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Cyber Monday Madness; WikiLeaks Blows Cover on U.S. Diplomatic Maneuvers; Actor Leslie Neilsen Dies at 84

Aired November 29, 2010 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: 10:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 7:00 a.m. out west. Hi, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. Here are some stories that have us talking this morning. It's not like anything we've ever seen. An on-line whistle-blower, Wikileaks beginning to publish more than a quarter million documents exposing how the U.S. handles its diplomatic maneuvering. Backroom deals, secret dialogue. It's all going public.

And it's cyber Monday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Internet retailers offering discounts and often free shipping to get shoppers to spend.

We'll never forget "Airplane" or "The Naked Gun," will we? That's because of actor Leslie Nielsen. Today, we look back at his life and humor as we say goodbye to the 84-year-old funny man.

We begin with the Wikileaks story, that whistle-blower group publishing a quarter million diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies around the world. Some of those secret messages are embarrassing, some are enlightening, and all of them are controversial.

We're sifting through the unprecedented peak into the complex world of diplomacy. And here are some of the revelations. 2009, Secretary of state Hillary Clinton extensively directed American diplomats to engage in intelligence gathering. Their assignment collect the names, addresses even credit card numbers of diplomats from other countries.

Here's another headline from late last year, the U.S. fears that Iran has a long-range missile. If true, it means that Iran has strike capabilities far more ominous than what's been discussed in public, and the secret documents show that even Arab leaders are worried about Iran's nuclear ambitions. In fact, U.S. allies in the Middle East reportedly urge decisive action to stop Iran's nuclear program.

The White House is condemning the release but WikiLeaks says the public has a right to know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTINN HRAFNSSON, WIKILEAKS SPOKESMAN: It is important to keep in mind that these cables are not in the top secret classification. Even, I mean, almost half of them are unclassified. So there is very little there that could cause imminent threat to national security, and, may I add, because of the accusations that the information in these cables may cause danger to individuals, that we have and will go to great length and scrutinize the materials, both our organization and our media partners in order to redact names of individuals that might actually be harmed by the exposure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The release of the classified documents has the White House fuming and scrambling to contain the damage. Let's begin our coverage with senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry. Ed, just how damaging could this be to the president's foreign policy goals?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it could be extremely damaging. I mean, certainly some of this is just embarrassing but maybe it's not going to change any policies or disrupt any international relationships but other things like you were mentioning on Iran, for example.

Look, this administration has been touting publicly the fact that it has got a tough new round of sanctions against Iran to try and stop its nuclear program, trying to sell that as a major accomplishment. As you noted, now you got all kind of Arab leaders in private, according to these documents saying "look, it's not enough. You may have to take military action. Maybe you need much more dramatic action." That could be a dig development.

Secondly, there is information about closing Guantanamo and how, to put it in the words of the "New York Times," there's been a sort of "let's make a deal" diplomacy, where in private the White House has been telling countries like Slovenia, "if you want to meet with President Obama, you have to accept at least one prisoner from Guantanamo so we can shut it down." Well, look they're already having trouble shutting that prison down as it is.

With these revelations it could become even harder. And then finally, I'll mention Yemen as well. The fact that publicly the White House has refused to comment that reports that there have been these U.S. drone strikes in Yemen to go after Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. These documents suggest that the president of Yemen in a private meeting with General David Petraeus acknowledged all this and said, "look, we will just keep saying that your bombs are our bombs and then it's really the government of Yemen that's launching these strikes when in fact, it's the U.S..

So all of this is happening in secret but now it is out there in public. Very embarrassing and that's why Robert Gibbs put out this tough statement saying "By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals.

We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.

So you know, another key one would be Russia. This whole resetting of the relationship. That's in parallel now against the new START Treaty, the arms reduction treaty is stalled in the Senate. Well, there are also documents here suggesting that U.S. officials don't believe that Russia is really becoming a democracy. That could hurt that relationship. So there's a whole range of relationships around the world that could be impacted by this, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, the White House, is it going to do anything to try and prevent other leaks like this?

HENRY: Senior U.S. officials are looking at what legal action they can take. We've got Republican Peter King saying "look, why don't you just declare Wikileaks a terrorist organization and then go after them and prosecute them." U.S. officials have certainly looked at that but one potential problem is it wasn't Wikileaks that initially leaked the documents.

