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Car Bomb Plot Foiled in Portland, Oregon; Holiday Season Now Underway; Zach Lederer Beats Brain Tumor and Plays Football

Aired November 27, 2010 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: A terror plot designed to kill hundreds as they celebrated the beginning of the Christmas season. Tonight, the suspect, a college student and naturalized U.S. citizen under arrest. The FBI credited with stopping a tragedy.

The Black Friday rush had stores and malls crowded. Did retailers see buyer burnout today? It doesn't look like it as shoppers appear willing to spend.

Shopping from home may be more your speed. That's why Cyber Monday was made for you but before you enter your credit card number on a Web site, we have some security advice for you. Simple steps that can help you tell if you might be getting scammed. I'm Joe Johns in for Don Lemon and you are in the CNN Newsroom.

We begin in Portland, Oregon, where authorities last night foiled a car bomb attack at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Pioneer Square. The place was packed with families, including many children. A 19-year-old Oregon State student was taken into custody near the lighting ceremony. Mohamed Osman Mohamud is a naturalized U.S. Citizen from Somalia. According to the FBI, the explosives were fake but Mohamed believed they were real. He was arrested after dialing a cellphone number he thought would set off the bomb.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us by phone from Portland. And Paul, walk us through the legal affidavit in this case, if you will, how long have they been track this young man?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well over a year, Joe. And it is lately one of the most thorough affidavits you would ever want to see just because they had so much time to put it together. They have arrested him on a charge that would carry a maximum life in prison sentence. And among other things, he made contact with undercover operatives, undercover agents back in 2009. And in 2010, he told the undercover FBI operatives that he had been thinking about a violent Jihad since the age of 15, and he wanted to inflict mass casualties.

They asked him, they said they'll be women and children at this Pioneer Square during a tree lighting ceremony, 10,000 people by the way were here last night. And he said, well, you know, it's Oregon, nobody ever thinks about it and he also said that basically he wanted to inflict that type of mass casualties with families being together on a holiday. They also have him in a couple of other areas, he mailed passport photos trying to make for professional getaway and he also provided the FBI with some draw that contained detailed directions of the bomb location and instructions and the rest -- Joe.

JOHNS: So, it sounds like he performed a series of affirmative acts, if you will, toward doing what he thought was blowing up a van there in Portland. What else do we know about Mohamed? Do we know when he came to the U.S.?

VERCAMMEN: We don't know exactly. It's hard to find a lot of details about him. And in fact, I talked to some students from Oregon State who were Muslim and they said they had never come across him. But we knew about some of the things that he said. He told one agent, do you remember when 9/11 happened and those people were jumping from skyscrapers? Quote, "that was awesome." And they also were talking to him again about what mass casualties he would inflict in Pioneer Square right next to it in downtown Portland where so many people are gathered and there are so many restaurants and shops around. And he said, I want whoever is attending that event to leave either dead or injured. So some very telling statements all part of the affidavit -- Joe.

JOHNS: Paul Vercammen there. We're going to have a whole lot more on this story, I'm sure. Thanks for all your reporting.

Mohamed is to appear in Federal Court on Monday earlier. CNN spoke with former FBI Assistant Director Tom Fuentes. He said, the suspect apparently had a single minded focus on carrying out this attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: He did not actually deviate from that plan from the beginning. So starting with his e- mails to Pakistan last December, his first contacts with undercover agents in July and then continuing until last night. From the beginning, he indicates that he wants to attack that event, that particular tree lighting ceremony in Portland. And even when undercover agents tell him that there will be children there with their families, he's undeterred, that's fine with him to go ahead and kill and endure any passport in that event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Much more on that story at 7:00 p.m. Eastern when we'll speak with former Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend.

The holiday shopping season is on, and it looks like there's a lot more money out there for retailers to fight over. PayPal and online payment services payment volume yesterday on Black Friday jumped 27 percent compared to the same day last year. We're talking about online sales with PayPal, of course. But what are the sales looking like in the stores?

CNN's Sandra Endo is in McLean, Virginia, my staff in ground. Sandra, how is it looking out there?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe, it is very dazing out here. We've been here in the morning and it feels like we're in a casino. We don't know what time of day it is. We don't know if it's sunny or cloudy outside and none is the feeling here, it's so crowded in fact. A lot of people are out here to see and take advantage of signs like this one. This weekend only, 40 percent off. These are the types of bargains people really want. And we're seeing a lot of people here opening up their wallets. The National Retail Federation is anticipating that 2.3 percent, they're anticipating an increase of that much this year on retail sales. So, that's pretty good news. And actually, we found one shopper here who has had a lot of work on some bargains brand, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That's right.

