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CNN Saturday Morning News

Search Under Way for Suspect's Laptop; New Video of Tsarnaev's Wife; Intriguing Find near Ground Zero; Inspiration for the Boston Victims; Potential Culprit For the Ricin Letter; Websites Like "Inspire" Will Be Shutdown

Aired April 27, 2013 - 11:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is Saturday, April 27th. It's 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. Good morning everyone I'm Poppy Harlow. We are here live on Boston's Boylston Street for our continuing special coverage of the Boston bombings.

New information coming in now on the bombing investigation and the surviving suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Let's start out with the investigation and a key piece of evidence -- Tsarnaev's laptop. Authorities are looking for his computer in a land fill, a dump in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A law enforcement official says investigators went there after getting leads from Tsarnaev and others who may have played a part in throwing the computer away. That's key.

Earlier CNN's Susan Candiotti explained to our Anderson Cooper why the laptop is a top priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If they can find that laptop, Anderson, in this land fill after it had been ditched somewhere that was, you know, like a dumpster that eventually made it to the land fill -- if they can get into that, they can find out things like e-mails and contacts and schedules and instructions. So much other information about how this plot may have come together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And of course that depends on what condition that laptop is in, if they do find it. Meantime, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev woke up this morning at a prison medical center in Devens, Massachusetts about 40 miles away from where I'm standing; that facility, just west of Boston. A law enforcement official says Tsarnaev's condition is improving, that he's able to sit up and that he's able to write. But he's become a lot less talkative say authorities since his Miranda rights were read to him.

Meantime, a U.S. official tells CNN one of the explosives that was found at last week's gunfight between police and the Tsarnaev brothers in Watertown is very similar to one described in the al Qaeda online magazine "Inspire". In Washington, a warning that more arrests could be coming. It comes from Congressman Mike Rogers. He is the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Intelligence. In an interview with the "Boston Herald", Rogers said, quote, "There are clearly more persons of interest, and they're not 100 percent sure if there aren't other explosives."

Now, Rogers gets daily briefings on the investigation. He also had some very critical words about the decision to Mirandize bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev when they did that several days after his capture.

He said, quote, "I think this was a serious and possibly a dangerous set of decisions made. There is going to be more arrests, I do believe. This is incredibly important and once he got a lawyer, which the citizens of Boston and America are paying for, he stopped cooperating." That's the view of the chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Now Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was questioned for hours, about 16 hours before he was Mirandized. Of course he was not in good condition, so he was sort of in and out of consciousness during that time but he was Mirandized under the public safety exemption. During that questioning Dzhokhar said that he and his brother acted alone.

Well, our Pamela Brown has been live all morning at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts. That is where Tsarnaev is being held.

Good morning, Pamela. I want to ask you about his condition in a moment, but first I want to talk about that search going on right now for a laptop among other things in that land fill. What exactly led police to this site?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Poppy, according to sources, investigators were led to that land fill in new Bedford, Massachusetts, based on tips from the suspect himself, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and other people who have been questioned in this investigation. This is the third day investigators are combing through the land fill and they are hoping to find what's believed to be the laptop of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They believe they can find this laptop that they will be able to gain critical information, but of course, this is like finding a needle in a hay stack. This is very -- a very difficult task, but investigators are combing that land fill thoroughly, trying to find more clues.

We know that some of the people that gave those tips that led investigators there may have actually been involved with disposing the laptop after the April 15th bombing at the Boston Marathon.

But again, they are still searching and an ongoing investigation. We're told that this investigation is far from over -- Poppy.

HARLOW: And in terms of Tsarnaev's condition at this moment, what do we know on that, especially based on the abilities of that hospital? BROWN: Yes Poppy, the abilities here we know that this facility behind me, Devens Federal Medical Center only does small procedures. They don't do any invasive surgery. So that tells you right there that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition has improved significantly.

Last weekend, you have to remember, he was in serious condition. Now we're told he's in fair condition. That he's sitting up, he's writing. So it seems like he's improving significantly.

HARLOW: And any sort of timeline, finally, Pamela, on when his next court appearance could be?

