kelly. >> as the mayor said, last evening we learned through the joint terrorist task force that the boston marathon bombers had planned to travel to manhattan to detonate their remaining bombs in times square. dzhokhar tsarnaev, the terrorist suspect that was captured alive, initially told investigators that he and his brother decided after the boston bombings that they would go to new york city to party. however, a subsequent questioning of dzhokhar revealed that he and his brother decided spontaneously on times square as a target. they would drive to times square that same night. they discussed this while driving around in a mercedes suv that they had hijacked after they shot and killed an m.i.t. police officer in cambridge, dzhokhar said. that plan, however, fell apart when they realized that the vehicle that they hijacked was

low on gas and ordered the driver to stop at a nearby gas station. the driver used the opportunity to escape and call the police. that eventually led to the shootout in watertown, where the older brother was killed in an exchange with gunfire with the police. up until that point, the two brothers had at their disposal six improvised explosive devices. one was a pressure cooker bomb, similar to the two that had exploded at the marathon. the other five were pipe bombs. we know that dzhokhar was photographed in times square with friends on or before april 18th of 2012, and that he was in the city again in november of 2012. we don't know if those visits were related in any way to what he described as the brothers' spontaneous decision to target times square. the nypd intelligence division

is actively investigating to determine dzhokhar's movements in new york city, as well as who he might have been with here. new york city detectives and supervisors assigned to the joint terrorist task force with the fbi are assisting in the ongoing investigation in both boston and new york. there's no evidence at this time, however, to indicate that new york city is currently a target of another terrorist attack stemming from the boston bombings. mr. mayor? >> i'll be happy to take a question or two. yes, sir? please identify yourself. >> dave, new york post. commissioner, you said they decided to do this spontaneously. meaning that they had no plan before to come to new york, they just decided on the spot? >> that's what we believe now. in the car they made a decision

to go to new york with the remaining explosive device s tht they had and to detonate one or more in times square. >> and keep in mind that we didn't interrogate the suspect ourselves. this is the information we're getting from those fbi and the local police departments in boston that did interrogate. yes, miss? >> joan baldwin from the observer. were you told anything about the conversation and why times square was the target that they wanted? >> no, we don't have that depth of information at this time. >> yes, sir? >> mr. mayor, aaron from abc. in regard to what you had just said, mr. mayor, do you believe the fbi hid information or delayed giving you -- >> there's no reason to think the fbi hides anything. the fbi does what they think is appropriate at the time and you'll have to ask them what they found out and what the

actual details of the interrogation were. we were not there, but once they give us information, then the police commissioner, right away, acts on that information, takes whatever steps he thinks is appropriate. for example, the first time we heard of the bomb blasts, right away we deployed, ray deployed, all of our police resources and strengthened everything, heightened security, and that's what we're supposed to do. yes, sir? >> mr. mayor, josh, wabc. i'm wondering if you have any specific knowledge about specific location within times square they were looking at and also if you could discuss the technology that you have in that area and how it might have potentially affected the outcome. >> we have no specific information about a targeting location, if you will, but we have, as the mayor said, a lot of technology in place. a lot of cameras. we have a lot of police officers there around the clock, and assuming they left at some time, 10:00, and able to get here 2:00

or 3:00 in the morning, they would have seen a lot of police officers in times square at that time. >> yes? >> allison fox with the wall street journal, was there any indication that these suspects were going to, i guess, target not only a specific area in times square, but a specific time period? they would have got here in the middle of the night and there wouldn't be many sort of tourists or people hanging around. was this at all thought out any more than let's go to times square and see what happens? >> no. we have no more specific information. again, you know, the initial information we have is they were going to come to party, then it changes in the subsequent interrogation, you know, intent to bomb, but no more specificity than that. >> hi, am new york. now that you've got this information, will you deploy any nypd counterterrorism officers to boston to further interrogate the suspect or get more

information? >> to -- >> get more information about this, just for your own staff instead of the fbi? >> we have people who are working with the joint terrorism task force in boston. we have officers that are working in the brick, which is the boston regional intelligence center, so, you know, we have a lot of interaction, obviously, communication, with the boston police commissioners. so, if that's your question, there's a lot of new york city police presence there, a welcome presence, i might add, and we have exchange of information all the time. >> remember, this is the boston police department, watertown police department, boston branch of the fbi. they are the ones in charge and we have great confidence in their abilities. yes, in the back, this young lady. >> thank you. could you elaborate a little bit on the time frame of these two interrogations, the first one

when they talked about partying and then the second one that revealed the new information, was it the same night, days later? >> talking of the period of when they were questioned? >> yes. >> we believe the first interrogation of dzhokhar happened on saturday evening, into sunday morning, and that the second questioning period was sunday evening into monday morning. >> this gentleman up here, all the way up. >> tony, news day. how confident, commissioner, were you that the surveillance, police presence in the area, and also the metric camera systems, biometrics you would have used would have seen something and perhaps stalled the event? >> it's unknown. we have a lot of presence there, have resources there, but there are no guarantees.

>> we spend every dime we think we can spend to get a real value, and we work with -- we train our people continuously, and we monitor what goes on around the world for best practices and what the terrorists might be doing, but as ray said, there are no guarantees. all we can do is do everything that we can, and that's exactly what we're doing. public has a right to expect to keep them safe to the extent humanly possible and that's exactly what we're doing. sir? >> dean, new york one. obviously, the fbi is questioning suspect number two still in the hospital. initially, people hear him saying he wanted to come to new york to party, now to bomb. is there a reason for you to believe the second story and not the first, a real reason, maybe that he was really coming here to bomb, or is he making up stories altogether? >> we have an obligation, we believe, to put that information out. the information we received was he was a lot more lucid and gave

much more detailed information in the second questioning period. >> and regardless whether we believe it or not, this is the information we get and we're going to take everything seriously. god forbid -- we don't make light of anything. we have to assume the worst and deploy our resources to make sure it doesn't happen. it would be wonderful if it wasn't true, but this appears to be what the fbi or boston police are telling us, we want to get this young lady here. >> two-part question, really. number one, you have evidence, i presume, pictures of them being in times square in april of 2012, i think you said, and again in november. i wonder if you have anymore information about what they were doing here, and secondly, had they got to times square with their six bombs, including the pressure cooker bomb, what's the potential damage they could have done if they exploded them? >> well, we know, as you say, on

or before 18, april of 2012 they had that picture taken. some of the people in that picture have been identified and that part of the investigation is certainly going forward. you know, you look at what the bomb did in boston and then you would have to take that and, obviously, speculate as to what it could do in times square. significant number of people in times square at that hour. there are clubs, bars, that are operating. so, you know, i wouldn't want to guess, but clearly we saw the power of the bombs in boston. you take that and use your, you know, give a guesstimate as to what the damage would be in new york city. >> and just because they came here doesn't mean they'd have to do something right away. we have a question back here. first young lady in front of you had her hand up. i'm sorry. >> jillian, staten island

advanced. times square is a place that has a large police presence, when it comes to larger events that span all five burroughs, how do you secure those large public gatherings? >> great difficult, right? >> yeah, right? with difficulty, as the mayor said, but certainly it requires a lot of law enforcement presence, a lot of police officers, and that's precisely what we'll deploy. we have some cameras, as you know, we've said that we are moving to expand the number of mobile cameras that we have, but that's going to be a ways off. we have some, but a relatively small number. so, we'll have a lot of people covering that route. we have some counterterrorism resources that we use. we have a vehicle that takes pictures, 360-degree pictures, that we use on a route of major events. we'll be continuing to do that sort of thing. we have our sky watchers that

give you an elevated view. we have if we need it, license plate readers, that sort of thing. we would deploy them. >> the gentleman behind you. >> listening to a press conference given by the police commissioner ray kelly and mayor michael bloomberg saying that based on a second interview of the suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev in the hospital by fbi and other interrogators, this interview took place late sunday, the first interview, he believes, took place late saturday. based on this second interview, new york has been given information by the interrogators that the suspects had intended to go to new york after leaving boston on late thursday night, head toward new york, and try to detonate whatever remaining explosive devices they had in times square. again, this is information according to the commissioner and the mayor that comes from

