The only serious injuries were to the attacker himself. Let us start with the latest on the suspect and the attack. Nbc justice correspondent pete williams, Chris Jansing is on the scene in times square as well. Pete, what have the investigators learned so far about the suspect . Any idea if he had any connections, how he entered the u. S. And that kind of thing . Theres a fair amount known about his background. He came here in february of 2011 on a kind of visa that you use when youre coming here to join family members who are already in the u. S. We know he has a brother here, other family members. So, thats how he got to the u. S. And hes been here since 2011. He had a taxi drivers license from 2012 through 2015. We dont know if he actually drove a taxi or if he drove some kind of other ridesharing program, which we have to have a taxi drivers license in new york to do. But and we dont know what he was doing for a living at the time this happened. As you say, authorities are searching his apartment and also other addresses hes associated with. His brothers apartment as well. Trying to figure out where this device was built. Now, fortunately, it was a very crude pipe bomb. It did partially go off. Apparently not completely. Enough to injure him, causing a loud noise and some minor injuries to people nearby. But it could have been much worse. A big question is, did he actually set it off or did it go off prematurely . Was he intending to do that somewhere else . Now, he is he was taken to the hospital and despite his injuries, which are obviously pretty serious, as you can tell from that picture, from the explosion of this bomb that was attached to himself with velcro and zip ties or plastic ties, he is talking to authorities. And they say he is being cooperative. So, they hope to learn quite a bit more here about whether other people were involved. No indication of that yet. No indication that this was foreign inspired. They want to know why he did this, where he did it, who how he knew to build this pipe bomb, which, fortunately, he didnt know how to do very well. Chris, youve been down by the Port Authority for a few hours now, for our viewers who dont live in new york city, is just down the street from times square. So far, how have new yorkers been reacting . Reporter i just went into a local restaurant and i talked to a new yorker, i talked to a worker and then i talked to a brit who is visiting here on vacations. All of them echoing what the city officials who held the press conference would want to hear, is they werent concerned about it. At one of them did express to me how lucky it was that it wasnt much worse. I will tell you that the brit said her parents were very nervous about it and she didnt want them to know that she had actually come down here. But thats what i saw when i was first walking over here, katy, which was around 8 30 this morning. I was talking to people on my way over. The new yorkers seemed most concerned about it. They were getting diverted away from getting to work on time, a number of tourists i talked to were actually coming toward the scene. They wanted to be able to take pictures. This was for many of them going to be an opportunity for them to have a different kind of story to tell. Of course, it could have been a very different kind of story. And everyone expressing relief that it wasnt much worse. But what the message is from city officials here, from state officials, from the governor, is that they dont want people worried about this. They want people to know that theyre going to send a message to terrorists. Youre not going to disrupt our lives. Take a look. It was within a matter of hours, eighth avenue was back up and running again. The cross streets going east and west were up and running again. As they pointed out at the press conference, katy, in the 16 years since 9 11 there have been 26 plots averted and they want to be able to say, look, we know that were a target. We know were a target, they said, because of what we represent in the world. But, and im going to quote them here, they want to disrupt us but theyre not going to let that happen. And with the Port Authority already back up and running, with the restaurants that had been evacuated and shut down, back up and running, thats exactly what were seeing at this point, katy. I will tell you, the new york city subways were just as packed as ever. A little frustration about skipping 42nd street but nobody was not taking the subway out of fear. To borrow a phrase from that brit, keep calm and carry on. Thank you very much. Frank is an Nbc News National Security contributor and joe is a retired nypd sergeant and a criminal justice professor at jon jay college. Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. Frank, this man is bangladeshi. Does that stand out to you in any way . Well, it stands out that hes part of a community that really has not assimilated entirely well into the united states. And is still looking for a sense of belonging. So, we have seen bangladeshis affiliate with terror groups. Weve seen them become radicalized online. This will raise the whole issue about how to defend against soft target attacks and how to go after aggressive online radicalization of our immigrant communities. This is two months, we dont need any reminders, but two months after a man used a truck to kill eight people along a bike lane in Lower Manhattan right at the foot of the world trade center. How do authorities prepare for the possibility of these sorts of attacks . We just heard from chris. 