BROWN: Well, I spoke to an official with the Justice Department, Poppy and we know that 30 days after the official charges are filed, the indictment must be presented. Within 30 days. So we know the indictment was -- I'm sorry, the charges came last Sunday, officially, so we know that there is only a few weeks from now that that indictment will be presented. From there, there will be an arraignment where Tsarnaev will have to make a court appearance and enter a plea. So it may not be long before we see him in court -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Pamela Brown, thank you very much.

Well the mother of the two bombing suspects says she thinks the attack may have been staged. Her sons may have been set up, that the blood may have actually been paint. She says that among other things. She and her husband who appeared at a news conference in Russia have now left their home in Dagestan and are living in another part of Russia, it is believed. The father's planned trip to the United States at this point has been put off indefinitely. We're told for health reasons.

In an interview with CNN, the mother says she cannot accept what her sons allegedly did. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZUBEIDAT TSARNAEV, BOMBING SUSPECTS' MOTHER: I don't know how to describe it, you know. You're a mother, you're a mother right? So just because you are not mother, you won't understand. I am mother, loving mother of two kids. I don't know. I mean it's really crazy. I can't even -- I can't even describe it.

I don't know. I have no strength. I have nothing. I have no sleep -- I am just like dead. Like a dead person. How can I describe it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Really an eye opening interview there with the mother of the Tsarnaev brothers. You can see more of that of course on CNN.com. That interview by our Nick Paton Walsh.

Meantime, an attorney for Katherine Russell, that is the American woman married to deceased bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, says she knew nothing about her husband's alleged terror activity. She's remained mostly out of sight since the bombings, but CNN did see her leaving her parents' home yesterday in North Kingston, Rhode Island. CNN's Erin McPike has the latest.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy we've only have seen Katie Russell twice in the past week. On Tuesday and on Friday, she left her house with her attorneys. On Friday, her attorneys met with her in their office for about 90 minutes. Now when she arrived at her attorney's office, I did try to ask her how she was doing and if she could tell us what was happening. She, of course, did not answer and her attorneys ushered her inside. When I got a chance to look at her, she just looked very bewildered, overwhelmed at what was going on.

Now here at the house, we've seen security vehicles stationed outside this house, all week long. They leave, trailing one of her family members or several of her family members every time they leave. All we know from the FBI is that they remain very interested in speaking with her. We don't yet know if they have had a chance to question Katie Russell, but they sure would like to. And as far as we know, the investigation continues -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Erin McPike for us this morning in Rhode Island. Erin, thank you.

And next, the surprising and disturbing find in a tight space between two buildings right near Ground Zero. It's part of the landing gear from an airplane, maybe from one of the planes that hit the twin towers on 9/11.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well a very surprising and disturbing discovery in New York City to tell you about. Part of the landing gear of an airplane wedged in an 18-inch space between two buildings near Ground Zero. Does it belong to one of the planes that flew into the twin towers on 9/11 in that attack?

Our Alina Cho is live in New York City looking into this for us. Alina any -- any idea when we might know if this is actually authentic, if it is from one of the planes on 9/11, or not?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Poppy, I can tell you that is the working theory, that it is indeed the landing gear from one of the hijacked planes that hit the twin towers on 9/11, but as you might imagine, an official investigation is under way. It will resume on Monday. It could last a few days. It could last a week. By then we should know for sure.

But let me tell you a little bit about the discovery. This goes back to Wednesday morning of this week when surveyors were here at the building behind me. They were in the backyard, looking around, as they were looking to do some construction work and they discovered what they were calling a mechanical part.

Now, upon closer inspections they were actually able to see a Boeing serial number and it was at that point that they realized that it was likely the landing gear from one of those hijacked planes. This discovery is incredible on so many different levels. First of all, the sheer size of the piece, it is five feet by four feet by 17 inches in depth. It's said to weigh up to 700 pounds. And it was found wedged between these two buildings one of them, the site of the controversial Ground Zero mosque.

And what's extraordinary about the space in which was found is that the width is only 18 inches, which begs the question, how did it get there?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY KELLY, POLICE COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY: The space between the two buildings is only 18 inches. Now, the part has been measured to be five feet by four feet by 17 inches. So it is a big part, and obviously a very, very narrow, confined area. Somehow the part gets down there.

