the candid and chilling hour, he gives his opinion on why he thinks other young deranged men commit mass shootings, it's a fascinating interview. that's the piers morgan live special friday night. that is all for us tonight. anderson cooper starts right now. >> good evening, everyone, a lot happening tonight. two major breaking stories, a new string of tornados hammering the central plains and two potentially lethal letters. early testing pointing toward one of the deadliest toxins known to man, ricin. one sent to mayor michael bloomberg. >> right now what they know, they believe both of the letters were sent by the same person. the postmark was the same, they contained the same kind of substance, and they also both threatened mayor michael bloomberg for his positions on the gun -- on guns, specifically those illegal guns. the mayor reacted just a short time ago.

>> we have confidence in the nypd and the fbi. and their procedures, we take a lot of the security measures as you know, the men and women that open the mail, for example, even they are well trained and have procedures for something like this, it's not the first letter that was ever sent to anybody. in terms of why they've done it, i don't know. the letter was referred to our anti-gun efforts, but there's 12,000 people that are going to get killed this year and 19,000 are going to commit suicide with guns. we're not going to walk away with those efforts. >> and anderson, the police tell us the two letters contained the pink, oily substance, an initial test on that substance, initially that test was negative. but a second test was positive.

now, that substance is being analyzed by the national bioforensic analysis center in maryland, the results should be available in a day or two. >> was anyone exposed? >> there were a couple people exposed. the mayor was not one of them. the ones in new york went to a mail facility. the one in washington went to his organization, mayors against illegal guns. new york emergency services unit, the police who respond to that, they did initially develop some symptoms, some intestinal symptoms, but after a day or so those went away, they're being monitored protectively, anderson. >> they're going to be looking at the letters for any dna evidence that is there? >> absolutely. investigators from the fbi as well as the nypd, they're looking at a specific location, the postmark on those letters giving them some indication as to where the person who sent them might live. anderson? >> joining us now is national security analyst and george w. bush homeland security adviser

fran townsend. also on the phone, chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. the letters mention the gun control debate. it could be more of a political threat than a terror threat, really? >> that's right, anderson. as you mentioned, that's not really at the moment the most relevant piece to the investigators. they don't care about motive at the moment, they want to know who. to determine the who, they'll look for forensics, saliva, hair, fingerprints on the envelope. they'll analyze the handwriting, but all these things take time, which is why the first thing they're going to focus on is the lab analysis, you heard deb feyerick, the first field test was negative, often times they're wrong, which is why they're getting a thorough lab result. that will take a little bit of time, that will tell them something, they'll understand the strength of the compound. how competently it was mixed, analyze whether the two letters, whether it was from the same batch of mixture of the compound

of ricin, all those things will help investigators lead down the path to who, and once you determine the who you'll be able to understand the why. >> how dangerous is this stuff, ricin? >> it can be very dangerous, it's a potentially toxic substance. a couple things that are important to note is that in and of itself, this is a poison that comes from caster beans as a lot of people know, you can get that ricin, the poisonous substance out of the caster beans without a lot of difficulty. the challenge is to actually turn that into something that can get into the lungs and make someone sick or even kill them. that's a much more difficult thing to do, which i think what you're alluding to, ricin is a difficult thing to do. you heard deb's description of the substance, she said it was an oily substance, that doesn't sound like a highly weaponized thing.

usually when it is weaponized, there are very small particles that can penetrate deeply into the lungs >> what happens when a particle goes into the lungs? >> this particular poison works at what we call the cellular level, the most basic level, the cells all over the body are constantly doing things, performing metabolic functions. ricin interferes with that, it breaks down that machinery at a basic level, what happens if someone inhales it, they will have difficulty breathing, some of the earlier symptoms. their lungs will start to fill with fluid in response that poisonous insult the lungs will try to respond, that ultimately is what can cause death. >> if you know what you've inhaled, is it treatable? >> there's no particular anti-dote for ricin, usually we say that people are treated

systematically, for example, if you knew someone inhaled it, and they were developing symptoms, you might put them on a breathing machine, try to support their breathing for them. give them plenty of fluids because you lose a lot of fluids in a situation like this. if it was inhaled or injected, both of which can be deadly, you would -- there's been talk of an antidote. but there is no available one now. >> if these letters do have ricin, could the ricin have spread to other pieces of mail they just came in contact with for the regular sorting process? >> it could. and we talked about this with regard to anthrax so many years ago, this is different again, because in order for it to spread, the same sort of thing would apply here, you would have to be pretty sophisticated in terms of how it was weaponized. you go from envelope to envelope and be poisoning other people. it can happen, but again, based on what deb is describing, the oily substance as opposed to

