>> thank you, larry. thank you for coming here. >> larry: 36 more years. >> thank you. >> larry: and you may humble yourself. come back. lorne michaels, amy poehler, seth myers, kristen wig, fred armisson and andy samburg and you watch them all tomorrow when "saturday night live" begins its 36th consecutive year, 11:30 eastern on nbc. thanks for joining us. "ac 360" is next. thanks, larry, and thanks for joining us. tonight, can someone in a u.s. senator's office post a hate-filled death threat online and get away with it? it took amateurs just hours to trace the computer so why is it taking folks in congress days to find the computer user? we're keeping them honest. also tonight a congressional candidate comes out with an over the top political ad about the proposed islamic center near ground zero using the term muslim and terrorist interchangeably. is she using ground zero to boost her trailing campaign? we'll ask her, tonight. and the shocking new revelations in that connecticut home

invasion horror. family held hostage and assaulted and killed, all the while the alleged murderers were texting each other, talking about champing at the bit to do the crime. tonight you'll see their texts and hear what happened in court today. we begin keeping them honest as we always do with an internet slur and death threat sent from the office of a u.s. senator. our question tonight, why is it taking so long to figure out who sent it? the senator is saxby chambliss, republican of georgia. his staff admits the threat came from someone in his office. his office condemns it and promises to hold the guilty party accountable. but it's been nearly four days since the threatening blog was made. four days, and it took just a few hours to trace it to a computer at the senator's atlanta area office. only a limited number of people have access to that office and its computers, yet so far the senator and his staff remain silent on who was there and who the culprit likely was. he turn the investigation over to others and are refusing to make any more comments. the posts was made on the day

chambliss was voting on don't ask, don't tell policy. it said, all -- you can figure out the word for yourself -- must die. the name of the poster was jimmy. now, it was posted on a gay oriented website. you might say it takes a lot of time to track something like this, right, but the truth is, it doesn't. in fact, the website owner quickly asked his computer savvy read attorneys trace the message. i want to take you over to the wall here to show you how they did it. frankly, i didn't know this was possible. in leaving that threat the person in the senator's office probably didn't know the website recorded the ip address of his or her computer. it turns out every computer on the web has an ip address. they're unique, and just about anyone can trace them if you go to a website like this one and plug in the ip address. now, in this case the ip address is right up here. it was 156332072. that's the ip address of the computer that sent that message. then if you go to a website like this, and you hit -- you can run a trace on it. now you go down here, it gives you the location, where the computer is.

this is from the organization, the united states senate. it gives you the longitude and latitude here. it also tells you what city and state. atlanta, georgia. up here you can see the spot on google map. now, if we zoom in right here, that's the office building used by senator chambliss. now take a look at what it looks like at ground level. we sent a crew there tonight hoping to talk to someone or at least be able to see how many people are inside using computers, but it was after hours and no one was there. earlier we called chambliss' office to arrange an interview but we were turned down. we asked for information on the atlanta office and staffing. the senator's people declined. now on wednesday they released this statement. "we've engaged the senate sergeant at arms office in an internal review. there's not been a determination as to posted the comment. that part of the interview is ongoing and is on going with the senate sergeant at arms. we tried to get ahold of the senate sergeant at arms to fill

us in on what they're looking at and how long these things generally take. we got no comment on that, even though on broad questions about other completed investigations. so the question tonight is why didn't the senator's chief of staff simply handle this in-house? they know all the people, they know who had access to the particular computer, they know who was in the office or was on vacation when the message was sent. and why nearly four days after the posting has no culprit been identified? joining me now, jared polis, in college he co-founded an internet access provider and went on to launch two commerce operations. also joining us, r. clark hooper, a group that focuses on reaching out to conservatives about issues affecting gay and lesbian americans. so representative, if this happened in your office and you knew the sack time the comment was created and from which computer, how difficult would it be to ferret who is responsible? >> it's extremely easy. first of all according to the congressional staff directory there's seven people in the office. seven suspects. secondly we know which computer it came from.