Now, could it have been lowered at some time? It is possible. There is a rope that is on it. It looks like it is intertwined with that part. It would have had to fall down exactly, you know, hit at a certain angle, to make it go right down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: Of course this brings back so many painful memories for people who were here in New York City on 9/11, particularly the 9/11 families. Many of whom are frankly outraged. They are disgusted at the news of this discovery saying this is just the latest example, Poppy, that a proper search after 9/11 was never conducted -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Understandably so. It just brings back so much pain to even have to talk about debris from the attack or possible debris from the attack. Alina, do we know if investigators are looking for anything else at all in that area at this point because of this finding?

CHO: They are. As you might imagine, for the families, as I said, it brings back so many painful memories. Remember, Poppy, more than 1,100 victims were never identified. And so the chief medical examiner will be here, be among the officials here, starting on Monday -- really combing through the debris to see if there are any traces of human remains. They'll also be looking for to toxins because nearly 12 years later, you can imagine that many of the families still feel no closure. And they're angry.

And they already feel like a proper search was not conducted and so they will be here, going through this area with a fine-toothed comb. And hopefully they will be able to bring some closure to some of these families, particularly the ones whose remains were never identified. Poppy -- back to you.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Alina Cho joining us live this morning. Alina thank you.

Well, for those who have lost limbs in the Boston Marathon blast, life will never be the same. None of us can really understand it. But the amputees are getting some support from a man who knows exactly what they are going through. We're going to have that story for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Welcome back to our live continuing coverage of the bombings in Boston -- a beautiful sight this morning on a beautiful spring day with some amazing people around here. This makeshift memorial has grown day by day, hour by hour, here on Boylston Street. Folks like this, hi, writing messages. Why are you here today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to respect and to honor the --

HARLOW: Victims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victims, yes. Right.

HARLOW: You know, it is interesting, I want to show you some of the other messages -- thank you, sir -- that was written here. I was here all morning. Janice wrote this message, always in my thoughts and prayers. Remember forever, Boston strong. Two hours ago, this only had a few comments on it. Now it is full. City workers come every few hours, swap them out, they take these full signs to city hall and they're still deciding what they're going to do with all the messages.

I was going to walk you through here and show you some of the flowers but we have such crowds of people just showing you how many people have come out here to pay homage and to show support for this city and their victims. You've got flowers, you've got candles -- all in front of four crosses for four people killed in this: Officer Sean Collier gunned down at MIT; the 29-year-old beautiful woman, Krystle Campbell; the Chinese exchange student Lingzi Lu; and of course, that eight- year-old boy whose smile epitomized the beauty of this people and this city, Martin Richard -- all being honored here today as people continue to pour in.

And as we talk about those that we lost, we also have to remember the victims. So many victims in this, some of them have lost at least one limb. And I want to share an inspiring story with you.

We met a young man named Muji Karim (ph). Muji, is a double amputee. And he was able to talk to us about how life does go on even after near death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Muji Karim's daily workout is about so much more than getting fit. It is about becoming himself again.

This was Muji two years ago -- the former safety for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats learning to walk again after a tragic car crash that took his legs and nearly killed him.

When you heard about the bombing, and you realized that people had lost limbs from it, what did you think?

MUJI KARIM, DOUBLE AMPUTEE: Just really brought me back to a bad place, and -- but I just sort of want to let those people know that it is not over. It is not -- you know, your life isn't -- isn't done.

HARLOW: It doesn't have to break you.

KARIM: No, no. It doesn't have to break you at all.

HARLOW: He knows what the more than one dozen amputee bombing victims face.

I wonder what the biggest fear has been for you as you've gone through this.

KARIM: To be honest, my biggest fear is not being myself again.

DR. DAVID CRANDELL, DIRECTOR, AMPUTEE PROGRAM, SPAULDING REHAB HOSPITAL: This is a very stable --

HARLOW: The man who got Muji up and walking again is the one who will do the same for nearly all the bombing amputees.

CRANDELL: Being able to see somebody walk with a prosthesis for the first time is transformative.

HARLOW: He'll do it here at Spaulding's brand-new rehabilitation hospital, which is just opening now.

