what, if any, overseas connections he might have. joining us also fran townsend. so, brian, this was an fbi sting. 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 organization. he dealt with undercover fbi agents who were posing as al qaeda operatives. he believed he was dealing with al qaeda operatives. but according to a law enforcement official we spoke with, no indications at this time that he had any serious connections to foreign terrorist groups. >> fran, using remote control planes as bombs, is that something authorities have thought about before? >> reporter: sure, anderson. it's fair to say authorities have looked at this both offensively as something we could do and the u.s. government doesn't acknowledge it but we use predators that have missiles on them and we have the offensive capability, we've looked at it defensively could somebody use it against us. the thing that is stunning here is the notion of it being used inside the united states, a weaponized remote vehicle. but this time it was pretty serious. he took overt steps in furtherance of this plot. he rented a storage facility to work on these remote droughns. so i regard this as a pretty serious case. >> once he had flown these bombs into the pentagon, brian, and the capitol, there was supposed to be a ground operation as well? >> that's right. he was going to bring in some ground operatives, two teams, according to these affidavits, to attack these buildings and as he put it, according to the documents, put the squeeze on people as they tried to evacuate these buildings. essentially they would fire on people with automatic weapons as they tried to evacuate the pentagon and the capitol, anderson, so he did have those plan s afoot to bring in ground operatives. no other names mentioned in this affidavit. no other possible leads on suspects. he at least had plans to do this, however. >> fran, you said it seemed like it was serious, that he was visiting a place to work on the planes. i guess some people would be skeptical and say, look, if somebody just talks about doing something, i'm sure there's lots of people that talk about things. it seems it was the fbi who was providing him with the fake explosives. if he didn't have access to explosives of his own, i assume his defense will argue some sort of entrapment. >> reporter: well, absolutely, anderson. but the interesting thing here, and the reason you see in the complaint and affidavit, that he took these actions. the significance is in trying to suggest it's the government taking all the action, having the idea, they attribute this guy's statement and to show his intent, commit jihad, and that he himself went down to washington and did surveillance in furtherance of this planned attack in addition to renting the storage facility. the government didn't do any of those things. he was relying on what he thought were al qaeda operatives to provide the explosives and he was looking to get them in order to load them onto these droughns. so i will tell you having been a former prosecutor, the overt acts are significant and go directly to the heart of the plot so i think the government will beat an entrapment defense. >> appreciate the reporting. tonight another stunning story. new and troubling details about the botched and some would call outrageous atf operation called fast and furious that aimed to track firearms bought in arizona, brought across the border to be used by mexican drug cartels. there's word tonight that taxpayer dollars, your money, paid for some of those weapons. there's also evidence of a huge communications blunder. one of the gun runners the atf was targeting was an fbi informant and the atf did not know that. let's give you some background first. it is a stunning story and came to light when border patrol agent brian terry, this man here, was shot and killed last december on the arizona side of the border. two of the guns that were used in this fast and furious program, two of the thousands of guns the atf had lost track of were found at the scene. >> he had already made his travel plans to fly back to michigan and spend the christmas holiday with his family. brian's attention to detail had ensured that all the christmas gifts he had meticulously selected for his family had already been bought and sent in the mail prior to his arrival. brian did ultimately come home that christmas. we buried him not far from the house that he was raised in just prior to christmas day. >> his still grieving cousin speaking before the house oversight committee. the committee also heard from atf whistleblowers. >> we weren't giving guns to people who were hunting bear, we were giving guns to people who were killing other humans. >> rather than meet the wolf head on, we sharpened his teeth, added number to his claw. all the while we sad idly by watching, tracking and noting as he became a more efficient and effective predator. >> remember the idea was to give guns to gun runners, to drug runners, to mexican drug cartels, track where those weapons were and ultimately -- ultimately on the mexican side of the border arrest the people and kind of figure out the networks, the drug cartel networks. testimony, though, revealed that mexican authorities couldn't tell the u.s. where the weapons were, where they were going because they weren't even told about the operation. so the united states was essentially arming mexican drug cartels and no one told the mexican government. the question both then and now is who ultimately was responsible for conceiving this kind of an operation, a risky operation and nothing like it had ever been done before and seemingly executing it so poorly? the true answers, we still don't know. washington is not saying. in may, attorney general eric holder told the committee that he learned about fast and furious more than a year after it was launched. president obama said that neither he nor his attorney general approved the strategy of letting