very small, granular spore type things, it sounds unlikely. >> in the world of terror and people who follow and track this stuff, how high is ricin on the list of things people are concerned about? i mean, is it difficult to obtain? is it difficult to break down and weaponize as you said? >> well, the component pieces to a ricin compound are actually readily available. sanjay mentioned caster beans, that's the basic component, you crush it down and grind it. in the terrorism context, the way we saw it was as a contact poison which is the highly weaponized would be aerosolized. sanjay gupta described that. terrorists intended to use it as a contact poison, something that might get on your hands that you would ingest. but can also be lethal. that's why i say, when they

analyze, they'll look at this compound and try to understand what was the intent. how is it intended to be weaponized and ingested and what kind of effect was it intended to have. it stands by the description -- sanjay gupta is quite right, by deb's description. this sounds like a crude compound that wasn't terribly well executed as a contact poison. >> we'll learn more in the days ahead, fran, appreciate it, sanjay as well. quick piece of late breaking news on the murder of the dead boston bombing suspect, this is the man you recall, he confessed to a triple murder near boston in 2011, implicating tamerlan tsarnaev in the killings. now the officials are telling "the washington post" the man was not armed when they shot him dead last week. the incident is under investigation to an fbi review team. the forecast this morning, calling conditions ideal for

tornados. the reality tonight a tornado outbreak. where they're being reported, who needs to be careful. what's it like out there now? >> we've already had a dozen reports of tornadoes this evening, 11 in nebraska and one in the texas panhandle. in my opinion, we're going into the most dangerous time of the tornado outbreak, because it's going into the evening hours, it's dark, people go to bed, they stop paying attention. 60 million of you are under the threat for severe weather. the bull's eye, again, very similar to last week, unfortunately right near oklahoma and the texas panhandle, about 2 million of you in this area, we're not just talking about tornadoes but also large hail, strong winds are out there. i want to show you how many watches are currently out. where are these tornados forming. the warm moist air right up against the dry air, right where they're converging along the dry line, we see storms picking up. we also have a solid stationary front in the area.

just in the warm sector, there's so much humid air out there, we're seeing a lot of these storms kicking up in the last several hours, these are all these tornado watches in effect. stretching through the dakotas, down to texas. even in new england, we're seeing reports of damage into the new england area as well. now, taking you into some of the warnings, notice, we're starting to see very severe weather developing, unfortunately through oklahoma, very heavy rain kicking through the area. the threat for tornados are still there, but we start talking about heavy cells developing, we're talking about straight line winds. that means they could pick up the debris that is already on the ground. a lot of the cells have developed, they're rain wrapped. you're not going to be able to see them, that adds to the darkness and the situation. golf ball sized hail, even hail as large as two and a half inches in the oklahoma city area. tough evening in store for us. >> wow, golf ball sized hail, that is amazing, going into tomorrow?

>> yes, the threat tomorrow for another 30, 35 million of us. all of us need to pay attention throughout the overnight hours, and into tomorrow, as well. it's a long road ahead. you can follow me on twitter tonight @andersoncooper. a mother thrown in jail on drug charges. her family calls it a shakedown. she's speaking out from behind bars. hear what she has to say next. >> and one of the best known members of the tea party in congress, she already has an ad running, so why is michele bachmann suddenly deciding not to run again. i think farmers care more about the land than probably anyone else. we've had this farm for 30 years. we raise black and red angus cattle. we also produce natural gas. that's how we make our living and that's how we can pass the land and water back to future generations.

