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House Ethics Committee Briefing on Foley Case; Heart Stent Safety; Democrats In Congress Promising Longer Hours And More Meetings; Terror Suspect Derrick Shareef Arrested

Aired December 08, 2006 - 13:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Don Lemon.

Before Congress goes home for the holidays, one last bit of housekeeping for the House Ethics Committee. We'll go live to Washington for a news conference on the investigation regarding disgraced former congressman Mark Foley.

PHILLIPS: Gatorade's still out but grandma might be in. The TSA is thinking about relaxing rules to let people without tickets go past security to boarding gates.

LEMON: And later, Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff joins us in the NEWSROOM to talk about that and a whole lot more.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: And we're waiting for that news conference from the House Ethics Committee. You'll remember congressman Mark Foley sent inappropriate messages to underage congressional pages.

Dana Bash right now with the breaking news -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, we're here in the room in the Capitol where the chairman and co-chair of the House Ethics Committee will come and officially give us the results of the lengthy report on what exactly the House leadership did or did not do when it comes to Mark Foley.

Now, we understand from a congressional source that they have -- I'm just looking at the door while I'm talking, excuse me -- that they will not reprimand any members of Congress or staff. They have concluded that nobody broke any rules.

However, they also said that members and their staff were negligent in protecting pages. And also, this report will say -- and I'm sitting down as we're talking here -- that members of Congress showed disconcerted unwillingness in response to the issues of the Mark Foley matter.

So our understanding from our congressional source is that that will be the headline of this lengthy report. Of course we will get a lot more details when we hear from the chair and co-chair momentarily and, of course, when we're able to actually comb through this report, which is the result of many hours and hours of testimony from the highest levels here at Congress, from the speaker of the House himself, Dennis Hastert, to other members of the Republican leadership, to the speaker's staff.

Now, of course, we go back in time and remember how intense this was, the focus was specifically on whether or not the speaker and his senior staff did enough here and whether or not they were warned about, for example, the fact that Mark Foley did have some inappropriate conduct with pages and they didn't do enough.

And again, from our source, we understand that after talking to many members of Congress and staff under oath, they have concluded that there is no need to reprimand anybody for anything that was done wrong or not done appropriately because nobody broke the House rules.

PHILLIPS: Well, Dana, if Republican leaders, though, were found negligent in protecting the teenagers, are you saying that those leaders will not be held accountable? I mean, negligent and protecting teenagers is a pretty big deal.

BASH: It does -- it does seem like a big deal, Kyra. And, you know, I think that we'll probably be able to answer that question better once we hear and once we're able to ask that question, for example, of the -- of the leaders themselves.

However, our understanding is that when it comes down to the specific House rules, that they have concluded that -- that they were not broken. Now, whether or not anything will happen from -- or whether anything will happen in terms of the process and what those rules are, given the fact that they have concluded that members and their staff were negligent, that remains to be seen. But we already know that whole process by which pages, 16-year-olds who are here and given in care to members of Congress for months on end, whether or not that is going to change, you can bet that that is already underway to change that. Whether or not these people are going to be reprimanded, our understanding is they're not.

PHILLIPS: Well, could the page program be in trouble if indeed these leaders were found to be negligent in protecting the teenagers? Is it possible the program just could be dissolved?

BASH: Well, you know, that was --when all of this erupted about two months ago, that was a big part of the debate if you remember, Kyra, whether or not the page program should just be dissolved. There was one Republican member of Congress, Ray LaHood, who suggested that outright, saying, you know, we just can't be trusted with them in our care.

That was not the prevailing view. Most members of Congress see this as a very valuable program that has been going on for generations and generations. That people who -- teenagers who have excellence in academics and otherwise, community service, should have the opportunity of a lifetime, to be able to come to Congress and get this experience. So probably this system and this program will not dissolve but simply be changed dramatically. In fact, as I said, that's already under way.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dana. We'll come back you to once the House Ethics Committee members come to the mic.

LEMON: As we're waiting for this now we want to take you to Florida, to Mark Foley's district. Our very own Susan Candiotti joins us by phone.

Susan, I imagine this is much anticipated there and people are taking a close watch to this.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, but certainly through his attorney, Mr. Foley isn't saying anything. They don't intend to comment, according to the lawyer, even after this House Ethics committee report is officially released.

