and the people's pope is on his way to america. in just hours the pope is set to touch down in the u.s. for the very first time. we'll have the rundown of his events. and the one thing members of congress were were told no the to do when he arrives on capitol hill. good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall. developing now -- republican presidential candidate dr. ben carson is defending his comments on "meet the press" that he "would not advocate that we put a muslim in charge of this nation." and answering, no, if asked whether islam is consistent with the constitution. in the past hour dr. carson faced reporters in ohio. >> well, i would say if people listen to that interview, they'll notice that i said that anybody, regardless of their religion or affiliation, if they

embrace american values and they place the constitution at the top level, then i'm supportive of them. >> carson also posted on his official facebook page last night those republicans that take issue with my position are amazing. under islamic law, homosexuals, men and women alike, must be killed. women must be subservient and people following other religions must be killed. until these tenants are fully renounced i cannot advocate any muslim candidate for president. nbc's john yang joins us live from sharonville, ohio. let's talk a little bit about the expected turnout since so much focus has been on the energy the number of people trump has been able to bring in and the number of people bernie sanders have brought in to their rallies. >> tamron, this really is a pretty big crowd. several hundred very enthusiastic, very vocal. it has the feel actually of a sort of revival meeting, revive

being one of the slogans of the ben carson campaign. during the singing of "god bless america," hands up in the air as if offering testimony in a church service. it's a very responsive crowd. as i talked to some of the people as they were going in, a very unscientific sample, about this dust-up over the dr. carson's comments about advocating a muslim to be president, some of them said they agreed with him but they wish he had said it in a more diplomatic way. they say that, yes, there is -- there should be no religious test for the presidency as the constitution says there should not be, and yes, no one should be barred from running for president. but they say that given the circumstances of today, that they, too, would have concerns about someone who would propose or support sharia law running

for president. but they say they wish he had said it in a more diplomatic way. but at the same time, they say that's one of the innings this that attracts them to dr. carson, that he speaks from his heart, they say, he says what he believes, whether or not it's politically correct. so he's speaking inside for about 20 minutes. it did not come up in his opening remarks . at the press conference though, it dominated the press conference. the first five kwees and most of the remaining questions about this. he does want to put this behind him so he can start talking about issues he wants to talk about. >> john, thank you. the other major development in the republican race, who benefits now that wisconsin governor scott walker has dropped out of the race. walker made the surprise announcement yesterday after weeks of polling at the bottom of the pack sinking to less than 1% in the latest national poll. but walker is still trying to leave his mark on the republican

party. without mentioning donald trump by name, he took a final swipe at the republican front-runner. >> today, i believe that i am 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 voters can focus on limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner. >> well, i feel badly for limb. he is a nice guy. i think it's been tough for him. he started off high and his poll numbers went. but he'll do fine and he's a good governor and he's got plenty to govern. >> let me bring in our political panel today. former republican national committee chairman michael steele who's now an msnbc

political analyst. senior politics editor for the daily beast, jackie kucinich. donald trump saying governor walker was a good governor, we know he said the opposite of that during the debate where he brought up his "terrible record" at governor of wisconsin. you made the point that in many ways scott walker may have been trying to save face. he may not have been on the main debate stage of the next debate and there may not be the b-list debate this next time around. >> yeah. that is a big problem for all the candidates going forward, particularly those on the edge. conversation right now is that the cnbc debate at the end of october will likely not have the kiddie table, as it was afegsately known. where does a pataki or bobby jindal go. and the rnc and television stations are looking to reduce the size on the main stage from