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welcome back. tonight we remember the amanda knox saga, an american woman in the grips of a foreign justice system for a crime she says she did not commit. now the arizona mother of seven imprisoned in mexico accused of drug smuggling is speaking to cnn from behind bars. rafael romo spoke with yanira maldonado. how is she doing. >> reporter: considering that

she has been in jail for more than a week for a crime that she says she did not commit. she is not doing very well, anderson. and when she first saw us at the prison, we were essentially the first outsiders other than her family that she had seen in a week. and she started crying. she was very emotional. and just very sad about her situation. and telling us repeatedly that she is innocent, that she had nothing to do with those bundles of marijuana that were found under her seat. and so we wanted to ask her the question, how are you holding up. how are you doing after being a week in jail. and this is what she had to say. how are you holding up? >> reading the scriptures. reading the book of mormon, praying, fasting. all of the support i've been getting from my family, my husband. my children. and everybody out there. reaching out to help. i'm innocent. that i'm innocent. that i'm a good mom. i'm very -- i love the gospel.

i'm lds. and we work hard. to have what we have. you know, we're not rich, but we're very honest. and we always do our best to help other people. >> reporter: now, she is an american citizen who lives near phoenix, arizona. she was in mexico, because an aunt of hers died in a state just south of the state of just south of the state of sonora near nogales. on her way back, they decided to take a bus, and at a military checkpoint where they routinely check buses and any kind of vehicle, that's where they got stopped. so i wanted to know -- i asked, yanira, i wanted to now exactly how it happened. and this is what she had to say. >> at the checkpoint, they asked us to get off the bus, and they

were checking for drugs or i don't know what else. and they said they found something under my seat. but i never saw anything. they didn't show me anything. it was -- just amazing, all of what they did. >> so let me understand this. sorry. were drugs found in her bags or just in another package underneath her seat? >> reporter: it was in packages underneath her seat. and what -- a local official was telling me, on condition of anonymity, it is very unlikely that anybody can get on a bus, carrying six kilos of marijuana and go unnoticed by the bus company or authorities. so they were the only two foreigners on that bus, and so the suspicion is that somebody who was on the same bus might have framed them and because they knew that they were the only foreigners, and they would

not be as vigilant as maybe a national would be. the bags were placed under there so they would be blamed if the authorities stopped them, and that was, indeed, what happened. >> okay, rafael romo, thanks so much. coming up, minnesota republican michele bachmann announces she will not seek re-election in 2014. we'll look at what is behind her decision and what will her congressional legacy be. also, what senator john mccain saw inside his trip inside syria and the action he thinks america should take right now. it's his first interview since leaving syria. he joins us in a "360" exclusive. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ]

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minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann announced she

is not going to seek re-election in 2014. a nearly nine-minute video on her website, bachmann said her decision was not impacted by her 2012 presidential campaign and she doesn't plan to fade from public view. last november, she beat jim graves by under 5,000 votes. bachmann said in her video she is sure she would win again. >> be assured, my decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being re-elected to congress. and rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. >> chief congressional correspondent dana bash. she says it has nothing to do with campaign finances, nothing to do with her showing at the last election. so why is she leaving? >> let's start with the whole question of the legal issues. i don't actually sense a real alarm of people close to

bachmann she is in imminent legal trouble. but there are problems bubbling in several areas on a legal front, anderson, including an accusation from her own former staffer she illegally used campaign funds. and there is a preliminary congressional probe going on right now which may be wrapping up soon which will determine whether the house ethics committee should investigate her campaign finance activity, and i talked to a senior republican source before coming on with you who knows bachmann pretty well who told me privately she has been complaining about the potential investigation. the way it works, if she is gone from congress, that ethics investigation would stop. >> you're on capitol hill every day, you have covered bachmann extensively, including the time she tried to outrun you in the capitol hallway, when you tried to ask her about a factual question that she had said. how much of this decision do you think was a political reality that she might not win.

>> well, you played that video where she explicitly said no but i talked to some republicans today who think the lady may be protesting just a little too much. she mentioned, she won her last race by two percentage points. it's a very republican district in minnesota. she was already airing campaign ads and it's pretty early to do that. and i spoke to a senior democrat tonight who has access to internal polls. he told me that democrats already had her opponent up by two percentage points. >> so she was already running ads and now decided not to go for it. what -- what's the reaction on capitol hill? her republican colleagues? i saw a bunch of statements that were sort of muted saying she made an impression. or, you know, her legacy is, you know, related to the tea party. but in terms of legislation, are people going to be sad to see her go, republican colleagues? >> let me put it this way, i don't think michele bachmann would win any popularity contests among her republican colleagues in congress. many say her repeated comments like ones you refer to, that turn out to be flat wrong, like the president saying -- the president has a dog-walker, which is not true, that was a distraction from the gop message. but i can tell you, anderson, despite that, talking to her colleagues, if they're really

