that's it for us tonight. thank you so much for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow night. ac 360 right now. good evening. thanks for joining us. breaking news, one of the rivals, wisconsin republican

scott walker quitting the race, and calling on others to do the same thinly throwing a unveiled punch at mr. trump. >> today i believe that i'm being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field. with this in mind, i will suspend my campaign immediately. i encourage other republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same, so that the voter can focus on a limited number of candidates that can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front runner. this is fundamentally important to the future of the party and more importantly, to the future of our country. >> governor walker with a clear parting shot at donald trump, unlike mr. trump never caught the public eye. john king joins us now with the late details including some of the reasons behind his decision. what happened to his campaign? >> inconsistent answers, bad debates, anderson, issues not

answers at one point he said maybe we should consider building a wall along the canadian border. it was performances like that that hurt the numbers this is our latest poll. scott walker was an asteric in the latest poll after the cnn debate and early september after the fox debate, he was at five, 8% and last march at 16%. he was considered at that point before trump got in the race as the leading conservative alternative to jeb bush. these are his national numbers in cnn polling and if you look at that, you might think 16% isn't that great but it's a crowded republican field. he was doing well and numbers in iowa were stronger. look at this as you shift this over. what happened to scott walker? back in march he had 20% of republican men said they were for governor walker nationally. back in march, the high point doesn't register. 26%, more than one in four tea party voters in march nationally were for governor walker.

he doesn't register today and 20% of republicans who identify themselves as conservatives remember his fight with the labor unions in wisconsin. they thought he could be the guy, now barely registers. no question he was trying to present himself as an outsider. he simply failed to perform on the national stage. >> does his leaving benefit anybody? obviously, his support is still low. >> right, you could say he's an asteric. who could benefit? top tier republican fundraisers were with scott walker and campaign. they are getting calls from other candidates and plus, he did have on the ground in iowa where he was at one point the leader and fallen to tenth place and good activists and staffers nationally on the ground and republican talent that the other campaigns will quickly scramble to gobble up. calling on other candidates to drop out and rally around an alternative maybe the clearer sign of how thoroughly donald trump dominated the race by saying controversial things and

the same may apply to dr. ben carson getting headlines not for what he would do as president but what he's saying on the campaign trail, specifically what he said over the weekend and reaffirmed through an aide today about the idea of a muslim president. more on that from our chief political correspondent dana bash. >> in today's world of politically incorrect this was explosive. >> i would not advocate we put a muslim in charge of this nation. i absolutely would not agree. >> reporter: ben carson said he would not want a muslim as president in answer to a question whether the islamic religion is consistent with the constitution and then a top carson aid doubled down. >> if dr. carson is the voice that's willing to stand and spoke for americans silent in the hearts and don't want to speak this inconvenient truth, let it be. >> reporter: the only reason carson was discussing the muslim religion in the first place is because of this moment at a

donald trump town hall last week. >> we have a problem in this country, it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. >> right. >> you know he's not even an american. >> we need this question -- this first question. >> anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. >> uh-huh. >> that's my question, when can we get rid of them? >> we'll look at a lot of different things. a lot of people are saying bad things are happening and we'll look at that and plenty of other things. >> trump neglected to correct the man, that president obama is a christian, nor would the trump campaign respond to inquiries about it the next day. an irony not lost on the bombastic billionaire himself. >> it was interesting because i got in hot water over not saying anything. first time it's happened to me. >> reporter: though trump did say this in iowa on saturday. >> i love the muslims, i think they are great people. >> reporter: he pushed back it's his job to spar with voters. >> go ahead, yes, ma'am.