all you need to do is look at the browser history. if one of them erased their browser history, boom, you figure out who it is. boom. it couldn't be easier. if they can't figure it out, i'll go down there myself and do it for them. >> what about that? seven people in an office, sounds pretty easy. >> sure. i don't think there's any disagreement that the bigoted staffer should be fired. i'm not a forensics or criminal investigator, and so it could be just as easy as that. i've talked to friends of mine who do i.t. and they said, yeah, the ip part is easy. what's not easy are the keystrokes, who actually had their fingerprints on the keyboard. but the bigoted staffer should be fired. >> but there's got to be a limited number of people who actually, who can actually use a computer, most of the people can use a computer but there's got to be -- >> i'm sure the congressman can attest to this, they're not state department or defense computers where you have to log off when you go to the bathroom, they're pretty open environments. in fact, you have a fleet of interns coming in and out. i'm not defending the delay, i'm not defending the bigoted staffer, but

it sounds like they're wanting to get to the bottom of it. why aren't we talking about the witt rule tonight? we talked about don't ask, don't tell. keeping them honest, why isn't president obama firing his department of justice attorneys who are equating homosexuality to all kinds of things like incest? i mean, so if we want to talk about firing people, i would like to see some justice attorneys let go from their jobs right now. >> representative polis -- >> you want to talk about don't ask -- >> i'm sorry. go ahead. >> you want to talk about don't ask, don't tell, again, 96% of the democrats in the senate, everyone except two, voted for it. zero percent of the republicans voted for repealing don't ask, don't tell despite the fact 75% of the american people support it, according to a recent "usa today" poll, and it's in the interest of securing our country. this is an easy one to figure out. >> i agree with you on the 75%. that's data i use -- >> guys, i agree both these stories are important and we've covered don't ask, don't tell but a death threat was sent from the office of a united states senator and that's what we're asking you about. representative polis, do you think senator chambliss's

office did the appropriate thing by referring it to the sergeant-at-arms? >> it's a strange thing to do. i asked my chief of staff, i asked former chiefs of staff what they would do in that situation. the sergeant-at-arms office protects us, so when we receive a death threat they investigate it in conjunction with local police. they're not a body that looks at the behavior of the people that work for us. that's a very unusual thing for them to do. i don't think they're equipped to do that. that's what your chief of staff and your own hierarchy is responsible for. in this case the senator and their hierarchy, and ultimately the senator is responsible for the behavior of those working for them, should be fired. the trail grows colder with time. it shouldn't take more than a day or two to figure it out. if people are lying about it, it needs to end at a higher level because somebody is responsible. >> chambliss has a poor record on gay issues, do you think that's involved here? >> i don't. i will say we've had an open-door policy with his professional staff in washington. i've never engaged with his district staff in atlanta but i do agree with representative

polis on the buck stops with the message regardless of what party, if they're in the house or senate. so as far as the ultimate decision, it's not the senate sergeant of arms, it's not the chief of staff. the ultimate decision to fire this bigoted staffer will come from senator chambliss and i presume he will do the right thing. congressman polis, i appreciate your time, clark cooper, as well. >> let's talk about don't ask, don't tell, the court case. come on. >> join the live chat at ac360.com. just ahead, see what happens when i question a candidate about some of the facts in her new campaign ad. >> i guess what i could ask you is, are you anti-religion? are you anti-christian? >> that is like -- that's like the lowest response i've ever heard from a candidate. i've got to tell you. >> really? >>'l democratic member of the congressional black caucus caught giving scholarship money meant for needy kids to his relatives and the relatives of his staffers. we're demanding answers and keeping them honest. we'll be right back.

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you'll notice the public debate over the proposed islamic center near ground zero has died down of late. it doesn't mean passions aren't strong on it, but one candidate is hoping to keep it front and center. her name is renee elmers. hasn't stopped her from making the proposed mosque a centerpiece of her campaign. she has a new commercial out this week about the mosque controversy and listen carefully to the language she uses basically interchanging the word muslim and the word terrorist. >> after the muslims conquered jerusalem and constantinople, they built victory mosques. and now they want to build a mosque by ground zero. where does bob etheridge stand? he won't say. won't speak out. won't take a stand. >> the terrorists haven't won. and we should tell them in plain english no, there will never be a mosque at ground zero. i'm renee elmers and i approve this ad.