CRANDELL: They have been in intensive care unit, some have been on high dose medications, so sometimes the processing of the invitation only begins once they come to rehabilitation.

HARLOW: It is not just about rehabilitating their bodies or teaching them to walk again. It is just as much about rehabilitating their mind and emotionally where they stand, isn't it?

CRANDELL: That's right. And losing a limb is akin to losing a loved one. You look at an amputation as a transformative event. But I tell patients that it helps -- it clearly shapes them as an individual, but it doesn't define them. So, you know, you -- you're defined by what you have, not by what you've lost.

HARLOW: Muji will be right alongside him, working with other amputees to help the bombing victims battle back.

CRANDELL: This really has affected the entire community.

KARIM: I just want to walk in and let them know, be sort of that ray of hope for them. Let them know their life is not over. You might even feel like you don't even -- you're not happy that you survived because I went through those same sort of feelings.

HARLOW: But this makes it different for these victims.

KARIM: To know somebody purposefully did something like that, and you lost what you lost, that's something I never had to deal with.

HARLOW: But Muji believes -- KARIM: If you stay with a positive mind set, and you are willing to work for it, I mean I'm living proof that you can get where you want to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: He is indeed living proof -- just one of the many inspiring people that I and our whole team have had the chance to meet here over the past few weeks in Boston. You know, Muji told me that a year ago it took him 57 minutes to walk a mile. And today he is four times faster. And his goal, like so many, is to one day run the Boston Marathon.

But, again, as you heard him say, the one thing that he cannot understand out of this and no one that was not part of the attacks can understand is the mental component, how difficult it is to lose a limb when someone purposefully and intentionally does something malicious like this.

If you want to help any of the victims, any of the amputees or anyone here in Boston that was affected by these tragic attacks, go to cnn.com/impact -- again, cnn.com/impact.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, this just in to CNN. CNN has just learned that federal agents have made an arrest in the ricin poison investigation. James Everett Dutschke is in custody in this case. Letters containing the deadly powder as you know were sent to President Obama, also to a Michigan lawmaker and to a Mississippi judge.

One other man was briefly under suspicion. Earlier in the investigation, he was arrested. On Tuesday, he was cleared. Our Alina Machado is on her way to Tupelo, Mississippi, where that arrest has just been made. She joins me on the phone now. Alina, what do you know?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, probably, as you mentioned, we are learning from both state and federal officials that James Everett Dutschke was taken into custody this morning around 1:00 a.m. at his home without any incident, and he was turned over to the U.S. Marshal's office. As you mentioned, Dutscheke's name surfaced on Monday, earlier this week at a hearing for that former suspect Paul Kevin Curtis.

Curtis was initially arrested and charged in connection to this case. He was accused of sending letters containing ricin to several government officials, including President Obama. And he was later released and his name was cleared. The charges were dropped. And that happened on Tuesday.

As soon as that happened, the attention, the focus seemed to turn to this other suspect, to Dutschke. We know that FBI agents have searched Dutschke's formal martial arts studio as well as his home. And, Dutschke's attorney, however, has maintained that her client has had nothing to do with these letters.

Now, we are still working to get more information on what is going on and get some more details. And we also, today, have reached out to Dutschke's attorney and we have not heard back from her. So, we will continue to work the story. We'll bring you more details as soon as we have them. Poppy.

HARLOW: And -- Thank you, Alina. I just want to be clear for our viewers, I mispronounced the name the first time. Can you just please, Alina, if you're still with us for our viewers, give the full name of the man that has been taken into custody. It is not Deutsche. His last name is not Deutsche. Can you pronounce it for our viewers?

MACHADO: Sure. His name is James Everett Dutschke. And, this is the second suspect. The suspect that has been arrested in reference to the ricin investigation. James Everett Dutschke.

HARLOW: OK. Alina, thank you. Keep us posted. And, interestingly, folks, at a court hearing the day before the charges were dropped, Curtis, the person originally arrested in this. He said that he was framed and identified this man Dutschke as a potential culprit.