firearms just walk into mexico. acting atf director, kenneth melson also testified there was no policy director from washington or the administration to use this tactic. he said he had not known that such details or briefed superiors about them. he has since left the job. back in july a man named william newel told congress that he made mistakes in handling the operation but defended the aim of it. he said he wanted to take out the entire gun running organization, not just stop a few easily replaced links in the chain. he has been reassigned. and the details keep coming out now. drew griffin joins us with the latest. what have you learned now, drew? >> well, anderson, it deals with what was happening and the guns that were being used. in a letter that was written by congressman issa and senator grassly, the lawmakers say they have obtained detailed information from confidential sources that the biggest fish that the atf had in his whole operation, anderson, was actually this informant with the fbi. so not only was this an operation that didn't have any way to track guns once they went across the border, but one of the biggest targets that the atf thought they might take down as part if the was working with the fbi. senator grassly's letter suggests that shows a complete lack of communication between the atf, the dea and the fbi. >> so let me just -- i just want to reclarify this because it's little confusing. these guns were being purchased with taxpayer money and then the guns were being basically allowed to go over the border into mexico by drug runners that were then used by mexican drug cartels. >> some, some. let me first tell you about the operation. here's what the atf agents did. they sat outside gun shops in the southwest where they knew these straw buyers were buying 10, 15, ak-47s at a time and going across the border into mexico. they're sitting out there doing surveillance, knowing these guys are bad guys. they were literally calling their superiors, let me arrest them now, let me take them down now. their orders were, no, let's let them walk across the border with the guns. that's where they lost track of the guns because there was no way once they went across the border to know where those guns were. now, the information from yet another letter, this written to a gun shop owner is informing the gun shop the atf is going to send in an agent to buy four pistols for official duties. we now know these too were purchased as part of fast and furious. not only were they tracking the guns purchased legally, they were also buying guns with taxpayer dollars and allowing those to go across the border as well. >> so again, clarify why the atf would purchase these weapons? >> the operation makes no sense. according to every law enforcement authority i have talked about, and that includes many atf agents themselves, you don't ever let a gun walk, as they say in this business, especially without any way to know where it is going. so what's the real purpose? the lack of sense, the apparent cover-up has opened the door for cheese conspiracy theorists. they believe this was part of a convoluted plan for the obama administration and the attorney general to actually increase the level of violence on the mexican border with assault weapons purchased in the u.s. in an apparent attempt to rekindle interest in an assault weapons ban. as wacky as that may sound, i must tell you that theory is gaining traction, not just among the second amendment crowd because this operation makes no other sense. >> you've spoken with the house committee on overnight and government reform, what do they say is the next step? >> congressman issa said there is only one step to take. that is for a special prosecutor, somebody outside the realm of the office, to find out who knew what when. and that is being backed up by the national rifle association. the nra's president saying this is the biggest cover-up since watergate. it's time to ask watergate questions like who authorized fast and furious and how high up does it go? >> drew griffin, appreciate you staying on this. earlier tonight i spoke with a sheriff from pinole county, arizona. he said neither he nor his deputies were told about operation fast and furious and he has a lot of other strong words. listen. >> so, sheriff, the mexican cartels have obviously been a huge problem in your county for your officers. when you hear, when you realize that the federal government has essentially been arming these cartels, what goes through your mind? >> we feel it's a betrayal. 42,000 people have been killed. and these weapons that our own government gave fa -- facilitated to them, 200 plus people have been killed for them. >> 200 plus? >> 200 plus. we also have our hero in the border patrol, agent brian terry killed on american soil. three guns have been found at the murder scene. all three of them were connected to this program. and so for us, i'm fearful not just my deputies, other officers, citizens in america that we're going to be facing the barrels of guns that have been put in the hands of the most violent criminals in north america and who's going to be held accountable for this? >> have your officers encountered any of the weapons linked to fast and furious? as you said, three were involved in the killing of border patrol agent brian terry. >> well, we had a shooting just last week. a cartel member opened fire on an officer coming down from a hilltop. we have been actively pursuing the cartel members in our county. we're not even on the border, we're 70 miles north of the border and we had this happen. we don't know if these weapons that are confiscated are linked yet to fast and furious. but 11 crimes now on american soil have been linked to these weapons. they're semiautomatic, fully automatic and 50 caliber rifles that are sniper rifles. we don't even have those type of guns. >> i want to read something that you said or quoted as saying, if somebody gives a gun