>> reporter: even when his own supporters are misinformed. >> somebody said how can you say that? i said give me a break, it's all over the world. turn on the nightly news and newscast no matter where you are, you have a problem. people don't have to admit that. >> reporter: trump seized on what he said was the premise of the voter question, concern about radical islam, not muslim americans in general. >> what's the problem? >> you have radicals that are doing things. it wasn't people from sweden that blew up the world trade center. >> reporter: when asked what he thinks about the idea of a muslim president, trump stirred the pot making this not so subtle suggestion. >> some people said it already happened, frankly, of course, you wouldn't agree with that. >> dana, what if any political fallout do you expect from trump or carson? >> when it comes to the name of the game win pg the republican nomination hard to see these comments not having an effect. before coming on, i was talking to a smart republican that

described republican voters in two camps. one who like the ideology validated and energized by politically incorrect marks from carson and trump but then other republican voters that want to win the white house and those republicans that want to win may look at this and say this is intolerance or as some see it, religious bigotry and will not lead us republicans, they will say, to victory over democrats in 2016. hard to see this not kind of putting sort of a ceiling on at least carson's support in particular because remember, he was supposed to be the anti trump, soft spoken smiling first-time politician and this maybe makes people look at him in a different way. >> dana, appreciate that. joining us now is also cnn political commentator, jeffrey lord served as white house political director. amanda is not a trump supporter

but served as communications director for ted cruz. >> as a muslim, american, what is your reaction when you hear dr. carson saying he would not support the idea of a muslim president? >> the only thing i'm surprised about is the muslim bashing has taken this long to come out in the gop field. i mean, in 2012 hermann cane said he would never have a muslim serve on his cabinet and newt gingrich promising a constitutional amendment banning sharia law in this country. dr. carson, i think are going to be rewarded in the gop field. in fact -- >> you think -- >> the carson campaign has already boasted that 24 hours after making that comment, they have 100 new facebook followers -- i'm sorry, 100,000 new facebook followers. i think the numbers are going to go up and i think as a result,

you're going to see other candidates sort of playing this game, as well, the anti muslim bashing in the modern gop today sadly that's how you get votes. >> amanda, what do you think about that? you're a ted cruz supporter. >> i couldn't disagree more. look at the news of scott walker dropping out of the race today. his dropping out of the race is a dramatic rejection of the direction that donald trump and ben carson have taken this party particularly with the muslim comments and larger no control over their message. scott walker, he's essentially saying i'm drafting out so we can unify the anti trump vote. a lot of people are hitting the panic button now about donald trump and ben carson and are rallying people to get out, figure out who the al tentative is going to be and scott walker was the first person to take the bait. >> jeffrey, i know you said dr. carson is flat out wrong about this but as far as donald trump goes, when asked about the idea of a muslim president, he says

some people have said it already happened, isn't that just kind of stirring the pot? >> well, i'll tell you what is stirring the pot, anderson, i have a column tomorrow at the american spectator in which i took a look at reggie love, reggie love was president obama and senator obama as they called them trade body man, the guy that sticks with a candidate through and served both with the campaign and in the white house with them and he wrote a book of memoirs that came out this past january and he recounts a personal fight between senator obama and hillary clinton, a very agitated discussion on the runway on the tarmac at regan airport in which sen tomorrow -- senator obama accused of hillary clinton of labeling him as a muslim -- >> but even if that's true -- >> of doing this -- >> if that's true, and -- >> well, so we know -- >> and we -- eight years later is it responsible to still be saying that?

>> well, well, look, clearly, clearly, a lot of people feel this. now, as i've said, i believe president obama is a christian. my problem with him is that in his past capacity as a christian and presidential candidate, he didn't enact on jeremiah right. he had the authority to get him booted from the church and didn't -- >> but -- >> the far left democratic party. >> jeffrey, you are dodging the essential question, which is is it responsible for donald trump eight years after even if hillary clinton introduced this idea to still be talking about it? >> you know, i mean, this is a choice of firestorms. why are we talking about donald trump and not hillary clinton? she's a candidate in the race. anderson, i have to say we got, what, 92 million people out of the work force. this is the conversation people like us have. here in central pennsylvania people aren't interested in this. they are trying to get jobs, pay mortgages, do that sort of thing. this is the kind of