We can tell you and remind everyone that Mr. Foley has been out of rehab for about a month now. You'll recall he went in to treat what he said was alcoholism, as well as some emotional problems he was going through.

You will recall he said he was molested by a priest when he was an altar boy years and years ago. He is now said to be in another phase of his rehab. And they are not officially saying where he is at this time. He had been in Florida last month after his father passed away from a longstanding illness.

We can tell you that a criminal investigation is on going of Mr. Foley, being conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. I spoke to them again even today. They said that investigation "remains active." They are looking at what they said are possible incidents that may have involved e-mails and other communications between Mr. Foley and minors, including congressional pages.

LEMON: And Susan, we're going to -- we're going to get to that. We've got some people arriving at the podium now.

So let's take a listen and see what is happening here. Don't go away.

REP. DOC HASTINGS (R-WA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE: Good afternoon. I'm Doc Hastings, chairman of the House Ethics Committee.

With me today is Howard Berman, the committee's ranking minority member, as well as Judy Biggert and Stephanie Tubbs Jones, two senior members of the committee.

Nine weeks ago we announced an investigation into allegations of improper, inappropriate conduct by former representative Mark Foley involving current and former House pages. More precisely, our focus was on how information concerning such conduct was handled by members, officers and staff to the House. We said at that time that we would work aggressively to find the truth in this matter and we would do so as rapidly as possible. The report we are releasing today makes clear that we succeeded on both counts, going wherever the evidence led us and getting there sooner than we thought possible.

More than 50 interviews and sworn depositions resulted in more than 3,000 pages of transcribed testimony. We spent more than 100 hours taking that testimony and deliberating over our findings. And we're doing most of this work while Congress was in recess.

We were fortunate to be assisted in this investigation by our committee's highly skilled professional staff, who worked long and hard to ensure that our findings are accurate and our report was thus comprehensive. Moreover, we were pleased by the cooperation received from the overwhelming majority of those interviewed both inside and outside the House.

When first getting under way, we authorized nearly four dozen subpoenas but said we hope we wouldn't need most of them. And fortunately, we ended up serving only a handful.

The questions the American people were asking in the days following Mark Foley's resignation demanded answers. Who knew about this? And what did they know? What did they know about it? And what did they do once they found out?

We believe that most of these answers can be found in the report of our investigation. And, therefore, we intend to let the report speak for itself. But I do want to share just one overarching lesson that I have taken from this experience.

Each of us on this investigative subcommittee recognizes that 20/20 hindsight is easy. And we recognize that doing the right thing in a sensitive situation can be very hard and difficult. But simply put, in situations such as the ones described in our report, doing the right thing is the only acceptable option.

At those times, each of us who is privileged to serve in the House, members, officers, and staff alike, has an affirmative obligation to speak up and to seek appropriate action and then to follow up to ensure that that concern has been properly addressed. I know that we all have demanding schedules and many important responsibilities, but no matter how busy we are, we must always resolve to put first things first. So if there is a positive to be taken away from all of this, I'm hopeful that there will be a renewed determination on the part of everyone here in the thou House to spare no effort when it comes to ensuring the safety of the young men and women from all over the country who serve us as our pages.

Finally, let me say that I have profound respect for each of my colleagues on this investigative subcommittee. No chairman could ask for better partners in this type of undertaking.

Judy, Stephanie and Howard were far more deeply involved in this, in the nuts and bolts of this inquiry, than most of you would ever suspect. Howard Berman, in particular, deserves special recognition, first for agreeing to rejoin the committee in mid-Congress to help us get moving after a very difficult time. Even more so, however, I want to acknowledge personally and publicly Howard's keen insight, sound judgment and innate sense of fairness.

In all honesty, our committee's success in the last eight months on this and a number of other matters would simply not have been possible without the considerable contributions of Howard Berman -- Howard.

REP. HOWARD BERMAN (D), RANKING MEMBER, ETHICS COMMITTEE: Well, thank you, Doc. And I stand behind everything you said -- well, apart from what you said about me. But rather than repeat it, I have some comments I'd like to make in addition.

As anyone who has followed the work of our committee knows, speed is not our strong suit. When we met in this room on October 5th, I promised that we would move swiftly on this investigation. "Weeks, not months" was my phrase. In my mind, weeks meant less than 10, months meant three or more.

Here we are nine weeks and one day later. So, promise made, promise kept.

