Russell's New Lawyer Says She'll Keep Cooperating With Officials

Katherine Russell's new lawyer, Joshua Dratel, said his client – the North Kingstown widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev – will continue to cooperate with authorities, the AP reported Tuesday. 

‘‘I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future,’’ Dratel told the AP. ‘‘There’s no inconsistency between that and her interests at this point.’’

He said his role is to help her steer through the process and to protect her interests. He joined Russell's legal team last week. Russell had initially hired Providence lawyers Amato DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum, but they typically handle civil cases, so Dratel was hired last week. 

Russell, 24, has not been accused of any crime.

She grew up in North Kingstown and married Tsarnaev in 2009. They have a 2-year-old daughter together. They had been living in an apartment with Tsarnaev's mother and brother, Dzhokhar, at the time of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15. 

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are accused of setting off two bombs on Boylston Street in Boston, the finish line of the marathon. The bombs killed three people and injured as many as 280. Tamerlan was killed in a gunfight with police on April 19 in Watertown, Mass. Dzhokhar was wounded and captured 20 hours later. He remains in a prison hospital.

Following the death of her husband, Russell moved back in with her mother at the family home on Coriander Lane in the Quidnessett neighborhood of North Kingstown. She dropped the use of the Tsarnaev name and turned over her husband's body to his relatives. 

Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told the AP that Dzhokhar told investigators the bombs were assembled in the small apartment Russell shared with her husband. One of her Rhode Island lawyers has previously said she was working long hours and was frequently away from the apartment.

Dratel did not discuss details of Russell’s life or her relationship with her husband and he did not give any specifics about her dealings with federal investigators.

‘‘It would be counterproductive for the investigation and for Katherine’s interests for us to be more forthcoming at this time with any of the details,’’ he told the AP. ‘‘We wouldn’t want to impair the investigation in any way.’’

The Providence Journal reported Tuesday Dratel first met Russell last week in Providence. That paper has a lengthy article about Dratel, who has defended everyone from Abbie Hoffman to Donald Trump. To read that story, click here.