It was allegedly leaked by this Private Manning, he has been taken into custody, et cetera. That is all being investigated. Wikileaks is sort of just the middle man here. So it's sort of a complex legal question as to whether or not this web site, you know, outside the U.S., based outside the U.S. can really be prosecuted. And so they're looking at avenues but there are no easy answers right now, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ed Henry from the White House. Ed, thanks so much.

Coming up today, 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, secretary of state Hillary Clinton is expected to make a statement. The State Department is not saying exactly what she will say but it's widely presumed that she will focus on the Wikileaks documents.

We'll carry her comments live. Also, about 11:35 Eastern time, the president is supposed to make remarks. No word yet on what his topic will be. We'll of course take it live as well.

Well, a new week, and new tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The military muscle flexing and the political rhetoric both amping up. South Korea reportedly deployed more long range artillery guns. Several rocket launchers on that front-line island that was attacked by the North last week.

That's according to the on hop (ph) news agency. Now the deadly artillery shelling prompted weekend street protests in Seoul. Marchers upset that their government hadn't done enough to respond.

So just hours ago, Korea's president gave a nationally televised address warning that his country will respond firmly to any more provocations from the North. CNN's Stan Grant is tracking it all for us, right from Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, South Koreans have been waiting for their president to talk tough, and today he did. He has told North Korea that any more aggression, any more provocation, and they will pay a big price. He called North Koreas attack an Yeongpyong Island last week, an inhumane attack and this is targeting civilians unprecedentedly since the end of the Korean war. He says he is angry and frustrated and that South Korea has run out of patience, run out of tolerance with North Korea. Now, South Korea also unleashing its fire power today to back up the President's words in these military exercises with the United States in the Yellow Sea. The "USS George Washington" carrier group joining forces with South Korean forces.

This is carried out about 100 kilometers, about 60 miles south of this hotly disputed northern and southern border line across the sea there. Now at the same time, the president, Lee Myung-Bak, saying that South Korea will continue to develop its military to be able to defend itself. He told his people, now is the time for action, not words. Kyra.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Stan Grant, thank you so much.

And a teenage suspect due in court in just a few hours. Accused of plotting to set off a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting in Portland.

19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American charged with trying to use the WMD at a holiday ceremony, on Friday. The FBI says Mohamud plotted for months with undercover agents which he thought were jihadists to detonate a van bomb filled with explosives in downtown Portland. Authorities say that the public is not ever in any danger from the mock explosive device and then the suspect was an engineering student at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The town just about an hour and a half outside Portland where police say someone set fire to a mosque yesterday.

Mohamud worship there on occasion. But the FBI is not connecting the apparent arson case, Mohamed's arrest. Here's the imam? And what he told out Thelma Gutierrez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): What was your first reaction when you heard that he had been arrested?

YOSOF WANLY, IMAM: I was shocked and you know, the greatest thing that affects me most is that I wish I could have intervened in a way, to console him. I wish he could have spoken to me in a way. And that's the thing that has affected me the most.

GUTIERREZ: It seems as though you're very saddened by this. It's a very emotional time, why?

WANLY: Because he destroyed his future, you know.

GUTIERREZ: And hurt the Muslim community as well?

WANLY: And he put, you know, civilians in threat and the U.S. population as a whole. So it's a difficult situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, the FBI is offering a $10,000 award for any information leading to an arrest in that apparent mosque attack.

OK. Well, winter has gotten an early start in the UK, from Scotland and northern Ireland to southern England. Record cold. And early snow in many places there. So the earliest widespread snowfall in 17 years. Several cities set record low temps over the weekend, eastern areas get another six inches of snow today. London got to get some, too. Forecasters think that the cold snap could last another two weeks.

Reynolds Wolf -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Brutal, brutal stuff.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's pretty intense in parts of our country as well.

WOLF: Absolutely, not quite as heavy as it was in England but in parts of north east in England add several feet of snow just over the weekend itself. When it gets that bad, you don't go out and shovel, you stay inside and have a couple of pints of stout, you don't go out and shovel. You wait for it to subside a bit.

Things really didn't start again in terms of snowfall in the Pacific northwest. That's about to go underway. If we take a look at this map behind me, you're going to notice a lot of purple but darker purple indicates areas where we're going to see some of the heaviest snowfall. The cascades are going to get rocked.