So, that also an interesting development, we will go keep you posted on the latest as soon as we have more information. Well, learning to make a bomb online, one terror group explains the how to giving step by step details. Why authorities believe that this may have inspired the bombing suspects.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, the boat where bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured was towed last night from its Watertown location. Police escorted it to a secure location where they will continue to process it for any evidence they can find.

The younger Tsarnaev brother had taken refuge inside the boat during that massive manhunt that unfolded for hours, looking for him. That followed that shootout with police in Watertown that killed his brother.

Now, to those pressure cookers that the suspects turned into weapons of massive destruction. A how to guide to create a bomb of that kind is widely accessible online. In fact, one device found at last week's gunfight between police and the bombing suspects was very similar to the design of one from an online Al-Qaeda-related magazine called "Inspire."

So, can websites like "Inspire" be shutdown? Is there anything that can be shut down or be useful for authorities in following these people. I asked Mit Social Scientist, Professor Sherry Turkle and also CNN's National Security Analyst Peter Bergen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Shutting these things down is not particularly easy because you just shut it down and then it pops up somewhere else and some other Jihadi forum.

HARLOW: Right.

BERGEN: You know, 80 percent of the internet traffic in the world goes through the United States. So, you know, technically would it be possible to shut down all of these sites?

But, as you know, for law enforcement there is also a value in having these sites up, who is visiting them. So, that there's, you know, been -- there is a kind of tension between information gathering because you can monitor these Jihadi forums, and also, you know, the fact that they are clearly sometimes inspiring people.

HARLOW: That's very important point, the need to be able to track them and follow them. Peter, also, do you have a sense of how much more prolific online internet recruitment is now? How much more common it is now, say, than around 9/11? Have we seen it increase significantly?

BERGEN: Well, certainly with the advent of broadband video, you know, it is much more exciting what you find on the internet than what you find around the 9/11-time period. This really began during the Iraq war when Al Qaeda in Iraq started posting things like beheadings of people that it kidnapped, you know, video of some of its operations.

So, certainly the online environment is more attractive. That said, you know, even in -- the cases where somebody has been exclusively radicalized online, I think, are less frequent than at the end of the day, good old-fashioned face to face. That is more powerful.

HARLOW: It is a very important point. We have to point out. As Dzhokhar Tsarnaev tells investigators, look, it was my brother and I solely that did this. Of course, he would have the incentive to say that.

And, Sherry to you, when you look at the characteristics of someone, as a psychologist, it would be more easily radicalized solely online if that is the case. Are there any characteristics that would stand out to you?

PROF. SHERRY TURKLE, MIT SOCIAL SCIENTIST: Yes to someone who is isolated.

HARLOW: Who is not Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, we know from his friends.

PROF. TURKLE: Yes, but someone who still wants to keep their activities, these kinds of activities, you know, isolated from the rest of their life, which is kind of the case. There was kind of a parallel life going on.

So, this is a guy who wanted to be on his team, who wanted to keep a kind of parallel life going, and his parallel life was taking place online. So, I think he's a perfect case of somebody who would lead a parallel life online.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: Our thanks to Peter Bergen and Sherry Turkel for that conversation. In the meantime, air travelers may get a break soon as congress steps in to try and stop major delays at the nation's airports. If you're travelling, what you need to know next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: It has been a very frustrating week for air travelers. Furloughs brought on by the forced spending cuts caused thousands of flight delays cross the country. You may have experienced them.

I know I did, but now lawmakers have passed the bill that allows the FAA to end furloughs for critical air traffic controllers. And, earlier today, I spoke with travel expert Mark Murphy. We talked about if this is really going to bring things back to semi-normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MURPHY, TRAVEL EXPERT: We're looking at several days to get back to normal for the travelling public -- At least 72 hours.

HARLOW: The delays for travelers --

MURPHY: Yes.

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 they will give us a sense across the board.

MURPHY: I have sources at Newark Airport that were screaming about the problems. You had a website that went up, dontgroundamerica.com. The airlines really get it because they're seeing the delays. And, literally, if you look at a board at Newark Airport, at least half the flights were cancelled or delayed and in some cases two-thirds of the flights on that screen.

So, it was a real headache for passengers. And, got to a point where they were thinking about abandoning the passenger bill of rights, which finds 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're going to find this legislation, saying 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 decisions 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 the resources, and not create a crippling effect.