fbi and other interrogators based on the second interview with the suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev. as you know, as commissioner kelly mentioned yesterday based on a first interview with the suspect, the suspect had said that they intended to come to new york to party, as commissioner revealed in a press conference yesterday. as for the discrepancy between the first interview and information coming out of the second interview, commissioner kelly believes he was more lucid during the second interview. importantly, though, and i think it bears repeating, commissioner kelly stressing this seemed to be a spur of the moment decision, or at least interrogators believe this is more of a spur of the moment decision, not a preplanned trip to new york, and also the mayor and commissioner stressing there's no known information about any direct threat to the city of new york at this time. no ongoing threat to the city of new york at this time in this bombing investigation. so, we're joined now by former

director of the fbi tom fuentes, also gloria boerger and tom, i want to start with you, i think it's critical that this was a -- seems to be, indication is, it was a spur of the moment decision, not a preplanned trip. >> right, anderson. and i think that one of the important takeaways from that is that it would also indicate that there weren't additional people involved in this plot. so, in other words, the two of them were going to go to new york and carry out the terrorist act. it would indicate that there's not a third person out there that could do it for them or was deployed to do it or could have done it simultaneously with the boston attack, so it does indicate that they probably were alone and didn't have others involved in trying to set bombs up somewhere. >> tom, also what does it tell you about the fact that they are deciding spur of the moment or talking about spur of the moment about going to new york, that they are stopping at atm

machines to try to get cash by using the person they allegedly carjacked? doesn't seem like it had much of an end game here. >> it would seem so, and you're right. we don't know that for sure. one of the other things that shows is they were not suicidal. and, of course, we have seen that. they didn't commit suicide in the attack at the marathon, and certainly later on they are shooting it out. they are not trying to necessarily get killed on purpose, and then, of course, dzhokhar when he's in the boat, he completely complies with the negotiates' request to stand up, lift his shirt, and surrender completely. so, yes, it doesn't sound like it was going to be a suicide attack, just sounded like they were going to do what they were going to do when they feel like it. >> gloria boerger, you broke this information on air before this news conference, what do you make of what you hear from the mayor and police commissioner? >> this is one way of telling

the people of new york city to be vigilant. while new york city was clearly not a target of these attacks initially, that spontaneously these guys, apparently, if we're to believe the suspected, apparently sort of said, okay, let's take what we had left and head to times square in new york. let me just unwind this a bit for you, anderson, because there has been a threat of manhattan sort of through this entire story, because remember the victim who was carjacked, he heard these two people talking in a language that was foreign to him, and the one word he told authorities he thought he heard was manhattan, and that, of course, was relayed to law enforcement in new york. and they start to unravel this and start to pursue dzhokhar and sort of figure out who he was. they discovered that, in fact, he had been to times square. it didn't look like anything other than a trip with a bunch of his buddies. there was some photographs on

social networks, but there were, you know, kind of aware of this, so the question is clearly asked in the first interrogation about new york, because they were following up on what the carjack victim said. and they ask about new york and the first story is, we were there to party, and by the next day, no, no, they were going to take the rest of the bombs and detonate them somewhere where they could do some damage. >> jason carroll, obviously, the law enforcement capabilities of new york are actually vastly different than here in boston. boston police force, i think some 2,000 people. in new york, i believe it's 35,000. it's a huge number. a lot of different capabilities in new york. >> absolutely. you heard the mayor mention something about that, but also just to follow up a little bit more on what gloria and tom were talking about, it's pretty sobering when you hear about the amount of explosives these brothers had left. according to what police commissioner kelly was telling us, six improvised explosive

devices that they still had in their possession, one was that pressure cooker type of bomb that was used in the boston attacks, but they also still had five pipe bombs on them, as well. and so even though this may have been a spontaneous discussion that they had in the car, according to what the commissioner was saying and this carjacked car driving around boston, it's still very clear they had a lot of fire power left in their possession that could have done a lot of damage. and also following up on what gloria was talking about, you know, they do have these pictures of the younger tsarnaev brother being in new york in times square in november of 2012 and in april of 2012, but once again, according to what new york officials are saying, based on what information they are getting through the joint terrorism task force, based on that second interrogation, this was a spontaneous plan these brothers had put together, but had they not been caught, it could have been a deadly plan.

anderson? >> tom fuentes, i want to bring you in. in "the wall street journal" today there was an interesting editorial that brings up the counterterrorism program that new york city has instituted in the wake of 9/11. it's really unlike any other police force in the nation in their counterterrorism capabilities and operational capabilities. >> well, right. much has been made about the effort that they've made to create that entity and to use it, but i think commissioner kelly was rather cautious in saying that they could absolutely even in spite of having all the resources, technological and human resources, that they would have been able to for sure stop this, and i think, you know, he and others well recognized the difficulty that, you know, they could drive into town if they found a different third vehicle, not the mercedes, obviously, but if they switched to a different vehicle that was not being

sought and drive in to times square and about the time they get out of the car and take the knapsack out, yes, even if the cameras pick up it's them, a suspicious device, and they call a police officer, you're talking about two seconds to light this off and make it happen, so whether it could be prevented, i think the commissioner's very cautious to know that maybe, yes, maybe, no. >> tom fuentes, jason carroll, gloria borger, appreciate it. coming up, the mother of the bombing suspects is speaking up, talking to cnn's nick peyton wal walsh. she clearly doesn't believe her sons are guilty. >> i would like to assure that my kids were not involved in anything. >> you'll hear from the tsarnaev brothers' mother as our special report on the boston bombings continues. as a preferred pharmacy, walgreens can save you as much as 75% compared to other select pharmacies.

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today a big part of the boston bombing investigation is happening overseas in russia, that is where the parents of the two terror suspects are talking about their sons. they are talking to the fbi, they are also talking to cnn. dzhokhar and tamerlan's father is promising to cooperate, their mother, however, will not make the trip. she faces charges here. she skipped out on shoplifting charges here years ago and there's an arrest warrant out for her, so she's not coming back here. nick paton walsh had a long conversation with the suspects' mother. she's got a theory about the bombings of which i should point out she offers no proof for, there's no factual basis for what she says. she's, obviously, distraught, but she also has theories about her sons have been implicated. take a look. >> tamerlan was close friends with him, so they think that misha made him to become more --

more deeply religious, you know. that's why somebody told them that misha was the one who influenced on him. >> reporter: you met misha? >> of course i met misha. >> reporter: describe to me, what kind of guy? >> very nice, nothing wrong. very intelligent. very, like, nothing to talk about. >> reporter: okay, okay. what else did they ask you about his trips here? were they particularly interested in the time he came to dagestan? >> about who, tamerlan? well, all questions were about tamerlan. >> reporter: and his trip here, two trips? two trips, right, one in 2011 and one in 2012? >> no, only 2012. >> reporter: only 2012, okay.

that was six months in which he was with -- >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: and are you going to america? >> i think so. i think so. >> reporter: you want to? >> yeah, because i really want to. really want to see how it is going to end. you know? >> reporter: you want to bury your son? >> of course. of course. even though i don't know if they will let us to see dzhokhar, but i want to go. i want to see my tamerlan, if it's possible. yes, i want. >> reporter: and there's an issue with this to do with an arrest warrant for you? >> that's -- i don't even care. that's not something that is difficult. it wasn't a big deal, and i don't care about it. what i care is only this of my

oldest son, who i think was killed and the youngest one, who is really need the support. >> reporter: of course. can you describe to me how you think this situation came about? we spoke before. i know you believe they are innocent. how do you think it's come to this stage to the american officials saying they are guilty? >> you know, it's really difficult. i really don't know how to explain or describe, but i feel that there is something wrong. i don't know. i really feel there is something wrong. i'm thinking through the day, through the night, i don't see anybody. i don't see anything to pay, like, a real attention to.