>> well, a spokesman for her democratic opponent says "mrs. elmers is desecrating this hallowed ground with her obvious and desperate attempt to raise her profile. and in your ad you use the term muslim and terrorist interchangeably. you say muslims want to build a mosque, the terrorists haven't won and we should tell them in plain english, no, there will never be a mosque at ground zero. you're basically equating muslims with terrorists. >> well, to be honest, i think that you can make that assumption, but, you know, that's not giving me the benefit of the doubt. >> but that's what you're saying in your -- i mean your words were carefully selected. >> the words are carefully selected, but that is certainly not what i'm intending to say. i am not intending to say that all muslims are terrorists. basically what i am saying, sir, is that there were terrorists who attacked us. they were islamic jihadists, and as a result of that we have seen the devastation on 9/11. and we are still living with

that. >> but the people who are building the mosque -- but the people building the islamic center are not terrorists. >> do you know that, sir? do you know that, sir? because we don't even know who is -- who is the donors to that. >> do you believe the imam behind this, the imam whose -- >> we don't know that. >> you think he may be a terrorist? >> well, i don't know that much about the imam. i don't think any of us know that much about the imam. >> wait a minute, wait a minute. >> that is where the uncertainty is. >> but have you done any research about him because the state department has sent him out for years to -- >> yes, sir, you are correct. and those are some of the concerns that we have. our -- >> wait a minute, so you believe he may -- you believe he may be a terrorist? >> sir, i don't know what his intentions are. i do not know that. and that is my point. i am standing up for the people of district 2 in north carolina who say that they are very concerned with the moral decline in this country and where our

leaders are bringing us. and the person that i am running against, congressman bob etheridge has not taken a stand on this. >> well, actually that's not true. i'm sorry, that's not true. his campaign says -- stop. his campaign says he doesn't believe this mosque should be built. >> but that wasn't until -- that was as a response of this commercial that we're running against him. he was silent on it. we've run -- >> okay, so now are you -- but, wait. now you just said he's not taken a stand on it, you know he has taken a stand -- >> he's not taking a stand on it. making a comment coming from his campaign, he has not been seen saying these things. that was actually a comment that came from one of his campaign staffers. >> all right. you also talk about a victory mosque that muslims built hundreds of years ago on the site of military conquests. >> yes, sir. >> don't all religions do that? i mean you're catholic. rome was conquered from the pagans and their altars destroyed so the vatican can be built.

conquistadors and pilgrims built their own houses of worship. is the vatican a victory church? >> no, that is -- >> it's not? >> you are incorrect in your statement, sir. >> wait, so, wait, just about every religion, when a religion in the past used to conquer in a war, they wouldn't build a house of worship, the catholic church didn't build houses of worship on the sites of other religions? >> now, we all know about religion. i'm a -- >> yes or no, i know. >> i'm a catholic, yes, i am. no. you are wrong in your assumptions and, you know, i guess what i could ask you is are you anti-religion, are you anti-christian? >> that is like -- that's like the lowest response i've ever heard from a candidate. i've got to tell you. >> really? really? i really don't think that is. >> so the history of rome, rome was not conquered from another group? >> well, rome was a pagan nation before it was a christian nation. >> right. it was conquered by the pagans. >> i am losing your point

and the fact of the matter is we're getting way off the subject matter. >> i'm asking about the accuracy of your commercial. you say these are victory mosques. couldn't the same thing be said about just about every religious body? >> i have history to back me up. we are talking about the possibility of a mosque being built on ground zero. >> well, actually, no -- >> we're not talking about another christian religion coming in and building a church. >> in fact, ma'am -- >> there's a greek orthodox church that was destroyed at that site that still hasn't been rebuilt. >> okay, you actually do know -- >> we're not discussing that either. >> you do know it's not on ground zero, it's two blocks away from ground zero. it's actually not just a mosque, it's an islamic center and it's actually being built on a burlington coat factory. so just for accuracy's sake -- >> it was a burlington coat factory, yes, sir, i realize that, and i realize it's two blocks from it but we're talking about hallowed ground. is there a line of demarcation that indicates to us where some victims may have died and some may have not and debris from