We're talking about the FAA in 2013 to 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 travelling. And, I think the challenge is we got to 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 have got to get the politics out of it, and use some common sense.

HARLOW: In terms of cost, of course, employing all of these people, there is a significant cost that comes with it, but their role is critical, to safety --

MURPHY: Yes.

HARLOW: -- to efficiency. Is there any idea about whether or not the cost is going to get passed down to the -- 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 purely government budget issue?

MURPHY: You know what? It is a great question. I mean if we look at government budgets, they're way, way up overall. So, they're dramatically increased in the last five years. But, if you look at the actual ticket price you pay, 20 percent of the cost of your ticket price today goes to things like the FAA.

So, you're 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're at the same level, some will even say we're up this year versus last year, yet that's why I say it is more politics than reality.

Because, if you're going to run a business, and you have a 4 percent overall cut, you're going to find ways to cut that 4 percent without damaging your core business and the core for the FAA is keep flights flying on time, get you there safely, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, despite repeated warnings, get this, some people still aren't heeding the message to leave their weapons at home when they fly. Take a look at some of these incredible images. Just this past week, the TSA says it seized 35 firearms including 26 that were loaded.

They also say they discovered 16 stun guns, like this one in a carryon bag and then there was this -- If you take a look at the top of your -- the top half of your screen, you're going to see a knife they found concealed in the bottom, they say, of a shoe at Washington Dulles. Apparently, security screeners also found three inert grenades at two other airports. Just stunning what they found.

Well, defending the Boston bombing suspect is not going to be an easy task at all. But, the public defender picked to do the job has quite a list of credentials. We're going to have more on her possible strategy straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Now to the daunting task of trying to defend Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He's being represented by a woman named Miriam Conrad. She's one of the most respected federal public defenders in the country. Earlier today, I talked to CNN legal contributor, Paul Callan about her and what her defense strategy might be. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Her primary objective is to try to avoid the death penalty for the suspect and to do that she really has to give federal authorities something. And, possibly he'll come forward and provide information that will be valuable in discovering other terrorist networks or how the explosives were obtained in this case. That would be the cooperation element. That's a playing card.

The second is mitigation. And, by that I mean they are going to try to convince the department of justice that he's 19 years old. He was influenced by his older brother, possibly his mother from the video that we have seen. And, that that's a factor that should be taken into consideration so that he doesn't get the death penalty. So, I don't think they realistically think they can win this case. I think really their one objective is to try to avoid the death penalty.

HARLOW: I really want to talk about this issue of the Miranda rights being read bedside at the hospital to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and when that happened and why. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, we know has been, you know, very upset about this saying multiple times that he thinks that prematurely ended the interrogation and we could have gotten more important information -- significant information in those early hours out of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

But, at the same time, a source tells our Susan Candiotti that the bedside interviews were, quote, "Very thorough." That investigator did not feel that that reading of Miranda rights hindered the timing of the charges and hindered their questioning. What is your take on it at this point in time?

CALLAN: You know Poppy, this has been hugely controversial and for good reason. Normally, when a U.S. citizen is arrested, and this young man is a naturalized U.S. citizen, he's held by law enforcement authorities and he has to be given his Miranda warnings and that eventually a judge appears -- he appears in court to be arranged in front of a judge.

What people are saying now in particularly those critical of the Obama administration and the department of justice is that he should have been deemed an enemy combatant that this, what we called, public safety exception to Miranda should have been utilized, and he should have been interrogated for a very long period of time before a federal judge came into the picture.

However, the department of justice arranged for a federal judge to arrive at the hospital. Once the judge was there, the judge had an obligation to tell him he had the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. So, he certainly -- The judge did exactly what he was supposed to do. And, I have to say you're going to see lawyers and judges arguing about this issue as to whether it's legal to delay indefinitely giving Miranda warnings to an American citizen.

HARLOW: Right.

