Boston Bomb Suspect's Friends Charged; How America Feels After Boston Attacks; Phillipos' Neighbor Interviewed
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Jake, thanks very much. Happening now, we're following the breaking news, three new arrests tied to the Boston bombings investigation. Friends of the alleged bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have just appeared in court. They are charged with a cover up. Two of them are said to have disposed of Tsarnaev's laptop and a backpack containing fireworks. And we've learned of text messages Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly sent to his buddies while on the run. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.</s>BLITZER: We begin this hour with a stunning new twist in the Boston bombings case. Federal authorities have charged two friends with conspiring to destroy, conceal and cover up tangible objects belonging to the suspected bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, namely, in their words, a laptop and a backpack containing fireworks. A third friend is charged with willfully making materially false statements to investigators. The first two are Kazakh nationals, the third an American citizen. All three have just appeared in court. Let's go to the courthouse in Boston; CNN's Pamela Brown is right outside. She was inside during the proceeding. How did it go, Pam?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. The initial appearances ended just about an hour ago. All three of the suspects waived bail and will remain in voluntary detention until their next hearings. Now we did learn from the U.S. attorney's office that the three suspects were arrested on these federal charges early this afternoon. Two of the suspects, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayako from Kazakhstan here on student visas are facing federal charges of obstruction of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which carries a maximum penalty of five years and a $250,000 fine. The second -- the third suspect in the second hearing, 19-year- old Robel Phillipos, faces up to eight years in prison for allegedly making false statements to investigators. Now, each of the three suspects walked in today with their heads down. They were wearing chains around their feet and handcuffs, which were taken off, by the way, during the appearance. They looked nervous, upset, not making eye contact. In fact, at one point during the second hearing the judge, Mary Ann Bowler (ph), told Robel Phillipos, "I suggest you pay attention to me rather than look down." When they spoke to the judge and addressed her, they were very soft-spoken. According to their attorneys, the three 19-year olds are nervous, they're scared and said they were actually helping the government and had no idea they were intentionally destroying evidence. Let's take a listen to what defense attorney Robert Stall had to say.</s>ROBERT STALL, ATTORNEY FOR DIAS KADYRBAYEV: Dias Kadyrbayev absolutely denies the charges, as we've said from the very beginning. He assisted the FBI in this investigation. He is just as shocked and horrified by the violence in Boston that took place as the rest of the community is. He did not know that this individual was involved in the bombing. His first inkling came much later. The government allegations, as far as that he saw the photograph and recognized them immediately, we dispute. And we'll be looking forward to proving our case in court. Mr. Kadyrbayev and his family are very sorry for what happened here in Boston and he did not have anything to do with it.</s>BROWN: So all of the defense attorneys for the three suspects are categorically denying the allegations. And this very detailed criminal complaint from federal authorities that we just saw earlier this afternoon, I'm just going to talk about a couple of parts of this criminal complaint, Wolf. And one of them, one of the excerpts says, "Two days after the marathon bombings, Kadyrbayev drove to Tsarnaev's dormitory and texted him to come down and meet them. "When Tsarnaev came down, Kadyrbayev noticed that Tsarnaev appeared have given himself a short haircut. They chatted while Kadyrbayev smoked a cigarette and then Tsarnaev returned to his dormitory room." And, according to this criminal complaint, Wolf, after that, the two Kazakhstan students are charged with going into Tsarnaev's dormitory room and taking a backpack with fireworks in them and a laptop and disposing of the evidence. In another part of this criminal complaint, "Kadyrbayev says he knew when he saw the empty fireworks" -- that I just talked about in Tsarnaev's dormitory room -- "that Tsarnaev was indeed involved in the marathon bombing." So, Wolf, we asked the attorneys here today, and he said, if they suspected that their friend was indeed involved in the bombing, why didn't they alert authorities right then and there? The attorney told me that that information, explanation will come out in court. We know a probable cause hearing for the two Kazakhstan students is May 14th at 11:00 am. There is another hearing for the other student that will be this coming Monday at 2:00 pm. And you have to remember, Wolf, this is just a criminal complaint. We haven't even seen the indictment, which means there could possibly be more charges down the pike here.