DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: The new charges are federal – the use and attempt to use weapons of mass destruction, bombing a public place, destruction of property by means of explosives and using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.
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Rahami was captured after the owner of a bar in Linden, New Jersey, found him sleeping in the doorway of his bar Monday morning.
The suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, bought bomb components on eBay, made a video of himself testing out homemade explosives, and kept a journal expressing outrage at the US “slaughter” of mujahideen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, federal officials allege.
Rahami is now in NJ, after being charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer for shooting a Linden cop during a manhunt.
“The FBI conducted internal database reviews, interagency checks, and multiple interviews, none of which revealed ties to terrorism”, it added.
The notebook, found on Rahami after he was captured on Monday, also included entries referencing jihad, pipe bombs, pressure cookers, and shooting police officers. Authorities are investigating the stabbings as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings. More charges were expected to be brought against Rahami in federal court. But when they opened it, they saw wires connected to what turned out to be five pipe bombs.
“It does appear this was an act of terrorism”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during a press briefing in New York City.
He has yet to be interrogated, after undergoing surgery and being treated in “critical but stable” condition, NY police chief James O’Neill said.
The court papers offer a detailed account of what investigators believe Ahmad Rahami was doing in the days and hours leading up to the bombings, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues. And the cell phones used in the devices, the complaint says, were bought at the same store in New Jersey, and they were also shipped to where Rahami worked.
Journal entries from the bloodied book showed his disdain for the USA government and included references to Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Muslim cleric who was killed in a 2011 drone strike, the Boston Marathon bombings, the 2009 Fort Hood shootings in Texas and Osama bin Laden. His bail has been set at $5.2 million.
The blasts came two years after the Federal Bureau of Investigation looked into him but found nothing tying him to terrorism.
According to Fox News, Maria (not her real name) was Rahami’s “high school sweetheart” and the two have a daughter. One of the officials, who specializes in counter-terrorism, said the “secondary” screening included asking Rahami where he had gone and for what objective.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara gave few details on Monday about Rahami’s inevitable legal drama.
Federal investigators were probing Rahami’s history of travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and looking for any evidence that he may have picked up radical views or trained in bomb-making on those trips.
The criminal complaint alleges that Rahami left copious fingerprints on one of two bombs in Manhattan, on 27th Street, as well as on materials in the backpack containing the Elizabeth bombs.
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Summit’s vice president of security services, Daniel Sepulveda, said Rahami last worked for the company in 2011.
