Editor’s note: Errol Louis is the host of “Inside City Hall,” a nightly political show on NY1, a New York City all-news channel.

(CNN) — Anthony Weiner’s long-anticipated official announcement that he’s running for mayor of New York City began with a slight glitch this week: A video announcing his candidacy was posted on YouTube in the middle of the night, then yanked off the site — and eventually posted again.

The two-minute video did exactly what it was intended to do: launch Weiner 2.0, promoting him as an earnest family man bursting with energy, ideas and promise, and offering to lead New York City as its chief executive.

But the stutter-step in the timing is a metaphor for Weiner’s relationship to media. It remains to be seen whether the same digital platforms that catapulted him to national prominence — and later proved to be his undoing — will end up being a blessing, a curse, or a distraction as Weiner joins a crowded race for City Hall.

There’s no question that Weiner has media star power that far outstrips his half-dozen or so Democratic rivals. For years, he was a fixture on cable news programs, ready with quips, strategic insight, and fighting words fired at adversaries on the floor of Congress.

But almost exactly two years ago, the shadow side of Weiner’s media life emerged, when the then-congressman mistakenly blasted a lewd photo to his thousands of Twitter followers. His conservative enemies pounced on the image and soon discovered — and trumpeted to the world — that Weiner was sending lascivious texts and photos to women around the country, some from his office on Capitol Hill.

After a short period in which he told outrageous lies about the photos, claiming his computer was hacked, Weiner quit Congress and dropped out of public life. He now says that the six women with whom he’s known to have exchanged randy messages — and the lies he told about it — represent the sum total of his misbehavior. That may be true, although New York’s political insiders generally assume more photos could emerge in the weeks ahead.

But the incident leaves Weiner as a strange media hybrid — a star nationally, but an uprooted local candidate facing formidable challenges in his hometown. The national press finds him irresistible, with conservatives eager to bash him and liberals hoping to rehabilitate him. His wife, Huma Abedin, is a glamorous, globally famous personality in her own right, having served at the right hand of former Secretar of State Hillary Clinton.

Weiner’s confessional interview

Anthony Weiner running for NYC mayor

The couple moved from Weiner’s working-class apartment in Queens — he happened to quit as New York’s congressional boundaries were being redrawn, and his district was simply eliminated. Weiner now lives in a luxury building on Park Avenue in Manhattan, where paparazzi lie in wait to snap photos nearly every time he leaves the house.

To most New York politicians, such obsessive media attention would be considered a gift from the gods. But it’s a double-edged sword for Weiner.

At the same time he was electrifying left-leaning audiences on national TV, Weiner was building a reputation in New York City as a centrist Democrat arguing for tax cuts and other relief for working-class New Yorkers. The son of a public school teacher and a lawyer, he made much of his middle-class roots and vowed to bring gritty, neighborhood-based values to city hall.

In local politics, that remains Weiner’s central persona: a working-class truth teller, willing to ruffle feathers and challenge liberal orthodoxy. But it’s hard to make that argument from Park Avenue, and Weiner’s opponents seldom fail to mention his luxury digs, which are very much at odds with his persona as spokesman for the forgotten middle class.

No other candidate in the race comes close to having Weiner’s years of experience in delivering talking points on camera, debating one-on-one and packaging complex policies in short, comprehensible bites. But New York City mayoral contests aren’t decided on TV or Twitter. Residents like to see their candidates up close and personal, in literally hundreds of meetings of political clubs, church basements, block associations and the like.

Weiner has always been effective on the stump, but it remains to be seen how he’ll be greeted. His video announcement was, among other things, a way to control his image. As he makes the rounds of debates, forums and other places where New Yorkers are known to give candidates an unscripted piece of their mind, we’ll see if Weiner 2.0 will sell in the parts of New York that the national talking heads rarely visit.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Errol Louis.