being honest, they do admire her political savvy. especially when it came to the tea party. she got it. she got the power of the tea party before any of them it. she latched onto the movement and made it her own. started a tea party caucus, which didn't really mean anything and didn't do anything but propelled her to prominence in a way that many of her rank and file colleagues could only dream. >> in her video announcement, bachmann says she will not abandon the causes she fought for in congress, what she calls traditional marriage and family values. in her four terms, bachmann has been a lightning rod for controversy, made several memorable and factually incorrect statements, everything from president obama to the hpv vaccine. on this program, she made a claim about a price tag for a trip the president was taking that was pure fiction. take a look. >> the president of the united states will be taking a trip over to india that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. >> no one knows the cost,

because for security reasons, they don't disclose the cost so this idea that it's $200 million or whatever is simply made up. >> well, these are the numbers that have been coming out in the press. >> turns out the only press in which this story was coming out was an indian press report. and that $200 million day figure? where did that come from. by a quote from an alleged india pro official reported by a press trust. >> a mother last night come up to me here in tampa, florida after the debate, she told me that her little daughter took that -- took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. >> what you're doing -- going after huma -- >> i can't do it right now. >> there are five chefs on air force one. we are also the ones who are paying for someone to walk the president's dog. >> we talked about the excesses that he's engaged in, the fact he has a dog-walker, which is not true. >> the big point of my speech was about benghazi. that's it, dana. that's what's important. you want to talk about dog handlers and there's four americans killed.

>> reporter: but congresswoman, you're the one who brought it up. >> that was an amazing interview. because she was the one who brought up the whole dog walker thing, and turned it on dana bash, saying you're bringing this up when four people were killed in benghazi? joining me now john king and senior political analyst david gergen. when congresswoman bachmann says her decision has nothing to do with her presidential campaign or what would likely be a tough re-election campaign, how believable is that? >> to borrow a phrase from bill clinton, that dog won't hunt. now, on the one part, you know, she can say it's about something else, and she can say, anderson, truthfully, this is exhausting, when you run for president and come back into congress, she's tired. she can say and might have convinced herself, doesn't have anything directly to do with those things. but here is a key fact. number one she won by fewer than 5,000 votes last time, a lot of people, including her republican friends, thought she was going to lose this time. the democrats have a very long shot chance of taking back the house. guess what. the republicans win today by having michele bachmann step aside.

that is probably the most republican district in the state of minnesota. she was perhaps many republicans believe likely to lose it. so the republicans gain today and make no mistake about it, the national republican party quietly told people, this is not a place you want to put a lot of money in. you want her to get the message, she probably should not run. because they would prefer, despite any public statements you saw today, the leadership would prefer a different candidate. >> david, as a political celebrity, she certainly commanded attention, she generated headlines, she drove fund-raising within certain quarters of the republican party. as a legislator, was she successful at all? >> no. she had a very thin legislative record. she wasn't taken as seriously as many others were, dana bash reported. but she did make an impact politically. on the country. it wasn't that she was just a shooting star going across the sky, and, you know, she was a front runner, briefly, for the presidential nomination or republican party and everything collapsed on her. but anderson, she had enormous impact on the tea party movement.

and bringing help -- bringing it to life, being a champion of it. and her efforts had a lot to do with building up public opposition to obama care. and that opposition, as you know, is very, very strong today. she left a lasting impact. i want to go back to what john was saying. what i think -- her calculations here, i would assume, were this. she's got these ethics clouds that are continuing to hold -- hang over her head and very likely to go all the way through the election. if she loses the election, she is no longer a political celebrity. and she loses her speech fees. she loses a lot of time on division. television. a lot of the kind of things that make her life now work. that could well disappear if she lost. it wasn't just a question of going out of congress. it was a question of actually, you know, battle-damaging her career. this way, i think, she has -- she can keep things alive. she is very smart about that. >> yeah. and no doubt, she's incredibly smart. but john, in a way, it's kind of sarah palin-esque in terms of keeping her celebrity alive

without having to kind of get mired in all of the details of ethical questions or governance. >> and she's often compared to sarah palin. and she doesn't like it. governor palin doesn't like it either. i will tell you this. i know sometimes congressman bachmann does not come across as the sharpest tool in the shed and has said things that appear crazy. but if you asked her what she reads every day, a question sarah palin didn't do too well at, she would tell you she reads the financial times, investors business daily and bible. that would be her answer. so she would have an answer. david is right. she could be part of the movement, very visible. she was the leading -- once governor palin stepped aside, leading female conservative voice in the country. the tea party movement itself is at a very interesting point right now. you can make the case that it's lost a lot of influence in washington. joe walsh, allen west, now michele bachmann fading from the scene, vocal and controversial faces of the early phase of the tea party in washington have moved on. the republican leadership is quite happy about that.