i mean about his friends, like whoever was surrounding him. nothing that would really catch my attention. >> reporter: describe to me the pain. >> it's -- i don't know how to describe it, you know? you know mother, you have a mother, right? so just because you are not mother, you won't understand it. i am mother, loving mother of two kids. i don't know. this is really crazy. i can't even -- i can't even describe it. i saw my tamerlan naked pulling into police car. they pulled him out of the whatever cruiser, the car, and they put him into the police car, where he walked naked,

naked, and they are saying that it is not my son, but i know my son. i know my son. i know the body of my son, who i raised from, you know, this size. from this size. this is my son. this is -- i don't know how to describe it. he was alive. just two days later they just put out the pictures that he's dead already, so i don't know. you have the picture, please, show me that. >> reporter: before i share, we went to chechnya yesterday to anzor's father's house, is that an important place to your family? it's a good family location, does it mean to you, does it mean anything to anzor? >> we haven't, like, been living there that much, so i don't care about that place. >> reporter: of course, i

understand. i understand. i just want to ask you some of the things we've been hearing so you can answer the accusations against your son. there are reports that he sent you text messages saying -- talking about the radical nature of his faith saying he would willing even to die for islam. >> no, never! never true. >> reporter: of course. let me find this for you here. did he go to the mosque when he was here? >> he went to every mosque that he could go and it is not -- i don't want to emphasize one, i don't know why everybody wants to emphasize the culture. >> reporter: i understand completely. >> you know? >> reporter: give me one second, forgive me. here it is. and we also spoke to a police officer. >> yeah. >> reporter: who talked about abudujan. >> who's that? >> reporter: he was here in dagestan who was killed in december.

are you -- did your son ever mention him, did he ever come up in conversation? there was a link to him on your son's youtube page. >> he never talked to me about any dalgat or whoever. >> reporter: take one second to download, i'm sorry. has to download first, then i can show you. >> i was told that you have that in, like, a bigger size. >> reporter: sorry, it was downloaded before i came here. it has gone away, now it has to come back. it's going to take a couple seconds to happen. my sincere apology. it is not the plan. i'm embarrassed this is the case. >> i think you're kind of not honest if you're doing this. you said you were going to show me. >> reporter: here it is. it is downloading. it is supposed to be here. it is downloading now. i am completely honest. >> please, be honest. i don't want -- remember, i told you that i saw it?

>> reporter: i know, i know. >> it is there, i saw it. >> reporter: in a few minutes it will be ready. let me ask you again, describe your son, your son, tell me from the childhood you remember closest your childhood, you remember clearest to you. >> i remember him always, always from the first day that he was born, there was no day that i don't remember him. every day, like, many, many moments in your life, many episodes. there are many of them to be talking about, so he was the most caring. -- son. >> reporter: it was described when he came back here, most kids go to america and they get into drink or drugs and he came

back and he was very devout muslim, embraced his faith. you are a very devout muslim, as well. explain to me what your faith means to you and what it meant to him. >> you mean his faith meant to me? >> reporter: what he told you his faith meant to him and what your islamic faith means to you. >> well, islamic faith is to believe that there is one god and that only one messenger, i mean, his messenger is muhammad. and the koran, you know, that's what should believe everyone, every muslim, everyone. >> reporter: what does it mean for you in daily life? >> daily life, praying five times a day, daily life, and

making some remembrance of ala. >> reporter: what did it mean for him? >> for him, all the same. >> there's nick paton walsh reporting, talking to the mother of the two bombing suspects who will not apparently be traveling to the united states any time soon. she does face an arrest warrant here based on shoplifting charges which she skipped out on several years ago. there's a press conference talking at brigham women's hospital. let's go there now. katie abbott, who lost part of her leg below the knee is going to be speaking, as well as her doctor. let's listen in. >> then we're going to hear from heather abbott, our courageous patient, truly inspirational person. following the speakers, we are going to take questions. i'm going to be repeating your questions for a couple of reasons. one, we're webcasting so the folks watching via webcast across the country are going to hear what you are going to ask,

two, heather is having a bit of difficulty hearing following the blast, so we want to make sure she hears your questions. have patience with the process, and try to be as concise as you possibly can with your questions so i don't have to remember a lot to repeat. as you know, heather is recovering. her most recent surgery was monday, her nurse, melissa is here. if anyone of you knows brigham nurses, when they say jump, we say how high and how fast, so i'm going to keep an eye on melissa. there will be no one-on-one interviews after the conference with dr. bloomen or heather, so get your answers to questions here, and when we are finished, we're going to ask you all to pull back to allow heather and her family to exit and we'll take care of anything you need logistically afterwards. any logistical questions? let's get started with dr. eric bloomen. >> hi, everybody. >> do you want to come to the podium so they can hear you through the mic?

tank you. that one better? okay, stay there. >> i've been asked initially to provide a synopsis of heather's hospital course, and we'll start with that. >> doctor, can you pull it a little closer? you can take it off the stand, if you like. >> heather came to brigham and was brought to the emergency department on marathon monday and was evaluated there by many, many teams, many people, emergency department, general surgery, plastic surgery, orthopedics, and i know i'm leaving people out, but a whole host of people in the emergency department. and she was then triaged to the o.r., to the operating room, and that was to both to clean her wounds and evaluate the wounds and treat her wounds. and one of the things that heather had, in addition to

blast injuries, one of the components of her injury was a vascular injury, and our vascular surgeons did an excellent, amazing job right off the bat and did what we call a revascularization to restore blood flow to her foot so that limb salvage would be an option, because without blood flow, you can't save a limb. and, again, she was treated by a plastic surgery orthopedics and the general surgeons all simultaneously. and she was then -- that was monday, and on wednesday she went back for a second evaluation to make sure that the tissues that looked viable at, on marathon monday were indeed staying viable and still had good blood supply and had not

been compromised further. this was an evolutionary process that happened on wednesday and also friday, and that really took us to monday a week from marathon monday when she underwent the amputation. >> okay. and do you want to talk a little bit about the course from here, what we expect in terms of recovery? >> right. the below-knee amputees, as in heather's case, have a very much accelerated recovery relative to some people who undergo limb salvage procedures. so she's going to go to rehab as soon as she feels she's ready and we feel she's ready to make sure that she's ready to go home. and it's an interim stage between going to -- coming from the hospital before going home, just to check to make sure that everything she needs to do and

her caregivers need to do at home can be done successfully. and that can take a variable period of time depending on the patient's condition, what's their home situation they have, and other variables, as well. and she will then come back and see me in the office. i hope that she'll be out of rehab by the time her first office visit comes upon us, and then we will look at her wounds, make sure that they are healing properly, and get her started on physical therapy. about six weeks from her last procedure, we expect to move her to a temporary prosthesis and start her walking, and that will take -- she will continue walking and learning how to walk with a prosthesis, building up strength, endurance, balance, and all of the things necessary

to be a below the knee amputee successfully. and then hopefully around four to six months she'll move into a permanent prosthesis and then really up her activity levels and hopefully move to doing everything she was able to do prior to marathon monday. >> so, heather, it's your turn. i'm just going to hand you the microphone. >> well, thank you, everyone, for coming today. i received several calls from probably some of you in the room and my family and friends have, as well, but i thought this would be a good venue to sort of ask any questions, overlapping types of questions, all at once. i thought that before i saw all these cameras and all these people. but i think it is a good idea. so i kind of wanted to just share my message with you before

i answered any questions, and what that really is, is the surprise and just overwhelmed by the amount of support and patience and just general interest and caring in my situation by my friends and my family and by people i don't even know. if someone 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, and i really haven't had a moment yet of being devastated, because i've gotten so much support from the hospital. i mean, the hospital's brought in individuals who are in the same situation as i am, they live normal lives. they were able to tell me about that, which has been great. my family has been here with me since i got here. they have been staying overnight. i love down in newport, rhode

island, so they've been staying and supporting me every single day. i have had a slew of friends come to visit me every day. my room is never empty. so it's been very overwhelming and i couldn't have imagined this type of response to my having the type of injury like this. so although it's something i certainly wouldn't wish upon myself or anyone else, you know, it's really not as bad as i thought it could have been. i really think i'm going to be able to live my life in a normal way, eventually, when i get that permanent prosthesis. but state offices in rhode island have been great, everyone has reached out to me, so i feel very supported. i think i'm one of the few victims of the bombing that is not from massachusetts, but, again, no worries for me there, so that's just kind of what i wanted to say and kind of let people know. i'm certainly happy to answer

