FBI Asked Me for Tamerlan's Phone Number: Mom

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva insists her sons were set up
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2013 9:28 AM CDT

When Zubeidat Tsarnaeva first got word that her two sons were accused of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings, she "was just really mad and angry at America," she tells Channel 4 News. "Somebody did this, somebody set this up, not my kids. ... I know that my kids have nothing to do with this. I know it. I am mother. I know my kids." Tsarnaeva also circles back to a point she has made before: That she knew Tamerlan had been monitored by the FBI—"because they called me once and they wanted his number."

"They used to come to our house, like two, three times," she says, adding that the agent called her back and said her son was "a really nice boy" and "very intelligent," but also asked her if he may have gotten involved in a "radical organization" because he is "a leader, he's a strong boy." Her response: "I said no, no." Channel 4 also spoke to the Tsarnaevs' father, who continued to take a vaguely threatening tone: "If this is going to continue, it will end badly for the American people. If my sons are going to be shot without reason ... that's going to come to every house if it's not going to be done by law." (More Zubeidat Tsarnaeva stories.)

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