the democrats won't like it because they raise money off that nationally. the question, a lot of these go through transitions. let's watch 2014. obamacare will be implemented. if you look at the states of florida and ohio, in the medicare spending battles, you have tea party standing up and fighting republican governors. so the tea party movement is not gone. but you could make a strong case that its most vocal voices in washington are missing. >> also, david, if she continues obviously on the lecture circuit, as you said, she is very intelligent. she is a former attorney. she can be a strong presence without, you know -- once she is no longer in a legislative position, journalists aren't going to be calling her as we did on her factually incorrect statements. >> absolutely right. and she can be out on the circuit, the political circuit, the lecture circuit, the punditry circuit. and put together a good life and make a good income, more money than she would make in congress, i can guarantee you.

and she can have a continuing influence on the tea party. i want to go back to this point john was making about 2014. what we don't know yet is how much the irs scandal or controversy is igniting and bringing the tea party back together, and whether, in fact, will make it more of a force in 2014. she may well be out on the circuit with a lot of tea party folks in the next few months. >> yeah, david gergen, john king, thanks, appreciate it. new outrage over what's happening in syria. what you need to know about a brutal assault that has been raging for a week, and what senator john mccain saw in syria on his advice, his first interview since leaving syria. i asked my husband to pay our bill, and he forgot. an update on the newborn baby rescued alive from a sewage pipe in china. how the baby is doing and now what his mother is telling police. t. hold it. hold it. hold it. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness.

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that's an air strike on the city of kusar, bombing syrians. they have been at it for a week with support from hezbollah gunners with support from the assad regime. pouring in arrest un artillery . as always, the youngest pay heavily. these are the faces of the city, wounded child after wounded child. even kids who escaped physical injury are being punished to the breaking point. a psychological stage of children is terrible, this doctor says. tears, wetting themselves, loss of balance, hyperactivity. they'll either be wounded, he says, die, or go crazy. and people there, young and old, are trapped, same as the people of hol ms

when the regime levelled it, same as the people who may have come under technical attack or damascus. more than 80,000 people killed so far, according to the u.n. today in geneva, the u.n. human rights commission con denied the siege of hue sayer, lifted the arms embargo on the syrian opposition with russia objecting, threatening to send sophisticated anti aircraft missiles to the assad regime, upping the ante in case the obama administration decides to order air strikes or set up a no fly zone. senator john mccain believes president obama should do more. senator mccain says he was provided security for the visit by the state department, as well as some opposition forces. senator mccain, former presidential candidate and senior senator from arizona joins us tonight. >> the first u.s. senator to travel to syria since this conflict began more than two years ago. what was it like, first of all, to be there? >> it was a very moving experience to meet these fighters who have been struggling now for over two years, and they're very aware of the battlefield situation, and they're very disturbed about the

traumatic influx of hezbollah fighters, more iranians, and of course, stepped up activities of bashar al-assad. >> which rebel groups did you meet with and what was their message to you? >> the overall commander of the syrian resistance was my escort, and i had a long meeting. they selected the people that we met with, which was a group of battalion commanders, who were fighting as far away as aleppo and around syria. their message was, to be frank with you, they do not understand. they do not understand why we won't help them. >> in terms of arming the rebels, though, as you know, one of the concerns, certainly the administration has, is that weapons will fall into the hands of terrorists or extremists who are there now, house intelligence committee chairman mike rogers told tuesday, he said every flavor of terrorist is operating in syria right now.

you know there is one of the most well-known, probably well-equipped groups is actually aligned with al qaeda in iraq. how do you prevent weapons from falling into their hands? >> well, by identifying those people who are on our side. the general has a very sizeable force. he has battalion commanders he is in communications with. is it a perfect organization, of course not, because they're fighting as an insurgency, no insurgencies are perfect. there is a point that congressman rogers has, and that is every single day, more and more extremists flow in. whether it be from iraq, whether it be from yemen, whether it be from libya, they're flowing in all of the time. these extremists. but they still do not make up a sizeable portion. for example, there's about 7,000 al nusiria, several thousand fighting in syria. we can identify who these people are. we can help the right people. is there some risk involved? absolutely.