conversations that the kind of thing that we talk about among ourselves in the media. i would have one last thing, i've said before this is what rush limbaugh calls drive by, pull up, shoot and move onto the next one and that's what is happening here and will continue to happen. >> as somebody that is muslim, i imagine there are a lot of people that are muslim and care about this and this is a big issue as among some women voters, they were concerned about some things that some other candidates have said just as probably some hispanic voters were. do you think it's fair to say this is a media invention? >> it's not just muslims who care americans care. 66% of americans disagree with ben carson and say muslim can be president. 79% of americans between 18 and 26 believe that to be the case and frankly, ben carson for a man who wants the job of enforcing the constitution doesn't understand it well

because what he said violates article 6 of the constitution that says there shall never be religious test for office and more importantly, the inability to just simply say trump's comments were wrong and stupid and let's move on is an indication -- >> what's wrong about them? >> this say winning argument. what's wrong about it? it doesn't matter if people are saying president obama is a must almost. people are also saying that there are ufos, a responsible man running for office knows the truth. >> may i ask you a question? may i ask you a question. >> please. >> i'm genuinely asking it. i don't know the answer. is it true in the muslim faith if you're the child of a muslim father you're considered by others to be a muslim, is that true? >> a muslim -- >> i don't know, i'm asking you. you're the scholar. >> i'm sorry? >> a muslim is whoever says he's a muslim. >> i'm asking if that is true. >> i'm answering your question.

is the child of a muslim father considered to be a muslim. >> we heard your question and he's answering it. go ahead and answer it. >> a muslim is whoever says he's a muslim. if someone says he's not a muslim, he's a christian, end of discussion. >> that's not what i asked. >> amanda, it does seem -- >> that's not what i asked. >> amanda, it does seem -- back not so long ago there are people who said you couldn't have a catholic president and if anybody today said there shouldn't be a jewish president or there shouldn't be a catholic president or there shouldn't be a black president or whatever it may be, people, you know, there would be at large segments of the population would be very offended. do you see it as parallel? >> here is the thing. people are interested in matters of faith. it's funny, in politics we say it doesn't matter and don't question it. it's important to people. we have the pope coming.

people want to celebrate faith. yes, we should talk about it. but when ben carson puts it in the formulation that he did, you know, essentially no muslims in the white house, why couldn't he have just said i would support a christian in the white house? our nation is founded on christian values. i want a see a christian in the white house. republicans want to convince voters they believe in a higher power, jesus christ. to put in an opposite formulation is negative and to adjust jeffrey's point in saying this is some kind of media drive by thing, i disagree. donald trump brought this upon himself. he was the most high-profile birther in america some years ago and the fact that he -- >> hillary clinton beat him to it, amanda. amanda, hillary clinton beat him to it. >> that doesn't deny what donald trump said and done and wants to play footsie on the issue. >> why are we focussing on him and not her? she started this.

>> i want a big campaign about that, obama produced a birth certificate. that's over. every republican candidate has to talk and we lose control over the winning messages that is jobs, economy, national security and don't get a chance to talk about it and that's really unfortunate. >> we've got to leave it there. amanda, appreciate you being on. thank you. just ahead, a new boost in the polls for carly fiorina and closer look at the fire that she's under for her time as a silicon valley ceo. donald trump is certainly leading the attack on that. going beyond the rhetoric in search of her record both as a ceo for better and worse, that's next. and later, there is just no way to describe the allegations in the death of 2-year-old bella bond. the prosecutor says the mom and the mother's boyfriend did to this poor little girl has to be heard to be believed. john walsh joins us ahead. tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast.

the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. ♪ it's the final countdown! ♪ ♪ the final countdown! if you're the band europe, you love a final countdown. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. and i didn't get here alone. there were people who listened along the way. people who gave me options. kept me on track. and through it all, my retirement never got left behind. so today, i'm prepared for anything we may want tomorrow to be.

every someday needs a plan. let's talk about your old 401(k) today. when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network traffic so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. iflike i love shrimp, red lobster's endless shrimp... ...is kind of a big deal. it's finally back, with as much shrimp as you want, any way you want 'em. one taste of these new pineapple habanero coconut shrimp bites, and i already want more. they even brought back wood-grilled teriyaki shrimp! yeah, you heard me: teriyaki. and really: what's not to love about... ...buttery garlic shrimp scampi? here, the sweet, spicy, crispy

possibilities are as endless as the shrimp. and yeah, they're endless, but they won't last forever.