Take a look at this, some places with over a feet of snowfall, possible. But then you get to Spokane - it looks like it's going to be fairly light snowfall in some places, a few isolated spots may get up six to eight inches but what's interesting is in Spokane, they are very close to breaking the all-time record of snowfall in the month of November. It may be a break because they're right around 20 inches of snow. The record run 24.5. This should be another seven or eight inch of snow through Tuesday. This is probably going to break.

Right now, those I mentioned, not a whole happening out there. It's pretty quiet. Things are going to get ramped up into the afternoons and scattered showers along the streets of (INAUDIBLE) but then when you get into the highest elevations, the Olympic mountains and the cascades, that's when you see the conversion from raindrops to snowfall.

We've got the watches and the warnings in effect at the Pacific northwest and into portions of the Central Plains. And the thing that's making all this happened is a lot of cold air that continues to funnel in from the north. You've got a lot of moisture and you've got also some very humid air coming in, warm conditions along the coast, say Houston, your high today will be 80 degrees, 86 degrees in Tampa, four degrees shy from 90, and 27 over towards Denver. And as we fast forward to take a look, this is the big weather maker. It's this area of low pressure. This storm system is going to roll eastward and when it does, Kyra, what we can expect is the possibility of storms to develop across parts of the southeast and then for tomorrow, everything drives into the eastern third of the country and we're going to have widespread delays in places like Atlanta, possibly Charlotte, and maybe even into parts of Cleveland and Pennsylvania, say, Pittsburgh, before all is said and done.

That's a quick snapshot of your forecast. It looks like it's going to be a tough day, possibly today. You might see ground delays in Atlanta and you might see those begin to stack up in Chicago and of course, the twin cities before all is said and done.

PHILLIPS: Perfect segue to a silly animal tease.

WOLF: We always need silly animal tease.

PHILLIPS: Otters.

WOLF: Sure.

PHILLIPS: They're cute, playful. All right. Well, dangerous, believe it or not.

WOLF: You never know.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I know, you just never know. There you go. We thought this was going to be cute and fun. Sorry, Reynolds, we'll tell you why one South Florida suburb is actually on alert right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's head cross country. Let's start in Palm Beach County, Florida where animal control agents are on the lookout for an aggressive otter. There's actually been three separate otter attacks including this one caught on tape last week.

Just listen for a second.

Yes. Animal control agents have set traps hoping to capture this critter. They want to test it to see if it has rabies.

Let's go to Boston where you got to be 21 to buy two new brands of whipped cream that are flying off the shelves. Why? Well, they're alcohol infused. We're talking the equivalent of three beers or a glass of wine, folks. State regulators say they're going to keep a close eye on the whipped cream. You're going to recall that Massachusetts like a few other state, recently banned caffeinated alcohol drinks like Four Loko due to health concerns.

All right. Last stop, Sarasota, Florida for a well-done Thanksgiving bird.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get away?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kelly! Stop it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get the turkey out of there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A little family drama there on Thanksgiving day. Thanks to our I-reporter Carmen (INAUDIBLE). A grease fire inside their oven adding to the culinary (INAUDIBLE) despite their open flame turkey. Carmen says they ate it and it tasted pretty good even if it was unintentionally smoked instead of baked.

Let's see on capitol Hill, lame duck Congress returning to work, facing a number of big issues before newly elected lawmakers take office. Tax cuts, a federal budget, even Medicare will be on the table. But one of the most emotional issues could die with very little notice. It's the Dream Act, which would provide citizenship to a select group of illegal immigrants.

Our Susan Candiotti explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For 19-year-old Joanna Kim, America is home. Her parents moved to New York from South Korea when she was only eight.

JOANNA KIM, COLLEGE STUDENT: My first memory was when I first came here and my dad took me on a ferry here near where the Statue of Liberty is, and we went around. And it was snowing that day so it was extra beautiful.

CANDIOTTI: It was 1999. The World Trade Center is seen over her shoulder. But from the time she was little, she was told to keep a secret. Her family was in the U.S. illegally.

KIM: As I grew older, I realized that the reason was it could put me in danger like the position that I'm in right now.

CANDIOTTI: The college honor student is now fighting deportation. Her status is tied to her divorced father who has had no contact with Joanna and her mom since moving back to South Korea years ago. Her only hope is the Dream Act. Tossed around like a football in Congress for a decade, it would allow students such as Joanna to become permanent residents if they came to the U.S. as a child, attend college or serve in the military and of good character.