I stand by this report. This is not the gerry-rigged result of a series of compromises, but rather the right report on this subject.

The most important contribution this report makes -- and it does it well -- is to tell the story of what happened for the benefit of our colleagues in the House of Representatives and the American people.

Although this has been a difficult process, it's been made much easier by the patience, the unflappability and the wisdom of our chairman, the wisdom that our chairman, Doc Hastings, brought to the task. We worked through October, November, and the days and weeks surrounding the election. We've met a great deal of time in December.

Each session was marked by a genuine effort to discover the truth and to determine the facts. All three of my colleagues on this committee conducted themselves with a high level of integrity and a low level of partisanship.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones' background as a -- over and over again both as a prosecutor and as a judge became very useful to me, and I am sure my colleagues, in the context of all of this.

Judy Biggert's focus and attention on this whole issue and her perspective brought tremendous amount to our deliberations.

In short, I was ranking for six years on this committee, and then for the last five or six months, and I've never seen the process work better than it has on this particular occasion.

The staff of the committee deserves special attention. The staff director and chief counsel, Bill O'Reilly (ph), lead the investigation with intelligence and good judgment that we hope is given to every important task in this institution.

The committee staff who worked with them have also done an outstanding job. They are Morgan Kim (ph), Ken Kelner (ph), Peter Van Hartisvelt (ph) and Stan Simpson (ph), as well as the dynamic chief of staff to the chairman, Ed Cassidy (ph).

I want to make a particular reference to Barry Schwartz (ph). She was counsel to me as ranking member for six years when then leader and now Speaker-Elect Pelosi called me to ask me to come back on the committee. After going "Ugh," the first thing I did was to call Barry to see if I could bring her back for this purpose.

LEMON: That's Howard Berman, who's a ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, essentially saying that the committee has concluded that Republican leaders did not -- did not break any rules in handling the ex-congressman Mark Foley improper advances to male pages. But, in fact, he said they were negligent in protecting the teenagers and congressional -- congressional aides, essentially saying that nine-week investigation, it went as quickly as they had hoped, and announcing the findings of their investigation.

We'll have more coverage of this throughout the day right here on CNN -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Let's go to Florida. Our Susan Candiotti on the phone.

Susan, how is this going to play out in his district, the former congressman? Other investigations still pending?

CANDIOTTI: Well, they are. And, of course, since he resigned and a new election has come and gone, most people have moved on from this, I think it's fair to say.

What has not moved on is a criminal investigation, which is ongoing. A criminal investigation being done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. They still want to know whether any laws were broken by Mr. Foley, if they can find any evidence -- and this is what they're looking for -- any inappropriate contact or communications, e-mails of any kind between Mr. Foley when he was a congressman and minors, including congressional pages. And we emphasize "minors," any inappropriate contact.

Now, generally speaking, the Florida Department of Law enforcement says that this type of investigation involves interviewing witnesses, issuing subpoenas. But they will not say whether they have done any of that.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement also says it is assisting the FBI. But the FBI's preliminary investigation -- and it remains that out of headquarters in Washington -- we don't have any additional information about what, if anything, they have been doing actively here in Florida.

Now, it is possible that searches may be conducted by consent of the parties involved, or people are willingly, you know, granting interviews, for example, to the FBI, to state investigators. But so far, we have no information about that -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Susan Candiotti, we'll follow up. Thanks so much.

We're going to talk to a former congressional page coming up in the 3:00 Eastern hour about what we found out today about the House Ethics committee concluding that Republican leaders did not break any rules in handling ex-representative Mark Foley's improper advances toward congressional pages, but were negligent in protecting the teenagers.

We'll continue to talk about it throughout the day.

LEMON: For millions of Americans, they're just a heartbeat away. But how safe are drug-coated stents? The FDA splits over possible risks they pose to heart patients.

What you need to know coming up right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Two and a half weeks before Christmas, and the FBI says it's foiled a plot to bomb a crowded shopping mall. Twenty-two-year- old Derrick Shareef is due in Chicago at this hour. Investigators say he planned a terror attack at a shopping mall in Rockford, Illinois. It's about 90 miles west of Chicago.

They say he told an undercover agent he wanted to commit an act of "violent jihad." He was arrested allegedly trying to exchange a set of stereo speakers for hand grenades and a gun. Shareef is a U.S. citizen, and investigators say he does not appear to be affiliated with any organized group.