even before the breaking news of scott walker dropping out, a big news for john king and new polling on the state of the gop race and shows both changes at number two and signals for perhaps the very first time donald trump losing some altitude. that's the what, the real story, though, is in the why. for a by the numbers look, we're joined by john king. >> dramatic drop for mr. trump. our cnn debate drew 23 million viewers and just before the debate, donald trump cracked 32%. this is the first national poll that shows donald trump going down. now down to 24%. beneficiary, carly fiorina, mark cow rubio up from 3% to 11% and trump went down and ben carson went down to 14%. let's take a closer look at why donald trump is in decline at the moment.

here is a big number. 41% tea party support before the debate. just 29% after. that's a big part of the republican base. 32% of white evangelicals, 28% after. something to keep an eye on. support among republican women, carly fiorina surged and had a strong showing and a little among republican men. this is a test in any political campaign, newcomers, politics get adversity and donald trump testing time. we'll see if he can turn it around. >> dr. carson surged to second. why is he slipping to third? >> slip income third place because the other outsider carly fiorina took not only from donald trump the businessman and dr. ben carson, the physician. support fell in half 28% before the debate and many 15% post debate. tea party supporters again cut in half from 21% before to 10% after and slip aid among republican women. you see the consistency.

carly fiorina picking up and ben carson and mr. trump going down. >> and let's look, subtraction, addition, trump, carson down and carly fiorina goes up. >> she goes up. the big question for carly fiorina is can she sustain this? strong debate performance at 14% among republican men, only 3% before. 17% among republican women and her tea party support went up to 16% of tea party voters say i'm for carly fiorina. evangelicals. wore remember her answer on planned parenthood? while it's not exactly right, it upped her support. we see what they can make of it. >> incredible to look at the difference pre and post debate. tonight on fox news, donald trump restated his assessment that carly fiorina sounds like a robot on the stump and took fresh jabs on the record of a ceo and a source of contention in the campaign as trump and fiorina trade attacks and counter attacks.

a non-partisan attack. tom foreman has that. >> reporter: when carly fiorina took the top job at the technology giant hp in 1999 she was riding a wave of professional success, fortune magazine called her america's most powerful female executive. >> i led hewlett packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. >> good morning, everybody. >> reporter: then launched a single massive deal and she's been playing defense ever since. >> it was a terrible deal and it really led to the destruction of the company. >> reporter: so what was this deal? fiorina wanted hp to buy compact to improve the personal computer market, partially funding the purchase with money from hp's highly successful printer business. when she met resistance within hp, she pushed through and got the deal anyway but at a terrible price. profits plummeted and even when they started rising again, they

lagged behind competitors. hp stock value dropped by half. 30,000 workers were laid off and less than six years after she took control, fiorina was fired. wall street had little faith and on news of the dismissal hp stock jumped up 7%. >> her business record and record as an executive is pretty bad. this was a merger that was not well-executed or orchestrated. she was taking a big pay package at the time cutting people. >> reporter: fiorina's severance package worth $42 million fueled the anger among stockholders and employees alike. she said she only got half of that but a decade down the line, she staunchly defends her deal for comeback. >> years later, it was the clear the merger was a very good idea. >> reporter: her successor meg

whitman says. >> i suspect she was trying to do in some ways what i was trying to do is make this company more competitive. >> reporter: as fiorina writes her own version of that turbulent history, trump has put it into one line. carly fiorina is terrible at business, the last thing our country needs. tom foreman, cnn, washington. well, just ahead details about bella bond's death. in court today, prosecutors described how the 2.5-year-old child was killed after refusing to go to bed and details about the tipster that gave police the crucial break they needed and protecting pope francis during his visit to the u.s. lest expected to attract huge crowds everywhere he goes and how is new york preparing? i'll talk to the police commissioner later in the program.

next. ♪ expected wait time: 55 minutes.

your call is important to us. thank you for your patience. waiter! in the nation, we know how it feels when you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. we put members first... join the nation. thank you.