California Congressman Michael Honda supports it.

REP, MICHAEL HONDA (D), CALIFORNIA: They are honor students, went to universities and/or served in the military. These are the young people that we want in our country.

CANDIOTTI: Joanna Kim's undocumented status prevented her from getting into Ivy League schools but she's attending a state university on scholarship.

KIM: I'm still working on a career that I want to go into medicine.

CANDIOTTI: Dream Act opponents are urging defeat in a lame duck Congress.

WILLIAM GREEN, AMERICANS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRATION: Illegal immigrants aren't supposed to be rewarded with citizenship, voting rights and college educations and financial aid paid for by me and my family and my grandparents. Illegal immigrants are supposed to return home.

CANDIOTTI: To Joanna, becoming a doctor would help America, way to pay back its generosity.

KIM: I can't imagine myself living anywhere else.

CANDIOTTI: But unless the Dream Act passes, she may have to.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, no love for Kanye West. Crowds actually booed him at the Macy's day parade. Some even yelling "jump." Why all of the hate?

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you fly this plane and land it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surely, you can't be serious?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am serious. And don't call me Surely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doctor, I checked every where.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Yes, of course, that was our first clip that our team thought of when we found out that Leslie Nielsen died last night. Who can forget the 1980 hit "Airplane" that launched his incredible career in comedy? He actually died Sunday of complications of pneumonia at the age of 84.

Egypt Sherrod, host of "All things Entertainment" WBLS in New York and you know, he had such a knack for this dead pan dry wit. It was unforgettable.

EGYPT SHERROD, ENTERTAINMENT BLOGGER: You know, I think what people loved so much about Leslie Nielsen, he is he would play these serious characters in the middle of chaos and had no idea what was going on around him, completely oblivious. That's what made it so hysterical.

PHILLIPS: And he didn't even start out that way. I mean, he started out as a serious actor and then he did "Airplane" and the rest was history.

SHERROD: Yes. When I first heard he passed away, I heard it on Twitter. So you think it's a bad joke. What has the world come to when we start getting our news on Twitter?

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. It should be coming from you?

SHERROD: Yes, you know, I thought it was a horrible joke. I heard the same about Bill Cosby last year until he confirmed 30 minutes later that he was still kicking and you know, breathing. It's so unfortunate. We'll definitely going to miss him. He left a legacy.

PHILLIPS: Well, you mentioned, Twitter, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, lady Gaga saying that's it, we're getting off Twitter but it's not for long, of course. Why are they doing this?

SHERROD: Well, it's all for a good cause. Alicia Keys' Keep a Child Alive Foundation, they're going to raise $1 million. So she has Jennifer Hudson, Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest, Usher, all together, you know, signing off, good-bye. This is our viral digital death here. They've actually filmed an ad, saying this is it. They're laying in a coffin, this is it. Our viral death. I don't quite get it. Far be it for me to knock anyone for doing something good for charity or a cause. But I don't understand why they just don't get together and do a concert.

PHILLIPS: Right. That's a good idea.

SHERROD: Lady Gaga, Usher, Alicia Keys, you can make $20 million in an hour. Just get up on stage and perform. I don't get the Twitter thing. Maybe it's just a way to have a quick vacation because we all know Twitter is a part-time job.

PHILLIPS: Yes, true but you do it. Yes. I need some help with that. All right. Well, let's take a look at this clip from the Macy's day parade. Kanye West not getting a lot of love.

All right. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boo. He's going to bug out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Not only did he get booed but some people even yelled at him to jump. I mean, there are some angry people at this man.

SHERROD: You know, I'm from New York. Here's what I say, welcome to the Big Apple. He's lucky that's all he got is a boo. I've seen people get eggs thrown at them, tomatoes. I had a cup of coffee thrown in my lap, a hot cup of coffee at that. You know, it's the New York state of mind.

PHILLIPS: But you know what, you are not controversial like Kanye West. He has ticked off a lot of people with his shall we say episodes.

SHERROD: Kyra, I thought people forgot about it. It was a year ago. Here we have short attention span.

PHILLIPS: Obviously not.

SHERROD: Taylor Swift is America's sweetheart. We know who not to mess with here.

PHILLIPS: All right. Well, we're going to hopefully have you back talking more entertainment.