• Sen. Tom Coburn: Despite reports, nobody in Congress is debating Oklahoma disaster aid
• Coburn: FEMA has $11.6 billion for assistance, more than enough to help tornado victims
• But if FEMA fund runs out, Coburn will stick by policy to deny aid without cuts elsewhere
• Coburn: I opposed Sandy aid package because it was an “all-you-can-eat buffet”

Editor’s note: Tom Coburn, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Oklahoma and the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

(CNN) — Millions of Americans have been shocked by the devastation caused by the tornadoes in Oklahoma. Having toured the area, it’s impossible to put the scope of the damage in words. Not just homes but entire neighborhoods are gone.

Americans also may have been surprised to hear about a disagreement in Washington about delivering disaster aid to victims. The good news is this disagreement doesn’t exist. No one in Washington is opposing delivering aid to victims. In fact, there is no aid bill for Oklahoma to even debate.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has $11.6 billion available in the fund for assistance to victims in all federally declared disasters, and this is likely more than sufficient to help victims in Oklahoma. As the ranking member of the Senate committee that oversees FEMA, I’m confident Oklahoma will receive the assistance it needs.

The bad news is some in the media have persisted in reporting on this nonexistent funding fight — although it might happen in the future if FEMA runs out of money. My view is that focusing on funding questions now is premature and insensitive. Although I’ve never been shy about telling reporters and my constituents where I stand on tough questions, focusing on a fight that isn’t happening is crass and irresponsible journalism.

Instead of reporting the facts about disaster spending, many news outlets have used the tragedy to talk about “dilemmas,” “binds” and “divisions” among Republicans. At this point, these stories are only figments in the imaginations of a few journalists and editors who are having a difficult time keeping their opinions to themselves.

Case in point is Wednesday’s Washington Post story, where I learned about my alleged dilemma on tornado aid. But The Post buried the real news in the 15th paragraph, which reads:

“At this point, all these questions are theoretical. There is no Oklahoma disaster relief bill. There may never be one. … At the moment, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has a large stockpile of funds to pay for disaster response; members of Congress estimated it at $11.6 billion.”

Parents saw daughter just before tornado

The article goes on to say that most legislators agree that the fund is adequate to handle the Oklahoma disaster, and it quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as saying “Right now, we don’t need the money.”

Tornado Claims Could Top $2 Billion

In other words, the real news is no Oklahoma disaster relief bill exists and, as Reid says, “we don’t need the money.”

Still, I have no objection to stating unequivocally that if FEMA runs out of money, I will encourage my colleagues to pay for any new assistance for Oklahoma, or anywhere else by reducing lower-priority spending rather than borrowing new money.

Let me explain why this principle is important. Under congressional budget rules, if disaster funds are exhausted, Congress can pass an “emergency supplemental spending” bill that does not count against that year’s budget caps.

In other words, Congress can simply borrow new money without setting priorities or making hard choices about where to cut the budget elsewhere. At a time when we’re losing $200 billion a year because of waste and duplication, not setting priorities doesn’t make sense in any circumstance. Why respond to one disaster by creating another one for taxpayers?

Some have suggested it is hypocritical for me to support disaster aid in my state after opposing the Sandy emergency aid bill for the Northeast. But my position has been the same for my entire service in Congress, starting when I pushed for offsets to the Oklahoma City bombing supplemental bill in 1995.

My position has never been to oppose all forms of disaster aid. My position has been to oppose politicians who use disasters to spend money that has nothing to do with helping victims of disasters. The hard truth is both parties have abused the emergency spending process in Congress for many years.

For instance, when the Gulf Coast was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many in Washington were appalled by my suggestion that times of tragedy and disaster are precisely the times for politicians to tighten their belts and make hard choices. One of the sacrifices I proposed was to divert funds from a $223 million bridge in Alaska — known as the “Bridge to Nowhere” — to a bridge over Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. My colleagues fumed: How dare I force such choices? My response was — and is: How dare we not force such choices?

The Superstorm Sandy package, unfortunately, is another recent example. I supported a scaled-down $25 billion version of disaster aid for Sandy, but I strongly opposed a $50 billion package that was an all-you-can-eat buffet for politicians and politically connected contractors.

Much of the larger Sandy package had little to do with helping victims of the disaster. More than $5 billion was directed to the Army Corps of Engineers — more than the Corps’ annual budget. Even NASA was in on the game. NASA said its damage from the storm was minimal, but Congress wanted to give it $15 million anyway. The most revealing aspect was more than 70% of the $50 billion would not be spent for two years, which meant it was an economic stimulus package, not a disaster aid bill.