And CNN has just learned that there will be a news conference at the bottom of the hour from Chicago. We'll bring that you to live right here in the NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Millions of Americans have what's called a drug-coated stent, a tiny tube used to prop open an artery after a blockage, but an FDA panel is looking into just how safe they are.

Medical Correspondent Judy Fortin joins us now with all the details.

JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, they've been around for three years. The FDA approved them in 2003. And they have become very popular, Kyra. We both know people who have them, so this is something that people want to think about.

But now the FDA has some real concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FORTIN (voice-over): You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but just seven months ago Scott White collapsed with a massive heart attack. He was only 49 years old.

SCOTT WHITE, HEART ATTACK SURVIVOR: They put four stints in my heart because I had 85 to 95 percent blockages in my arteries.

FORTIN: Those stents are round mesh tubes that prop open an artery after a blockage. Originally, when they were approved in 1994, they were bare metal. But blood vessels often closed again after they were put in. So three years ago, the FDA approved stents coated in medicine to prevent that, and that's the kind Scott got.

But now there are concerns that these coated stents could increase the risk of blood clots in some people. That could possibly lead to heart attacks and other problems.

Dr. William Suddath is the cardiologist who saved Scott's life. He's been using these stents for years and has seen the clotting problem firsthand.

DR. WILLIAM SUDDATH, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Yes, there is a risk of clot formation, but the risk is about three to six patients per 1,000 over and beyond 12 months.

FORTIN: Dr. Suddath counters it by putting patients like Scott on blood thinners every day for the rest of his life.

Scott says it's a small price to pay.

WHITE: You know, just the fact that I'm still here, that I still, you know, can enjoy my wife and my son, my daughter, my friends, I'm just blessed that that's happened, that I can still be here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FORTIN: Well, doctors say it's vital that patients follow instructions after the procedure and take their anti-clotting medications. Apparently, some people will fill their prescriptions, Kyra, but they don't always take the pills when they're supposed to.

PHILLIPS: So how common is the problem?

FORTIN: Well, that's what the committee is trying to determine at this point. They just don't know.

Among the questions the committee is wrestling this afternoon is whether using those blood thinners is enough to reduce the risk, and how can they assure that patients on these devices are safe?

PHILLIPS: Could they actually remove the stents from the market?

FORTIN: They're not talking about that at all. In fact, we know that heart disease is the number one killer among men and women in this country. And so many people who have addressed this committee yesterday, and today as well, say that they want these to continue. They want them to stay on the market.

The doctor that we talked to said that about 95 percent of the patients do just fine. So there may be a small percentage of patients who really need to take a second look. And what the committee really needs to determine is, are there some people who shouldn't be getting the stents? And if they are getting the stents, should they be staying on these anti-clotting medications for the rest of their lives?

So a lost of questions still out there.

PHILLIPS: Your mom has them. My dad has them. We were talking about this.

So when do you know -- I mean, can you change them out? Can you get a different kind? Should you...

FORTIN: Well, it's a complicated procedure in the first place. And there are so many risks that are involved. They're not talking about changing them out, but what they're talking about is patients really spending the time and listening to their doctors, taking their anti-clotting medications, following the instructions. Make sure that you're not going off on your own and doing something that you think is right and not following your doctor's instructions.

PHILLIPS: All right. Judy Fortin, thanks.

LEMON: Well, he's never, if rarely, let us see him sweat. But as he prepares to leave his job at the Pentagon, a softer side of Donald Rumsfeld emerges. An emotional farewell coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Thinking about waiting until after the holidays to look for a new job? Well, you might want to get a head start on that.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us why you might actually be -- why right now may be a good time to find your next employer.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

We pay their salaries. But how often do they show up for work? As 109th Congress gets ready to clock out for the rest of the year, they're checking those Capitol Hill time sheets. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Two-and-a-half weeks before Christmas, the FBI says it's foiled a plot to bomb a crowded shopping mall. Live pictures now from our affiliate WLS out of Chicago.

22-year-old Derrick Shareef due in court this hour. Investigators say he planned a terror attack at a shopping mall in Rockford, Illinois, that is just 90 miles west of Chicago. As soon as authorities step up to the mike, we'll take it live.