ENDO: So what have you gotten so far and how do you think the deals are out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Well, we went to the Toys R Us the other day on Friday and we've saw actually a lot of good deals there. And we were there, I mean, we were there, they were open from like 10:00 p.m. all throughout the day. And it was actually a nice shopping experience. There's a thinned out after a while and we were able to shop there and look through the deals.

ENDO: You were here at midnight yesterday for Black Friday, you're back at it again today.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yes.

ENDO: Buy a bunch of stock, you're going to go online Cyber Monday. Are the deals good and what do you think about the crowds? Are there a lot more people out spending money this year?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I would say it's about the same as it was last year. I mean, it fluctuates a little bit, but last year I noticed about the same size of crowd as this year.

ENDO: Well, good luck shopping. I know you're doing well. And Cyber Monday is huge. Eighty eight percent of retailers actually Joe, say that they're going to be online slashing their prices and they're anticipating huge sales. So if you don't want to brave the crowds out here, Joe, just go online and in the comfort of your own home and make sure you get those sales. I have to tell you Joe that one place that's most popular in this whole entire mall is the line at Starbucks. This has been the longest line we've seen all day.

JOHNS: I can totally relate to that. Thanks, Sandra Endo, so much in McLean, Virginia. The other thing we're talking about right now is what travel is going to be like on this very busy holiday weekend. And Jacqui Jeras now over at the weather center. Next 24, 36 hours, a lot of people are going to be trying to make their way home, we think. What does it look like out there, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, things are good pretty good across the east, but the west is where we're having the problems today, Joe. You can see we've got a weather system here. Rain and then snow into the higher elevations. I-80 has been rough going all day from San Francisco through Nevada and into parts of Utah. We've seen anywhere up to about 10 inches of snow into the higher elevations here into sear. And we could see a couple of feet of snow, starting tonight through the day tomorrow, into the Wasatch Range. Now, we're also monitoring what's going on traffic wise on those interstates with our affiliate. This is from King TV out of Seattle. There you can see their tower cam overcast conditions, reporting an accident on I-5 at Ever Avenue (ph) that's blocking some of the lanes and also keep in mind, there are going to be some road closures in Seattle tomorrow, too as a results of the marathon. You knew, a marathon in November, right?

JOHNS: Cold.

JERAS: Chilly for a lot of those people out there. Hey, we've got some trouble into the northeast and primarily the winds. We've had some heavy snow coming off the lakes but that's sort of winding down a little bit. Winds making things difficult, especially on the east- west traveled roads and we do have a couple of delays at the airports. Now, Newark, 15 minutes delays and then at Reagan National in D.C., we've got some departure delays around 30 minutes. And both of those are due to those winds. We do expect most of the delays for tomorrow however to continue to be out west and then the nation's midsection where those winds also start to pick up -- Joe.

JOHNS: You know, one thing about having a marathon this time of year is certainly, you don't have to worry about your body overheating. Though, hypothermia could be a problem.

JERAS: Yes, definitely wear a hat I'm thinking.

JOHNS: All right. Thanks, Jacqui. Not thrilled about fighting the crowds at the mall this weekend? And then, Monday perhaps is your day, they call it Cyber Monday when Americans do so much of their shopping online. We'll show you how to avoid becoming a victim of the scams.

And another important story, the U.S. diplomatic community is bracing for a Web site to publish a whole new round of classified U.S. secrets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: For those of you still hunting for the supreme bargain, this warning, do not fall prey to scams. You may find this Cyber Monday that some deals are simply too good to be true. For more on how to protect yourself and shop securely, Gregory Evans is here, here's the CEO of Ligatt security. Now, I know you should only patronize a sites you're only familiar with. But there are sometimes, when you want to go to sites, you've never heard of before and there's a way to vet them. That is who.is. Tell me about who.is?

GREGORY EVANS, CEO, LIGATT SECURITY: Who.is and there's a lot of Web sites out there not like just, air view baloney (ph), go daddy, go there and find the exact same thing. Who.is will let you know when the Web site was actually created, who owns the Web site and where the Web site is actually being hosted. JOHNS: All right. All right. So now, we have an example here. And if I can just click this, this is eLuxury hand bags and I think the staff basically put in or searched louisvuitton-handbags.org and this is what comes up.