SHERROD: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We got a little breaking news right now. But Egypt, it's great to see you. Of course, we love that name and will get the whole scoop behind the name next. We'll keep everybody holding off on that. But she loves Egypt. There's a hint. We'll see you again. Thank you.

SHERROD: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We do have some breaking news now. We want to get to Ed Henry at the White House. We're going to hear from the president around 11:00 a.m. Eastern time and we're getting word on what the headline will be. Ed?

HENRY: That's right. It's 11:35 a.m. Eastern time. Kyra, the breaking news I'm learning from a senior administration official is that bottom line, the president is going to announce a federal pay freeze in just about an hour from now, yet another sign of the push now in the federal government for some austerity.

The president is obviously been hit with a lot of charges by Republicans. He's dealing with a new dynamic as well, the power dynamic on the Hill, but the allegation being that the federal government has just grown too large, that there needs to be some cuts. So the president is going to start laying one out this morning, just one day before he has that so-called slurpee summit tomorrow with Republican and Democratic leaders here at the White House.

John Boehner, the incoming speaker of the House, top of his agenda is to start some cuts in federal spending. The president is now laying down a marker saying, here you go. We're going to try to start slashing some federal spending. We are trying to work on the numbers right now and see exactly how much money this will mean but I think the other significant thing to look at down the road is that the president had appointed that federal commission to study how to cut the debt.

They're coming out with a report here in the next couple of weeks. A lot of eyes in Washington on that because of the preliminary report a few weeks back suggesting major federal cuts across the board, changes to social security, maybe tax increases to try to balance this bloated federal budget. So the president now at least starting the ball rolling ahead of that commission by saying he wants to try and freeze federal pay. That's going to impact millions of federal employees around the country, obviously, who are going to be wondering whether they are going to get a pay raise next year. It turns out it is now going to be frozen. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ed Henry, we appreciate you bringing us the latest there from the White House and we hope to hear from the president at about 11:35 Eastern time today. We'll take it live.

Well, a business owner in Florida facing a pretty tough choice at this down economy. She had to lay somebody off. So guess who she picked? Herself. We're talking to her about it, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Stock market opening bell rang just about an hour ago. Let's go ahead and check the numbers. Dow Industrials down about 137 points.

Some of you may be at your computers right now, surfing for those bargains instead of getting your work done since it is Cyber Monday. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is in New York. She's not doing that, though.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Never!

PHILLIPS: She's just covering the issue for us.

HARLOW: Never! Always, all about work. I know you're not shopping on line on set, Kyra.

We were in the mad crowds, as you know, on Friday for Black Friday. My certainly - my first experience with Black Friday, which was insane. Today is Cyber Monday, and apparently even more people are shopping today but from the comfort of their desk or home.

Look at what's expected. The National Retail Federation is saying 106 million Americans are planning to shop online today. That would be a record, up from 96 million last year. They're also saying 88 percent of retailers expect to have special promotions today, so it's almost nine out of 10. And it's interesting. If you think about Cyber Monday, it's a relatively new phenomenon. It actually came - it was coined back in 2005, when stores saw a big surge in their sales online the Monday after Thanksgiving. A lot of people were doing it from work at that time because at work they had much faster Internet connections than at home. That's not really the case anymore, but take a look at these numbers because Cyber Monday sales have grown year after year after year from 284 million back in 2005 up to almost $900 million this year. It's expected to be even more than that this year.

But this is interesting, Kyra. It is not necessarily the busiest online shopping day of the year. Last year, Tuesday, December 15th was the busiest shopping day. They raked in $959 million, retailers across the country, on December 15th last year. I honestly think that's because people realize oh my goodness, Christmas is ten days away, and I don't have any gifts yet. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Exactly! It's that stress of whoops, I better do something now. You have some tips, I guess, on what we should all be looking for today?

HARLOW: You are going to see a lot of aggressive promotions. You probably got a lot of e-mails. If you want to get the best deal, don't just go by what's on the Web site. Go on Google, Yahoo!, what have you, and search for coupon codes. Some good Web sites are retailmenot.com; also, couponcabin.com. They will give you even bigger discounts.

Also, most retailers are going to have free shipping. They're all trying to do it this year. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy. So, really, try not to pay for shipping today.