tonight new developments in the tragic killing of little bella bond. the toddler whose body was found in a trash bag along the boston harbor shore line back in june. for months, she was known as baby doe until a tipster broke the case wide open.

bella's mother and her boyfriend were arraigned charged in the murder. the judge denied the boyfriend's bail and set bail for bella's mott at $1 million. what began has come into detail. randi kaye was in the courtroom today. >> reporter: the man prosecutors say killed bella bond in court for the first time behind glass and just feet away from girlfriend rachial bond, bella's mother. the couple exposed by a long-time friend. michael spirnsky. he lived with them earlier this year. mccarthy told him bella had been taken away by the department of children and families but suddenly last week, he heard a different story when he asked the girl's mother about getting her back. >> she responded, michael mccarthy killed her and i'm accessory after the fact because i helped him get rid of her body. >> reporter: stunned, sprinski called hisster who shared this computer image created to help

identify the little girl. court records show he also recognized the the zebra blanket found with her body from bella's stroller. both he and his sister contacted authorities giving them the break they needed. it all happened in late may when prosecutors say bella was unwilling to go to bed here at her dorchester, massachusetts, apartment. that's when prosecutors say michael mccarthy went to try to calm her down in the back bedroom. when things got quiet, rachial bond went to check on them. according to the criminal complaint, that's when bond witnessed mccarthy striking bella in the abdomen. she says when bella stopped breathing, mccarthy said to her, it was her time to die. mccarthy allegedly believed bella was possessed by demons. court documents show rachial bond told investigators that mccarthy threatened to kill her if she told anyone. also, that mccarthy put her daughter's body in a garbage bag, then inside the kitchen refrigerator. authorities say mccarthy sedated

bond for days by injecting heroin into her neck. >> she was not free to live and she was not free to use the phone. >> reporter: days later, prosecutors say rachial bond helped mccarthy take the bag with bella's body in it, put weights inside, and dump it in boston harbor. it was discovered by a woman on the shores of deer island on june 25th. when investigators came to search bella bond's home, they found a child's clothing but no sign of any child. they also found books about demons and ghosts, prosecutors say michael mccarthy told others he could see demons and ghosts and knew how to exorcise them. sprinsky told investigators before he moved out, he witness dollars bella being called a demon. and her mother and boyfriend locking her in a closet for up to an hour at a time. mccarthy's defense lawyer says his client is deeply saddened by bella's death and had nothing to do with it. >> she believed that dcf had taken her.

that's what he was told by rachial bond and he believed her. >> reporter: bella's buy logical father who never met his daughter says he recently returned here to get back in her life, but he was too late. rachial bond came to him last week when mccarthy finally left the apartment and told him their daughter was dead. >> what did she tell you? >> she told me all the horrific details of what happened to our daughter. >> reporter: how hard was that to hear? >> tremendously hard. it was probably one of the hardest things i ever had to sit through ever in my life and listen to. >> what was it like in the courtroom today, randi? >> reporter: emotions were running high. bella bond's biological father was there sitting in the front row. he almost got thrown out because he was making gestures to her mother trying to show her that he brought with him bella's favorite beads she slept with at night and when the hearing ended he screamed and said you won't

last a day, you won't last a single day in prison. before that this woman stood up in the middle of the hearing and stormed out of the courtroom also yelling at michael mccarthy. she used the "f" word, told him to rot in hell. it was a dramatic moment because a lot of people have so many questions. they want to know why this girl was still in that home. two other children had already been removed. we know from the biological father, he called the department of children and families once to get her removed from the home. his mother, bella's grandmother called twice. bella was never taken out of that home and the case was closed. >> randi, i appreciate the reporting. i want to bring in john walsh, host of "the hunt" who sadly knows more than anyone about cases like these. his channelled personal tragedy into a life-long mission to identify baby does and find missing kids. john, thanks for being with us. you said from the beginning this was likely a boyfriend or someone that knew the child. these arrests don't surprise you, do they?

