said today he is an operational figure in al-shabaab but gave no details. he refused to answer questions about whether hamami is helping to finance the terror organization, hamami now, of course, in somalia. martha: thank you very much, steve centanni, all of this as the pentagon releases a new report saying al-qaeda in pakistan poses the most dangerous terror threat to the united states, as well as our interests overseas. the state department says that al-qaeda has strong support in africa and in yemen, as we have seen linked through all of these stories, and appears to be attracting radicalized americans, like the ones we see wrapped up in this arrest today. the report also saying that al-qaeda remains actively engaged in plotting attacks against western targets around the world. new battle ground states in the fight against the overhaul of health care. voters in missouri overwhelmingly approving a challenge to mandated
indictment are not in the united states, many of them are in somalia or believed to be in somalia. where they have been fighting. amongst them, omar hamami, a well-known name now, to u.s. authorities, because he, though raised in the state of alabama has been over in somalia, is believed to play an operational role now in al-shabab and has been prominently featured in recruiting videos for that organization. the attorney general saying here, they re trying to send a message, if you want to go over there and you want to fight you risk ending up either in a u.s. jail cell or being dead on the battlefield. back to you. and jean, one more question. and eric holder touched on the fact, he was talking about the people, the extremist ideologies, the people who want to be part of the extremist groups and how it is frightening. is it on the rise? is that safe to say? yes. he mentioned in fact that there has been an increase in this. and i can say just within the last couple of weeks, we v
that s not a breaking news alert, but it s aren t there a lot of those places? [laughter] reporter: we ll get a read on how effective the president is, because most of the people he s campaigning for personally are in tight races, and so we ll see whether his personal appeal is enough to push him over the top. jenna. jenna: wendell, thank you very much, wndel goler for us at the white house. jon. jon: jenna, we told you at the top of the hour about those terror arrests in a couple of cities, primarily minneapolis. more than a dozen people arrested, charged with supporting terrorism, and in specific, a group called al-shabaab, a somali-based terror organization. we now know the name of at least one those arrested, omar hamami, he is an american citizen, having been born in alabama. oar omar hamami is one of those arrested, he has become one of the leading terrorist propagandists according to the department of justice and has been arrested as part of this
both are believed to be in somalia and fighting on behalf of elshabab. according to public reports, hamami has been appeared in videos. and he s believed to be a ranking member of the elshabab organization and has operational responsibilityings. and finally, ali and hassan both naturalized united states citizens and residents of minnesota, were arrested by fbi agents earlier today. they have been charged with providing material support to terrorists among other offenses. the indictment alleges that these two women raised money to support elshabab through door-to-door solicitations and telephone conferences in minneapolis, rochester and other locations in the united states, as well as in canada. in some cases, these funds were raised under the false pretense that they would be used to aid
how those 50 people involved, how they re doing. meantime, another live event, we have attorney general eric holder, he s holding this news conference on these 12-plus indictments, let s listen. by either indictment or by criminal complaint. the remaining three defendants had not been charged before. in the district of minnesota alone, the total of 19 defendants have now been charged in connection with this investigation. nine of these defendants have been arrested in the united states, or overseas. five of whom have already pleaded guilty. ten of the charged defendants are not in custody. and are believed to be overseas. additionally, two united states citizens and former residents of alabama and california omar hamami and mustafa have been charged in separate cases with providing support to elshabab.