I don’t believe anyone in the Senate wants or anticipates a Sandy- or Katrina-like fight about emergency spending offsets for Oklahoma.

Still, if any politicians in Washington hope to use Oklahoma’s tragedy as vehicle for pork, don’t bother. State Rep. Mark McBride from Moore, Oklahoma, put it best this week on MSNBC: “We don’t want anything. We don’t want anything extra. We just want to rebuild our city. And whatever they can do for us they can cough up, and whatever they don’t, we`ll make it up. That`s the way we roll here.”

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sen. Tom Coburn.

Editor’s note: Melissa J. Brymer is the director of the Terrorism and Disaster Programs at the UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

(CNN) — Many of the Oklahoma families whose lives were devastated by the tornado will recover over time, especially with the help and support of family and community. But children need special attention as they struggle with what happened on Monday and upheavals in their family and school routines.

Children’s reactions will vary depending on their age and their experience with the tornado. They may get upset during a storm because they fear another tornado or worry when their parents leave their side. They might display changes in their behavior, such as irritability and anger or decreased concentration. They may withdraw or have physical complaints, and sleep or appetite troubles. It’s reassuring to know these reactions are common and generally diminish over time.

Their reactions are strongly influenced by how their parents, teachers and other caregivers are coping. Those teachers who took care of their students during the storm will need to seek their own supports and take care of themselves while showing kids how to cope in a positive way. Parents can help children recover by calmly talking with them about any concerns. This will be important over the weeks and months to come.

Mother’s instinct saves lives of 3 sons

Parents must assure children that they are safe and help them cope with distress associated with reminders of the tornado — like sirens or the destruction they see. They should stick to normal mealtime and bedtime routines as much as possible. Adults should also be careful what they and others say in front of the kids and be especially patient with changes in children’s behavior.

Rest, exercise and a balanced diet are important. It helps to limit media reports and social media about the tornado. People should stay connected to friends and family and find time for activities that give them a break from additional stress.

Boy, neighbor embrace after tornado

Desperate mom finds sons in hospital

Tornado survivor: ‘I just got lucky’

If the children have lost a loved one, it’s important to talk about it. Parents can reminisce about that person with their kids and conduct a memorial activity that children can join in. Grieving is even more difficult when a loved one dies suddenly in traumatic circumstances. Families need their own traditions and rituals when someone dies so they can support one another and manage a wide range of emotional responses. Answering questions about death for children can be challenging — it’s important to be truthful, give answers that are appropriate for their ages and listen carefully to their feelings.

Families remember tornado victims

The tornado hit during the day when children and parents were separated. Because of that, young children may become especially clingy and worry when they are away from their parents. In the next weeks, parents should stay with their children as much as possible. If they need to leave, they should make sure a familiar adult is with the children and that they know when their parents will return.

If any of these reactions continue over a month or worsen over time, parents should consider a mental health consultation.As the community begins to recover, be sure to acknowledge the high school seniors who are graduating in the next week, as this is an important milestone to be commemorated. With the ending of school, some teenagers may have lost their summer jobs and it will be important to help them find alternatives like assisting recovery efforts, cleaning debris, babysitting, or organizing collection drives.

Doctor’s quick thinking saves patients

It’s two years this week that tornadoes hit Joplin, Missouri, which is still recovering. With other recent disasters like Sandy Hook, parents are increasingly worried about their children’s safety. Families should take this opportunity to make sure that school and family emergency plans are in place. That, and open communication will go a long way toward supporting children with their responses to this devastating tornado.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Melissa Brymer.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had hoped to make a media splash by landing a big fish rarely seen in Washington: Apple CEO Tim Cook. It released a 40-page report on the eve of the hearing, excoriating Apple’s use of “gimmicks” to avoid paying U.S. taxes on $44 billion in offshore income between 2009 and 2012.

Chaired by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, the subcommittee has been investigating the tax avoidance strategies of major U.S. tech firms. Last year, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard were in the dock; Tuesday, it was Apple’s turn.