>> no. there are about 450 kids, on the average, according to the fbi in any given year murdered in the united states by parents, live-in boyfriends, people related to that child or live in that house. and for years, we have been talking about department of child services or department of family services in many, many states dropping the ball and as tragic and horrible as this case is, first i want to say the good side of it is that people rally to the search for this little girl to find out her name. the nation center for missing exploited children put up that composite that you showed repeatedly, anderson, and all of cnn did and 47 million people saw that little girl's face and eventually was probably the reason she was recovered and we know who she is, but the downside of it is this woman with a history of prostitution and drugs, incompetent, horrible mother, horrible parent, two children taken away from her, how could they not track this little girl?

what do you have to do? a grandma calls and says this child is in trouble. a real -- the real father calls, neighbors i hear have called, not sure about that, but had also called. what do you have to do to save a 2 1/2-year-old girl's life? >> it does seem like -- from what the reporting was last week that family services basically were only looking at active cases in the area near where the body was found. they weren't looking at cases that had already been closed, which apparently this one had even though as you point out multiple people called. >> what a horrible excuse. what a way to cover your tracks to say that we weren't aware that this little girl was on the radar because this case is closed. again, anderson, they are paid. they are over worked. under staffed. they are not trained properly in any given state, massachusetts isn't just a state but what kind of an excuse is that when grandma calls and biological

father and you look in your computer and say this lady is a horrible mother, we had to take away two other children, let's send somebody there to that house two, three, four, five times, show us the girl. show us -- tell us what you're doing with her and then just for the odds, take her out of that house. you only got to look at that picture and say this little girl could have been saved by a really good department of children services. >> does it ever seem to you like a department of children services learns from past mistakes? i mean, it seems like these mistakes get repeated and repeated. this would seem to be a case study for in the future don't just look at active cases but look at cases that have recently been closed or anything in the neighborhood that's been closed even with past allegations of abuse. it would seem to be, i mean, let's hope they would learn from this but in your experiences, do they? >> it never seems to be the case. you hit the nail right on the

head. when ever state legislature and these are state organizations, these are not federal organizations, when every state legislature meets, i say they should put at the top of their list of what they have to do is to protect children. governor, governor, after governor has investigated child services in state after state. some states have a horrible year and it gets better for awhile. i remember when florida had, i think, it was 30 kids in foster care they couldn't find after months. we were looking for a missing child on america's most wanted and nobody could find the child and the state looked and said oh my god, we got multiple kids in foster care their caregivers are cashing the checks for taking care of the children but off the radar. i don't know what we have to do as the rich's, most powerful country on the world to say to state legislators, save these kids, they are being beaten, starved and murdered and dumped in a garbage bag in a bay like a

piece of garbage. >> thanks for being on and let's continue to shine the light on it, thanks. pope francis arriving tomorrow for the first u.s. visit and draws huge crowds wherever he goes. from a security perspective, it's a huge challenge to say the least. i'll talk to the new york police commissioner about what this city, what new york is doing to prepare. plaque psoriasis... ...isn't it time to let the... ...real you shine... ...through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase... ...the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression...

...or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea, nausea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your doctor about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. it's how you stay connected. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you get an industry leading broadband network and cloud and hosting services. centurylink. your link to what's next.

it's gotten squarer. over the years. brighter. bigger. it's gotten thinner. even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers.

movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. on his last full day in cuba, pope francis kissed kids, giving hugs, showing why he is known as the people's pope. dozens of journalist travel with francis from rome to cuba and rosa flores was on the flight and had an extraordinary moment with the pope. she joins me now. you had a face-to-face meeting with the pope. what was it like? >> reporter: anderson, it was incredible. imagine looking into the eyes of the leader of the roman catholic church. it was a remarkable, memorable and almost normal in a sense and i hate to say that but we were

speaking spanish, spanish is my first language and his native language, as well and it was a bit fun conversation that i would have with someone like my grandfather. he was laughing and joking, very memorable in so many ways. >> i understand you reached out to some priests for guidance on how to approach him. [ laughter ] >> i did. because i was a little frightened quite frankly. you know, i was going to meet pope francis and be on the plane and from what i heard, he likes to give individual attention to the journalist, meet them, spend a few seconds with them and i was a bit frightened so i reached out to some priests that i know know him well and said please give me advice. what should i do and not do? one, i didn't want to embarrass myself. two, i didn't want to do something that would embarrass