LEMON: Swan song for Donald Rumsfeld. The long-serving defense secretary is winding up his time in office, and today he spoke to a friendly crowd at the Pentagon. Rumsfeld said his second term in that post will be seen as a time of enormous challenge and historic consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I left this post in 1977 believing strongly that America was a force for good in the world, that the vast majority of the American people were wise and decent people and that America would continue to be the principle leader in the free world. That has been proven right.

And I can say that as I leave at the end of my second -- and the good lord willing my last -- I do leave believing as I did 30 years ago that America is a truly great nation, that the American people are wise and decent, and that America's leadership in the world is not just useful but that it is urgently need.

I was in Walter Reed the other day and a fellow just came in with multiple wounds. And he was on his back. He had a tube in his nose. And he looked up and he said, if only the American people will give us the time, we can do this. We're getting it done. And it's a fact. It will take patience. And it will take understanding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Rumsfeld's last day is December 17. His successor, Robert Gates, will be sworn in the following day.

PHILLIPS: A Senate Republican breaks ranks with his president. Oregon's Gordon Smith said that he's at the end of his rope and he can't support the war in Iraq any longer. He gave an emotional speech last night on the Senate floor, calling the situation in Iraq, quote, "absurd."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. GORDON SMITH (R), OREGON: I, for one, am tired of paying the price of ten or more of our troops dying a day. So let's cut and run or cut and walk but let us fight the war on terror more intelligently than we have, because we have fought this war in a very lamentable way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Until now, Senator Smith supported the U.S. military policy in Iraq. He said he was moved to speak out by this week's release of the Iraq study group report.

And you can use one word to describe U.S. public opinion about Iraq: pessimism. In a new Associated Press survey, 27 percent say they approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, 71 percent say they disapprove. That is an all-time high for the AP poll. As for how the war will eventually end, just 9 percent foresee a clear-cut victory for the U.S.-led coalition, 87 percent expect some sort of compromise settlement. Nearly two-thirds say they do not expect a stable Democratic government to be established in Iraq.

LEMON: A Democratic message for members of the new Congress: set your alarm clocks early, this congress is going to work. That story ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Also we're standing by for that news conference out of Chicago on the arrest of a man accused of plotting an attack on an Illinois shopping mall. We'll bring that to you live as soon as it starts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well the curtain is coming down on the 109th Congress. Lawmakers hope to wrap up the session by finishing work on tax and trade legislation. The tax bill includes $38 billion in breaks for businesses, higher education expenses, and school teachers. When the new Congress convenes in January, Democrats will be in the majority and both the House and the Senate.

PHILLIPS: Taking care of the people's business, Democrats now in charge say that they're going to put their stamp on the new Congress promising longer hours and more meetings.

CNN congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel has more on the Democratic plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats call it the do-nothing Congress.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER-ELECT: What we see is a drive-by Congress, Tuesday night to Thursday morning.

KOPPEL (on camera): In fact, under Republican leadership in the House, the legislative week of the 109th Congress did begin late Tuesdays but didn't wrap up until late Thursdays. That's two full days a week, for a total of 103 days this year.

(voice-over): That's the shortest legislative calendar in almost 60 years. Once they are in charge, Democrats promise, that will change.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER-ELECT: You cannot do the people's business essentially working two days a week, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

KOPPEL: So does that mean Democrats plan to work five days a week? Not exactly.

HOYER: In order to have oversight, you've got to have sufficient time for committees to meet, which means full Tuesdays, full Wednesdays and full Thursdays.

KOPPEL: That's three days a week. If Monday is a travel day, what about Fridays?

HOYER: We're going to meet every Friday in June.

REP. JACK KINGSTON (R), GEORGIA: I don't think anybody is debating the work week.

KOPPEL: For Georgia Republican Jack Kingston, spending time out of Washington and back in his district doesn't mean he's not working.

KINGSTON: I think that members do a lot better when they can go out and see the real world, and I think part of that is being connected to your families back home, your constituents.

DONALD RITCHIE, ASSOCIATE SENATE HISTORIAN: This is in 1910, let's say. When they got here, there were no paved roads.

KOPPEL: Senate historian Don Ritchie says lawmakers have always struggled with splitting their time between home and Washington, but often back then the biggest challenge was traveling back and forth.

