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NOW LIVE ON WhoWhatWhy The Latest from the Boston Bombing Trial: Our News Feed by the WhoWhatWhy Team The first part of jury selection is finished in the trial of accused Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Read on for Editor-in-Chief Russ Baker’s commentary and analysis from his trip to Boston, as well as for courtroom updates from reporter […]
The evidence suggests the FBI went to extraordinary lengths to set up one of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s best friends, to ensure his help in convicting the accused Boston Marathon bomber. Stephen Silva, who testified against Tsarnaev, was released on December 22, 2015, and is now a free man after being sentenced to time served:17 months. Had he not agreed to testify for the prosecution, he would have faced a maximum of 40 years for selling heroin — something the FBI manipulated him into doing.
Is accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s right to a fair trial being eroded by the litany of leaks around the case? WhoWhatWhy takes a look.
Traditional news outlets have all but abdicated their duty to ask the hard questions. Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen is a case in point – he’s on a first-name basis with the police involved in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s capture. Klaus Marre looks at what’s missing from the mainstream press at Tsarnaev’s trial.
FBI documents reveal that Ibragim Todashev was involved in a 2012 FBI investigation that parallels the Bureau’s investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. What was the true nature of the FBI’s relationship with Tsarnaev and his dead friend?
Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense is trying to get his death penalty trial moved again. This time, they’ve asked an appeals court to overrule the presiding judge’s obstinate objections to taking the trial out of Boston. Lara Turner explains.
Several mainstream media reporters in Boston admitted that they don’t see the need to use the word “alleged” when talking about Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The trial is merely a formality, and so are journalistic ethics, apparently. Lara Turner examines the shocking admission.
Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers are again trying to get his looming trial moved out of Boston. Despite a stream of potentially prejudicial publicity and polls showing the majority of Bostonians think he’s guilty, there’s little chance the judge will agree.
It’s been five years since the Boston Marathon bombing. Nevertheless, the federal government continues to withhold most of its official records about the primary perpetrator of that heinous attack.
The watchdogs tasked with overseeing the federal government are pushing back against a growing defiance from agencies like the FBI. The agencies’ subtle and not-so- subtle obstruction sheds light on why attempts to fix responsibility for “intelligence failures” — like the probe into the lead-up to the Boston Marathon bombing — typically amount to a whole lot of nothing.
We keep on learning more and more about the US government’s awareness of terrorist plots before they happened. Here’s testimony that the FBI had a guy in Osama bin Laden’s inner circle.
Headlines—Greenwald explains how Ed Snowden got to him; the ugly truth about Dallas’s paper on 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination; establishment to fact-check establishment pundits; Patriot Act Author now hates his handiwork; new movie fiction on Boston bombing; permanent climate change mid-century; some blunt talk about failed drug policy