26 different plots foiled. Is it a combination of getting lucky, just not having people who know what theyre doing like this guy today or faisal, who was the car bomber in times square that didnt go off correctly . Is this a combination of getting lucky with them and having the intelligence to stop these things from happening . Well, first, no city in the world is better prepared for Something Like this, but what youre talking about is prevention and not planning for the actual attack. And prevention is almost like playing a game of whackamole. Its about defeating the online radicalization. And just as soon as you identify a site, a twitter account, a facebook account being used to radicalize, a video stream, you take it out of commission, another one pops up. We have to start viewing the providers, the carriers, of this radicalization media as providing Material Support to terrorism and we have to make it painful for those standard organizations to post that and not take it down. I think thats the next approach here for online radicalization defense. Naturally, the first question out of most reporters mouths when theyre asking officials is, did this guy have a connection to isis or questioning him . Heres what the Police Commissioner told a reporter in times square about an hour ago. Any connection to isis . He did make statements but the question is, did he claim connection to isis. He did make statements but were not going to talk about that right now. He made statements. Its unclear if he had a direct connection, if they directed him or anything like that or just inspired. Ultimately, does this matter, joe, if he was inspired or if he was directed by the terror group . No, it doesnt really matter because isis will take credit for just about anything that happens. I wouldnt be shocked if they came out and said that, you know, we take credit for this and hes a soldier of isis. So, for an investigative standpoint, we just need to find out if there are any people who helped him, active supporters or passive supporters. Where this bomb was built, theyll be looking for that location, searching warrants, manifestos printed or published online and then were going to have to go forward from here. I mean, the internet plays a big role in this. We also have to look into if he goes to his local religious Service Every week. If hes been radicalized through that, too. Thats one thing we havent spoken about yet. Bangladesh, about talking about bangladesh, its not in Donald Trumps travel ban. It wouldnt have stopped a man from bangladesh coming here to do this. What does that say about the travel ban to you . Joe . Well, theres a im sorry. Theres a couple problems with the travel ban, you know, in the respect that it doesnt stop the steven paddocks of the world in those respects. We have some serious issues, but i think right now theyre going to focus on this family thing, just like on long island we have the ms13 with unaccompanied mine minors being a focus. I think this is Something Else hell be tweeting about. Guys, thank you very much. And new York Governor Andrew Cuomo will join me coming up right after a short break. So stick around for that. First, 18 days inside the white house. The detailed questions Robert Muellers team is asking to find out what the president knew about Michael Flynn and when he knew it. Plus, the final sales pitch. How President Trump is dialing up the support for Alabama Senate candidate roy moore. Were live in alabama. Less than 24 hours before voters head to the polls. Lower back pain has met its match aleve direct therapy. The only remote controlled tens device thats drug free, wire free for deep penetrating lower back pain relief. Get aleve direct therapy with 10 back and extra bucks rewards at cvs pharmacy. As promised, joining me now is new York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Thank you for coming on. We heard that, from the Police Commissioner a couple hours ago that the suspect was making isis statements. What more can you tell us about his motivation . Well, the evidence we have thus far, and obviously the investigation is ongoing, is this is a person who was living in new york, a cab driver, car service driver, who was annoyed, irritated, by our political position or sympathetic to isis, et cetera. Who apparently went to the internet, to one of these sites on how to download information on how to make a bomb. Made a very lowtech, homemade device, which he did trigger in a very dangerous area. 42nd street is where the Port Authority building is. Its where the buses come in and the trains come in, so its a very heavily populated area. And he detonated a bomb in a passageway, which is heavily traveled. Fortunately, the bomb was very lowtech. It did go off. It didnt have the desired effect while the chemical exploded, the bomb itself did not go off. So he wound off injuring himself, injured a few people who were around him. Not seriously. Thank god. There was no structural damage done. And the mta personnel, metropolitan Transit Authority personnel and police were on him right away. It could have been much worse. This is one of my nightmares as governor of new york. Governor, im sorry to interrupt. You say he detonated it. Is that what happened, he did that on purpose . It wasnt a premature detonation . That was actually intended for a different target . No, our information is he he detonated the bomb. The explosive chemical in the bomb went off. It did not have the desired effect of causing the pipe itself to shatter, which would have which would have caused the more significant damage. Its the compression of the bomb as the container. That did not have the desired effect. Are police confident he was working alone . Thats our information at this time, that he was working alone. And that he was downloading information from the web. One of the questions that were going to have to deal with and one of the questions i would put to the Internet ServiceProvider Companies is, going forward, we