but is the status quo acceptable? bashar assad with the russians' equipment and the hezbollah leader announcing that they are all in? and, of course, the iranian revolutionary guard on the ground, supplying them, not only supplying them, but training syrians in iran and sending them back. this is a terrible, unfair fight. >> there are a lot of people who watch this, as you know, and who say, look, this seems like another iraq. this seems like it could be a quagmire, another afghanistan. to that you say what? >> nobody that i know, including the general, are asking for american boots on the ground. in fact, they believe it would be counterproductive to do so. second of all, i think that you can look at a national security aspect of this. general mattis, head of our central command, once stated that the fall of bashar assad would be the greatest blow to

the iranians in 25 years. and believe me, i just came from yemen. the iranians are meddling everywhere in the middle east. they are doing a lot of mischief, and are trying to destabilize other nations. and finally, we went to -- everybody talks about iraq and afghanistan and that's a legitimate concern. i would also like them to consider, we went into bosnia and we went to kosovo, and we were able to, without too much difficulty, to be able to stop genocide in those places. >> has being there -- you know, shaking these people's hands, looking them in the eye, being on syrian soil, has it changed or intensified your feelings in any way? >> it's intensified. because when you look at the faces of these people and hear their stories, so many of them have lost family members. so many of them have lost friends. this is a pretty bloody, bloody business that they have been in. and, of course, it's been, as you might imagine, identified. intensified.

because these are human beings that are trying to achieve the same thing that we have shed american blood and treasure for well over 200 years. >> finally, just on a lighter note, i know your trip was a surprise to a lot of people, your daughter included. on twitter, she said nothing quite like finding out on twitter that my father secretly snuck into syria and met with rebel leaders. i think she even called you a bad ass, which for a child to call your parent that is a high compliment indeed. you didn't even tell your own daughter? >> i think one of the prerequisites of a trip like this is not to tell anyone, as you know. because it just is -- being -- having it compromised -- look, i've seen a lot and done a lot, and i'm not so important. but, you know, there was a lot of men and women that worked for our country that helped out. and as well as syrians that we would have put their safety in jeopardy if it had leaked out.

and so i'm grateful for all of them. and again, i would like to thank you for your coverage of this massacre and tragedy, and i believe that the united states can still intercede with our allies, and i think we can get rid of bashar assad and give these people a chance. >> senator john mccain, i appreciate your time, and i'm glad you made it back okay. >> thank you. we have to end that interview for time, but the full version, ac360.com. as senator john mccain himself addressed, not everybody agrees with him on this. senator rand paul, and cnn.com opinion because calls it a dangerous risk, part of a history he says of america picking sides of the middle east, quote, to its own detriment. that piece he just posted and you can read that as well at cnn.com. just ahead tonight, he doesn't have a name yet, but he's known around the world already. a newborn chinese baby flushed down a toilet. he somehow survived. we'll tell you how he's doing tonight and what his mother has now been telling police.

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the little body lodged inside the narrow, filthy pipe. firefighters and surgeons had to pry the pipe apart, piece by piece, to finally free him. the good news is, the baby appears to be doing well. doesn't have a name yet. the hospital he is simply known as baby 59. his condition is set to be stable. today local police released information about the baby's mother and her explanation. david mckenzie joins us now. what are doctors saying about the baby's condition, david? >> reporter: well, anderson, it's pretty extraordinary, this child that spent more than two hours in this tiny sewage pipe, as you described had to be clawed out of there in eastern china. the doctors say miraculously, the baby is going to be fine, recovering in hospital and the latest information i have for you, state media is saying that a person claiming to be the father actually picked up the child and took it home. so that's a positive development. but does leave a lot of unanswered questions for this incredible tale. anderson?