RITCHIE: In the 1840s, when Jefferson Davis was elected to the House of Representatives from Mississippi, it took him about a month to get to Washington. He had to go up the Mississippi River by boat, and then he had to go down the Ohio River.

KOPPEL: And once he finally got to Washington, Ritchie says, Davis and his colleagues wouldn't leave until Congress adjourned at the end of the year.

Andrea Koppel, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Yes, a news conference from investigators in Chicago who have apparently foiled a plot to bomb a mall, let's take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... While these are obviously serious charges, the public, particularly the shopping mall, was never in danger. The joint terrorist task force was all over this, engaged in extensive surveillance and coverage.

And the only person involved in this plot is Mr. Shareef and two people who turned out to be working for the government. And I'll let the special agent in charge Rob Grant of the FBI will explain further the role of the joint terrorism task force and this investigation.

ROBERT GRANT, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: Thanks. Let me reiterate what the U.S. attorney said. This particular investigation did not present any serious threat to anyone. Mr. Shareef came to the joint terrorist task force attention several months ago. The joint terrorism task force, as all of you're aware, in Chicago has about two dozen agencies in there from federal, state, local law enforcement, as well as public officials and intelligence agencies.

It's designed to detect and disrupt terrorist plots. Be they sophisticated terrorist operations that are developed in Afghanistan with sophisticated operators or relatively unsophisticated operations, people who might on their own decide to take action based on whatever cause they believe they're fighting for.

This represents one of those types of cases. We've been focussed for about two years looking for those individuals who may be wanting to take action on their own. There's been a lot of effort to develop the intelligence. Intelligence came to our attention that Mr. Shareef posed a threat. The threat was not focussed at the time.

We immediately began surveillance and investigative operations to determine the level of his threat and what his threat was directed at. Mr. Shareef, going through a collage of different potential targets, began to focus on a mall. That's when our interest peaked, in particular. We began to focus more resources on the effort. Mr. Shareef was surveilled throughout the operation. And as he got closer and closer to an actionable event was surveilled around the clock by a number of different techniques and methods.

As the complaint bears out, Mr. Shareef went to the mall on two different occasions, the first occasion was to determine whether or not the mall was an appropriate place for an attack. And he was determined after seeing the mall and seeing the concentration of people, particularly during the holiday season, that that might be an appropriate place.

His second visit to the mall was to conduct an evaluation as to his escape route and how much time it would take him to escape. All while this was being done, he was surveilled. There was no threat to the public. He had no weapons. Our attempt at that time was to make sure that we could disrupt his operation.

He began to focus on obtaining weapons. He began to prepare himself through a purification process. He began to prepare videos in the event did he not survive the attack. He fixed on a date of December 22nd, on a Friday, which he picked because it was the Friday before Christmas. And thought that would be the highest concentration of shoppers that he could kill and injure.

At that point we decided to affect a plan with the joint terrorism task force to introduce an undercover agent. There was -- at that time he was going to trade his property for the weapons. He was arrested immediately at a mall separate, not the mall in which he was targeting.

But I just want to -- for everybody's sake, re-emphasize what Pat said earlier. He was acting alone. The only people he was acting with were people either under our control or ourselves. He's now in custody. We don't -- there are no other threats that we're aware of. And just want to kind of keep the potential hysteria this time of season down to a bare minimum. We believe we neutralized this threat. And that's the mission of the joint terrorism task force.

QUESTION: How and why did he come to your attention?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead.

GRANT: We're always trying to figure out how to answer this question. I would say, I don't want to give details. But the joint terrorism task force, when you go back and look at the Madrid bombings, the London bombings, things in Toronto, we've been focussed for about two years on those types of domestic developed cells that could develop or individuals.

It's very difficult. But he came to our attention -- I don't want to reveal the method. But once that threat came to our attention, the joint terrorism task force responsibility is to evaluate every single threat, no matter how unusual it may be and once that came to our attention, we determined the threat was serious enough to continue investigating.

QUESTION: Was he tutored by someone in radical Islam? Was there some, you know, in other instances we've learned that there were jihady Imams teaching and tutoring them in this, in the rituals that you've described.

GRANT: I'm sorry, Mike, what was your question? I heard that part, but ...

QUESTION: Was there -- where did he (INAUDIBLE) these principles of the jihad and the rituals that's you said he was following. It sounds like he must have been studying this, perhaps, with other radicals?