cnn while i'm covering the news for cnn and so the priest gave me great advice and i think it worked. >> what was advice? >> reporter: well, they first of all said, rosa, don't forget to say your name and who you're with because they said, you know, so many times journalists are so excited to see him they forget to just introduce themselves and say their name. they said, be yourself, speak spanish, it's his native language and tell him a story, tell him something and then one of the priests said give him a hug, rosa, and tell him that i'm very happy that you're on the plane. as soon as i told him the name of the priest, pope francis goes off, says, you know, that priest, two days before the conclave, he dares to tell me are you calm? are you calm? he said who asks that question two days before. it was a pun conversation. >> amazing experience. thank you so much for joining

us, rosa. appreciate it and we'll continue to check with you. we'll have extensive coverage of pope francis' visit. he arrives in washington tomorrow for the first visit to the united states. on thursday, he'll become the first pontiff to address a joint session of congress and visit new york and philadelphia, all three cities spent months preparing, security a major concern because this pope likes to interact with crowds that turn out to see him everywhere. difficult situation. pennsylvania state police recently issued a bulletin warning of terrorists potentially impersonating police officers or first responders or emts, a spokesperson tells cnn the warning wasn't specific to the pope's visit. that said, an event of this scale could obviously be an attractive target. i talked to the new york police commissioner in new york central park where the pope will be visiting. there was a report from pennsylvania state police, i know cnn talked to them. there was some concern about possibility of terrorists using

uniforms of police officers or posing as emt and they said it wasn't specific to the pope's visit but just a warning they put out there. is that something you've considered? >> this is a heavily credentialed event. a lot of the personnel involved in the more intimate, i mean, the other would be usually the officer with the badge, et cetera. we'll be mindful of that and officers working detail will be coming from the same command. there will be a lot of familiarity with officers and with the heightened concerns we would have because of the dig tarries including the pope, that's an issue that would be prepared to address. >> how difficult? this is a pope we know likes to be out with the people and doesn't like to have a lot of security or have a bulletproof vehicle, as i understand it. how do you prepare for somebody that may change the route and stop the vehicle and get out? >> you prepare for that. we're not concerned about

changing the route. those are specific and traveling in a 30 some odd car motorcade. changing routes is difficult with something that large. what you talked about, we plan for the worst or the unexpected and we watch very closely all of his appearances around the world, how he interacts with the crowd. >> you studied those appearances? >> sure, in terms of, you know, how we interact. that's something we need to know about him because he will seek to do that. he makes it quite clear he wants to meet with his parishioners. >> we talked to the chief of counterterrorism and they said they role played out a number of scenarios, a number of different types of attacks that somebody might try to launch against him. >> for example, the events down in cuba where several protestors came over the barrier and attempted to get close, addressing that quickly so we're

constantly learning -- >> with these crowds, is it an active shooter? is that the biggest concern? >> we think in terms of you would also be concerned about active shooter and explosive device, you would be concerned with any type of weapon for that matter that -- and we're certainly see experiences involving the pope including st. peters square with people attacking other popes, not this one. so the types of weapons that can be utilized, threats, we try to plan for that. >> in terms of specific of credible threats, do you have any? >> no, fortunately, as of this junk tour we do not. 11 highway shootings in the phoenix area. police arrest a man suspected in four of the attacks. what he told the judge when we continue. ♪ [engine revving]

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ feel like this. look like this. feel like this. with dreamwalk insoles, turn shoes that can be a pain into comfortable ones. their soft cushioning support means you can look like this. and feel like this. dreamwalk. while you're watching this, i'm hacking your company. grabbing your data. stealing your customers' secrets. there's an army of us. relentlessly unpicking your patchwork of security. think you'll spot us? ♪

you haven't so far. the next wave of the internet requires the next wave of security. we're ready. are you? you aren't treated like a priority. we do things differently. we'll take care of it. we put members first. join the nation. thank you. those diagnosed with cancer who explored their treatment options by getting a comprehensive second opinion at cancer treatment centers of america. call today or go online to schedule your second opinion here. learn more at cancercenter.com what do a nasca comedian... and a professional golfer have in common? we talked to our doctors about treatment with xarelto®.

