authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. at least since january of 2011. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? they say the federal authorities say that he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcement official that cnn spoke with today, no indication that he has any kind of connection with a foreign terrorist organization. he dealt with undercover fbi agents who
been a very elaborate sting. authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. at least since january of 2011. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? reporter: they say the federal authorities say that he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcement official that cnn spoke with today, no indication that he has any kind of connection with a foreign terrorist organization.
what do we know about how it went down? it appears to have been a very elaborate string. authorities were tracking mr. ferdaus for the better part of this year. they do indicate that he began some of his various plotting last year but they have tracked him at least since january. they have used undercover agents and at least one cooperating witness who started taping conversations with him earlier this year. so this was a fairly elaborate sting operation that lasted until today when they actually sold him what he thought was some explosive material. they said not a lot of it was the real thing because they were obviously trying to trick him, but it lasted until today when they actually took him down. did he ever have any connection to real people at al qaeda? they say the federal authorities say he did not. there is no indication according to a law enforcement official that cnn spoke with today, no indication that he has any kind of connection with a foreign terrorist o
as recently as july 26th, the head of the atf s phoenix office told congress he discussed the case with a white house national security staffer as early as last september. an admission that once again directly calls into question president obama s repeated denials that neither he nor attorney general holder had any prior knowledge of operation fast and furious. guns, drugs, money. those are the commodities of the cartel enterprises. sean: heads are finally starting to roll. justice department has announced acting atf director kenneth melson and u.s. attorney leaving their posts. assistant u.s. attorney has been reassigned to a lesser position. the los angeles times reports that newly s supervisor and william mcmahon the atf s deputy director of
prosecuted or at least there is some repercussions in terms of not only those who were involved, but those who allowed this to happen. when did you first know about the program officially called fast and furious, to the best of your knowledge, what date? i m not sure of the exact date i probably heard about fast and furious for the first time over the last few weeks. reporter: targets include three atf agents. u.s. attorney supervised in phoenix. in washington acting atf director and assistant u.s. attorney general brewer are believed to have approved the program. at the attorney general holder and president obama claimed they knew nothing. some investigators believe otherwise. acting atf director melson