GRANT: Mr. Shareef is a converted Muslim. Any number of different outlets be they places he went and worshipped, videos, computers, things like that. We had known since 9/11 that the number of what we would call jihadist web sites has astronomically increased.

And that's been our concern is that although we're always looking for those potential operations that may emanate overseas and try to place themselves in the United States and are very sophisticated and well trained, we've been focussed on what in the United States can be done over the internet and how do we pick that up? And so the entire law enforcement and intelligence apparatus has been focused on attempting to identify those types of activities, those types of behaviors.

(CROSSTALK)

GRANT: I can't comment on that. Sorry.

LEMON: All right. Investigators there holding a press conference talking about the events that led up to the arrest of a 22- year-old man, Derrick Shareef.

Apparently they said they foiled a plot to blow up a shopping mall just 90 miles west of the Chicago area. Let's bring in Kelli Arena now to talk to us about this investigation. Kelli, joint terrorism task force appeared to be the folks who are taking the lead on this.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right and that's made up of a variety of federal, local, and state law enforcement agencies all working together to fight the terrorism threat. I'm going to talk about the stuff you didn't hear in that press conference.

Number one, it was -- we are told by sources. A confidential informant that came forward to law enforcement to say, hey, I think something is up. You need to take a look at this guy.

When you hear all those the acronyms, the JTGF and so on, it was actually the ATF -- Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives now. It is ATFE, actually, and I've just been at this too long and so I still say ATF. That was the undercover agent who went in and allegedly tried to strike a deal with the suspect. As you heard, it was some stereo speakers for some grenades and a handgun.

Now, why should we care? One guy in Chicago, you know, who was caught, not affiliated with any terrorists. It just underscores that we do have a lot of soft -- so-called soft targets that remain in the United States and it is conceivable that someone could walk into a mall or any other sort of public place if they had a plan like this and there is a good chance that they might be able to pull it off.

The good news is that there are people from the community coming forward and talking to law enforcement. That's the good news.

On the flipside of this, it is these very people that law enforcement are most concerned about. They call them lone wolves. We've talked about them before. They're people who have no affiliation, who make plans to cause destruction, like the Unabomber, for example.

There is no intelligence on those people. They are the hardest to find. And so it's very, very important for people to come forward and talk to law enforcement as is what happened in this case.

LEMON: All right. Kelli Arena, thank you so much for that and we want to tell our viewers here that you can get more information on this at CNN.com, and that press conference now continuing on our Pipeline product. We'll be right back after this.

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PHILLIPS: Live pictures out of Atlanta, Georgia. This is our affiliate, WAGA. This is actually Dekalb County. These are the Westgate Manor Apartments. Not quite sure how this fire started or how many units have been affected or if anybody was injured, but you can see firefighters on the scene.

It's not nearly as bad as it was earlier. This is just moments ago. Firefighters, you can see the number of them there at the front of that apartment complex. Responded very quickly and got those flames doused.

We're not sure how many people were inside, if, indeed, they had to make any rescues. We've been monitoring the pictures but, boy, they're right in there fast and furiously getting those flames out. We'll update you on the Westgate Manor Apartment fire if we get any more information.

LEMON: The outfoxed the feds on the silver screen, but today no such luck. Actor Wesley Snipes surrendered to federal authorities in Florida today on tax fraud charges. He flew in from Namibia where he was filming a movie. He was freed on $1 million bond. Authorities say Snipes falsely claimed millions of dollars in tax refunds. Snipes says it's all a big mix-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WESLEY SNIPES, ACTOR: I want to say thank you to everybody, all of the fans out there who are showing support. I look forward to clearing my name and resolving this issue post haste.

BILLY MARTIN, SNIPES' ATTORNEY: Mr. Snipes has been charged here with the intent to defraud the IRS and tax laws. We believe the evidence in the case will show that he has been the victim of unscrupulous tax advice and this trial will help to vindicate him. We look forward to him having his day in court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: If convicted, Snipes could face up to 16 years in prison.

PHILLIPS: From getting Iran and Syria involves to phasing U.S. forces out, how's the Baker-Hamilton Report playing in Baghdad? Our Nic Robertson checks the rocky reaction to some of the key recommendations. That's straight ahead from the NEWSROOM.

And coming up later in the CNN NEWSROOM, an exclusive interview with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

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