</s>BLITZER: Wouldn't be surprised at all. Did the lawyers explain, if on that Thursday night after the FBI released the photographs of the two suspects and they clearly recognized their roommate, their friend, as being one of their suspects, did the lawyers explain why they never picked up the phone, called 9-1-1, or went to the FBI website and said, we know who that guy is, at least one of them? We probably know both of them. Here's the information. We can identify those individuals suspected of killing those people and injuring those people at the Boston Marathon. Did either of these two lawyers ever explain why they never called the police?</s>BROWN: That question was asked when they first walked out of the courthouse, Wolf, and they said no comment. And then I ran up to them after that and asked that question again, and he looked at me and said, "There will be an explanation about that that will come out in court." And then he reiterated that he denies all of these allegations. But you have to wonder, if this criminal complaint is true, if they suspected once they saw the empty fireworks in the room, that Tsarnaev was indeed responsible for the bombings. And then seeing his picture on news outlets, including CNN, why they didn't pick up that phone; so many questions here, Wolf. And we hope to get some answers soon.</s>BLITZER: And the criminal complaint says they did recognize as a result of what they saw, when they saw the pictures on CNN, they did recognize their friends were the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings. Pam, stand by. I want to show our viewers a picture of the third suspect, the U.S. citizen.</s>BLITZER (voice-over): There he is. Robel Phillipos, he's the third suspect now -- third person arrested in connection with this alleged cover-up of the Boston bombing investigation. There you see all three of them there right now. Ashleigh Banfield is joining us. She is in Boston. She is watching what's going on. You're getting some information about this alleged cover-up as well, Ashleigh. What are you picking up?</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Well, Wolf, what I think is so fascinating is so many people have wondered if he -- if the suspect made connections with the two new suspects from Kazakhstan because of their heritage and their ethnic background. What about the connection to this third suspect who made the court appearance today, Robel Phillipos? Well, I have just spoken with one of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's high school classmates, who can now confirm to us that the relationship between Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robel Phillipos may have, in fact, gone back to their high school. Both of them were in the graduating class in 2011 of Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. It is not clear whether Dzhokhar spent all of 9, 10, 11, and 12 at that school, but certainly Robel Phillipos did. In fact, the classmate with whom I spoke not only played basketball with Robel Phillipos, but also had gym class with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. This classmate was not able to confirm a friendship between these two, but he could confirm that they did have mutual friends. In fact, one of them was just communicated with on the telephone, and none too pleased to be talking at this point. And I can also tell you there is very little description I can give you about Robel Phillipos, as at least a high school senior, other than he played on the basketball court with the source that I was speaking with, the classmate; that he liked to talk a lot of smack on the basketball court but when I asked what kind of person he was, was he a nice guy, was he a tough guy? It seemed as though the description was that he was just a good guy, a bit mouthy, but a good guy. Again, we're talking about a 17-year old in the graduating class of 2011. They were -- once again they both attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. That's Robel Phillipos, the third suspect, making that court appearance today. And he is the suspect, Wolf, who is charged with making those false statements to the investigators, the allegation being that he knew full well where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was when he was on the lam, and yet made false statements to the FBI investigators who were asking questions of this, despite knowing the severity of the incidents that he might be accused of, and despite having seen his picture on CNN and making the connection that, my God, he might actually be one of these bombers they're seeking. So extremely serious and it does tell you that this could have been a far longer relationship that he had with this third American suspect dating back to school.</s>BLITZER: Ashleigh, good information. Thanks very much. And there it is. We finally got a picture of this third person arrested today, Robel Phillipos, arrested together with the two students from Kazakhstan, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayako. There they are, all three of them, appearing -- two of them appearing in court; Robel Phillipos will be appearing on Monday. We're going to continue to follow the breaking news, the dramatic news out of Boston. Up next the criminal complaint, laying out step by step by step what these young men are accused of doing. We're breaking down all the details for you. And then what those suspects in the alleged cover-up are saying. We're going to hear from their lawyers.