Boston Bombing Investigation; Court Hearing For Mississippi Man; Defeated Senate Gun bill To Return?; Washington Cracks A Joke
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- may have influenced or helped the Tsarnaevs. That includes Tsarnaev's mother, as well as Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Russell who converted to Islam when she married Tamerlan in 2010. The FBI and Russian officials are working together trying to determine if the Tsarnaev brothers had help carrying out the Boston marathon attacks. The Texas congressman who heads the House Homeland Security Committee appears convinced, he says, that they did have help.</s>REPRESENTATIVE MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: I think given the level of sophistication of this device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan, Afghanistan, leads me to believe, and the way they handled these devices, and the trade craft leads me to believe that there was a trainer.</s>BERMAN: CNN's Nic Robertson is following developments for us live from Dagestan this morning. Good morning, Nic.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. And you certainly when you get somebody who's gone away to a place like Dagestan, as we've seen with other terror attackers, where they've gone to get training in Pakistan, for example, it's when they come back, that's when they begin to activate their plans. Now, there's no hard evidence yet that Tamerlan Tsarnaev did hear, that he did make connections, but if there was anywhere where it was going to be relatively straight forward for him to be able to meet with people who regularly made bombs, Dagestan is the place. This is an active fight going on between rebels and the government here, and the mosque that he was attending here had reputation for being a hard-line mosque under surveillance by government officials because of the hard-line reputation they had. And they would believe that if he was going to make contact with somebody, that. But no hard evidence so far that this was absolutely the sort of region where you could get the bomb making training and experience and know-how that a lot of people suspect he may have received -- John.</s>BERMAN: All right, Nic Robertson following the investigation for us this morning in Dagestan. Nic, our thanks to you. Meanwhile, Christine Romans back in New York with the rest of the day's top stories. Good morning, Christine.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, John. A Mississippi man is due in court today accused of sending letters to President Obama and two others, letters tainted with the deadly poison ricin. The 41-year-old James Everett Dutschke, a martial arts instructor and a former political candidate was arrested over the weekend. He is charged with possession and usage of a biological agent. Dutschke allegedly sent the tainted letters to the president, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and a local Mississippi judge. The gun bill that would have expanded background checks shot down two weeks ago in the Senate might be coming back. The bill's co-sponsor Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia says there was confusion the first time around and he's not giving up.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pat Toomey, co-sponsor of Manchin-Toomey says he's done.</s>SENATOR JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I don't think he's done. I was with Pat last night and Pat's totally committed to this bill.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to make it clear. You are going to bring this bill back.</s>MANCHIN: Absolutely.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the Senate floor and you think it's going to be different?</s>MANCHIN: I truly believe that if we have time to sell the bill and people will read the bill and I'm willing to go anywhere in this country. I'm willing to debate anybody on this issue, read the bill and you tell me what you don't like.</s>ROMANS: A ban on assault weapons is also defeated in the April 17th vote. Majority Leader Harry Reid said at the time that he was hitting the pause on gun legislation. This week star of Washington, the media and Hollywood, gathered to roast themselves, raise money, and award excellence in journalism. Comedian, Conan O'Brien and President Obama hit it out of the park with lines like this.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: These days I look in the mirror and I have to admit I'm not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be.</s>CONAN O'BRIEN, COMEDIAN, HOST, "CONAN": As you all know the president is hard at work creating jobs. Since he was first elected the number of popes has doubled and the number of tonight show hosts has tripled. Congratulations.</s>ROMANS: Don Baer was at the dinner and the parties that followed. He's a former senior adviser to President Clinton. He is now the worldwide chair and CEO of Burson-Marsteller. Thanks so much for being here.</s>DON BAER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Nice to see you, too. Thanks for having me.</s>ROMANS: What was your best moment? What do you think the best moment was?</s>BAER: I thought you had a couple of them that were good ones there. I also liked the president's line about his own presidential library, you know, maybe being near where he was born, but he decided he wants to have it in this country. You know, so the ability to poke fun at yourself and the people who are poking at you, I think, at the same time is pretty good.</s>ROMANS: How did the room respond?</s>BAER: The room loved it. They loved the president's remarks and they loved Conan's remarks. You know, one of the things about the president, I've noticed. He has great comic timing in terms of his delivery. I think Conan maybe should watch out, because perhaps when the president is done in the White House, he might become a late night television host.</s>ROMANS: You know, I got to ask you though. We talk about how the room loved the president. The president worked the room. I mean, are they -- is this too close for comfort? Does this shine a lot on Washington that maybe we don't want to see that cozy?</s>BAER: I don't think so. I mean, look, there's so much attention and focus paid on the divisiveness in Washington. You just had a piece about the gun fights. This, you know, this is a moment, at least, when people come together, and are able to appreciate one another in a social setting. By the way, it's not just one big party. You know, there are things all weekend long where people are being thrown together. So I think it's all for the better, really, at the end of the day.</s>ROMANS: All right, you've been to 27 of these.</s>BAER: It's hard to believe.</s>ROMANS: We've been to, we, you sent us some picture with the Psy, M.C. Hammer. I mean, there are a lot of people you don't necessarily associate with the inner workings of politics in Washington. So do you think the celebrity presence has gotten a little out of hand here?</s>BAER: Well, I guess you could say that. Although I have to say I really had a great conversation with M.C. Hammer who was a fascinating and really informed person and we talked a lot about new media and investments in the internet, which he is very active in and these people, it's great to be exposed to and learn from different kinds of people from all over. Those of us who live and work in Washington and live and work in different sort of sectors, we don't always get a chance to be exposed to these people and have opportunities with them. So it's fine. By the way, everyone loves a good time. So why not have one?</s>ROMANS: I know it's access to that good time you know I mean and listen what better newsman Tom Brokaw. He said, it was always a fun gathering but work could be done. It was a mix of important Washington sources and then somewhere along the line it began to freewheel out of control. And then we got to the point where everyone had to bring in whatever paid celebrity happened to be around and for me the breaking point was Lindsay Lohan. She became a big star at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Give me a break. Does Tom have a point?</s>BAER: You know, you can still get business done there. You can talk to people and meet with people. I was able to have conversations with about a half a dozen people that would have taken me three weeks to reach by telephone or in person. I'm sure if Tom came, he would still be able to do a lot of work with sources, and really advance whatever journalistic agenda that he had. So I wouldn't worry too much about all the other things at the margins. It is a big, big party now. There's no question about it. But, it's number one, nothing wrong with the nice party so people could have a good time, especially when they're working as hard as they're all working here in Washington, even if they're not getting much done. And number two, there's still work to be done even during a weekend like this.</s>ROMANS: Do you think Conan did a good job?</s>BAER: Conan was great. I thought he was terrific.</s>ROMANS: All right, nice to see you.</s>BAER: Nice to see you. Thanks a lot.</s>ROMANS: Don Baer, take it easy. All right, ahead on STARTING POINT, it's been six months since Superstorm Sandy unleashed its fury on the east coast. We're going to talk with one woman who lost everything. She joins us with Congressman Michael Grimm with a look at where this recovery now stands. And it's NBA playoff time. "Bleacher Report" looks at who's in and who's out. You're watching STARTING POINT.