MSNBC circling the wagons? This NewsBuster is in no position to say that the FBI made a mistake by deciding not to monitor Tamerlan Tsarnaev after having interviewed him in 2011, acting on inquiries from Russian intelligence regarding his possible radical Islamic ties.
But by the same token, MSNBC host Alex Witt is in no position to say the FBI didn't make a mistake. Yet Witt has pre-emptively proferred an excuse for the FBI's decision. Speaking with investigative reporter Michael Isikoff on her show this afternon, Witt, alluding to the FBI's decision not to monitor Tsarnaev, declared: "hindsight is 20-20." View the video after the jump.
MICHAEL ISIKOFF: So here you have somebody who was on their radar screen because Russian intelligence had reported suspicions about him. They questioned him. They found no evidence of criminal activity. Should they have continued to monitor him? Should they have continued to look at whatever social media or YouTube postings he makes? Not easy questions to answer. But certainly ones that are going to get asked. Now, we also have, by the way, the interview, really revealing interview this morning that Savannah Guthrie did with the uncle of Tsarnaev saying that somebody had brainwashed him, somebody had radicalized him. He was under the influence of others. Now, the uncle did not illuminate who it was, it was not clear he knew, but that's a further indication that there were suspicions at least within his own family of outside influences.
ALEX WITT: All right. Well, we may take a clip of Savannah's interview a little later on this hour. In the meantime, I guess you can say to all this: hindsight is 20/20.