any questions that you might have. >> questions? yes, right here? >> reporter: when you say state offices in rhode island, can you tell us who they are -- >> heather, i'm going to repeat the question. the question is, who have you heard from from the state offices in rhode island and where do you anticipate going for your rehabilitation? >> okay, i heard from the congressman, senator reid, and governor chaffey. i'm planning to go to spalding for my rehabilitation. next question, yes, allie? >> reporter: can you talk a little bit about the process of seeing your leg, your foot, can you talk about the decision for you to amputate? >> so, the question is, can you talk a little bit about the decision making process to amputate? >> well, dr. bluman kind of gave me the rundown, as did several other doctors, on the choice i

had, and basically it was whether to keep my leg, the rest, my foot actually is where the injury occurred, or to amputate sort of below the knee. and it certainly was a difficult decision, but when i weighed the pros and cons, i think this was the best option for me. dr. bluman had explained to me that if i kept my foot, it was very badly mangled. it would probably most likely never fully heal or be functional. it would likely be shorter, one of my legs would likely be shorter than the other, and i wouldn't be able to live the lifestyle that i did prior to the injury. 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 with that. >> next question, yes, here in the second row. >> reporter: talking about a better chance to live your life, what are you hoping to be able

to do? >> so, the question is what are some of the things you're hoping to do in the coming months and the coming years. >> in the coming months probably not much other than walking, but, you know, i talked to somebody yesterday, actually, one of the doctors came in to see me and he was asking me what kind of activities i do. i told him i like to run, i like to do zumba classes, aerobics classes, that sort of thing. i talked to him about plans i had this summer about yoga paddling, some friends and i wanted to sign up for it, and he said you'll be doing it next year, don't worry about it. i'm not worried i won't be able to maintain the same type of lifestyle. >> reporter: heather, can you take us back to the day that happened, what happened, and what you remember? >> heather, can you take them back through the day that happened, what happened, and what you remember? >> sure. i was -- well, i was up with a bunch of my friends from the

newport area. we usually take the train on patriots day from providence to boston and go to a bar called forum. one of our friends works at forum as a bar tender. she happened to be working that day, so we made plans to go there and meet some other friends there. when we left the game a little bit early, some of us split up. a group of us got to the bar forum a little earlier than two of my girlfriends and me. when we got there, we were standing in line outside waiting to get in. the bouncer was checking peoples' i.d.s and i was the last of the three of us in line, and as we were standing there, 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, something i'd seen on tv. and it just all happened so quickly that 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, and i was thinking, who's going to help me? everybody else was running for their lives, and to my surprise, and from what i'm learning now, i'm kind of just learning how i was sort of rescued out of there, there were two women and two men involved in helping me get out of the bar and into an ambulance. the first woman, i believe, was

someone from the joe andruzzi foundation, and she had initially seen me and helped me get kind of tried to drag me, and then a gentleman who i later learned was matt chatham took me up the stairs and carried me outside. he and his wife were attending to me, as well as another member of the andruzzi association. and they wouldn't leave my side until they knew i was safe in the ambulance, along with the friends that i had attended the game with that day. i've talked to them briefly. i'm actually supposed to meet him at some point, so i'm really looking forward to that. and then, you know, i was put in the ambulance with other individuals, you know, 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. i asked the emt to call my mom, and he called her. i only knew her home phone number, so luckily she happened to be home, and i heard him tell her to go to brigham & women's and that's pretty much all i remember about that evening. >> next question. let's go over here. >> how much you've been thinking about about the suspects in this and what your thoughts might be now. >> so, the question to heather is curious what you're thinking about the suspect and what you're thinking about the remaining suspect. >> i honestly -- it's funny, i've been asked that question before, and i haven't thought much about them at all. i don't even know how to pronounce their names. i haven't watched tv since the incident. and i think that's one of the things that kind of helped me

get through this, to just focus on my recovery and, you know, how to proceed with my life. i'm sure at some point i will be interested in the details and have an opinion about, you know, the individuals that did this, but i haven't let my mind go there at all. >> right here. >> heather, could you get back to talking about the decision process, could you talk about your emotions during that and could you read the point where you just had to decide i'm going to do this and not look back? >> let me just repeat the question. sorry, heather, for the people listening online. so, the question was can you talk a little bit about the emotion around the decision for amputation and did you reach a point where you just made a decision and realized you wouldn't look back? >> i guess that's what i did. as i said to myself, i need to make a decision and the best case scenario seems to be to have the amputation. unlikely as that sounded, i

didn't think that would be what i was saying to myself, but it really was. so, i just went with that decision. i had a lot of people who supported it. in fact, i didn't have any doctors or friends or family who said they thought i was making a mistake. so, it was a decision that i almost felt like i didn't have a choice. it was what i really needed to do. i just tried not to think about it too much as i was going into the operating room, when i was going to come out i wasn't going to have a whole leg anymore, and it's been, you know, difficult. but i know that, you know, it's going to only be difficult for a short period of time and eventually things will get better. >> gentleman in the back. >> yeah, can you talk a little bit about what your expectations are from the one fund and costs of prosthetic and how it's affected you financially? >> so, that's a big question. a lot of questions in a question. the question was about the one fund, which i'm not even sure heather is aware of, because she hasn't been watching the news,

and the financial impact of an injury like this and prosthetics. >> i've heard of the one fund. i don't really know a whole lot about it. i don't know how they plan to distribute the money amongst the victims of the attack, and honestly haven't really thought about it very much. the cost of prosthetics, there have been so many different organizations that have come forward to offer their assistance in paying for that, so i've been trying to look at some of those options that have been presented. you know, i realize that they only last a certain period of time and that, you know, i'm going to have them the rest of my life and they are certainly not inexpensive. but it's -- i haven't really given it all that much thought. >> i didn't mean to cut you off. heather's friends have established a fund for her. on the fax sheet you received is the address for that, and we'd certainly appreciate anything

you can do to promote heather's fund. yes? >> mentioned similar situation, can you talk a little bit about what they said to you and also have you had a chance to talk to others? >> so, it's a two-part question. could you talk a little bit about the conversations with the other amputees that the hospital brought in to talk with you and have you talked with any of the other victims of the bombing? >> i haven't talked to any of the other victims at all. one of them actually is a friend of mine, so at some point i'd be interested in talking to her. i think she's been very busy. she had an above the knee amputation. she wasn't with me that day, but she is a friend of mine, so, you know, certainly anxious to talk to her and others who are in the same situation i am. as far as -- i'm sorry, the other part of the question? >> the other part of the question was the folks that came in to talk with you about what their lifestyle was like, how

were those conversations? >> i had a couple people talk to me about the fact they were not willing to give up their foot at the point where they had to make the decision i had to make and how they really regretted that decision because it was years of pain and unnecessary sort of suffering for them. so, you know, that kind of helped me with the decision hearing different people sort of support what the doctors here were telling me. most of the people that i've spoken with have had amputations related to motorcycle accidents or some received amputations for incidents that happened in iraq or afghanistan. and, you know, they seem like very positive people. they just say, you know, this is who they are. and i aspire to be like that eventually. >> gentleman at the back? >> reporter: you've been through what many would describe as a life-altering experience.

explain your positive attitude and what your message would be. >> so, you have been through what appears to be a life-altering experience. can you explain for us your positive attitude and -- >> reporter: the message for others. >> message for others, what's your message for others? >> i think it's like i said earlier, it is a life-altering experience, and if i didn't have the support system in my family and friends that i do, i think i would be devastated. i don't think i would have a positive outlook, but it's so hard for me to focus on anything negative, because they are always around. you know, i have hardly any time to myself to really sit there and dwell on it, and if i do find myself, you know, my mind kind of going there, i try to turn it right around and say you can't sit there and say what if i arrived five minutes later or five minutes earlier or what if i decided not to go to the game this year, i think i did that for a little while, but, you know, this is the situation i'm faced with.