know these people are going to the internet and we know theyre downloading information from certain websites as to how to kill people, right . E its a tu toetorial on how t make a bomb. We had a in new york where a man drove a truck on the west side of manhattan. He got thatted in from the internet. The Internet Service providers have what they call machinelearning tools. They know where people are going on the internet because they target their advertising that way. Now, we all like the illusion of being anonymous on the internet, but they know who is going where. My guess is, they know whos going to these sites. Its something we have to think about. Are you suggesting the Internet Companies tell Law Enforcement, tell authorities where people in the united states, what websites theyre looking at . Yeah, im not suggesting anything. Im saying the Internet Service providers have a degree of information, right, because they know what websites youre going to and what youre shopping for because thats how they target the advertising. You go to buy a sweater, the next time you go on the website, you see all these sweaters for sale. So, theres no doubt that theyre using information and patterns of behavior and what they call machinelearning tools. Yeah. Its something to think about. But isnt that exactly but isnt that exactly what youre saying, they know where people are going so are they just supposed to i mean, would you like Internet Companies to cooperate with Law Enforcement in order to flag people that are going to certain extremist sites, certain sites that contain information about how to build a bomb or information about how to successfully pull off a truck attack on a highway or something of that nature . Well, i think its a question theyre going to have to look at, katy. You know, going forward, you know, you take the position im in, this is our worst nightmare, right . How do you secure a place like new york . How do you get intelligence . Now, when people come in from overseas, frankly, we have screening device. You come through an airport. People drive through bridges and tunnels, et cetera. We have electronic equipment that reads the license plate, that pick suspicious vehicles. Here you have people in this country but become disgruntled, go on the internet and download information on how to build a bomb. What do you do about that . Thats the question. And its only going to get worse. Its not going to get better. Thats clear. This is a situation that is here to stay. And its something well have to grapple with together. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, thank you so much for joining us today. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Now to new developments today in the special counsels russia probe. Nbc news has learned Robert Mueller is looking into possible obstruction of justice and zeroing in on what happened inside the white house during a crucial 18day period earlier this year. From the day senior officials were told then National Security adviser Michael Flynn was susceptible to blackmail by russia, to the day President Trump fired flynn. Some of those interviewed believe the special counsels goal is to figure out when President Trump first learned flynn lied to the fbi. And joining me now, nbcs Peter Alexander at the white house and ned price, former obama National Security counsel spokesperson and msnbc contributor. First off, peter, in our reporti reporting, what exactly would mueller gain by trying to figure out when donald trump knew about flynns lying to the fbi . Well, lets be clear. This is significant. This appears to relate to the possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, according to two people familiar with Robert Muellers investigation. Youll remember, katy, as the president tweeted about a week ago when he said that he fired Michael Flynn because he knew he lied to the fbi and to the Vice President , that would be significant because james comey testified that the president also told him, in fact, the bottom line of the conversation those to men had was that, you know, he had no awareness of this situation. So we went back and forth on this. That timeline is crucial here. Investigators tell us that the witnesses including white House Counsel don mcginn and others have been talking, to try to get to a better understanding what happened each of those days that Michael Flynn remained as National Security adviser, to better describe in detail what they knew was happening inside the white house as it related to flynn. As you noted, some of those interviewed by muellers team believe the goal here, at least in part, was to try to get a better understanding if there was a deliberate effort by the president or top officials in the west wing to cover up the information about flynn that sally yates, then acting attorney general, told don mcgahn, white House Counsel. How are they responding . Neither the white house nor counsel has responded to msnbcs request. Notably the president has been largely silent on ol the russia issue since that controversial tweet i just noted earlier this monthle saying he fired flynn because he lied to the fbi. His outside lawyer, john dowd, basically taking the blame for that language. It deepens the suspicions of obstruction of justice. Im always curious about dowd and taking credit for that tweet. Dowd is a lawyer. Lawyers understand legal jargon. It doesnt make sense a lawyer would say plead. Thats what i noticed. If donald trump did know that fbi that Michael Flynn had lied to the fbi early on, say, when sally yates told mcgahn and then he had that conversation with james comey, what would you think if you saw those two things back to back . Well, right, there are two central questions. Bun of which you alluded to.