11 to 8. that means that someone or some group of people are going to get excommunicated, if you will, and scott walker was on that bubble and i think he wanted to save a little bit of face there. the fact of the matter is, if this was interesting from the very beginning with be that everything was pegged on a lead in iowa. to be rather frank about it, as iowa goes, so goes iowa. that is not necessarily the best way to sort of plan out how you do a campaign, because if you don't sustain that, when trump comes in and takes that wind from your sails, where do you go? that became a big problem for scott walker and his campaign. >> you mentioned taking wind from his sails. he wouldn't mention trump as all as if, if you say his name, his magic increases. but in reality someone may benefit very soon from scott walker dropping out of the race. on our list, marco rubio who could pick up some of walker's organization which was firm in

place. you have ted cruz vying for the evangelical support that was behind scott walker in iowa there. who do you see michael, as the person who could really -- at least quickly. i know we like to say that this is a marathon, but in reality this race is moving in a way -- and in a different way than we've seen before. >> i think to be rather frank about it, jeb bush will be one of the largest beneficiaries here. he has the one thing about the jeb bush campaign everyone's been focused on the bright shiny object that is trump. while jeb bush is focused on the one thing that every candidate needs and that's delegates, organization. and networks on the ground to be successful. i suspect as i'm hearing the jeb bush campaign is picking up a lot of support that was moving -- political support especially that was moving away from scott walker, is now moving towards him. doesn't mean others won't get some of that. marco rubio got a couple of endorsements from some of the

local supporters of scott walker. but i think jeb stands to gain the most because he's got an organization that's built to absorb. >> let me bring you in, jackie. we heard from ben carson in the last hour maintaining at least what he sees as a clarification of his comments but still saying that he would only embrace a candidate if they embrace american values and they place the constitution at the top level. his comments are not placing the constitution at the top level because he is establishing a religious litmus test which specifically is noted in our constitution. >> right. well, these comments aren't going to hurt carson with his base. you heard a reporter out in ohio. people aren't really okay with how he's saying it but they're okay with what he's saying. where this hurts car southeson,s rising him in the polls, this gets him more attention. him being able to expand the number of people looking at him

and it frankly makes him look less serious. he's essentially saying there should be a religious litmus test when running for president and that's against the constitution so it is hard to take that seriously. >> is it hard to also say you are straight shooter when you try to have this discussion both ways. mitt romney tweeted out -- the first mormon to run for president -- of course no religious test for the presidency. every faith adds to our national character. >> i think not being a straight shooter is the least of ben carson's problems at this point. this isn't the only kind of off-beat things he's said. he's also said that prison makes people gay and other sort of -- what are we even talking about sort of comments. so i think the more scrutiny carson gets, if he doesn't sort of get back on track talking about things like the economy, talking about things that voters actually are listening for in this election, he's going to have a ceiling. >> michael, you were discussing jeb bush and how he could

potentially benefit from scott walker dropping out. donald trump is now an instagram. he has a video going after jeb and after he admitted to smoking marijuana in this last debate. let's play this video. >> would you have authorized the invasion? >> i would have. >> it is an act of love. >> frankly, it's more related to asian people. >> so 40 years ago i smoke marijuana. >> obviously intertwining it with a number of things, including immigration here. donald trump still formidable. a drop slightly in the polls but as he will point out to you very quickly, not in that nbc poll. now he's taking on fox news. i am intrigued in that he's now in a back-and-forth with, of all people, bill o'reilly, saying that he was watching the show and he finds it very difficult now to watch fox news. is this again just a headline for both or is it a real battle?

>> i think it is a little bit of both, tamron. i think for trump, he likes good news. he doesn't like it when his friends or those who he has a. fondness for turn on him, as he would put it. but fox is in the busy of creating the news just like everybody -- following the news and giving some character to the news. and that's what bill o'reilly does. he's an analyst, he is a political guy, and they get into it. so trump is going to make the most because it benefits him to have this sort of battle with one of the big media dogs out there. >> one of the people he's often been seen i think at the yankees games with. it will be interesting to see if they are together again. >> exactly. >> i want to ask you about this interruption involving jeb bush at the hispanic chamber of commerce in houston. as we talk about theatrics and how one handles him or herself on the campaign trail. look at what happened to jeb bush yesterday.