“Apple wasn’t satisfied with shifting its profits to a low-tax offshore tax haven,” Levin told the New York Times. “It has created offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere.”

At issue are foreign subsidiaries that U.S. multinationals use to manage their overseas operations. The subcommittee report says that tech companies can shuffle their intellectual property as well as earnings among such entities to shield them from America’s steep corporate tax rates.

Cook, however, denied that Apple funnels any of its U.S. profits into offshore tax havens.

The company has amassed more than $100 billion in foreign earnings, he said, because international sales of iPhones and other products account for 61% of its revenues. Apple pays taxes in the countries where its products are sold, he told the panel, adding that it is probably also America’s largest corporate taxpayer, with expected 2013 liabilities of $7 billion.

The Senate inquisitors aren’t accusing the tech companies of doing anything illegal but of cleverly exploiting loopholes in U.S. tax laws that allow them to shelter income overseas. Lawmakers want the firms to “repatriate” their overseas profits so that they can be taxed here. But the companies say that would be tantamount to taxing them twice, putting them at a disadvantage with foreign competitors who pay taxes only where their products are sold.

At a time when America urgently needs to rebuild its revenue base and continue unwinding its public debts, it’s little wonder that lawmakers cast a covetous eye on the overseas profits of U.S. firms. But while grilling CEOs may make for good political theater, it doesn’t get to the heart of the problem: America’s outdated and dysfunctional corporate tax code.

How flawed is it? Let us count the ways. First, it subjects U.S.-based corporations to a top marginal rate of 35%, among the highest in the world. Designed at a time when U.S. companies competed mainly with each other, the code now hobbles them in global competition.

Second, the code is riddled with special tax deductions, credits and exemptions, which make it both fiendishly complicated and economically inefficient. As economist Robert Shapiro noted in a recent Progressive Policy Institute study, these provisions entail significant administrative and compliance costs and, more damagingly from the standpoint of economic growth, undercut markets’ ability to allocate capital to its most productive uses. They also make the code highly inequitable as some companies get breaks while others don’t with little rhyme or reason other than how effective their lobbyists are.

Third, the United States is one of the few remaining countries (PDF) that has a “worldwide” tax system, meaning that we apply the 35% top rate to the worldwide profits of U.S-based companies: that is, on the profits made by foreign subsidiaries as well. Almost every other major economy has a territorial tax system, which taxes only the business profits earned in that country. While U.S. companies get a credit for the taxes they pay overseas, they are still liable for the difference between what they pay abroad and the higher U.S. marginal tax rate.

These glaring defects have engendered a rare bipartisan consensus in Washington for sweeping reform of the corporate tax code. The basic idea, endorsed by the Obama administration and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, is to radically simplify the code by phasing out special preferences and using some or all of the revenues to cut the tax rate. (Progress toward reform is snagged, however, on a dispute over whether any of those revenues should be used for deficit reduction.)

More controversial is adopting a territorial system. Some progressives are leery of this approach, since it would put the foreign earnings of U.S.-based companies forever beyond Washington’s reach. But as Progressive Policy Institute economist Michael Mandel notes, those foreign profits are already taxed by the countries in which the money is earned. In today’s increasingly globalized economy, it makes sense to move toward a simpler system that is easier to enforce.

Unlike Apple, U.S. lawmakers have the power to fix our broken corporate tax system. That’s probably a better use of their time than villainizing America’s most innovative and successful companies.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Will Marshall.

the kidnapping case in Cleveland. Balloons were released as part of the ceremony. Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight escaped on Monday, May 6, after being held captive for nearly a decade.

FBI agents and other law enforcement officers stand outside suspect Ariel Castro’s home in Cleveland on May 9. Castro, a former school bus driver, has been accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his house. He has also been charged with rape.

Castro hangs his head low while talking with his public defender, Kathleen DeMetz, during his arraignment on May 9.

Ada Colon prays during a vigil held in honor of the kidnapping victims in Cleveland on Wednesday, May 8.

Relatives of kidnapping victim Georgina “Gina” DeJesus hug after she returned to her parents’ home in Cleveland on May 8.