that terrible, awful disaster that happened? >> right. >> we're all americans, this is an american issue, and the people of district 2 in north carolina are very concerned about it. >> well, i appreciate -- >> that's why i'm speaking out on it. >> you also say on your website, and i quote that the obama administration has been spending foreign aid money to build mosques in muslim nations. you do know that started under george bush in 2001. and you do know that -- >> and that's fine. that is fine. >> and just for accuracy sake because you don't mention this on your website, this is actually outreach by the state department to restore historic sites including some mosques but it also restores christian sites and buddhist sites and the mosques are a fraction of the overall spending. that's correct, right? >> well, i'm not trying to make justifications. >> no, no, you brought this up as if -- >> our state department is spending money building mosques around the world. and we are at war right now in afghanistan and iraq, and there are radical muslims who really

want to do harm to us. >> do you know -- >> that is what the issue is. now, we are not fighting radical christians. we are fighting radical muslims. >> right. >> and as long as there are americans who are dying, this is an issue. >> do you know who we're supporting in the war in afghanistan? do you know what government we're actually propping up? it's a muslim government, you're aware of that. >> that is absolutely correct and that is why it is so important that we do these things, for that very reason. >> that we do what things, that we build mosques and support cultural ideas -- >> that we help those people around the world who are peaceful people. >> your opponent's campaign says not only is your opponent against building the islamic center but they told politico.com, i want you to respond. they say ms. elmers is desecrating this hallowed ground in an attempt to raise her profile. no further proof is needed, she will say anything to get elected. >> well, there you go. when you don't have anything else to say or stand on because of your voting record, you are going to lash out like that. you know, calling us names and

saying that we're terrible, awful people for our way of thinking, all we're doing is reflecting what we've seen in the district. and the people that i've talked with who are so concerned with where our country is going. i am not running for a popularity contest in new york or d.c. or on television. i am running for the people of district 2, north carolina, who are good, hard-working christian people who just want to turn this country around. >> what about muslims? do you want their vote? >> well, absolutely. i want everyone's vote. as a nurse i've taken care of every race, creed, color, religion, everything. that's what i was trained to do and to respect their traditions, and i will continue to do that as a congresswoman in washington. >> renee elmers, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> well, thank you. >> well, i must say i've never had a candidate suggest i'm anti-religion because i ask them about their religious claims in a commercial. for the record

i'm not taking a position own whether this islamic center should or should not be built and i'm not taking a position for or against ms. elmers that's not my job. i wondered after that interview was i completely wrong about the religious conquests hundreds of years ago. i can't believe we're debating this, but we've invited bruce feiler. bruce, you're a religious scholar, you've actually been to all the sites in ms. elmer's ads. are they victory mosques? >> well, i have to say as someone who writes about and has written four books about religion, this is the first time i've seen the history of religion has been brought into a campaign to begin with. and like a lot of this hatemongering, anderson, there is a colonis a kernel of truth to it. when muslims got to jerusalem and constantinople they did build mosques. i've never in 15 years writing about this heard them called victory mosques. but as you've said this is completely consistent with the history of religion. when king david conquered

jerusalem, his son king solomon built the temple. and then when, as you also said, when rome became christian, they built st. peter's, one of the great churches ever built. so this is consistent in history and kind of lost in this whole conversation, i think, is there's 600,000 muslims who live in and around new york city and, in fact, there have been -- there are mosques in this area. in fact, there was a muslim prayer room in the world trade centers, to her reference about the trade centers. so the point is, it just is unusual and frankly a little frightening that a political candidate in north carolina or my hometown of savannah is going to comment on where muslims in new york city can worship or not. >> well, so if you -- i mean if you call a mosque a victory mosque, then would you -- by that logic, could you call the vatican a victory church or st. peter's a victory church, if you're going down that road? >> if you want to use that language, i don't think it's constructive language, and when the pilgrims got to plymouth, the first thing they built was a church, in fact.