it's not going to change, so for me to kind of dwell on the negative is sort of a waste of time to me. >> yes, right here, amy? >> reporter: heather, was there a point in this whole process where you thought you might be able to save the limb? >> the question is, was there a point in this whole process you thought you might be able to save the limb. i don't know if you want to start with dr. bluman. >> reporter: i have a follow-up for dr. bluman. >> there were points i thought i would be able to keep it, especially at the beginning when i went into my first surgery directly from the bombing. they said the doctors told me they needed to do a second surgery and determine if they would be able to save it or not. until they did that surgery, i was thinking there was a possibility i would be able to until they actually did it and came back and said, you know, you could, but you probably

shouldn't. >> reporter: that would be my follow-up question for dr dr. bluman. what's sort of the tipping point, we see these injuries, but they are coming out of war zones. what are the risk benefits for patients? can you tell me how many patients like heather's we've seen? >> so, the question is what is the risk benefit of making the decision to amputate and have you seen many injuries like this, as these are typically injuries seen in war zones? >> there's a lot of things that play into this, and it's very, very rare that the doctor makes the decision. we do everything to let the patient come to their own decision on this, because values for every separate patient are different, and keeping a limb may be very important to one and being a whole person, not losing

any limbs may be of the utmost importance while for someone else, like heather, function is paramount. and so you have to balance those things. and everybody has their own separate value system and decision tree that they go through. as orthopedic surgeons and trauma surgeons, our job is not to make the decision, but help the patient make the best decision for themselves. in terms of i have the unfortunate experience of having a lot of experience with this because i'm a war veteran and i served in operation iraqi freedom, and so i've seen a lot of these. and the silver lining of that is i think it helps me talk to the patient, understand the patient, and counsel the patient on what's the best decision for them. >> next question. woman in the orange.

>> reporter: you said you haven't been watching a lot of the tv, but are you aware of the overwhelming support coming from the city and from the country and also your reaction? >> so there's a two-part question. are you aware of the overwhelming support coming from the community and the country and can you talk a little bit about your visit with our first lady michelle obama? >> i think i'm somewhat aware of the support that's coming from the state of massachusetts, the country, just by the different things like the one fund that's been set up, the support from, you know, medical agencies, amount of money that my friends have raised for me already in my fund is astonishing, so i do understand the support that's coming around. second part of the question? >> can you talk a little bit about your visit with michelle obama? >> yes. when i met michelle obama, it was relatively brief. i was under the influence of a lot of medication, so i wish i

remembered it better, however, she came in. she was very nice. she told me she was sorry about the injury, you know, talked to me and my family and friends for a little bit who kind of gathered around the bed to hear her, as well. she talked about the fact that she typically only gives this certain coin out to military personnel who were injured and she actually gave one to me, so that was really nice. and the visit was fairly brief, but she was a very nice lady. we had a nice conversation. >> yes, in the corner here. >> reporter: three-part question -- >> all right, you've been listening live to one of these many, many survivors here after the horrendous blast last monday. that was heather abbott, really one of the first times we have seen one of these survivors speaking live as part of this news conference at one of the

amazing hospitals here in the city of boston, speaking at brigham & women's hospital, not too far from where i am in boston. thanks for being with me, i'm brooke baldwin live in boston, where we are covering her story and three major stories unfolding right now. first, the white house says it has evidence that the syrian regime has, in fact, used chemical weapons. and keep in mind this is really a potential came changer in syria's bloody civil war. more on that. plus, very soon president obama and the first lady will be arriving in waco, texas, for a memorial service to honor the victims of that horrific fertilizer explosion that happened last week. but i want to begin this hour with a major development in the investigation of the boston terror attack. the surviving suspect told investigators that he and his brother had this plan to detonate their remaining bombs, there were six of them

specifically, one pressure cooker, five pipe bombs according to investigators, in times square. new york police commissioner ray kelly spoke just a short time ago, along with the mayor of new york, michael bloomberg, and they basically said this, had the hijacked car suspect's vehicle they were hijacking not been so low on gas, they could have made it to manhattan. >> subsequent questioning of dzhokhar revealed that he and his brother decided spontaneously on times square as a target. they would drive to times square that same night. they discussed this while driving around in a mercedes suv that they had hijacked after they shot and killed an m.i.t. police officer in cambridge, dzhokhar said. that plan, however, fell apart when they realized that the vehicle that they hijacked was low on gas. >> low on gas.

that's the key here. i want to bring in jason carroll in new york and hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks in atlanta. jason, let me begin with you, because i was listening to this news conference, as i know you were, and i was stunned to learn there were six more bombs these guys had at their disposal. >> yeah. it's sobering when you hear about what new york officials learned through the joint terrorism task force they said last night, again, six improvised explosive devices, one was the pressure cooker type of bomb used during the boston bombing, the other five pipe bombs. this is what the two brothers had in their possession and even though the commissioner and mayor michael bloomberg say this was a spontaneous decision, it's still pretty sobering to think about the idea that these two brothers, had they not run out of gas and had they not been caught, had this sort of

improvised, spontaneous plan to drive down to new york city. initially we were told from police officials here that the initial plan was for them to come to new york city to party. i know you remember that report, as well, but after they had an opportunity to interrogate tsarnaev a little more in this second interrogation, they learned that, in fact, the brothers had devised this plan to come to new york city and cause more havoc. >> that's right, and we also know that there was a photograph, you know, we know that this younger suspect took to twitter a lot and there was a photograph of him and some other of his friends from times square. i believe it was november of last year. here's the picture. obviously, everyone's blurred by dzhokhar. what do you know about that trip? >> well, we know there were two. there was one in november of 2012, another trip to times square in new york in april of last year, as well. commissioner kelly saying that they've already identified some of the people in those photos.

those photos put up on facebook, but once again, no indication at this point that these previous trips that the younger tsarnaev had taken to new york was some sort of early plan to look at times square for any other reason than to come here for a visit, but it's clear now, once again, that the brothers did have times square on their radar. >> mike brooks, i'm sure you listened to the news conference as well, commissioner ray kelly talking about how this was a spontaneous decision, we can glean from that this wasn't a sophisticated plan, a preplanned idea, and also it sounds like it was just involving these two brothers, again, what's your reaction to that? >> it sounded to me, brooke, like it was totally spontaneous. they didn't have any money, so this isn't something they had planned out and had said, okay, we're going to do these bombs here on boylston street and then go to new york city. it was spur of the moment, spontaneous. they had no money, tried to get money out of an atm from the guy

they hijacked, car had no gas. they were not going to make it to new york city. new york city, it seems like it's always, always there as a possible target, because it is an icon. and, you know, we saw the attempted bombing in times square not too long ago where a guy pulled up there in a van and tried to detonate a bomb, but that didn't go off. so, again, new york city police, new york city fire, they are constantly, every single day, responding to reports of suspicious packages. i see them every single day, at least one somewhere in the city, so this is something they live with constantly. >> yeah, and thank goodness for that astute hotdog vendor. i remember being on cnn when that was unfolding, but mayor bloomberg and talking today alongside commissioner kelly, he stressed the need for more resources in places, as you point out, high-risk areas and

targets like new york city. take a listen. >> the fact is, new york city remains a prime target for those who hate america and want to kill americans. the attacks in boston and the news that new york city was next on the terrorists' list shows just how critical it is for the federal government to devote resources to high-risk areas. >> i mean, in terms of resources, mike brooks, new york has tremendous, you know, agencies, counterterrorism, police force, but people always flock to places like times square, so as a law enforcement analyst, what do you do, what's the takeaway? >> i tell you, new york is very, very proactive, as is washington, d.c. and other major cities, when it comes to the use of video surveillance. you can walk down to times square right now and i know you've seen them, brooke, the signs up there, basically, you are under surveillance. in midtown manhattan in, like, a four or five-square block area

in midtown, there are over 300 cameras, both run by the city and also private, you know, every single building in midtown manhattan, in lower manhattan, they all have video surveillance. so, if you think you're not being watched and you're walking around the streets, the bottom line is, when you're on the streets of new york city, you have no expectation of privacy, period. you know what, i don't have a problem with that. >> yeah, i know some people say big brother, but, you know, it certainly helps when you have nut jobs out there trying to blow up places like times square. >> you got that right. >> mike brooks, thank you. jason carroll, my thanks to you, as well, here. i want to switch gears to our next big story. major developments when it comes to syria. a civil war that has now claimed the lives of some 70,000 people just got a whole lot more dangerous. this is what the world has long been fearing, the u.s. says it now has evidence that the syrian government has, in fact, used