>> so they allowed the person who said they're the baby's father to take the baby home. what about the mother? i mean, what is her story? how did she say the baby ended up there? >> reporter: it might be difficult to believe, but police are telling us they are not going to charge this woman as of yet. they are still investigating. but here's what they say they believe happened. that the mother was heavily pregnant, went to the bathroom, was in a panic, and basically they say that the baby slid out into the toilet. the mother tried to save the baby, according to police, even used the stick to try and fish it out, bring it up. she went and called the landlord, they called the firefighters. and this set in this chain of events that really gripped the world's attention. still more details coming up. but at this stage, it's believed that the mother will not be charged. >> that doesn't make any sense, though. she had to have flushed the toilet, didn't she? >> reporter: well, the kind of toilet it is, it's pretty basic stuff.

she didn't flush the toilet. if you look at the footage, there is that incredible moment where you see the toilet, and you actually see in the state media footage, two tiny feet wedged down, upside down. what seemed like happened is that the baby kind of -- she gave birth, it slipped in, she panicked, she said there was a lot of blood around, according to police. but still, many unanswered questions in the story. not entirely unprecedented that this sort of thing will happen in china and elsewhere in the world, though it might be hard to believe. right now police say they are continuing investigations. the latest is that the child's father appears to have taken him away. this hasn't gotten a huge amount of press here in china, partly because, i believe, the chinese government doesn't want to get this out too widely in the media here, but certainly an extraordinary story. >> all right. david, appreciate the reporting. david mckenzie, obviously more we need to know.

there is a lot more happening tonight. susan hendricks is here. susan? >> anderson, president obama plans to tap james comey to replace robert muller as fbi director, according to officials familiar with the nomination process. comey is a former federal prosecutor who worked in new york and virginia, served as attorney general in george w. bush's administration. the world health organization called a new virus recently found in humans a threat to the entire word. the new coronavirus first surfaced in saudi arabia last year. 49 infections have been confirmed worldwide, of those, 27 have been fatal. a deadly attack today in a red cross building in afghanistan. government officials say militants stormed the building in the city of jalalabad and then engaged in a battle with police. two attackers and one security guard were killed. looks like nasdaq will pay a $10 million fine for its

handling of facebook's initial public offering. happened last year. the ipo was beset by technical problems, and the securities and exchange commission accused nasdaq of violating securities laws. and armed with a big smile, got to see this, one of the victims of the boston marathon bombing threw out the ceremonial first pitch last night at fenway park before the red sox took on the phillies. he was on the field with the man who saved his life that day. so inspiring. jeff bowman lost both his legs in the attack. anderson, back to you. >> amazing. amazing guys, both of them. susan, thanks. coming up, a woman arrested for allegedly selling a lot more than refreshments from her hot dog truck. the ridiculist is next.. but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. just like a tablet.

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and tonight, the continuing saga as the woman known as the hot dog hooker of long island. catherine scalia has been arrested again for driving her hot dog truck to a hotel and allegedly giving an undercover police officer a massage without a license, as well as allegedly offering another service for an undetermined amount of money. she says she is framed and only offers stripping and lap dances and hot dogs. >> get a little legal with your weiner. >> catchy slogan there. >> she is trying to make an honest living selling hot dogs and topless dances. what could possibly be more american than that? >> i like doing hot dogs, i like conversating with people. >> she likes doing the hot dogs. the last time she was arrested,

about a year ago, the hot dog hooker spelled it out. there is a big difference between prostitutes and strippers. she made that point very, very clear and very, very graphic. >> i have the cops up my [ bleep ] charging me with prostitution. i'm not even a prostitute. i plead guilty to stripping, a stripper. not prostitution. prostitution is sex. sexual acts. [ bleep ] up the [ bleep ]. that's prostitution. showing your [ bleep ] is indecent exposure. >> wow. now you know the difference between stripping and prostitution. you're welcome. you've got to give it to her. she does have a certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to speaking with the media. >> who wants to get a lap dance, i'll show what you it looks like. >> and it sounds like she has quite a rapport with law enforcement, as well. >> i was laughing, i thought it was so funny. because i'm telling them on the phone, it's just a topless lap dance and then he's asking for more. >> the alleged hot dog hooker was arraigned over the weekend, disputed all the charges, similar to the last time she was arrested. >> don't listen to the judge in

the courts and everything. you've got it, show it off. you only live once. >> it's a pretty inspirational message from a very unlikely place. that does it for us. "outfront next, breaking news. michael bloomberg gets a threatening letter which tests positive for ricin. is he being targeted for stands against guns? plus, an american woman remains in a mexican jail tonight. authorities say she was smuggling drugs. her family says she was framed. let's go "outfront." i'm jake tapper in for erin burnett tonight. breaking news. initial tests suggest ricin was sent to michael bloomberg. cnn learned that a letter