but i think that we need to step back here and ask, why is it that several months into this we are still talking about it? part of it is sensitivity to 9/11. we just saw president ahmadinejad yesterday suggest it might be an american plot and the americans and other people rightly walked out of the chamber, and president obama denounced it today. but i think there's a deeper question in america and that is, is somehow what's going on with muslims different? are they going to be welcomed into this country or do we need to treat them differently? you mentioned "america's prophet," a book i wrote, there's a chapter on george whitfield. he's essentially the founder of evangelical christianity. in the 18th century, there were assassination attempts, he was kicked out of churches, pushed to the end of the city, yet for what? for saying we should read the bible directly and have a direct relationship with god. so this happened to evangelicals in the 18th century. they became mainstream as we see today. to catholics in the 19th century, to jews in the 20th century.

what's going on with muslims is the same process and for people who think it's different today in almost every way it is very similar, and in the lifetimes of almost everyone everyone watching tonight we've seen how jews and christians have related to one another and that's going to happen with muslims. it's going to be messy, this is what co-existence is about, but there is every reason to believe that this is part of a larger narrative of muslims being accepted in america. >> bruce, i appreciate your perspective very much. up next, another congressman accused of taking donated money, well perhaps money from the congressional black caucus foundation putting it in the pockets of their relatives. we've got the details. also, two murder suspects, can you believe according to police one was talking about wanting a margarita before their alleged home invasion ended in a triple homicide. we've got the shocking text messages between these two and the latest from a courtroom insider coming up. in "crime and punishment." ♪

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well, a few weeks ago you may remember we brought you a story of a democratic congress woman, a member of the congressional black caucus from texas caught giving scholarship money meant for needy kids to her own relatives and relatives of her staffers. well, guess what, keeping them honest turns out another member of the congressional

black caucus was doing the same thing. this is sanford bishop. he reportedly gave not one, not two, but seven scholarships to his stepdaughter and his wife's niece between 2003 and 2005. according to various reports when he was caught, bishop repaid the cbc foundation $6,350 to cover the cost of those scholarships. now the associated press says four more questionable scholarships awarded by bishop has surfaced. scholarship money went to a woman who worked to his wife who is the court clerk, that woman is now married to a staffer of the congressman. when they got money were two other students who were children of people who reportedly worked with bishop's wife and another reportedly the niece of a staffer. not quite as bad as that texas congresswoman, burn niece. she gave out 23 scholarships over five years to relatives and people who had connections to her staff. her explanation? she claims she didn't know the rules of the scholarships and claimed she didn't know it was unethical to give charity money meant for needy kids to her family.

here's what she told me. >> i was not aware of the rules. the rules have been very ambiguous. there were some rules that came out last year, but i have acknowledged i made a mistake, i've tried to make everything whole. i have paid all the money out of my personal funds, and i'm ready to move on. >> you say the rules were ambiguous prior to last year, and that you didn't know what the rules were. we found the 2008 scholarship application, and on it it says, quote, employees and/or relatives of cbc member, cbc spouses, board of directors, are ineligible for the scholarship program. we went back and found the 2006 guidelines from four years ago, and it says the exact same thing. employees and/or relatives of cbc members or spouses or the board of directors are ineligible for the scholarship program. that seems not ambiguous. >> i didn't realize they were even there, as i indicated. i have no reason not to tell the truth. i did not know they were in print.

>> even if you hadn't seen the rules, in print, most of us i think would know that it's not right to award your family instead of needy kids. congressman bishop has refused to talk about the money he gave though he claims the awards met the cbc rules. we'll certainly like to ask him how that is possible but he refuses to comment. the attorney for the congressional plaque caucus released a statement in part "the scholarship fund was established to benefit disadvantaged needy students. it was always presumed that each member office local selection committee was genuinely concerned to providing assistance to deserving young people in a congressional district, not family members. we'll continue to follow this because the more we scratch away at this, the more this whole thing stinks. plenty of other stories we're following right now. randi kaia has the "360 bulletin." randi? >> anderson, plenty to tell you about tonight. president obama is slamming iranian leader mahmoud ahmadinejad for telling the u.n. general assembly the u.s. was somehow behind the 9/11 attacks.

