHY: Well, you know what? It's a great question. I mean, if we look at government budgets, they are, are way up overall. So, they are dramatically increased over the past five years. If you look at the ticket price you pay, 20 percent of the cost of your ticket price today goes to things like the FAA.

So, you are already paying as a traveler for that service, and the fact that they can't deliver on it, in spite of having budgets going up year over year and looking at 2010 versus 2013, and we are at the same level, some will say we are up this year versus last year, yet, that's why I say it's more politics than reality, because if you're going to run a business and you have a 4 percent overall cut, you are going to find ways to cut that 4 percent without damaging your core business.

And the core for the FAA is to keep flights on time, get you their safety, and that's number one. That's priority number one. So, if that's not the number one thing you can focus on, maybe I'm missing something.

HARLOW: Quickly, though, do you think that we are going to be paying more to add to the increasing budget, we are going to pay more and more surcharges added on to our tickets?

MURPHY: No, and here is why. I don't think the public is going to stand for more taxes, more fees, more things to operate when they understand that budgets have gone up dramatically. And I think that we are getting to that point where people are going to be pushing back, because at the end of the day you have to ask yourself what are you getting for all the extra fees? We just want to arrive safely and on time.

HARLOW: Mark Murphy, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate it.

MURPHY: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: Well, for some of the victims of the Boston bombings, we know that life is never going to be the same -- for many of them, actually, especially for Heather Abbott who had to make the choice to either keep a mangled foot or have part of her leg amputated. She talks about that life-changing decision, next.

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HARLOW: Well the bombing survivor who is credited with helping the FBI identify the Boston bombing suspect is now speaking out. His name is Jeff Bauman. You've probably heard about him by now, just an amazing guy. He had both of his legs amputated after the explosion.

You see him on this photo. This has become famous. He's being run to emergency help by that man, Carlos in the cowboy hat, and others. And he spoke to the "Dennis & Callahan" morning show on Boston radio station WEEI about why Tsarnaev looked so suspicious to him. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JEFF BAUMAN, SURVIVOR: I was with my girlfriend's roommates and we were having a great time, you know, we were watching the runners. Everyone was having a great time. And just that one guy, you know, he didn't look like he was having a good time.

So he was right next to me at that point, and he had a bag and he had his glasses. He had kind of like a leather-like sweatshirt type of deal, and you know, it was warm out. He was just an odd guy. He just struck me as odd and that's what I remember of him, and then -- next thing you know, I hear fireworks and I'm on the ground.

QUESTION: So you actually looked this person in the eyes? I mean, he had sunglasses on but you made eye contact with this guy?

BAUMAN: Yes.

QUESTION: And immediately, you knew there was something wrong.

BAUMAN: Yes, exactly. Like he just didn't seem right. You know, like you know how you size somebody up and I just looked at him, I was like what's this guy's problem?

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, you can see Bauman in this Red Sox shirt in this photograph. He got to know some of the other bombing victims and on Tuesday he gave a birthday gift to Sidney Corcoran, who turned 18 and he gave it to her while they were both still recovering in the hospital.

People around the world are donating money to help survivors like Bauman, a fund set up in his name, Box for Bauman has more than half a million dollars so far. But totals for all Boston donations topped $26 million, most of that money has gone to the One Fund Boston that was set up by Boston's mayor and governor of Massachusetts.

Families and victims can start claiming some of that money at some point next week. Survivors will be able to use that money to help cover medical costs, those high, high expenses -- things like prosthetics for amputees. Heather Abbott had to make the very difficult decision to either have part of her leg amputated after the second bomb mangled her left foot or to try to live with a mangled foot.

She spoke about the moment the bomb went off and also how she's doing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEATHER ABBOTT, BOMBING SURVIVOR: I was out with a bunch of my friends from the Newport area, where we usually take the train on Patriots' Day from Providence to Boston and watch the Red Sox game and go over to the bar called "Forum". It's been a tradition for us.

We were standing in line outside waiting to get in, the bouncer was checking people's IDs, and I was the last of the three of us in line. And as we were standing there --

(EXPLOSION)

ABBOTT: -- a loud noise went off and I remember turning around and looking and seeing smoke and seeing people screaming and I immediately -- it immediately reminded me of 9/11.

(EXPLOSION)

ABBOTT: When I turned around the second blast had already happened and it blew a bunch of us into the bar and I suppose it hit me because I was the last one. I was on the ground. Everybody was running to the back of the bar, to the exit, and I felt like my foot was on fire. I knew I couldn't stand up, and I didn't know what to do. I was just screaming, "Somebody please help me."

To my surprise, from what I'm learning now, there were two women and two men involved in helping me get out of the bar, and into an ambulance, and I looked to my side and there were other people there in the ambulance as well. It was very scary. I didn't know, you know, if what was going to happen to me, if it was just my foot that was injured.

When I weighed the pros and cons this was the best option. If I kept my foot it was very badly mangled. It would probably most likely never fully heal or be functional. Although the prosthetic is going to be something that I'll have to get used to, I think I have a better chance of living my life the way I used to.

So, although it's something that certainly I wouldn't wish upon myself or anyone else, I really think I'm going to be able to live my life in a normal way eventually when I get that permanent prosthesis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, everyone. Good Saturday morning to you. I'm meteorologist Alexandra Steele.

Here's a look at how the weather is shaping up. If you are in Tennessee, it is a slog of a go this morning. A lot of the South, mid- South, Southeast, Tennessee bearing the brunt of all the rain today and tomorrow, one to three inches potentially.

The Northeast, a beautiful weekend, temperatures in the 60s, we'll see a dry Saturday and Sunday. Washington gets a little wet on Sunday in the mid-Atlantic.

Here's a look at where the rain will be. Kind of what happens is this front becomes more or less stationary so here in the south from Jackson, Mississippi, to Atlanta to Charlotte, kind of stays ensconced with clouds and showers all weekend long, without a lot of movement.

And, of course, all eyes on what's happening in the Upper Midwest with the flooding, Poppy, but incredibly warm temperatures exacerbating that flooding with 60 and 70-degree temperatures.

HARLOW: All right, Alexandra, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Folks, much more ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts right now.