But you also need to be very careful of scams, and I want to tell you three tips from the Better Business Bureau. The first thing is, if a deal sounds too good to be true, that's exactly right. It probably isn't true. You can get unsolicited e-mails from addresses you don't know. Look up the research, make sure you know the retailer so you don't get ripped off. Also, beware e-mails that claim there was a problem with your order. Then they're going to ask you for more financial information. What you want to do, pick up the phone, call the retailer to make sure that it is actually legitimate complaint, and they are not trying to get your credit card number. And finally, always pay on line with a credit card. You can dispute any charges with your credit card company in case anything is a scam or goes wrong. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Good tips. Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: You got it.

PHILLIPS: We have been talking about this massive document dump on behalf of WikiLeaks, and, apparently, Attorney General Eric Holder was asked about this at a news conference that just took place a couple minute ago. Let's go ahead and take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Attorney General, can we switch gears for a second about WikiLeaks. Why hasn't the Justice Department yet been able to make a case for prosecution against the founder of WikiLeaks or at least the possession of classified information, given the very strong statements from the administration that the release of the material has caused national security -- has caused damage to national security?

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: Along with other members of the administration, I condemn the action that WikiLeaks has taken. It puts at risk our national security. But in a more concrete way, it puts at risk individuals who are serving this country in a variety of capacities, either as diplomats, as intelligence assets. It puts at risk the relationships that we have with important allies around the world.

We have an active, ongoing criminal investigation with regard to this matter. We are not in the position, as yet, to announce the result of that investigation, but the investigation is ongoing.

QUESTION: Mr. Attorney General, does WikiLeaks deserve to be treated as a news organization? Is there a type of protection that normally is afforded to news gathering organiztion?

HOLDER: All I would say is that I condemn the action that it has taken. I think one can compare the way in which various news organizations that have been involved in this have acted as opposed to the way in which WikiLeaks has. And I'll let other people decide whether it should be or not. I will indicate and want to emphasize that there's an active ongoing criminal investigation that we are conducting with the Department of Defense.

QUESTION: With respect to the alleged bombing situation in Portland, is this a serious matter?

HOLDER: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

HOLDER: It's a very serious matter. We were able to thwart somebody who cleary had the intention, by his own words and by his actions, to harm a great many people, to do real serious damage to property, to put at risk the lives of American citizens, including children. This was a individual who was given a number of opportunities to desist from his course of action but who at every turn decided he wanted to continue. But for his interaction with the FBI, he might have come in contact with somebody who, in fact, would have made his plans tragically real.

QUESTION: Mr. Attorney General, two questions on the same topic. There was a fire at the mosque that the suspect attended. Is that something that DOJ is looking at in terms of a possible hate crime? And then on a separate matter, you said a decision on the 9/11 case is coming quote, "soon." Since that, we've had the decision in the Ghailani case and we wondered if that changes your assessment that the position on the 9/11 case is (INAUDIBLE)?

HOLDER: Well, with regard to the first thing, the FBI has issued a statement indicating there was a reward for information with regard to the attack on the mosque. It is something we are looking, something that we are investigating and something what if related to this matter or if in some ways related to an attack on Islam, on that mosque, it's something that I personally decry. It is not something that's consistent with who we are as Americans.

With regard to your second question, the Ghailani case has had no impact on our process that is ongoing with regard to where the KSM trial will be held. That is something that continues as an interagency effort.

QUESTION: Will the decision be made soon?

HOLDER: The process is one that is ongoing and on the same time line as before.

QUESTION: Another investigation, the insider trading investigation going on on Wall Street right now? Can you tell us where that stands, how far along you are in that --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right, so what's the latest on WikiLeaks? As you heard, one of the reporters asking attorney general Eric Holder why not take action against WikiLeaks for the disclosure of these documents? Eric Holder saying they are conducting an active ongoing criminal investigation into the WikiLeaks disclosure of classified U.S. diplomatic documents. We will pursue -- obviously, we will pursue whatever happens within that investigation, and give you as many details as we can as we find out more.

Quick break. More from the CNN NEWSROOM, straight ahead.

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PHILLIPS: Real quickly, live pictures now of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meeting with the Turkish foreign minister there at the State Department. We are waiting to see if she's going to make any comments about the WikiLeaks documents and what it basically exposed about her and communications she's had with foreign leaders. If indeed she does that, we will take it live.