CALLAN: It's going to be a big debate about this and how it affects this case ultimately. One of the things I'll just throw out there for you, some of the evidence in the case could actually get thrown out now because he wasn't given Miranda. You were showing footage earlier of that landfill in Boston being combed. If they are looking there because of information that he gave before the Miranda warnings, they may not be able to use that in the criminal case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And, also concerning the criminal case, when this goes to trial, the question is, can you find an impartial jury here in Boston? Will it be tried here? Will it be moved to another federal court, possibly Manhattan? Paul Callan telling me that he believed it -- it indeed may be moved and not tried here in the city of the attacks.

Of course, we focus on the investigation, but we also want to focus on the victims. We want to bring you up to date on the victims that are still recovering after the Boston marathon bombings. About 30 of them still remain in Boston area hospitals. We know that three people were killed in that attack. And, Officer Sean Collier was gunned down at MIT 264. That is the count of those injured in this brutal attack. In terms of those still in the hospital, one person were told remains in critical condition.

In other news, the governor of Texas is demanding an apology from the Sacramento Bee, that newspaper, the California paper published a cartoon about the deadly plant explosion in West, Texas that happened. That cartoon suggested that Rick Perry's push for fewer state regulations is to blame.

Now, the paper says -- The governor rather says the paper is mocking victims. Perry put this on his Facebook page. I'm going to quote him here. He said, quote, "publishing this on the very day our state and nation paused to honor and mourn those who died only compounds the pain and suffering of many Texans. As you know 14 people were killed in that blast. Many more were injured. Many of them first responders. I was down there myself to see the tragedy firsthand. The Sacramento Bee, the paper, is standing by its cartoon."

And, in Russia authorities raided a house of prayer south of Moscow suspected of having ties with radical Muslims. About 140 people were told were detained. There's no indication that the raid was connected to the Boston marathon bombings at this point in time.

Well, coming up, we're going to head to the Midwest where several towns are inundated by floods. We're going to take a look at the impact and check the forecast to see if more rain is on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARLOW: Will team Conan about to take over Washington. Yes, the one and only Conan O'Brien, hosting tonight's annual White House Correspondents Dinner. And, he has been dubbed the nerd prom. But you can expect more glitz and glamour than anything.

Top Hollywood celebrities, other politicians will join Conan and the first family for a night full of laugh. Of course, CNN will be all over. You can catch our special coverage of the White House Correspondents Dinner. That starts tonight at 9:00 eastern live right here on CNN.

We have also been following developments in the Midwest. Of course very heavy rains causing major flooding leaving many towns street looking like waterways. It can be devastating to these areas. The worst may not be over. I know in my home state of Minnesota, there's a lot of concern right now about this. I want to take us live to Alexandra Steele in the CNN Weather Center in Atlanta. Alexandra, tell us what you know and I know more rain is on the way.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. Of course, the Red River has been watching that as well. We'll get to that. But first what we have are some flash flood warnings here through Tennessee. A whole different scenario than river flood warnings. Look at all this rain. It kind of just raining over the same area.

It's at I-40, I-65 corridor, kind of a bulls eye in Jackson, Tennessee, Memphis, all the way to Nashville, seeing already between one and three inches of rain. And, another one to three inches of rain coming. So, you can see where that is right now.

So, as we go a little closer, you can see where the heaviest rain is. Had a lot of thunder and lightning with us earlier. A little less so now, but it's all again moving eastward. Unfortunately, it's associated with a front that's stalling there. So, today and into tomorrow more of the southeast gets into the heavy rain.

The northeast high and drive Boston, New York today, Sunny skies in the low at 60s. Beautiful dry Saturday and Sunday. Washington gets into some clouds on Sunday with this area of low pressure , pushing eastward.

So, here's the future cast. We're going to watch this area of low pressure move, bring more rain to Minnesota all the way down through Mississippi, Atlanta, all the way in through the Carolinas tomorrow as well. And, the southeast stays wet through the weekend. Poppy?

HARLOW: Absolutely. Hoping for the best there for all of those people. I know how much they struggle. Thank you, Alexandra. I'm joined by my friend, Carol Costello. Good to see you. Good to see you here in Boston. That is it for me from Boston. Thank you for joining us this Saturday morning. Carol Costello will take it over from here.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I will. Thanks, Poppy. Thanks so much.

HARLOW: Good to be with you.