the pez tells bbc persia the comments were offensive and hateful, particularly since ahmadinejad made those claims so close to ground zero. meanwhile, ahmadinejad met in new york with sarah shourd, one of three american hikers facing charges of spying in iran. shourd was allowed to leave iran on bail, but her fiance and a friend still remain in custody. shourd called it a, quote, good meeting, but no other details were given. a judge is ordering the air force reserve to reinstate a major booted out because of the don't ask, don't tell policy. margaret witt sued after being discharged because of her relationship with another woman. the judge says her right to due process was violated. and late word tonight, actress lindsay lohan who was ordered back to jail today after a failing drug test will now be allowed to post bail. it won't be cheap, though, the judge is setting that bail at

$300,000 and, anderson, she must agree to wear an alcohol detection device as well. so the saga continues. up next, the latest on the deadly home invasion trial in connecticut. eerie text messages allegedly sent between the suspects hours before the home invasion attack on the family. and a cnn investigation. what did pope benedict know about the sex abuse scandal when he was still cardinal ratzinger and at the time head of a powerful office at the vatican? down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe...

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crime and punishment tonight, just a bizarre twist today in the deadly home invasion trial today in connecticut. steven hayes is on trial, one of two men accused of murdering of jennifer hawke-petit and her two daughters in 2007. a lawyer for the next suspect, joshua komisarjevsky held a news conference to correct what he called a misimpression of the petit family. he said the youngest daughter had not been raped but was sexually assaulted. more on that later. you recall the video of jennifer hawke-petit withdrawing $15,000 from a bank at the demand of her

captors just before her murder. police testified hayes took her to the bank while his accused accomplice held the family hostage. hawk thought it would buy her freedom. it was not to be. yesterday authorities released video from a gas station where one of the suspects allegedly purchased $10 worth of gas that would be used to burn down the petit's home. when she got back from withdrawing money from the bank, jennifer hawke-petit was sexually assaulted and strangled. her daughters who were tied to beds and died in the fire that was then set. dr. william petit was seriously injured but survived the attack. there's been testimony from police about cell phone text messages that the suspects allegedly sent to each other just a few hours before the home invasion. take a look. at 7:45 p.m., hayes texed, i'm champing at the bit to get started. need a margarita soon. 8:45, hayes says, we still on? one minute later, komisarjevsky says yes. at 8:48, just three minutes later, hayes says soon? 8:51 komisarjevsky says i'm putting the kid to bed, hold your horses.

9:20 p.m., hayes says, dude, the horses want to get lose. lol, laughing out loud. sunny hostinw was in the courtroom today from trtrutv. everyone wants to feel safe in their home. to think these people would be in somebody's home like this, what is it like sitting in the courtroom every single day and just hearing this stuff? we're not giving the most gruesome details because it's just frankly sickening. >> it really has been difficult. you know, i've tried child sex crimes and i've sat in on many, many, many, dozens of cases and it has even been difficult for me. the feeling in the courtroom, the tension, it's palpable. and i was seated today directly across from the petit family, directly across from the hawke family and some of the testimony today brought them to tears. it really has been a very difficult time. i have to tell you, anderson, every day i think the prosecution is almost over here, this is going to be an easier day for this family, and it has gotten worse and worse and worse.

>> you know, you look at these pictures of the petits who are no longer living, the mom and two daughters, so this attorney for the other guy comes out today. i can't believe -- he comes out saying basically my client is being mischaracterized and again i don't want to go into the details even of what he said because it's so disturbing but he essential ly says what his client did to this 11-year-old girl isn't quite as bad but what he described him doing is horrific. >> we can't even talk about it really on air because it was so graphic. and i was shocked. when i heard it, my jaw dropped. we were outside of the court diana ash >> does he think that's going to help? >> he said he offered that piece of information for solace, to give the family some solace. and i will say that the petits then at the end of today's hearing also gave sort of a press conference and said they were outraged, outraged and they reminded everyone there's a gag order in this case and that that attorney broke that gag order and perhaps could be found in contempt. >> do you we know --

we're seeing the video of mrs. petit withdrawing the $15,000, her family is being held hostage at home. do we know the time line? i mean, how long were these people allegedly in the house because those text messages were sent at night. obviously this bank must have been during the morning. >> what's most disturbing about this is they broke into the home about 3:00 in the morning. and the fire was set about 9:40 a.m., so they were there over six hours terrorizing this family, beating dr. petit, you know, allegedly raping both mrs. hawke-petit and 11-year-old michaela petit and setting the house on fire. this was a crime of just -- it was an atrocious, heinous crime. and that's why it's a death penalty case because of that. >> and the kids we believe died of smoke inhalation. >> well, i will say today a fire investigator testified, and he testified about pour pattern and about the fact that an accelerant was used that consumed the home in flames, and