to somebody knowing they're going to commit murder, guess what we call them. we call them accomplices. do you think the atf have been accomplices to murder? >> absolutely. >> so you're saying what they were doing is criminal? >> absolutely. not just these individual agents, but people up the chain of command who made the decision. the u.s. attorney for arizona just resigned. this is a big deal. now it's one step away from eric holder. this is his department of justice and there are people who have lost their lives. we have broken countless treaties with our neighbor, mexico, and we have a hand in responsibility in this violence that has come to the united states but more importantly mexico is our partner. they're not our enemy. and we facilitated guns into the cartels that have worked to topple the mexican government. >> from a law enforcement standpoint, i mean did this operation make any sense at all? >> it doesn't. where it came from is this concept when we allow drugs or cash or sometimes a criminal walk. we may watch a crime in progress where we can take lawful action. we allow that criminal to go in an effort to watch it spider web and to see how many people we can catch. they use the same concept with weapons. and this is pure insanity. it's never been done before to give weapons like this. their idea was to track the weapons. there was no tracking mechanism. now all these guns are nowhere to be found, and for years, this will haunt the conscience of america rightly. >> and as you say, weapons are still out there and who knows how many others may die because of that. sheriff, i appreciate you being on with us. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> let us know what you think. we're on facebook, follow me on twitter. i'll be tweeting tonight as well. up next, new pressure on president obama. david axelrod may have said that winning re-election would be a titanic proposal. a new polling showing how titanic it will be. we'll have much more coming up on our political panel. later, the michael jackson death trial. dr. conrad murray's actions that fateful day as described by jackson's personal assistant and head of security. what they say they witnessed as michael jackson lay dying or even dead. anderson, where is moammar gadhafi? that is the question. tonight we might have the answer. we'll bring you the latest word on his whereabouts and tell you who he's said to be hiding out among. that and much more when 360 continues. woman: saving for ours college fund was getting expensive. man: yes it was. so to save some money, we taught our 5 year old how to dunk. woman: scholarship! woman: honey go get him. anncr: there's an easier way to save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands 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[ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪ thank you! but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for her whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. time for some raw politics now. a president under pressure. when your top campaign adviser admits your re-election campaign will be, quote, a titanic struggle, that is some pressure. the president not showing the strain today but maybe that's because he hasn't seen some of the state-by-state polling john king has. >> aroundson, they know it will be nearly impossible to replicate this. blue obama, red mccain. here are the big challenges for the president. just watch his travels in recent days. raising money out on the west coast but colorado, the governor told me obama won last time, a toss-up at best last time. richmond, virginia, raleigh, north carolina, two states the president won last time he knows it will be difficult. twice in the last two weeks he has gone to ohio. why is he going to these places? watch this. 2004, george w. bush won those nine states that look a little purple. nine states went from red to blue in 2008. the president knows they will be some of the biggest battle grounds. nevada, highest unemployment in the country, i just mentioned colorado. let's come over here to two of the bigger battlegrounds. the state of ohio, always a bellwether. the president carried it last time. his disapproval rating, a majority disapproval. a majority of people of ohio say he does not deserve four more years. that's ohio. pennsylvania has been a democratic state for some time. another trouble sign for the president, 54% disapprove. 51%. again, a majority say he does not deserve four more years. so the president seize the trouble in the big battleground states including some friendly democratic states. the big question is if it won't look like this, can he make it so it doesn't look as bad as that. anderson. >> interesting stuff. john king, thanks. joining me now is paul and cornell. paul, not a lot of great news for key states from the president's campaign. is it as bad as john is saying? >> sure it is. first off, the iron law of incumbents is the only way to run is to run scared but this president has to run very scared. the data is very bad. stan greenberg, who's a democratic pollster and used to work for president clinton and my buddy carvel, they surveyed the 60 republican districts that are battleground districts and they are seeing a collapse for republicans there and a huge shift to democrats if democrats run on a progressive message about medicare, about fighting for the middle class and about actually asking the wealthy and oil companies, special interests to pay their fair share. so the president has a path to victory here. but i think it's the path he's on frankly. i've been thrilled with him these last three weeks. i think he's now on the kind of message that will reach those folks in those states that john was just pointing to. >> you want the gloves to come off. you like the rough and tumble of politics. >> i don't like it, i love it. i donated to him in the last campaign and wrote for negative campaigning only. it's really comp