>> here's what i believe. i believe we need immigration reform. i've been clear about this. i believe that dream -- a path to citizenship as i've been consistently for the dream act kids to get a path to citizenship. i've been consistently for it. and i'll continue to be consistently for it. irrespective of what the political ramifications of that are. >> so those protesters were saying "no hope without our vote." some have criticized here this seasoned politician from a family of politicians not really being in full control of that moment. >> right. jeb bush has to know when he's going to talk about immigration there could be protesters there. that's sort of the world that we're living in right now. but this is going to be a problem for republicans if this anti-immigrant rhetoric keeps on permeating their debate. and the more donald trump and his ilk stay in and are controlling the conversation,

the more republicans are going to have that problem. frankly, they're going to need the hispanic vote. >> all right, jackie. thank you very much. michael, great pleasure having you on as well. i'm sure we'll be talking very soon this week. also developing now outside of politics but certainly kind of colliding with it, pope francis just wrapped up his final mass in cuba. next hour he is set to take off for his first trip to the u.s. we'll get a live report with everything you need to know about the pope's visit, when you are in one of the major cities he's stopping in or if you're just watching from home. plus, this -- >> when you bought this company, did you buy it because you knew that you could raise the price? >> we definitely planned on raising the price, that's for sure. >> but how much do you raise the price? the drug company ceo under attack for raising the price of a life saving pill from $13.50 to $750. his response as the larger debate now focuses on drug prices and it's now on the

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. we are just hours away from pope francis's much anticipated arrival to our nation's capital. right now the pope is wrapping up a visit to the cathedral in santiago, cuba. his last stop on the island before departing for his first-ever u.s. trip. francis traveled last hour to the cathedral in his open pope mobile instead of a closed car as was originally planned. pope arrives in the u.s. at 4:00 eastern time where he will be greeted by president obama and the first lady. but the pope's u.s. trip really gets going tomorrow. starting with an official

reception at the white house as well as a private meeting with the president. that will be followed by a papal parade with the pope riding in a specially designed jeep wrangler pope mobile getting well wishers -- or greeting them along the route just south of the white house. that parade as well as dozens of other public events in the pope's three-city tour has law enforcement, as you can imagine, on high alert. nbc's peter alexander is live at the white house with more information. you need to mark your calendar around also prepare to watch our full coverage here on msnbc. >> reporter: so this is going to be the americans' first real chance to see this much, celebrated much amired pope up close and personal. six days, three cities for the head of the catholic church that's by far the biggest denomination in this country with more than 70 million catholics nationwide. from the moment pope francis arrives today, it will kick off a series of firsts. the 78-year-old's first-ever

trip to the u.s. to be personally welcomed to andrews air force base by president obama. a gesture so rare this president has only done it once before. on wednesday, francis makes an 18th century missionary a saint, the first canonization on american soil. thursday he becomes the first pope to address a joint meeting of congress. >> members of congress have been told to not shake the pope's hand when he comes down the aisle. there is a dignity to this occasion because this is someone who's again above politics. >> reporter: for this pope who embraces simplicity, the preparations for his visit have been anything but. with upwards of 60 law enforcement agencies teaming up for security. >> we're so excited to have him, i can't a wait to possibly just get a glimpse of him. >> reporter: in new york friday francis speaks to the u.n., visits ground zero and celebrates mass. then to the city of brotherly

love. like the enormous crowds that have embraced francis around the globe, more than a million people are expected to flock to philadelphia. these nuns working overtime for two months to make 100,000 commune conwafers. >> we're happy to be able to celebrate from this way for the pope's mass. we'll pray for everyone there and ask for their prayers as well. >> reporter: it is expected to be a quiet first night for francis here in the u.s. he lands at 4:00. the chances of seeing him today we are told, basically none. he'll head directly to his quarters for the night. popes don't stay in hotels. they stay in church property, home turf effectively. he'll be staying at what is effectively the vatican's embassy here in washington just across the street from the president's residence. >> let me bring in host of "the catholic guy" on xm sirius radio. the very busy schedule.