EVANS: This is what comes up. Now, we all know and this too good to be true, this are probably is.

JOHNS: Right.

EVANS: Louis Vuitton, 60 to 90 percent off.

JOHNS: That's too good a deal, right?

EVANS: That's a good deal.

(CROSSTALK)

I mean, you may find your target there. So, when you see something like this, what you want to know is, hey, is this really a good deal? Is this Web site real? Before I give up my credit card information, let me find out. Is this an online scam? And how to find that out is you can go to the contact page.

JOHNS: All right. Here we go. Let's go over to louisvuitton- handbags.org. And there you go, now, what does this mean? What does this town?

EVANS: Well, I think what we did was we went a little too fast.

JOHNS: OK.

EVANS: What we wanted to do is if you went back, on every Web site, you have a contact page. And on the contact page, it will give you the address of where they're located.

JOHNS: Right. Right. OK, there you go.

EVANS: Here this Web site says it's in Sunnyvale, California.

JOHNS: Sure, it sounds good. Right.

EVANS: Now, and what we want to do...

JOHNS: US of A.

EVANS: Correct. Look, if we can scroll up here. We want to go to who.is and we want to scroll up here.

JOHNS: OK.

EVANS: Where we would actually put in the name here.

JOHNS: OK.

EVANS: And then, you just hit enter. JOHNS: OK.

EVANS: Once you hit enter, scroll down.

JOHNS: All right?

EVANS: It will show you when this Web site was actually created. This Web site was just created in September.

JOHNS: On September or is that July, last update, so that the...

EVANS: There you go.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNS: ...that was September 23rd of 2010.

EVANS: Exactly.

JOHNS: What does that mean? Why do I care?

EVANS: Because it's a brand new Web site.

JOHNS: OK.

EVANS: Do you really believe that you're going to go to a Web site who's going to give you a Louis Vuitton bag that costs $5,000 for $250?

JOHNS: All right. So, that's a red flag, right?

EVANS: Exactly.

JOHNS: Now, another red flag, perhaps?

EVANS: Another red flag, when you do the who he is, if you look at the contact information, it will show you that this company here is actually located in China.

JOHNS: Not Sunnyvale?

EVANS: Not Sunnyvale. As a matter of fact, what you want to do is even if they weren't located in China, always take the address of the company and do a Google map on it, if we can go over the Google map real quick.

JOHNS: OK. All right. So, now, where precisely is this place in Sunnyvale?

EVANS: The actual address, the address that they listed on their Web Site is in the middle of the street, somewhere in Sunnyvale, California, that's it. There's no building, no address.

JOHNS: Right. That's it, right there.

EVANS: That's it right there. JOHNS: And it's basically trees and what have you, huh?

EVANS: Yes.

JOHNS: That's a problem.

EVANS: That's a problem. And a lot of Web sites right now, especially starting tomorrow, Cyber Monday, they all get ready for the scam.

JOHNS: OK. All right. Now, we did contact the Web site. Louisvuittonhandbags.org and a spokeswoman admitted that Louie Vuitton products on the Web site are fake, they tell us. And the Web site has no authorization from Louis Vuitton to sell the lines. Good the spokeswoman said, "Though all the bags are replicas, they are of high quality and conforming to the standard as the authentic bags." There it is. All right. So, a couple other points while we're here. You say, don't use your own credit card online. I mean, what are you supposed to do?

EVANS: Well, you can use your credit card online. Don't try to use your ATM debit card. Because a lot of banks will not give you credit like they would on the regular credit card.

JOHNS: If you get risk off.

EVANS: If you get risk off.

JOHNS: OK.

EVANS: So, what you might want to use is services like PayPal. PayPal will guarantee, they look out for the actual customer. You don't receive a product, then what they will do is they will refund you your money and go after the merchant.

JOHNS: OK. Great. Thanks so much, Gregory Evans. The CEO of Ligatt Security. I appreciate the walk through here and happy shopping.

EVANS: Thank you.

JOHNS: You bet. Dr. Sanjay Gupta ahead introducing us to a remarkable high school student who beat overwhelming odds to live life to the fullest including long High School football.