chemical weapons against its own people. >> the u.s. intelligence community assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in syria, specifically the chemical agent seran. >> seran gas, it's a deadly nerve agent now apparently being used to fight a rebellion uprising. this video here purporting to show the aftermath of one of those attacks. president obama has said in the past the use of chemical weapons or even the transit of chemical weapons would be crossing a so-called red line. >> i think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed. now i hope the administration will consider what we have been recommending now for over two years of this bloody massacre, that is to provide a safe area

for the opposition to operate, to establish a no-fly zone, and provide weapons to the people in the resistance who we trust. >> i want to broaden out this conversation here on this reporting on chemical weaponry being used with hala, also former cia operative bob bayer. hala, i want to begin with you, you're familiar with the region, but what are you learning as far as what these chemical weapons were, also using the phrase here based upon physiological samples. do we even know what that means? >> well, we know that, essentially, the intelligence community in the united states is saying that they believe with a reasonable degree of confidence that chemical weapons were used on the small scale. it's important to note that this is a small scale situation, that the intelligence community is saying that they have been able

to gather evidence about. what does this mean politically for the united states, because remember, why is this significant? this is the first time the u.s. is coming out and saying this, and it's significant because president obama has said in the past that the use of chemical weapons, the transfer of chemical weapons, would be, quote, a game changer as far as the u.s.'s approach to the syrian civil war, but what does this mean, because we don't know in what way the game will change. does this mean intervention? not many people are saying this right now. does this mean more support for the rebels? does this mean more of a military presence in countries such as jordan in order to secure the stockpiles if the assad regime falls? those are open questions, and right now we need to wait for the administration to make it clearer what exactly the different approach might be or might become now that they have come out with this assessment. it's not proof, it's an

assessment that the regime has used these weapons, brooke. >> bob, it's understandable given the history with iraq that the administration is being very, very cautious. >> it's, you know, hala was absolutely right. syria is a mess. there is no obvious solution to this. the cities are being held by al qaeda-connected groups, many of them large parts of these cities. the stocks of chemical weapons, i know that we've identified 12 places but, in fact, they could have been dispersed. how do you get to these, how do you secure them? you can't destroy them by the air if they've been mixed, because they'll just spread. the chance of american troops getting involved in syria are zero to none. it's too complicated. the administration is truly in a mind and this is why hala is absolutely right, what do you do next? and i think we're all hoping that this wouldn't have happened, they would have used these weapons, and i think

what's going on is the bashar al-assad is testing the will of the international community by using small, you know, not much of the chemicals. if we don't react now, the chances are he would go ahead with a full-fledged attack. >> that sort of jives with christiane amanpour was telling wolf blitzer earlier today, maybe this is sort of in the smaller, smaller attacks maybe gauging international community reaction. but let me just back up a step, bob, because tell me just what exactly is sarin gas, if you're exposed, what does it do to the body? >> it's a binary agent within a very large radius, like a small tactical nuclear weapon, it's lethal, absolutely lethal. there are no anecdotes to it. it's a horrible death. it's unmistakable, you know, chemists will tell you it's

interrupter and you can't survive it. so, in other words, if he dropped one of these, bashar al-assad, on a part of damascus or aleppo, it would kill tens of thousands of people if he dropped a .122-millimeter shell. >> that is incredibly frightening. bob baer, thank you so much for your perspective. hala, thank you to you, as well. coming up, police said there was a shootout when the boston bombing suspect was hiding in a boat in the backyard in watertown, well, today we learned something completely different. that new detail coming up. plus, history in the making today when presidents and first ladies stand together and shed a couple of tears for a former commander in chief. stay with me. , this is my weeke weekend getaways just got better. well, enjoy your round! alright, thanks! save a ton on our best available rate when you book early and feel the hamptonality.

we are coming out to some live pictures here. this is waco, texas. there will be a memorial. the president will be speaking a little later this afternoon. you see the coffins, the 14 victims of the fertilizer plant explosion last wednesday night. not too far away in west, texas, of those 14 victims, ten of them were first responders. we're going to get you to a little bit more on that memorial service there in waco, texas, in just a moment. but first, more news on two shocking revelations today. as we told you earlier, boston

bombing suspects reportedly had plans to attack new york city. sources tell cnn that dzhokhar tsarnaev indicated to investigators that he intended to detonate their leftover explosives in new york's times square. earlier, he told investigators he was going to new york to party. plus this, that final shootout may not have been a shootout at all. i want to replay just this final moments just before the capture of dzhokhar tsarnaev inside that boat, holed up in that person's yard when the lockdown just finished. this was in watertown last week. listen with me. the following day we heard more on the gunfire from watertown's

chief of police. >> there was gunfire in the area, we exchanged gunfire with some of the officers and then secured the scene and there was no more gunfire after that. >> what kind of weapon did he have? >> we're not sure. >> now cnn has learned dzhokhar tsarnaev apparently was unarmed in that final stand. two investigators now telling us no weapons were found inside this boat. the criminal complaint itself uses the term "standoff involving gunfire," and finally this, a republican senator is pointing fingers at president obama's administration for what happened here in boston. >> boston is becoming to me a case study in system failure. between benghazi and boston, our systems are failing and we're going backwards. we need to understand that bin laden may be dead, but the war against radical islam is very

much alive. radical islam is on the march, and we need to up our game. >> senator lindsey graham there speaking alongside senator mccain. also this, the suspect's parents held an emotional news conference today. we're going to get that in about 50 minutes from now, so stay right with me in boston. but that brings one of the rare occasions when all of the surviving members of the most exclusive club in america gathered to honor one of their own. let me take you back to texas for this one. take a look at this picture with me, you see all of them, barack obama, george w. bush, bill clinton, george h.w. bush, and jimmy carter all gathered this morning in dallas, all five living u.s. presidents in one place for the first time in more than four years. also together today, the women who stood by their sides as they led the nation, the five, there they are, first ladies.

the occasion, the dedication of george w. bush's presidential library there at smu, southern methodist university in dallas, texas. outside, the presidents and their wives. inside, pieces of history from some of the most important and memorable events of this young century from the disputed 2000 presidential election, to hurricane katrina, to the 2007 financial crisis. there is also a twisted metal beam from the 83rd floor of the world trade center tower. this is the spot where one of the planes slammed the tower on september 11th. that's the twisted metal. i want to show you now the bull horn. remember this, the bull horn president bush used to rally workers on september 14th, just a couple of days after that tuesday, and then the gun. the gun saddam hussein had with him when he was pulled from a

spider hole in iraq back in 2003. if you watch with us here on cnn, there were definitely some tears, some touching moments at today's ceremony when an obviously frail elder president bush stood as the crowd gave him a standing ovation. >> i'm very grateful. [ applause ] >> the hugs between george w. bush and bill clinton and bush and president obama and -- i mentioned tears, president bush wiping away a tear after an emotional ending to his speech this morning. but right now i want to focus on the words of the five men who have led this nation in good times and in bad. watch this. >> mr. president, let me say that i'm filled with admiration for you and deep gratitude for you about the great contributions you've made to the most needy people on earth.