the pope is expected to speak 18 times, mostly in spanish. four times in english including at the joint meeting of congress thursday. with all of the good will coming from catholics and honestly non-catholics who are excited about the message of hope that this pope will provide, this certainly also has a cloud of politics hovering over it. one republican man congressman from pare air saying he plans to boycott the pope's speech because he anticipates the pope will discuss climate change. i want to play something that happened on our show yesterday. fairfield university's father richard iscovich who wants the pope to modify his message. >> he hasn't said very much about the middle class anywhere in the world. he talks a lot about the very poor, but not the middle class. i think we have no alternative to capitalism right now in the world. i think it's very much the driving force behind the development of various economies

in most of the world. those that participate in the global capitalist market are the ones that are rising and i think not to recognize that is a mistake. >> from not taking on capitalism, to potentially taking on climate change, everybody seems to want something. >> right. everybody wants something from the pope. he knows that and that is not uniquely an american experience. i was just in cuba over the weekend with limb. there were people who wanted him to say this. there were people who wanted him to do that. i've got ton travel around the world with pope francis. he's used to that and he doesn't want to let anybody down but he's also very comfortable being himself as people have noticed around the planet. he's like, well, i'm not going to do just everything you want me to do because he asked me to do it. so he's going to come here, he's going to try to build relationships. he's going to try to build friendships. it is why he's flying from cuba to the u.s., is not just that's the easiest flight pattern but

because he wants to build that bridge. if people don't want to be in conversation with him or people want to say, no, you have to do this, he'll say i will take that under advisement. somebody actually pointed o you the to him he doesn't speak enough about the middle class. he said, yeah, that's a good point. i haven't thought enough about that. this is a guy that wants to be in dialogue with the world. >> e.j. deyoung, seeing francis only as a player in our fl political fights is misleading. it is who has the strongest claim on our attention turning it upside down. having said that, how does the pope with again your contact with the pope and his many members of his team that will be traveling, how do they balance the expectations of political statements and obviously the spirit all guidance that quite honestly would be beneficial it

seems to any believer? >> right. well he says it is a pastoral visit and that's absolutely true. but of course no matter what, if he says something, the world understands it is going to be read as political. he was at a mass yesterday. he was talking about st. matthew, the tax collector. the tax collector 2,000 years ago could be seen as a traitor to the jewish people. pope francis phrased the question, he said can a traitor become a friend? he was talking about st. matthew but because president raul castro was in the congregation as well people are looking around going, who -- is he talking about matthew or somebody else? so everything the pope says is going to be parsed. what i think is going to be best, tamron, is not his prepared remarks but when he speaks off the cuff. that's when it comes most from the heart. that's when you know there's no filter because nobody at the vatican looked at it. and he's okay with making mistakes. who among us is okay with making a mistake especially at the

point he's at being pope. but it's the beauty of being pope. you're kind of free. you kind of have job security. and if he believes he's in relationship with god and doing what god wants him to do he's okay with making mistakes even when he speaks off the cuff and says i want to taell you something. and if people on the right or left or any place in between gets mad, he would say i'm not really concerned if i'm perceived on right or left. i'm perceived about am i right or am i wrong, and as a civilization we have to be worried about right and wrong, not right and left. >> thanks. we'll speak to you soon. stay with msnbc for live coverage on the pope's visit to the united states. brian williams will host our special coverage today at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. coming up, the toughest penalty ever for a corporate executive in a food poisoning outbreak that killed nine people and sickened hundreds of others. plus, some volkswagen owners

say they feel ripped off as the company now admits nearly 11 million cars had technology to cheat emission standards. it is one of the stories we are updating around "news nation." and the outrage over a ceo who raised the price of a life saving drug by 5,000% overnight. could this happen to other drugs? that's next. happy anniversary dinner, darlin' i'm messing up every dish, pot, and plate... ...to show my love. ta-da! all this devotion only calls for a little bit of dawn ultra. now even more concentrated. just one bottle has the grease cleaning power of two bottles of this other liquid. you still got it, romeo. a drop of dawn and grease is gone. yothat's lactaid®.k! right. 100% real milk,