he testified, anderson, that there was gasoline poured around the beds and also on top of the girls. and i think when people heard that today it really, really struck a chord in the courtroom. i mean, i was in the press section and there were reporters gasping and mr. petit -- dr. petit's sister was brought to tears. i mean, it really has been just horrific. >> monday court is closed, tuesday the defense plans to present evidence. do we know where they're going? >> i have no idea. and we were actually shocked when the judge said that the defense plans to put on a case on tuesday, starting tuesday. i can only imagine that the defense will be my client is bad but the other guy is worse. that's all i think -- >> so this guy hayes is going to say basically he wasn't the brains behind the whole operation? >> that's all they can do, i would think. i don't think this is a question of whether or not he's guilty. i really think it's a question of whether or not he'll be put to death. >> sunny, i appreciate it. can't imagine what it's like covering this every day but i appreciate you telling us what

you saw today. up next, more legal trouble for pastor eddie long. we talked about him last night. last night he was accused by three young men into having sex with him, now there's a fourth. he denies all the charges. tonight he's facing yet another court lawsuit. plus, what pope benedict knew when he was a cardinal about a priest who molested boys. what could he have done about it but chose not to do? a preview of a special investigation by "360's" gary tuchman coming up. [ joey ] we need to talk to you

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this weekend our gary tuchman has a remarkable investigation airing into the catholic church sex abuse scandal and what the pope knew about it. i want to show you what gary uncovered about a priest convicted of molestation, put in jail, but even so cardinal ratzinger refused to let him be defrocked. >> reporter: bishop ryan drove 45 miles north to the town of lincoln. he came here to lincoln to visit one of his priests, a priest who was living here in a prison. in 1985, father alvin campbell pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault on boys as young as 11 years old. he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. matt mccormack was one of the

children campbell abused. >> i don't come by the school and i don't come by the church. >> reporter: starting in seventh grade, campbell molested mccormack in the church's school, the rectory, and even here. this is the confessional you were in? >> this is the confessional and he would sit there. >> reporter: campbell was sent to prison, but he was still a priest. that's why bishop ryan had come to visit him, to try to convince him to voluntarily leave the priesthood. campbell refused. so ryan turned to rome for help. he sent copies of campbell's indictments spelling out in detail what he had done to the victims and asking ratzinger to defrock campbell. ratzinger's answer? no.

it cannot be admitted in as much as it reflects to father campbell himself. incredibly what cardinal ratzinger was saying was that he could not agree to defrock a priest, even a child molester, without that priest's permission. monsignor charles chicuna, the vatican's prosecutor worked with the pope for years on sex abuse cases. when he sat down with me at the vatican, it was his first-ever television interview on the pope's record. monsignor, do you see though how it sounds so ridiculous under a canon law unless he requests it, we can't defrock him. >> it would sound ridiculous if you forget the next paragraph which says there is a way of reducing him and it is by church trial. >> reporter: ratzinger's letter says the bishop can avoid responsibility for keeping campbell by putting him through a church trial. but again, that would take years. and campbell had already been convicted in a criminal trial.

he admits the process needed changing. >> i think that these cases certainly thought cardinal ratzinger, his collaborators, that something needed to be done. and something has been done. today canon law has a different scenario, that this would not happen under today's canon law and that is also the message of cardinal ratzinger who is pope benedict xvi today. >> reporter: campbell would be finally defrock ed three years later after he eventually agreed to request it himself. after bouts with depression, alcohol and drugs, mccormack today is happily married with a daughter. >> give mom a kiss. >> reporter: and a wife who gave up on the church. >> we've both converted to lutheranism because of this. permanently i don't have faith in the catholic church whatsoever. at all.

