This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” May 29, 2007, that has been edited for clarity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER CHRISTIE, U.S. ATTORNEY: A clerk at a local store here in New Jersey came into possession of a video, which the defendants wanted dubbed onto a DVD. That local store clerk having viewed the video, of these people in military garb, yelling out jihadist statements and shooting semiautomatic weapons, brought his attention to the fact that there could be a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: That was U.S. attorney Christopher Christie praising the store clerk who alerted police to the suspicious activity of the Fort Dix Six. His careful eye thwarted what could have been a horrific terrorist attack.
And joining us now is the Fort Dix Six tipster. Brian Morganstern is with us. Thank you for — do you realize what you’ve done here now?
BRIAN MORGANSTERN, FORT DIX SIX TIPSTER: It’s an honor to be here today.
HANNITY: It’s an honor to meet you. It really is. Walk us through the story. These guys come in the store. They want 8-millimeter to DVD?
MORGANSTERN: Yes. So they asked me, basically, what the price of it was. And I told them how much it was going to cost. So they were interested. And I got started on the conversion. They left. I basically started the conversion process. Everything was working out OK. I continued working on other projects that I had to do.
HANNITY: You normally wouldn’t watch the conversion?
MORGANSTERN: I keep an eye on it. I don’t watch it from start to finish, only because there’s other things that I can be doing at the same time.
HANNITY: What drew your attention to this tape?
MORGANSTERN: I glanced up, and I saw people firing handguns and rifles, and what it seemed to me as fully automatic weapons.
HANNITY: OK. And that in and of itself drew your attention there. We just heard the attorney mention jihadist rhetoric. Can you tell us what they were saying?
MORGANSTERN: No.
HANNITY: But that’s obviously got to be an accurate statement. There were things said that really alarmed you.
MORGANSTERN: There was another language that I was unaware of, that I was unfamiliar with, basically.
HANNITY: Were there any words you could discern?
MORGANSTERN: No.
HANNITY: Tell us the next step. You then see this. You’re suspicious. What did you do?
MORGANSTERN: I basically started thinking about it from that point on, whether or not this is something that I should contact the authorities over. And it was a difficult decision at first. And I went home, and I talked with my family about it. And we all came to the general conclusion that it was the right thing to do.
HANNITY: Right. Now, so when you finally contacted law enforcement they came in, they looked at the tape. What happened from there?
MORGANSTERN: They treated it very professionally, and they took it as a very serious matter. And when they looked at the tape, they decided that it was something to obtain a copy for.
HANNITY: How soon into the tape did they think, this is important?
MORGANSTERN: I can’t really comment on that.
HANNITY: OK. This came up with a flying imam story where we have, you know, people see suspicious activity. They report it. Now there’s a threat of a lawsuit here. I think the lessen here, and tell me if I am wrong, is that if people see something they think is suspicious, we should contact law enforcement in a post-9/11 world. Is that the lesson you would want people to get out of that?
MORGANSTERN: That’s the message that I’m here today for. More than anything else is the fact that I believe we, as American citizens, need to speak up.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Brian, thank you for being here tonight. You got thrown in the middle of this media maelstrom here. So you’re handling it very, very well.
MORGANSTERN: Thank you.
COLMES: Tell us about the process you went through to determine — you know, you were a little conflicted. You go to the authorities. You respect, I guess, privacy rights. You get your store in trouble. How did you assimilate all of that and come to that decision?
MORGANSTERN: It was not an easy decision, first of all, to come to. It was more of whether or not this was something that was important enough to contact the authorities over. But I came to the conclusion, with my family, that that’s not a decision for me to make.
COLMES: And the store supported you, too?
MORGANSTERN: The store, 100 percent.
COLMES: Circuit City behind you all the way on this?
MORGANSTERN: They have been great throughout this whole process.
COLMES: Were you concerned about your identity — and of course, you’ve now come forward on your own to let people know who you are. But was there some issue with you at all whether these people or other people who with evil intent find out who I am and what I’ve done?
MORGANSTERN: That has been that thought, and it’s been addressed and been considered. But I feel it’s more important to be here today telling my story than it is.
COLMES: What was your reaction when you — the arrest took place? And at what point did you become aware that it was you who was instrumental in making those arrests happen?
MORGANSTERN: Not at first. I’ll be honest, I woke up that morning, and I saw the film. And, to me, it just seemed like something that was happening on the news. It did strike me as a little familiar, like it had something to do with what happened to me.
COLMES: That was when you realized that was the film that you had transferred?
MORGANSTERN: I didn’t realize until I heard Christopher Christie on the radio.
COLMES: And then what was your reaction when you realized it was your actions that led to the arrest of these six people?
MORGANSTERN: I was in shock, really. It was pretty amazing to hear.
COLMES: What did you do after that? Who did you talk to?
MORGANSTERN: I called my family right away and let them know.
HANNITY: It was 16 months later, though.
COLMES: I mean, it was actually because of what you I did that the FBI was able to infiltrate this group. And that infiltration is what led ultimately to the arrest of these six people. Have you changed jobs? Have you had to go underground at all? Have you changed your life’s goals as a result of this?
MORGANSTERN: One, I would like to move on with my life after this is all over. But fortunate for me, last September I got a promotion. So I was already away from this.
COLMES: Even before all this happened?
MORGANSTERN: Even before any of this stuff happened. I have been promoted, and I’m currently at a different store.
COLMES: Thank you. And you want to do anything else with your life now? Does this change your orientation?
HANNITY: Law enforcement.
MORGANSTERN: Yes, law enforcement. I hear that a lot. Right now, I want to get back to work at Circuit City as soon as possible and just move on with my life.
COLMES: I’m glad they supported you in this, as well. Thanks so much for being here. Very nice to meet you, sir.
HANNITY: Nice to meet you.
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