Mind of ahmad rahami. A source telling cnn the suspected attacker wrote about the boston bombers and an americanborn al qaeda mastermind. His terror ramblings found in a notebook after his shootout with police. Investigators now believe he was inspired by other terrorists but questions remain about whether he was, in fact, acting alone. Another big question here why did the bombers wife up and leave the United States days before these attacks . Officials telling cnn this pakistani woman who he married while they were overseas back in 2011, skipped the country three days before the bombs went off. So we have that. Pamela brown has been working this for us. Shes our cnn justice correspondent. Lets begin with this note on the father, the fact hed been in jail. What more do we know about that . Right. So we have learned today in speaking to Law Enforcement officials that the father of ahmad was questioned by the fbi in 2014 after this domestic dispute. Ahmad had been arrested for stabbing his brother in the leg and Unlawful Possession of a weapon. He was put in jail and apparently at this time a neighbor heard the father saying his son was a terrorist. The neighbor alerted authorities about this and the fbi interviewed the dad and were told by officials that during the interview the dad down played concern about his son and the fbi apparently determined that this wasnt anything more than a domestic dispute and ahmad was not placed in any terror watch list. Whats interesting is were told ahmad was never interviewed at this time in 2014. He was in jail, a grand jury decided not to indict. But this apparently happened, brooke, this domestic dispute, shortly after he returned to the United States from pakistan. He spent a year in pakistan, 2013 to 2014. Before that he was there in 2011 where he married his wife and so, of course, all of this raises questions. But were told he went through secondary screening when he returned to the u. S. And he didnt raise any red flags. He said he was visiting his family. Also we know he is still in that hospital in new jersey. Hes being treated. We know he faces five counts of attempted murder of police. Is he cooperating . So at last check and, of course, you know how these things go, brooke, it can change any minute but at last check initially he was not cooperating, he had not been mirandized as of this morning and so what authorities could do is exercise the National Security exception, the Public Safety exception, which happened in the boston bombing as well with the dzohkhar czar nitsarna the hospital. Whats tricky is the medical side of things because he went into surgery after being shot. He could be on medication which is could amounter his mind so theres a lot of factors at play here but authorities hope to learn more about his motivations, they have some clues in that notebook that was on him that they were able to get after he was captured in the shootout where he talked about anwar al awlaki, the al qaeda cleric, he talked about the boston bombers but they want to hear more from him and find out, brooke, whether anyone else could have beeninvolved. Theyre not ruling that possibility out although theyre not looking for anyone specifically, as we heard yesterday. The beginnings of some of the pieces are starting to come together. Pamela brown, thank you for that on the investigation but also just on this 28yearold, his character, what he was like in high school, the suspect here. He is a naturalized citizen, he was born in afghanistan, came over when he was a little boy and is a naturalized u. S. Citizen. He attended high school in elizabeth new jersey. My next guest attended that same high school with ahmad rahami and he joins us now, hes a radio host now with 98. 9 the buzz. Chris, when is the last time you would have talked to him . Actually, in high school. The difference in what you just said and what happened was we went to Edison High School together in edison, new jersey. I was a sophomore and partial junior with him. The last time i remember him was just the casual encounter. It was either in gym class or the cafeteria or shoulders in the hallway, nothing stuck out about ahmad in high school. If nothing stuck out, do you remember . I think i read he was a class clown. Tell me about what he was like . Sure, i know that he i remember he dressed well, designer clothes and stuff like that, he wasnt the center of attention to where he was, the captain of the Football Team or the prom king but when he spoke to him and when he did respond if you were outside of a group of friends it was funny. He didnt talk much but when he did it was something clever to say, whether were talking about sports or the music at the time. Its a weird thing to happen. Its interesting you note his dress, was he a jeans and tshirt kid in high school . He more of like athletic wear, air jordans, Nike Air Force ones. He would wear the designer i didnt think of the actual phrase, but the swishy pants of the adidas snapoff, stuff like that. A little bit of jewelry and stuff but nothing too flashy or out of the ordinary as far as a High School Kid in the 90s. Did he have girl friends . The only girlfriend that i recall is the girlfriend that everybody has been speaking out, maria, and only because the relationship wasnt prominent in the gossip of high school, it wasnt announced or anything like that but she did become pregnant before high school ended. There was a graph on a piece in the New York Times this morning talking about how the father was very upset with him for having this girlfriend and, you know, the fact that she got pregnant, though i would imagine did you ever meet the father . Would you have known anything about him . I dont recall meeting the father. When he worked at the Grocery Store in edison new jersey, i would see him behind the counter and give a nod, knowing were both classmates but other than that outside of school not very much. Chris, was he religious . Would he talk about islam . He would not, no. He was, like i said, sports, music. He did his work, he wasnt an abovethetop student but he didnt fail out of english. Somewhere in the middle of cl s class. What about postgraduation . The only rumor that came up was that he had to go back to afghanistan if i flipped through a yearbook, thats what stuck out. We had to go back to afghanistan. And the details beyond that im unsure. And the note that i read about ten Year High School reunion and invitation being extended or someone was searching for him, tell me about that. A friend of mine, who i spoke to immediately after seeing his picture on the news, she brought up the details of the fact that when the High School Reunion invocati invitation came out she was going through the list of people and she was home and going on facebook to see what these people were up to, landed on ahmad and at the time he didnt have a facebook or at least a discoverable facebook account that existed and then, before all this happened, she thought who doesnt have a facebook . But now maybe it makes sense. Chris konya, thank you so much for a little bit more of the bits and pieces of who is this person. Thank you so much. I want to bring in harry houck and james gag llliano, fbi spec assistant to the assistant director in charge. Nice to see both of you. Did anything strike as he was describing high school, character, dressed well, anything . Were hearing a lot of this. Apparently he was a normal kid in school, basically and somehow apparently those trips that he made to afghanistan and pakistan changed him. Definitely changed him to the point where he came back and committed this type of attack. Im sure you see this stuff all the time working with the fbi. How do we get to the point where well be able to identify them when they come back that theyre radical . I know the father called the police about him but that was a domestic dispute. What is the fbi going to do there. Thats my followup and let me ask you that from an fbi perspective. Pamela reported it. Hes in jail doer, domestic dis stabs a relative and also some issue with an unlawful weapons possession charge but beyond that the fbi didnt question him, father calls him a terrorist at one point, allegedly, but, i mean what is the proper role of the fbi here . You have to understand that Law Enforcement works in concert with each other now much better post9 11. So youve got a 36,000 Member Police force, the fbi has 1200 agents in new york city, a number of federal and state Police Departments and Law Enforcement agencies working together. This is a complex puzzle. I heard the police say that sometimes the investigation doesnt begin until after the first arrest. Now youll piece together the pieces of the puzzle. He travelled in an area in pakistan that is rife with taliban. Yes hes been to afghanistan. Those in and of himself arent incriminating. Absolutely. You cant go to somebody and say now well detain you because of those things. You put those investigative clues together, they paint a picture and you look at that and that brings you to the gentleman. But the word i keep reading from Law Enforcement is ghost. Hes a ghost. Right. Even the High School Friend saying no facebook. He has virtually no trace online. And the way the high school compadre of his described his dress, the way he appeared to be assimilated, that makes it everybody more difficult. Were also getting new details from the New York Times on the devices themselves. Apparently most are all used the old school flip phones. Christmas tree style lights used as initiators and then this substance, hmtd, the explosive compound served as detonators. That was the same thing used in the 05 london bombings. What do you make of that . Every bomb maker has their own specific signature. The type of bombs that were hearing of the 10, the two that detonated and the eight that didnt, these were rudimentary devices. The Pressure Cooker pipe bombs, not sophisticated devices. The treasure trove is the fact that we have some unexploded. They can build out where the parts came from and what style he used. I think its strange he used pipe bombs in new jersey. Right. And Pressure Cookers in new york. That seems a little strange to me. Not being consistent. Not being consistent. And im really concerned about his actions. When did he come down to jersey and place that bomb . How did he get there. How did he get there . Was there anybody with him . Did he make stops . Did he rent a car . Did he take a train . I mean what could the wife have potentially known. Yeah, the wife, you know shes not only that, what about that car stop by the feds on sunday night at 9 30. Nearby the verrazano bridge. It looks like they were heading towards the airport. We didnt know who he was until the next morning when the alert came up. Even on my cell phone that alert came up. Same. But they were headed 9 35 towards the airport. Now and the fbi was on them, apparently, so they had stopped them. So how could they have known their brother was involved in something if the word hadnt gone out until the next morning. Unless the fbi contacted somebody and there was a phone call placed for them to get out of dodge. And im sure when the fbi stopped them they interviewed them and released them but apparently their stories jibe sod thats why they were released . Harry and james, thank you so much for now. New backlash also against one of Donald Trumps own sons for comparing Syrian Refugees to candy. Skittles to be specific. A reality check on that next. Plus, wrap your head around this. A kennedy is now saying president george h. W. Bush, a former republican president , father of a former republican president , will vote for Hillary Clinton. And theyre perhaps the most famous couple in the world, but the news today Angelina Jolie filing from divorce from brad pitt. What do we know . How about the why . We have that ahead. You know your heart loves megared omega3s. But did you know your eyes, your brain, and your joints really love them too . Introducing megared advanced 4in1. Just one softgel delivers the omega3 power of two regular fish oil pills. 