>> so, gary, has the pope ever personally apologized for what he knew back then? >> reporter: the pope has apologized on behalf of the church and that's significant. he's the first pontiff to ever do so. but he's never personally apologized. as a matter of fact, he's never said he knows anything about what happened in the past, but the documents that we have, anderson, indicate the holy father knew quite a bit. >> and why are you doing this report now? it's airing tomorrow. what's significant about the timing? >> reporter: there's would reasons. number one, one of the victims in this documentary has actually sued the pope and that's the first time that's happened. secondly, these documents, we just got these documents a short time ago. they were in secret vatican safes literal ly for 30 years, they were subpoenaed them, got them and that shows the proof. >> this saturday and sunday 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. don't forget to watch for it this weekend. up next, new allegations against that megapastor eddie long. a fourth man has come forward saying long coerced him into sex

when he was a teenager. the pastor known for his opposition to same-sex marriage and homosexuality has denied all the allegations. all the details ahead. also tonight, the shot, stephen colbert making his truthiness or talking about truthiness, i guess, to capitol hill. >> if we can put a man on the moon, why can't we make the earth waist high. come on. where is the funding? 's just o. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on.

following a number of other stories right now, let's check in with randi kaye and another "360 news and business bulletin." randi? >> anderson, let's start in georgia. the news gets worse for pastor eddie long. a fourth lawsuit has now been filed against him. this one alleges that long, who s with a bishop at a megachurch

in atlanta, coerced a 17-year-old boy to have sex with him while on a trip to africa back in 2005. in a statement today, long again denied the accusations. he will speak to his congregation about the lawsuits on sunday, he says. a brazen bank robbery near miami, police say robbers invaded a teller's home, strapped an explosive device to his body, took him to his bank branch and forced him inside to demand money. the robbers got away with an undisclosed amount of money. the device was safely deactivated. the teller is being questioned by police. a banner day on wall street, today the dow shot up nearly 200 points closing at 10,086 -- 860. investors were cheered on by better than expected news on orders for durable goods. and finally halloween is a little more than a month away. the national retail federation predicts americans will spend nearly $6 billion on candy. $6 billion on candy, decorations and costumes for all the ghosts and goblins.

$6 billion. >> and tens of millions more on dental bills later on. >> yeah. oh, yeah, that's for sure. >> i know of what i speak. randi, tonight's shot, comedian stephen colbert facing one of your tougher audiences. he was in congress today, the unlikely star in a house subcommittee hearing on the plight of migrant farm workers. he stayed in character nearly the entire time. and his testimony -- you know had a bunch of folks laughing but a lot of others complained it was just a stunt and wasted the time of lawmakers at taxpayer expense. >> as we've heard this morning, america's farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables. now, the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables. and if you look at the recent obesity statistics, you'll see that many americans have already started. unfortunately, my

gastroenterolist, dr. eichler, has informed me in no uncertain terms that they're a necessary source of roughage. i would like to submit a video of my colonoscopy into the record. i started my day with reconceived notions of migrant labor. but after working with these men and women, picking beans, packing corn for hours on end side by side in the unforgiving sun, i have to say, and i do mean this sincerely, please don't make me do this again. it is really, really hard. >> yeah. a lot of folks on the capitol did not seem to be laughing. >> yeah, that was some strange testimony. but i guess he worked at this farm in august picking corn and vegetables, so -- >> yeah, for a tv bit. yeah. but he was actually invited by one of the members to speak. we do have a second bonus shot tonight. it's friday, why not. this is a shot, we found two kids dancing to justin bieber get upstaged by their dad. we found this on todaysbigthing.com.

♪ i know you care ♪ never and i'll be there >> oh, my. >> yeah. ♪ you want my love ♪ we'll never even be apart >> for a while i wasn't sure if they even knew the dad was behind there. >> i don't even know if they knew he was back there. >> i think he's seen too many old peter allen routines. >> he can move, man. look at that. >> it's like the coast of peter allen standing behind those two kids. all right. >> and they just keep going. >> yeah, well what else are you going to do if your dad is doing that? can you imagine how embarrassed. i used to go to church with my dad and he would sing and i was mortified to hear him sing. randi, have a good weekend. at the top of the hour, someone in this senator's office sent a hate-filled death threat to a website. it was quickly traced to a computer at the office. why is it taking so long to figure out who sent this message?

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