All right. Lola Gonzalez is a entrepreneur, the owner of Accurate Background Check Company in Ocala, Florida. For years, she was a success story, pulling in six figures, driving a souped-up Mercedes and then the economy started to sputter. Lola had nine people on her payroll and she had to trim one. So you know what she did? She laid herself off.

Lola Gonzalez joining us live from Orlando. And Lola, this is such an unprecedented move, and you had an office reputation as a prankster. So, did your employees believe you when were you came and told them what you were doing?

LOLA GONZALEZ, LAID HERSELF OFF FROM HER OWN COMPANY: No, ma'am. They thought it was one of my other pranks, I suppose.

PHILLIPS: So, what kind of pranks did you pull on your employees?

GONZALEZ: Well, I mean, I would sometimes move their cars so they wouldn't know where their cars were. But this day it was not a joke.

PHILLIPS: No, not at all. I love that you have this great sense of humor. So when it finally sunk in what you were going to do, how did they react? What did they say to you?

GONZALEZ: At first they didn't believe it. And I told them, we provide wise hiring information for employers to do wise hiring decisions around the country that it started at home. And that I had trust in them, and that I knew that if they trusted me all of these years that they were going to be just fine. That I would still have the leadership role, that I could still give them guidance, obviously. I would be in contact, and now with the technology that there is, I had no concerns as far as about getting information.

But I had to make a decision, and I thought if they had trusted me all of these years and I had trusted them, that it was the right thing to do.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So, the money that you receive as your salary, where, exactly, is that money going to go now? Have you figured out how that will be disbursed?

GONZALEZ: Yes ma'am. We will put that money back into the company. You see, we have companies nationwide. Many of them have been shut down to include banks. FDIC, as you know, have closed down banks. We have small businesses, and the way that we work, we do not get paid right away. So, I need to make sure that the cash flow was coming in, not burdening the company, not taking a benefit, a bonus or a salary.

And with that, we've actually been able to reinvest in the company, buy more fingerprint machine. And I have someone on the road doing the level 2 fingerprinting. So, the money is all going back into the business.

I've also picked up more death penalty cases. I'm a mitigation specialist. Whether I'm hired by the public defender or the courts, and all that money is going back into the company itself as well.

PHILLIPS: OK, so be honest with me. You remember making a nice six-figure salary. Have you had to make changes in your lifestyle at all? Have you had to rethink the way you spend money and how you are going forward financially?

GONZALEZ: Yes, ma'am. And this is a lesson also for my children as well. You don't need six pairs of shoes sometimes and four coats. We've made changes at home from the way we used to live, and we like to take little vacations and what not. And I love shopping like I think almost all women do.

Actually, I walked into Pier One the other day in Ocala, and one of the ladies says, boy, where have you been? I haven't see you for a while. We have made changes. And I got a car. Even though it's a BMW, it's six years old.

And the fact of the matter is, we had to take a strong stance and start, but we -- this started in 2007. We lost our largest client due a corporate takeover. And what happened to all of us, all of us, perhaps even your viewers -- we woke up one morning, and there were foreclosures all over the place. Banks were closing. The sky was falling.

So I started looking ahead. I needed to be proactive. I didn't want to wait like many investors to say could have, would have, should have.

PHILLIPS: It's pretty amazing what you did for your employees. And I truly believe good karma comes back and will bless you tremendously. It's grabbed our attention, Lola --

GONZALEZ: Well, actually, I have been blessed, and that's one thing that I have given back. That's one thing I was taught, and I teach it to my family, and I will show you through my actions, not my words. I have been blessed. I have not only been blessed with good clients and good friends and good family, but also phenomenal employees.

PHILLIPS: Lola Gonzalez, thanks so much for spending some time with us.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Key hearings coming up on Capitol Hill on this week on "don't ask, don't tell." Before the testimony begins, Senator John McCain weighs in on military policy. That's next in our political update.

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PHILLIPS: Well, it's a critical week for the future of "don't ask, don't tell." There's a Pentagon report out tomorrow, and Senate hearings later this week. Senior White House correspondent Ed Henry here to it tell us that one senator is already speaking out about the policy, right Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was Senator John McCain. He's pivotal, obviously, a very senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is going to have a say with this. He was with Candy Crowley yesterday on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," and he was pretty angry about this issue, lashing out at critics saying look, the current system is working. His case was - he said basically the military is at its highest point in recruitment right now, in retention, in his words, professionalism and capability, quote, "so to somehow allege that this policy has been damaging the military is simply false."