>> it's a great pleasure to be here to honor our son, our oldest son, and this is very special for barbara and me. >> starting with my work with president george h.w. bush on the tsunami and the aftermath of katrina, people began to joke that i was getting so close to the bush family i had become the black sheep son. my mother told me not to talk too long today, and barbara, i will not let you down. >> what president clinton said is absolutely true, to know the man is to like the man, because he's comfortable in his own skin. he knows who he is, he doesn't put on any pretenses, he takes his job seriously, but he doesn't take himself too seriously. he is a good man. >> the political winds blow left and right, poles rise and fall. supporters come and go.

but in the end, leaders are defined by the convictions they hold, and my deepest conviction, the guiding principle of the administration, is that the united states of america must strive to expand the reach of freedom. >> and there you have it, the honoree this morning. quickly here, i want to take you to waco, here you have the president and the first lady as part of the memorial to honor the 14 lives lost and so many injuries after the fertilizer explosion in west, texas. we saw president obama this morning in dallas, he is now in waco, texas, for that memorial. we'll take you back there in a moment. but let me take you back to dallas. you can't help but wonder, and many people talking about another bush today, jeb bush, might we see a third bush presidential library eventually, the jeb bush library, because i

bring this up, last night george w. bush told cnn his brother would be a great candidate, a great president and said jeb bush should run. here's the caveat, his mom, barbara bush, has another take. i want you to listen to what she said this morning on the "today" show. >> he's by far the best qualified man, but no. i really don't. i think it's a great country, there are a lot of great families, and it's not just four families or whatever, there are other people out there that are very qualified. we've had enough bushes. >> have you expressed that to him? >> enough bushes, she says. washington post columnist and author sally quinn has been in the nation's capitol a long time. welcome, nice to have you on. in watching today, we saw a lot of the dynamics of how these men relate, all these presidents, doesn't always match up with the

rhetoric, though, as we see playing out on the campaign season, does it? >> no, but you know, i think that people genuinely like george w. bush. i think barack obama said it very well when he said he's comfortable in his own skin. he always was. he's a regular guy, and he has no spin, no agenda. and he does have his convictions, and he sticks to his convictions. and i think, you know, some of the great moments in his presidency were 9/11 with the bull horn standing out there and sort of rallying people. i think that was hugely important for the country, for the morale. i think his work on aids has been extraordinary. he did a lot of good things, you know, and i think balance that out with some of the more controversial things like the war in iraq and we all remember colin powell saying if you own

it -- if you break it, you own it. and i think that a lot of bush watchers would say that he may have relied too heavily on the advice of dick cheney and don rumsfeld, who were not his father's favorites and didn't take the advice from his father that he should have. and i think if you want to criticize him, that's the one area that, you know, i think people really wish that he had listened more to his father, particularly when it came to iraq, foreign policy, his father's adviser, brent scokroft, and afghanistan, as well. >> all those moments you go through, sounds like there's bits and pieces, fragments in dallas for the public to see. sally quinn, thank you so much for joining me. coming up next, the boston bombing suspect had another city on their list. as we have learned just in the last hour officially, new york and specially times square. much more on that. new details we're learning today next. [ engine sputtering ]

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it is the red line that could mean boots on the ground in syria. today u.s. officials saying there is evidence the syrian government has used sarin gas as a chemical weapon on its own people. >> i think there was that caveat in the letter, which i think is important, and i'm sorry to say may give them an out for not acting in a decisive fashion, because if they all agreed and they concluded it, then the president would have to act, because he has repeatedly described it as a red line that cannot be crossed. >> with me now is christiane amanpour, our chief international correspondent, and fareed zakaria.

welcome to both of you. christiane, i want to begin with you, yesterday you spoke to the leader of the free syrian army. tell me what he told you as far as evidence and usage of this deadly chemical gas. >> brooke, exactly, i did talk to him yesterday and today and he's in syria right now looking to bring out more proof. basically what he told me is that in april, march, and earlier about three to four times he has evidence, he says, and his forces do, of chemical weapons having been used in alep aleppo, in homs, in damascus and they took blood samples and soil samples and he wants to bring those out, you know, to present them to the world. already, as we know, the israelis have talked about it, the british and the french, also today, the uk put out a statement saying that they have evidence that this is happened and that, of course, it would be

a war crime. so, these bits of proof are coming out from the syrian side, from the opposition side. the administration has, as you know, reported this letter, sent it to congress talking about varying degrees of confidence that the assad regime has used chemical weapons but their red line would come into effect, would kick in, when they have full corroborated proof. >> you bring up this letter sent to members of congress, let me read part of this intelligence letter. quote, this assessment is based in part on physiological samples. our analysts must build on this evidence as we seek to establish credible and corroborated facts. they are being very, very careful, clearly, fareed, but how do they corroborate this evidence, and would this just be

being extra cautious, or is this stalling? >> no, i think you have to be careful here. this is a very serious charge. the use of weapons of mass destruction is a very big deal, so, naturally, the administration is trying to figure out whether or not this happened. the way you corroborate this is eyewitness acts, you have victims you can test, you have physiological evidence. you try to get as many eyewitnesss as you can. ideally, of course, you would find some captured soldier from the syrian army who would tell you what happened, but it's very serious stuff, and the administration is properly proceeding with some degree of caution just to establish exactly what happened. what this tells us, brooke, is that the regime may be more desperate than we realize. it also might tell us that they are being more foolish. they have been able to stave off international involvement, in part by not crossing this red line, and the fact they are

crossing it might suggest a degree of chaos, disorganization, and desperation. >> fareed zakaria and christiane amanpour on this new intelligence, usage of sarin gas, chemical weapons in syria. thanks to both of you. as we told you earlier, officials say the boston bombing suspects had planned to attack new york city. and the surviving suspect here told investigators that he and his brother had plans to detonate the remaining bombs, all six of them, in times square. mary snowe, i want to go straight to you in times square, what more do officials and investigators know about this plot? >> reporter: well, brooke, what new york city officials are saying is they were told about this by the fbi last night and they were told that the plan was to drive to new york city after the suspect carjacked that car last thursday night, drive to

new york, to times square, and detonate explosives. but the police commissioner made it very clear, this was something that he said, in his words, was a spontaneous plan, that apparently the suspect had talked about in that car and that they had then carrying six improvised explosive devices, one being a pressure cooker similar to the two that were used in boston, and five pipe bombs. there were no specifics about the exact target here in new york city and times square. it was pretty vague, but they were told this information last night as part of this ongoing investigation. >> let me back up, mary, and ask you how this falls in the timeline, because we know according to investigators these two had carjacked someone, right, and it was the car that was low on gas, thank goodness, but that individual, they were speaking some language foreign to this person who was carjacked, he just kept hearing

the word manhattan, ray kelly mentioning something like they wanted to go up and party in new york, and now we have this news that they had planned to use these explosives. >> reporter: right. that was the information that the new york city police commissioner was talking about yesterday, there was some indications that dzhokhar tsarnaev was talking about something about a party in new york city, and the way the police commissioner described this is that there were two rounds of interrogation. in terms of the timeline, he said the first interview was between saturday evening and sunday morning. and according to the police commissioner, that is when the suspect had talked about partying in new york or something to that effect. now, in the second questioning, the commissioner said took place between sunday evening and monday morning and he said he was told that the suspect at that time was a lot more lucid during that interrogation and gave more detailed information. and it was during that second

period of questioning, according to the commissioner, is when this information was relayed about coming to times square. >> mary snow, thank you. more here on the boston bombing, the investigation, and also the parents here. coming up next, first she said they were set up, now, she says, this whole bombing in boston was a hoax. the mother of the boston bombing suspects talked to cnn, and let me tell you, she's not holding back. mited time! it's our seafood dinner for two for just 25 dollars! a handcrafted seafood feast made to share. first you each get salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. then choose two from a wide variety of chef-inspired entrées like our new honey garlic crispy shrimp or new seafood lover's linguini. round out your seafood dinner with your choice of either an appetizer or dessert to share! don't miss our seafood dinner for two, just $25 at red lobster, where we sea food differently.