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the possibility of a flare swas almost always on my mind. thinking about what to avoid, where to go... and how to deal with my uc. to me, that was normal. until i talked to my doctor. she told me that humira helps people like me get uc under control and keep it under control when certain medications haven't worked well enough. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,

serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. raise your expectations. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, control is possible. there's new fallout this morning over the company that acquired a life saving drug and gouged the price by 5,000% overnight. the outrage has now spread to the campaign trail and triggered instability on wall street. the ceo of turing pharmaceuticals is defending the decision to raise the price rft drug daraprim from $13.50 a tablet to $750 for the same

pill. daraprim which has been on the market for 62 years is used to treat an infection that affects many aids and cancer patients, along with pregnant women. for many of those patients, that raises their annual cost of treatment by hundreds of thousands of dollars. in an appearance on cnbc, 32-year-old ceo, a former hedge fund trader, vowed not to drop the price. >> did you not expect a 5,000% price increase would result in that kind of attention? >> maybe, maybe not. it really depends how focused people want to be on the industry. >> when you bought this company did you buy it because you knew that you could raise the price. >> we definitely planned on raising the price, that's for sure. >> in response to all of this attention, and doctors and patient groups saying they can't access this drug, are you going to change the price? >> no. >> okay. >> well, turing is the only -- one of the only latest of a growing list of pharmaceutical companies that have dramatically raised prices recently.

with this story triggering a firestorm against social media presidential candidates are vowing they'll push for arcs. those promises have already sent some stock prices plunging. andrew carter, along with an infectious disease specialist. andrew, people wonder how is this even possible. many people are asking how is this legal here. >> well, there are no controls on prices in the united states. companies are free to set their own prices subject to market forces which are often pretty weak. if there's direct competition for a drug that can limit the price. in this case there really isn't much direct competition for that drug. >> but you often hear on youobv

hear about the impact of a generic drug on the market. people assume there is a market established to eventually bring down a price especially for a drug that's older. this is the exact opposite of what's happening in this case. this is an older drug with now this extraordinary price. >> yes. well, this is a drug that had extremely small sales. i think the figures i had in my article were less than $10 million in 2014. much, much less a few years earlier than that. the patents have expired. a generic company could produce this drug. but with that kind of a market, there's no incentive for a generic company to try to produce a generic. now if the price increase sticks and sales of the drug grow to a couple hundred million dollars, could there be a -- would some generic company want to step in? we'll see. >> you know, it's interesting

obviously people get caught up in personality and a big rub for this has been the ceo, the way he answered the questions. he sent out a tweet basically quoting an eminem lyric which spells out him giving the middle finger to the critics. >> that ceo is, as i said in my article, is known for both his brilliance -- or for brilliance and brashness. he had a previous company that had this same strategy of finding neglected drugs for rare diseases and raising their price to the level of sort of modern drugs for rare diseases. he ended up getting kicked out

of that company and he is in a dispute with them. he speaks his mind and he has his strategy. >> doctor, let me bring you in. obviously there is a larger conversation past this one drug and this one individual. the "chicago tribune" 2014 had the headline generic drug prices skyrocket in the past year. i have in front of me a laundry list of other drugs used to treat a number of things, including heroin overdoses, another used to treat heart disease and an antibiotic who all saw major increases in some cases one drug went up 212%. >> this is a big problem that we have here for medicine in general, is that there are certain drugs out there, if they are not one of the big moneymakers, they kind of get fallen off to the side and they become almost like little orphan drug just sitting out there. if they have low price, another company can come in, swoop them up and start charging whatever they want because they don't have any competition. so you may have lost your patent

but if there's no other companies that are going to make a generic form, then there's absolutely no price pressure to bring the cost down low. and what that means from a physician's standpoint is that our pharmacies may not stock these medicines in our pharmacies. they are not ready available, leading to delays in our treatment of patients. or the force is that we have to use alternative therapies that are not as well tested or not as safe, filled with side effects. >> i know you have pointed out that obviously from your point of view, drug companies should obviously make a profit, particularly on antibiotics. but it surprised you at least for a drug that's used to treat cancer patients. is that the case? >> well, you talk about some of the drugs, where is most of the pharmacy making all their money from? a lot of that is through medications that don't necessarily cure disease but basically work on protection or development of symptoms and they are able to prolong life and

