The father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man suspected of planting bombs in New York and New Jersey, contacted the FBI two years ago claiming his son was a terrorist, but the agency determined that he was "clean" and did not place him on a watchlist.

Mohammad Rahami said on Tuesday that he called the agency twice after violent attacks by his son on members of his family.

“Two years ago I go to the FBI because my son was doing really bad, OK?” he said. “But they check almost two months, they say, ‘He’s OK, he’s clean, he’s not a terrorist.’ I say OK.

“Now they say he is a terrorist. I say OK," he added, speaking to reporters outside of the fried chicken restaurant he owns in Elizabeth, New Jersey.