Friends and neighbors cheer as a car carrying Amanda Berry arrives at her sister’s house in Cleveland on May 8.

Gina DeJesus gives a thumbs up as she arrives at her family’s house in Cleveland on May 8.

Ariel Castro was charged on May 8 with kidnapping the three women.

The family house of Gina DeJesus has been decorated by well-wishers on Tuesday, May 7.

Friends and relatives gather in front of the family house of DeJesus on May 7.

Well-wishers visit the home of the sister of Amanda Berry on Monday, May 6.

Investigators remove evidence from the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland where the three women were held.

An FBI forensics team meets outside the house where three women were held as they investigate the property.

An FBI forensics team member removes evidence from the house.

A relative of DeJesus brings balloons to the home of Amanda Berry’s sister in Cleveland on May 7.

Children hold a sign and balloons in the yard of Gina DeJesus’ family home in Cleveland on May 7.

Bystanders and media gather on May 7 along Seymour Avenue in Cleveland near the house where the three women were held captive.

A bystander shows the front page of The Plain Dealer newspaper to a friend outside of the house on Seymour Avenue on May 7.

Cleveland Deputy Chief of Police Ed Tomba, center, speaks at a news conference to address details of the developments.

The house where the three women were held captive in Cleveland was the home of Ariel Castro, who was arrested and is being held pending charges in the case.

FBI agents remove evidence from the house May 7.

A police officer stands in front of the broken front door of the house on May 7, where the kidnapped women escaped.

Neighbor Charles Ramsey talks to media as people congratulate him on helping the kidnapped women escape on Monday, May 6. He helped knock down the door after he heard screaming inside.

Amanda Berry vanished a few blocks from her Cleveland home on April 21, 2003. She was 16.

Georgina “Gina” DeJesus was last seen in Cleveland on April 2, 2004, on her way home from school. She was 14 when she went missing.

Michelle Knight was last seen on August 22, 2002, when she was 21.

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(CNN) — Three women who were rescued this month after being held captive in a Cleveland house for close to a decade “are happy and safe,” and overwhelmed by the public’s support, their attorneys said in a statement released Wednesday.

Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Georgina “Gina” DeJesus “want you to know they’re doing well,” the attorneys’ statement reads.

“They are happy and safe and continue to heal, a process that requires time and privacy,” attorneys Kathy Joseph, Heather Kimmel, Henry Hilow and James Wooley said.

Berry, 27; DeJesus, 23; and Knight, 32 — and a 6-year-old daughter born to Berry in captivity — were found alive on May 6 in a Cleveland home, police said. The women are believed to have been abducted years ago — in 2002, 2003 and 2004 — and held captive at the home of Ariel Castro, 52, according to police.

First look at Ohio kidnapping suspect

When kidnapped become brainwashed

‘Please don’t let me go,’ Cleveland kidnap victim told officers

Castro was charged with kidnapping and rape after Berry escaped from the home with the aid of neighbors, authorities said.

The attorneys said that the outpouring of public support — including donations to the Cleveland Courage Fund, which the lawyers say will be used to establish trusts to aid the three women and Berry’s daughter — “has been nothing short of remarkable.”

Source: Michelle Knight was Cleveland suspect’s main ‘punching bag’

“To have complete strangers offer loving support in the form of money, goods and services, reaching out to help like a family member, is appreciated in ways that are impossible to put into words,” the lawyers said. “Amanda, Gina and Michelle, who have asked for nothing, are frankly overwhelmed by it all.

“You have touched their hearts in ways they will never forget. So again, they collectively say ‘Thank you. Thank you so much!’ “

The fund has collected a total of $650,000 from more than 6,800 donors, according to Hennes Paynter Communications, which is representing the women.

How the abductions happened

(CNN) — Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a 2011 gruesome triple homicide outside Boston along with a Chechen killed early Wednesday during a confrontation with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police in Orlando, Florida, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Ibragim Todashev, who died during the interview with authorities, not only confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in Waltham, Massachusetts, but also fingered Tsarnaev in the deaths, the official said Wednesday.