thus able to continue use of this drug. whereas antibiotics, antibiotics have been given up by big pharma. almost all the new development for nomtics are by small companies. why? because they work and eradicate the disease. you eradicate the disease for a future cure, big pharma has completely gotten out of the game. we do need these companies to make money. we need to entice them because we're run out of a lot of antibiotics. we are seeing increasing amount of antibiotic resistant germs that are leading to worsening death and mortality in the united states from diseases that we don't have any antibiotics for. >> hillary clinton will be addressing this a little bit later. bernie sanders and congressman elijah cummings all have sent letters to this pharmaceutical company and are requesting investigation. thank you for your time, gentlemen. from the front-runner in iowa to a flop? what our first read team says is

scott walker's fatal mistake that other gop candidates must avoid to stay in the race. ight . to clean the oceans, to start a movement, or lead a country. it may not be obvious yet, but one of these kids is going to change the world. we just need to make sure she has what she needs. welcome to windows 10. the future starts now for all of us. is it the insightful strategies and analytical capabilities that make edward jones one of the biggest financial services firms in the country? or is it 13,000 financial advisors who take the time to say thank you? 'night jim. gonna be a while? i am liz got a little writing to do.

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step on up and ask your doctor about diabetic nerve pain. tell 'em cedric sent you. we are back with your "first read" on politics this morning. now that scott walker has dropped out of the republican race, which candidate gains from his loss? developing now, the battle over abortion on capitol hill with just a week left to come up with a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. moments ago the senate blocked a bill on tighter abortion restrictions. while gop leaders try to appease members who refuse to support any spending bill with planned parenthood funding. joining me now live nbc's political reporter, carrie dann. start with this developing news with what's happening on capitol hill regarding this spending bill. >> well, we have just seen the senate block an abortion ban,

20-week abortion ban. this was expected but the democrats were able to stop this from moving forward. the next big battle is going to be over obviously the issue of planned parenthood funding. senate leaders have been looking for a way to appease conservatives in the party who say that they want to be willing to shut the government down over this issue. what it looks like senate leaders are going to do is give members another chance to vote on a separate bill pulling federal funding for planned parenthood. this is an exercise that we went through before the august recess. it is intended to show conservatives, we are willing to try but the same result is going to happen as happened before the august recess. we're not going to have support for that and hoping to bump up right against that deadline at the end of the month to force through a short-term extension of federal funding and keep the government open. >> a lot of moving parts there. but i want to transition. presidential candidates especially on the gop side are commenting on what's happening regarding this and planned

parenthood. you have an evangelical favorite scott walker now dropping out of the race. >> that's right. scott walker is somebody who in iowa was somebody who was very vocal about this issue and really gained. think back just two months ago, scott walker was somebody who was seen as having the biography, having the geographical nearby iowa and as well as having somebody who was really, really well versed in these issues of fighting democrats and winning. he's somebody who could say i won three elections in four years. obviously a stunning decline for scott walker. now the real peace to be asked now is who's going to pick up the pieces? scott walker had a very impressive infrastructure both in iowa and around the country. who are the candidates who are the best poised to pick up those pieces? ted cruz another senator very vocal on this planned parenthood issue would really like to be the beneficiary. his campaign has already been telling me colleague kelly o'donnell they'll make a play for walker supporters in iowa.

carly fiorina is somebody who does not have a lot of infrastructure right now at a national level. she could be the beneficiary if she was to scoop up some of those walkerits now looking for a candidate to support. >> his campaign lasted just 70 days but you have pointed out some mistakes but it is mostly focused on the size of the gop field and that you really don't get a second look with donald trump getting almost all of the eyeballs. >> with this many candidates in the field and especially with donald trump taking up so much of the oxygen in the field it looks like you don't get a second look. that's a lesson that rick perry learned trying to make another run for the presidency and donors and endorsers just weren't really willing to give him a second chance. same thing for scott walker. after he really started declining. but i think the fatal flaw for scott walker, there are individual unforced errors along the day but at the end of the