xarelto® is proven to treat and help reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots. xarelto® has also been proven to reduce the risk of stroke in people with afib, not caused by a heart valve problem. for people with afib currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. i tried warfarin before, but the blood testing routine and dietary restrictions had me off my game. not this time. not with xarelto®. i'll have another arnold palmer. make mine a kevin nealon. really, brian? hey, safety first. like all blood thinners, don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of a blood clot or stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. if you have had spinal anesthesia while on xarelto®, watch for back pain or any nerve or muscle related signs or symptoms. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding.

tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures. before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. xarelto® has been prescribed more than 11 million times in the u.s. and that number's growing. like your guys' scores. with xarelto® there is no regular blood monitoring, and no known dietary restrictions. treatment with xarelto® was the right move for us. ask your doctor about xarelto®. welcome back. a suspect has been arrested with a string of shootings along an interstate in phoenix. police say they linked the suspect to four of the 11 incidents but he says they have

the wrong guy. anna cabrera reports. >> reporter: shattered car windows, bullet holes and doors, arizona residents living fear for weeks but now an arrest. >> all i have to say is i'm the wrong guy. >> reporter: this 21-year-old father of two is behind bars charged with terrorizing the phoenix area at the end of the august shooting at random cars and even a bus along the busy interstate 10. leslie allen merritt junior was arrested on friday. >> my gun has been in the pawnshop for the last two months. i haven't even had access to a weapon. >> reporter: investigators say they did indeed track down the 9 millimeter and test fired it and found a match. >> the test fired bullets were hatched to bullet fragments from four cases over the last weekend in august. >> reporter: merritt's gun was not in a pawnshop when the four separate shootings happened. while no one was killed, a 13-year-old girl was injured. after a car windshield shattered. >> i know my son. my entire family knows my son. there is no way. >> reporter: leslie merritt senior adamantly defends his son

and he questions the evidence. >> sounds like a rush job. how many other firearms did they test fire and go through? >> reporter: plus investigators have not been able to connect merritt to seven other similar shootings including a bullet to a big rig as recently as september 10th. right now a $50,000 reward remains up for grabs. >> are there others up there, copy cats? that is possible. we'll continue to investigate. >> reporter: authorities are urging more tips. that could lead to more suspects. little comfort to a city on edge. >> anna joins us now. what are you learning about his criminal history? >> reporter: he really has a minor criminal history. his father does say he had a misdemeanor charge a few years back for cutting some copper wire but we confirmed no prior felonies. tonight he's facing 28 different felony charges including aggravated assault, drive-by shooting and intentional acts of terrorism and he's being held on a $1 million cash bond.

thanks very much. that does it for us. our coverage continues from cnn in atlanta next. become the only thing you think about. that's where at&t can help. at at&t we monitor our network trafc so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. what's up mikey?ringing) (beep) play awe♪ome party song. hey buddy i heard you're having a party. what? if i was having a party, i'd invite you. would you? yeah. (phone ringing) oh! i got another call. adam: i'm not having a party! hey chris what's up! you heard about adam's party man? it's going to be crazy. i knew it! (beep) find the closest party store... introducing app-connect. (google voice) here are your directions.

michael: i'm gonna throw my own party. the things you love on your phone, available on 11 volkswagen models. real milk vs. almond milk protein show down milk wins. 8 times the protein, less bathroom breaks.

it's gotten squarer. over the years. brighter. bigger. thinner. even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 will change the way you experience tv.

call and switch to x1 from xfinity today. with near 0% support in the latest polls governor scott walker has jumped out of the race for u.s. president and has advice for remaining candidates. plus, a rock star's reception in cuba for pope francis as he wraps up his visit there and heads to the united states. and coming up later, thousands of people have escaped from north korea but their families refuse to believe they defected. cnn goes inside the isolated country. hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states. of course all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> thanks for joining us. we're here for you for the next four hours. this is "cnn newsroom."