Todashev was being questioned about the slayings and his acquaintance with Tsarnaev.

Todashev attacked an FBI agent, who shot him dead, a federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case told CNN.

From left, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev went with Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to Times Square in this photo taken from the social media site VK.com. Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were arrested on Wednesday, May 1, on charges they tried to throw investigators off Tsarnaev’s trail. See all photography related to the Boston bombings.

Robel Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested on May 1. He has been charged with lying to federal agents about the bombing, according to court papers.

Phillipos, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are accused of removing items from Tsarnaev’s dorm room after the April 15 bombings. The items they took included a backpack containing fireworks that had been “opened and emptied of powder,” according to the affidavit.

Kadybayev, left, poses with Dzhokhar Tsamaev in a picture taken from the social media site VK.com.

The FBI released photos and video on April 18 of two men identified as Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 in the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. They were later identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.

Authorities say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, identified as Suspect 2, was captured in a Boston suburb on April 19 after a manhunt that shut down the city.

Police say the dead suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is the man the FBI identified as Suspect 1. He was killed during the shootout with police in Watertown, Massachusetts, early April 19. He is pictured here at the 2010 New England Golden Gloves.

Boston Police released surveillance images of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at a convenience store on April 19.

The FBI tweeted this photo on April 19 and urged Watertown residents to stay indoors as they searched for the second suspect.

The FBI released photos and video on April 18 of two men it called suspects in the deadly bombings and pleaded for public help in identifying them. The men were photographed walking together near the finish line.

A man identified as Suspect 2 appeared in this photograph by bystander David Green, who took the photo after completing the Boston Marathon. Green submitted the photo to the FBI, he told Piers Morgan in an interview.

The man identified as Suspect 2 appears in a tighter crop of David Green’s photo.

Authorities later identified Suspect 1 as Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Suspect 2 was identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Suspect 1 walks through the crowd.

Suspect 1 walks through the crowd.

Suspect 1 walks through the crowd.

Both suspects are seen walking through the crowd.

Suspect 2 walks through the crowd.

Suspect 2 walks through the crowd.

A photo released by the FBI highlights Suspect 2.

A photo released by the FBI highlights Suspect 2.

Suspect 2 walks through the crowd. See all photography related to the Boston bombings.

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Suspects tied to Boston bombings

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Photos: Suspects tied to Boston bombings

FBI shoots man tied to bombing suspects

Police: Man linked to Tsarnaev shot

“He used some kind of weapon,” the official said, and that prompted the FBI agent to shoot the suspect.

A second law enforcement official confirmed Todashev made the confession.

The unsolved triple murder received renewed interest after it was learned that Tsarnaev was sparring partners at a local gym with one of the victims.

Source: 2011 slayings of Tsarnaev friend, 2 others revisited

Investigators of the crime reported at the time that the heads of the three victims were pulled back and their throats slit ear to ear with great force. Marijuana was spread over the bodies in a “symbolic gesture,” and several thousand dollars in cash was found at the scene.

Todashev told investigators the men were killed during a drug ripoff because he and Tsarnaev were afraid they would be able to identify them and tell police what happened, according to a law enforcement source.

So far, no link has been found between Todashev and the Boston Marathon bombings. However, the FBI is looking into the many connections between Todashev and Tsarnaev, whose radicalization allegedly led to the Boston bombings.

A federal law enforcement official has told CNN they were initially led to Todashev because they learned he knew Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar. They also said cell phone records connected Tamerlan and Todashev.

Todashev was being interviewed in the kitchen of his Florida home. He grabbed a knife, which is why fatal force was used, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation.

“Preliminary information indicates the agent took actions to defend himself,” said a federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case.

“The agent sustained non-life-threatening injuries,” FBI spokesman Jason Pack said.

Investigators are awaiting test results to determine whether Todashev’s DNA was found at the Massachusetts triple murder scene and whether the DNA of Tamerlan Tsarnaev also was found there.

Todashev and Tsarnaev were acquainted through a mixed martial arts center near Boston, said a source briefed on the bombing investigation.

In Orlando, an FBI team is reviewing the circumstances of the shooting, a procedure that follows any FBI shooting.