And this. Former South Korean military personnel hit the streets. Why they are furious with their government? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Checking some of this hour's top stories. Some incredible video coming into us from Pakistan. A cargo plane carrying eight people crashed after takeoff from the airport in Karachi. None of the eight people were Pakistanis. Four bodies have been recovered. The plane crashed in a residential area in a housing development that was under construction. No one was inside the houses that were hit by the plane. South Korean veterans protested today in Seoul, claiming the government isn't doing enough to retaliate for Tuesday's shelling by the north. That battle left two marines and two civilians dead. North Korea warns of unpredictable consequences if the U.S. goes forward with deployment of an aircraft carrier near the Peninsula. Joint military exercises involving South Korea and the U.S. are scheduled for tomorrow.

Polls open tomorrow as Haiti voters choose a new president. The election is going forward despite a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,600 people. The new president faces a tough task, rebuilding a nation still reeling from January's earthquake. The U.N. has confirmed reports of violence in one town before the election but it's unclear if there were any casualties.

French police seized 242 pounds of cocaine from a luxury apartment on the outskirts of Paris today. Police told the CNN affiliate that four people were arrested, two French, one Iranian and one Venezuelan. The drugs are worth more than $9 million. Cash, luxury items and clothes were also seized.

An 11-year-old boy stricken with a brain tumor and not expected to live. But after four brain surgeries and months in a hospital, this young man refused to let his illness dictate his life. And as our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows, he not only survived, he's now playing high school football.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Go, go, go!

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventeen year old Zach Lederer is a high school football player in Ellicott City, Maryland. He's loved sports for years, but he's no ordinary player. He was just 11 years old when his entire world came crashing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH LEDERER, HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER: I started experiencing terrible, terrible headaches. Like nothing I had ever felt. I had headaches before but these are just unreal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Migraines, his parents assumed. But an MRI found a brain tumor, the size of a large walnut. Zach was rushed to John Hopkins Hospital. The diagnosis there was devastating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE LEDERER, ZACH'S MOTHER: That our son was not going to make it. That he had a very short time and he was going to take a big turn for the worse, probably that night.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GUPTA: But Zach hung on. He overcame incredible odds. He had four brain operations in one week, was put in a medically induced coma, and had radiation therapy to shrink the tumor. He then spent three months hospitalized and then rehab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEDERER: You know, here I am at 11-years-old wearing diapers and re- learning how to walk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: A small piece of the tumor is still there. Doctor thinks it's dead, slowly disintegrating but Zach never let any of this stop him from pursuing his dream of playing high school football.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Let's get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: After three years as team manager, the coach talked about getting him in for one play. But Zach, now a senior, wanted to play on a regular basis. He's a running back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEDERER: I just wanted to prove to anyone that any obstacle is able to overcome, even something as big as a brain tumor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: His parents agreed to let him play. Now, he wears a special helmet with 18 shock absorbers. His parents' main concern is not concussion, it's damaging the shunt still inside his brain. But Zach refuses to let his life in a bubble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEDERER: It's not about never getting knocked down, it's about getting back up. So, the fact that I did get back up and I have become what I am and done everything that I would dream of doing, I think I'm all better because of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: It's been a tough November for President Obama and believe it or not, it got worse this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHNS: Let's check some of the stories crossing this hour on the CNN Political Ticker. President Obama and the first family are attending today's Howard University basketball game against Oregon State. The first lady's brother coaches the Oregon state team. The president took it on the chin for his own team yesterday, when he accidently got elbowed in the mouth by Rey Decerega, who works for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Mr. Obama needed a dozen stitches to close that wound.

Former Bush Adviser and Campaign Strategist Karl Rove are praising Sarah Palin's decision to take her book tour to Iowa. Rove tells FOX News, quote, "That's a pretty smart move if you're thinking about running for president." Iowa of course, is home to the first in the nation presidential caucuses. For more on this and other political headlines, logon to cnnpolitics.com. We'll have another political update in the 7:00 hour.

One of the highlights of the year for CNN occurs each Thanksgiving when we honor our top ten CNN heroes of the year with a big celebration in Los Angeles. This year, we also have some special guests who survived 70 days trapped in a mine in Chile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: On behalf of CNN heroes, we salute all 33 Chilean miners. We welcome them here tonight, and we welcome them home.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: You can watch CNN heroes, an all-star tribute hosted by Anderson Cooper tonight and tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern. I'm Joe Johns at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'll be back with the day's news at 7:00 Eastern. "CAPITAL MURDER: THE DEATH OF CHANDRA LEVY" begins right now.