Ahmad Khan Rahami on FBI file two years ago, report claims

The FBI created a file on New York and New Jersey bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami two years ago, but decided not to open a formal investigation into the U.S. citizen of Afghan descent after determining that he showed no signs of being a radicalized extremist, officials said Tuesday.

The “assessment,” the FBI’s lowest-level investigative step, was initiated in August 2014 as a result of comments Mr. Rahami’s father made following a domestic dispute, according to an FBI statement.

“The FBI conducted internal database reviews, interagency checks and multiple interviews, none of which revealed ties to terrorism,” the statement said.

The statement is at odds with reports that Mr. Rahami’s family had suspected he was up to something and provided that information to authorities at the time.

ABC News, citing anonymous sources, reported Tuesday that in 2014, Mr. Rahami’s father, an immigrant from Afghanistan, had told the FBI in 2014 that his son was interacting with “bad people” overseas.

The bombing suspect is alleged to have made visits to Pakistan and his native Afghanistan roughly during the same period of time.

A concerned neighbor also reportedly told authorities that Mr. Rahami’s associates may have been trying to procure explosives. The FBI first became aware of Mr. Rahami in the summer of 2014, when local law enforcement contacted the agency’s New Jersey field office about him, the sources said.

The ABC News report indicates that a dispute at the Rahami home brought local law enforcement to the house, and that a neighbor told them he’d overheard Mr. Rahami’s father calling his son a “terrorist.” The bombing suspect’s father later reportedly recanted his claims about his son.

Mr. Rahami was subsequently not placed on any U.S. terrorism watch lists. He was also not presently on the bureau’s radar, said William Sweeney, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York division, in a news conference with reporters on Monday.