Todashev had an impending flight from Orlando, via New York and Moscow, to Chechnya, when investigators sought to interview him, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation. He was told not to take the flight, the source said.

Details emerged Wednesday about how Todashev had Tsarnaev’s phone number in his cell phone, said the source.

Both men were members of the mixed martial arts forum Sherdog.com, along with Russian-Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist William Plotnikov, the source said.

Last month, CNN reported that Plotnikov and six others died in a July 2012 firefight with Russian forces in the southwestern republic of Dagestan, while Tsarnaev was visiting the region, according to a source briefed on the investigation.

Todashev, 27, knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, also a suspect in the April 15 bombings, the official said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, injured and captured after a manhunt, is being held by authorities. His brother died in a shootout with police.

Todashev was from the Chechnya region, as were the Tsarnaev brothers, the source said.

Todashev was granted political asylum in 2008, but he came to the United States some time before that, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. Todashev had been living in the United States as a legal resident because of that asylum claim.

In the 2011 Massachusetts triple homicide, the Middlesex County district attorney’s office said at the time that the victims and two unknown perpetrators appeared to know each other and that it was not a random crime. No suspects were named then.

Suspect: Bombing was payback for hits on Muslims

A source said that the FBI had been investigating Todashev for about a month.

The FBI had followed Todashev for days, his friend told CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13.

Todashev “wasn’t like real close friends (with Tsarnaev), but he just happened to know him,” Khasuen Taramov told the TV station. “But he had no idea that they were up to something like that, like bombings and everything, you know what I mean?”

He told CNN affiliate WESH that Todashev and Tsarnaev had spoken by telephone about a month before the bombings.

“It was a complete shock to him,” Taramov said.

The two met a couple years ago in Boston, where Todashev had lived and where there is a small, close-knit community of Chechens, said Taramov.

Their telephone conversation before the bombings contained nothing but routine pleasantries, he said. “It was ‘How are you doing; how’s your family?’ That’s all.”

Taramov said he himself was questioned by the FBI for three hours Tuesday night. Asked what he was asked, Taramov said, “Different kind of questions like ‘what do you think about bombings,’ ‘do you know these guys,’ blah blah blah, what is my views on certain stuff.”

He said Todashev was not a radical. “He was just a Muslim. That was his mistake, I guess.”

Taramov said his friend had told him he had a bad feeling about the direction the investigation was heading.

“He felt like there’s going to be a setup … bad setup against him. Because he told me, ‘They are making up such crazy stuff, I don’t know … why they doing it. OK, I’m answering the questions, but they are still making up some, like, connections, some crazy stuff. I don’t know why they are doing it.’ “

Before meeting with the FBI for a 7:30 p.m. interview Tuesday, Taramov said, his friend asked him to take his parents’ telephone numbers. “He just told me, ‘Take the numbers, in case something happens, if I get locked up, or whatever, call them.’ You know what I mean?

“We were expecting to get him locked up, but not getting him killed. I can’t believe it.”

Todashev was unemployed and had been living on insurance money he received after surgery for an accident. “He used to be a fighter, MMA fighter,” Taramov said, in a reference to mixed martial arts.

Todashev was arrested this month on a charge of aggravated battery after getting into a fight over a parking spot with a man and his son outside an Orlando mall. The son was taken to a hospital with head injuries, a split upper lip and several teeth knocked out of place, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a report.

“Todashev said he was only fighting to protect his knee because he had surgery in March,” the report said. He told the police that he was a former mixed martial arts fighter, it said.

Todashev, described as 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, was released on $3,500 bond.

Asked about the incident, Taramov downplayed it. “He had a fight in the parking lot, the two guys jumped on him … pretty much he just defended himself against two,” he told WESH. “The only mistake: he did kick their ass and left.”

Todashev had recently gotten his green card and had been planning to visit his parents in Chechnya and then return to the United States, but canceled the plans, Taramov said.

Now, he added, he was planning to call his friend’s parents.

Former Chechen rebel: ‘I have nothing to do with’ Boston bombings

CNN’s Michael Martinez, Jason Hanna and MaryLynn Ryan contributed to this report.