He also lashed out at the president, saying the attempt to overturn the policy was just quote, "a political promise made by an inexperienced president or candidate for president of the United States." John McCain not backing down to his opposition to overturning this policy, and, so, we're going to just have to sort this out and see whether this is really something the president can get done in this lame duck session of Congress.

A big development secondly in terms of the lame duck is that we're going to have a new senator sworn in this evening by vice president Joe Biden. It's Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois. Why that's significant is that this is the old President Obama Senate seat. He gets to be sworn in a little early, Mark Kirk, and as a Republican, the seat flips, basically. So now Democrats only have 58 seats in the Senate instead of 59, so as they try to deal with issues like "don't ask, don't tell" and overturn the policy, they have one less vote to do it.

As I mentioned, this was the Obama seat, and then, of course, former governor Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris, so it was in Democratic hands. Now in Republican hands. That could have an important impact on issues like "don't ask, don't tell," on trying to extend the Bush middle-class tax cuts that the president wants to extend. He suddenly has one less vote in the Senate, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Ed, real quickly, remind our viewers about the S.T.A.R.T treaty and the latest push to ratify it.

HENRY: You know what? Bottom line is Republican senator Jon Kyl, who has been opposed to kind of "rushing this through" in his words, made clear yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he's not going to let it go through quickly, wants a lot of debate and basically he thinks it's not going to be able to get done in this lame duck session. That's another area where the Mark Kirk vote has an impact because all of a sudden, the Democrats have one less vote than before. And so it makes it even harder for the president to get this S.T.A.R.T. treaty, reducing -- arms reduction treaty through in the Senate in this lame duck, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Ed, thanks. We're going to have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news, just go to our Web site CNNpolitics.com

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PHILLIPS: Every day, we honor the men and women who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan for all of us. And we call it "Home and Away."

Today, we lift up Sergeant Ronald Rodriguez from Falls Church, Virginia. He died in support of combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan August 23rd of this year. Christopher Duran got to know Donald when they played -- or Ronald, rather -- when they played on the same team in a local soccer league. Ronald is the third guy from the left in the back row.

Christopher says that besides being a great soccer player, Ronald was easygoing and fun to talk to. He wants Ronald to be remembered for giving his all in everything he did, including giving the ultimate sacrifice for this country.

If you have a loved one, friend or comrade you would like us to honor, here's all you have to do. Go to CNN.com/homeandaway, type in your service member's name in the upper right-hand search field, pull up the profile, send us your thoughts and pictures. And we promise to keep the memory of your loved one alive.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LESLIE NIELSEN, ACTOR: Can you fly this plane and land it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Surely you can't be serious.

NIELSEN: I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's Leslie Nielsen had some of the best lines in one of the most quotable movies ever. We still quote "Airplane" 30 years later. The movie actually helped relaunch his career too, as a comedic actor. And he has been a dramatic actor for years before that.

Nielsen passed away over the weekend from complications of pneumonia. He was 84 years old. We want to take a look back at some of this "Naked Gun" moments win insight from his nephew, Doug Nielsen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG NIELSEN, LESLIE NIELSEN'S NEPHEW: He really just never looked back. He was -- timing is everything, as they say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone should have a friend like you.

D. NIELSEN: He started out just as TV was getting going, and he obviously was a great, good-looking guy who had a lot of talent. And he made the most of all of his opportunities. He was extremely funny. At all of our family get-togethers, he was always the life of the party and great-natured guy.

L. NIELSEN: Whatever scum did this, not man on this (INAUDIBLE) will not rest for one minute until he's behind bars. Now, let's grab a bite to eat.

D. NIELSEN: What I'll always remember about Leslie was he was always fun-loving. When I think of Leslie, I always smile. Leslie would want everybody to live their lives and enjoy their lives and to look for the next moment of humor that you could share with someone else.

L. NIELSEN: Cops and women don't mix. It's like eating a spoonful of Drano. Sure, it'll clean you out. But it'll leave you hollow inside. D. NIELSEN: I love Leslie. I'll miss him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We will miss him, too. Tony, no matter, you know, what age, it's the cult classics.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It's the lines --

PHILLIPS: It's that dead pan, that dry wit, the delivery.

HARRIS: That's it. "It will clean you out but leave you hollow inside." Kyra, you have a great day.

PHILLIPS: Have a great Monday.