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If your uc or crohns medication isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. That can camp out in between our teeth, if well let it. Use gum® brand. Softpicks®. Proxabrush® cleaners. Flossers and dental floss. Gum® brand. Welcome back. Youre watching cnn, im brooke baldwin. Donald trump, jr. , facing more backlash after an analogy regarding Syrian Refugees and the candy skittles. He retweeted this photo of the rainbowcolored candy and then you had the caption. If i had a bowl of skittles and i told you just fly would kill you, would you take a handful . He says that is our syrian refugee problem. This image says it all. Lets end the politically correct agenda that doesnt put america first. Lots and lots of uproar over this, including even from skittles parent company, the mars corporation, this is the tweet from mars. Skittles are candy, refugees are people, it is an inappropriate analogy. We respectfully refrain from further comment as that could be misinterpreted as marketing. Joining me now, phillip blum with the washington post. He reality checked trump jr. s tweet and is here to explain why this is so wrong. So its interesting how you took the tack of doing the math and the skittles and how its just wrong versus so many taking them to task over candy and human beings. Can you explain . You used this number, the Kato Institute number, an risk to american being killed by a refugee in a terror attack, one in 3. 64 billion. The whole thing here is scale. If i handed you a package of a carton of 12 eggs and said eight are poison, you wouldnt eat the eggs. But if you had 10 trillion eggs youd be less concerned about it. So the scale matters so i took that number from the cato institute, a libertarian organization, backed by the koch brothers, this is not a liberal organization, and they estimated 1 in 6 billion. So thats over 10 billion skittles that you would need in order to have this be a fair analogy. Thats enough skittles i did the math to fill one and a half olympic sized swimming pools. So if you imagine from the rio olympics, that pool filled with skittles and three of them are poison. So you could eat handfuls of skittles for hundreds of years, literally hundreds of years and youd never come across a poison one. Thats the real scale of the issue here and thats why trumps tweet was so misleading. So hes wrong. Yes. Hes wrong. Yes. When we talk about don jr. We were talking about what he said about the gatt chamber, we were talking recently he gave an interview in a pennsylvania paper talking about why his dad isnt releasing his tax returns and now you have to skit l analogy to human beings. Do you think perhaps he is not the best surrogate for his dad . I mean, its in a normal situation id say yes, this probably isnt a good surrogate but its very on brand for trump to say things that are a little controversial and not necessarily back down from stuff. I think the trump children have proven to be good surrogates in part because donald trump doesnt really have connections in the world in the way elected officials would who have been working with folks. We saw that at the convention. The trump kids were important surrogates so i think trump sees the value in having someone out there advocating for him. I think theyre not too worried because they will say the broader point is they are concerned about syrian immigration. We are six days, philip blum, from this first president ial debate in new york at hofstra and im talking to jeff zeleny about his intel hes getting on hick preparing. Donald trump we know has said in the past he doesnt want to do mock debate,oesnt want to appear scripted, wants to be authentic. Do we know more about what hes up to . I think theyre playing their cards close to their chest. We know he sat down with a variety of folks to get input on what he should do. I think donald trump feels as though the way he handled the debates in the republican primary was effective, that he was himself, that he didnt get too mired in policy details. The Campaign Runs the risk of misunderstanding, this is a very different type of debate, one on one which he never faced in the republican primary, its an extented period of time and there will be policy questions coming from the moderators which i dont know he is used to handling. Whether he can handle is a different issue. Im sure theyre getting him prepped on the basics but its risky to take the republican primary attitude and apply it to these debates. Thank you so much phillip blum, washington post. Appreciate it. New information back to what happened over the weekend, new York New Jersey, the bombing suspects travels overseas including pakistan and afghanistan. Cnn is live in kabul with new information about where he went and who he met. Also ahead, huge news out of hollywood today, Angelina Jolie filing for d