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withyou'll find reviewsve time, on home repair to healthcareon. written by people just like you. you want to be sure the money you're about to spend is money well spent. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. ...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. i'm brooke baldwin live here in boston. welcome back to our special coverage. mayor michael bloomberg in new york says the boston bombing suspects also had plans to attack new york city by detonating their leftover explosives after what they are accused of doing here in boston last monday, taking them to times square. mayor bloomberg said dzhokhar tsarnaev told investigators that he and his brother discussed the plan while they were in this suv

they had allegedly hijacked after the boston bombs. meanwhile, the suspects' father is headed for the united states to cooperate in this investigation, but the suspects' mother, she believes what happened here in boston is fake. she thinks it's a hoax, the red paint splattered on the sidewalk was just red paint, wasn't blood. i know. the mother got emotional today and lashed out at america. >> i'm, like, sure that my kids were not involved in anything. yes -- not to live in america now. why did i even go there? why? i thought america was going to protect us, our kids were going to be safe. for any reason, it happened.

my kids, america took my kids away from me. only america. >> i want to bring in our correspondent, nick paton walsh, who is in dagestan. and nick, we have seen this mother sitting with you. it is a bizarre interview. it's an emotional interview here before she talked at today's news conference. what did you make of it? >> reporter: well, interesting facts she gave away, she said the fbi came to see tamerlan tsarnaev in 2011 because they were worried he was going on a radical islamic path and the family had their eyes open to a more devout islam by a family friend who adopted the islamic faith, but interestingly we got an impression of a woman trying to reconcile her own almost angelic impression of both of her sons as devout muslims, great children of hers, with what she's repeatedly hearing

from u.s. officials by the media that they are behind the boston bombings. and that confusion and the huge trauma she's going through may explain the statement you're about to hear. >> i saw a very, very interesting video last night that they might have found something like a really big place, there is like paint instead of blood. like it is made up something. >> reporter: do you really believe that? i know it's hard for you to believe what the american officials are saying, but you believe the whole thing was a show? why would it be a show? >> that's what i want to know, because everybody's talking about it, that this is a show. >> reporter: now, this is clearly her major problem here, trying to come to terms with

what she's hearing, with all the conspiratorial websites out there offering different versions that are certainly easier to believe. i remember two nights ago she was confronted with the belief of mistaken identity had caused people to say tamerlan tsarnaev was involved. she thought he hadn't been killed and later that night did she see the picture of his corpse and now accepts that he's dead, but now trying to work out how that might have happened. deeply traumatized by what's gone on and a degree of defiance in she doesn't think the u.s. officials have a case here that can hold up. brooke? >> honestly, nick, she just seems like a mother in shock. did you get that? >> reporter: absolutely. i mean, she said, you know, what's happened to her has made her feel like she's died inside, deeply traumatized by all of this and trying to explain in her mind a family that was of pure intent. odd in some way, because she recounts how the fbi came to

visit her son and considered him to be an islamic radicalist worthy of observation. >> and we lost him. nick paton walsh giving a little bit of color and background, talking about a stunned, shocked mother of these two boston bombing suspects. coming up next, one of the victims here from the boston bombings held a news conference that's a really unique look here live from a wonderful hospital here in boston, brigham & women's. we'll play a snippet of that. what she revealed is inspiring. stick around for this. humans. even when we cross our "t"s and dot our "i"s, we still run into problems -- mainly other humans. at liberty mutual insurance, we understand. that's why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates won't go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where if you total

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so many stories of survival here in boston. boston bombing victim heather abbott is speaking out about the day that changed her life forever. heather and her friends have a tradition, they go to the boston red sox game on patriots day each year, happens late morning, then they go on to a bar where one of their friends works. >> when we got there, we were standing in line outside waiting to get in. the bouncer was checking peoples' i.d.s and i was the last of the three of us in line. and as we were standing there, 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, something i'd seen on tv. and it just all happened so quickly that 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, and i was thinking, who's going to help me? everybody else is running for their lives. and to my surprise, from what i'm learning now, kind of just learning how i was sort of rescued out of there, there were two women and two men involved in helping me get out of the bar

and into an ambulance. the first woman, i believe, was someone from the joe andruzzi foundation. she had initially seen me and got me -- drag me and then a gentleman who i later learned was matt chatham helped me. and helped me outside. they wouldn't leave my side until, you know, they knew i was safe in the ambulance. >> so many people here in boston on boyleston street helped by total strangers. some of those in the hospital like heather got a surprise visit from the first lady michelle obama.

>> when i met michelle obama it was relatively brief. i was under the influence of a lot of medication. i wish i remembered it better. however, she came in. she was very nice. she told me, you know, she was sorry about the injury, you know, talked to me, my family, and friends for a little bit who kind of gathered around the bed to hear her as well. >> heather says she thought she might be absolutely devastated about losing a leg at the age of 38. the support she has received has uplifted her instead. elizabeth coen i know you were here all last week in boston at so many of the hospitals and listening to the doctors talking about, you know, some of these victims were rushed into these hospitals and said, do what you need to do. if that means minus a leg, minus an arm i just want to live. what was heather's story? >> right. heather's story is she was actually given a choice. she was given a choice. hey, do you want your leg amputated below the knee or do

you want to keep that lower leg and your foot? and it seems like a difficult decision in many ways but doctors tell us that really it isn't. the reason why is that doctors kind of steer patients toward amputation, that keeping the foot, yeah, you're keeping your foot but it's mangled. you aren't going to walk very well. you'll cause hip problems, have a lot of pain. so after talking to doctors she decided to amputate because she didn't just talk to doctors. she told us in the press conference she spoke to other people, accident victims, for example, who did keep the leg and who regretted it, said they were in pain. >> incredible. elizabeth cohen, thank you so much. and we're here in boston getting new information including new information on how exactly these two suspects detonated the bomb a week ago monday just a block away from me on boyleston street. deborah feyerick has that information and will share it on the other side of the quick break. c

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lots of questions here in this investigation. the biggest question obviously why. why did the two suspects do this to the people here in boston? getting new information on specifically this device they used and how they detonated this device, let me go to deborah feyerick standing by at one of the hospitals in boston. what are you learning? >> reporter: we're learning that according to federal law enforcement officials that apparently they did detonate at least one of the devices by remote control and this really syncs up with what we were told by a member of the house intelligence committee and that is a device similar to almost a toy car remote control was used to detonate the second device, that is the device set off by the man in the white hat.

he is still here at the hospital. we are told his condition has been updated and he is now breathing on his own. he is no longer intubated. everything is making progress in terms of how the device was detonated and also his condition. >> deb feyerick, thank you. security cameras helped identify these boston bombing suspects as you know and they are becoming increasingly effective as a tool for police. >> reporter: hard to believe these eyes in the sky play such a vital role in protecting us from harm. >> we are releasing photos of the two suspects. >> the industry felt our work was worth while after those photographs were released identifying the suspects. >> reporter: a victory yes but one that comes with a price tag. >> a family such as this with a decent megapixel count today is probably about a $3,000 investment. >> this particular camera you're watching me through cost about

$1500. it's installed about 150 feet from where i'm standing but if you zoom in you really can't see that much detail. this camera on the other hand same distance but a lot clearer. it is also double the cost. it costs about $3,000 to be installed on just one street corner. video surveillance in the u.s. is a $10 billion business. that number soared in the years after 9/11 which saw 30 million new cameras added to the streets. >> the tragedies have an impact on our industry. we are very concerned. we don't want to be perceived as opportunistic. >> from real ones to dummies to the inconspicuous to those monitored by humans millions of cameras watch over the u.s. as part of the roughly $60 billion spent annually on domestic security. but can we afford it? >> this is definitely a time of fiscal austerity. >> reporter: and how much should cost be a factor in public safety? in london the suspects behind

the subway bombings in 2005 were identified by name in just a few days. that's because the city has roughly one camera for every 14 people. a total of half a million. in new york city there are only 3,000 to 6,000. the urban institute, a nonpartisan think tank, says that for every dollar invested in surveillance cameras in chicago it saves the city about $4 in other possible costs. >> those are costs associated with crimes that didn't happen, costs to the court, costs to incarcerate people. >> reporter: but the costs of installing surveillance cameras doesn't fall on government alone. the boston bombing suspects were caught using footage from private stores like lord & taylor and images from ordinary citizens. evidence we all share responsibility to keep our streets safe. zain asher, cnn, new york.

chemical weapons are said to have been used in syria, so what now? i'm jake tapper and this is "the lead." sarin gas has the power to wipe out thousands in a single day. now u.s. intelligence claims it may have been used on a small scale in syria. has the red line drawn by president obama been crossed? a second target. new york's mayor says the surviving boston terrorist suspect is spilling details about plans to kill more people in the heart of manhattan. this hour president obama will be con soelg a small texas town devastated by a massive explosion. we'll bring you his remarks, live. before we bring you the latest here in boston we have developing news on the war in syria. has the game changing moment for the u.s. arrived? defense secretary chuck