day he looked like a politician. he came into the field with a great deal of fanfare, somebody who would be defiant, a fresh face and experience outside of washington. but becomes he changed his notions on a couple things, including immigration which has been so salient in this field, he looked like he was trying to appease conservatives of all strengths. in this field people on the conservative side want to see somebody who is the anti-politician, scott walker ended up looking like just another one out of washington. today's "news nation" gut check -- do you think walker's exit from the race will help stop trump's raise? go to newsnation.msnbc.com to cast that vote. we'll be right back. zazzies. (friends gasp) the app where you put fruit hats on animals? i love that! guys, i'll be writing code that helps machines communicate. (interrupting) i just zazzied you. (phone vibrates) look at it! (friends giggle)

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knowingly shipping tainted peanuts which killed nine people and sickened hundreds more. nbc's pete williams has more. >> reporter: the man behind one of the worst cases of food contamination ever told victims in a georgia courtroom that he's truly sorry for the 2009 outbreak of food poisoning that sickened more than 700 people and was blamed for more than nine deaths. this family says herson was hospitalized. stewart parnell was convicted a year ago in the first criminal trial of a u.s. producer in a food poisoning case from illegally shipping peanut but the grer this georgia plant which company officials knew was contaminated and faking lab tests intended to screen for salmonella. safety inspectors also found a leaky roof, insects and signs of rodents at the plant. parnell told victims gathered

for his sentencing, i think about you guys every day. jeff you wi jeff ulmer came from minnesota to describe how his 72-year-old mother, a cancer survivor, died from eating contaminated pete nut butter. this little boy got sick. "i think it is okay for him to spend the rest of his life in prison," the boy said. the judge sentenced stewart parnell, 61 years old, to 28 years in federal prison, the harshest penalty ever in a case of food contamination. pete williams, nbc news, washington. coming up, the director of the secret service is apologizing for what seems to be i think by many accounts a play juror lapse in judgment after children with cancer were turned away from an event near the white house.

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there's new trouble for the

secret service this morning for what appears to be a lapse in judgment. director joseph clancy now apologizing after agents apparently ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of a washington, d.c. park this weekend because of security operations. the group had been there for a child cancer vigil. >> reporter: today, the secret service is completely reviewing its procedures for security for the president when he comes and goes from the white house after what happened in the park behind me, lafayette park, on saturday night. 750 people were there, half of them children. they come from 40 states and as far away as australia, but the secret service wouldn't let them have their candlelight vigil. they came to washington, 750 strong, with an inspirational message against childhood cancer. >> i believe that we will win! >> reporter: but even though the

group had a permit, the secret service ordered them out of the park. mark myer lost his daughter to cancer last year. >> as a parent of a child who's passed away from cancer you just want them to be remembered. this was a way to remember kylie on a special stage in front of the white house. we didn't get that. >> reporter: an 11-year-old traveled from canada. she started a blog after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. >> i went back to my hotel room and cried. i couldn't understand why they wouldn't let us in, because we're just kids. we're trying to make a difference in this world. >> reporter: after a two-hour delay, most of the group was gone. so how did it happen? the secret service says closures were put in place based on standard protocols to protect the president, who had a speech that night, but it's another black eye for an agency that's had a series of embarrassments from a prostitution scandal to a fence jumper who got into the white house. secret service director joe clancy has promised a review, apologized and invited the group back. >> he called with a very

heart-flt apology. he said he would do anything he could to help make it right. >> reporter: they are hoping to return next month. natasha, whose blog is honest and wise, sees a silver lining. >> now it's getting way more attention than it was before. it's kind of good what they did. >> reporter: natasha is just so upbeat and she is hoping to be able to come when they reschedule it sometime next month. joe clancy also told organizers not only will we make sure everything goes smoothly but if they would like him to, he will come and speak as well. tamron. another look at one of the top stories we have been following. pope francis is set to leave cuba on his way to the u.s. he will arrive in our nation's capital in a little over four hours for his first u.s. trip where he will be greeted by president obama and the first lady. he is facing a very busy schedule including an official white house reception tomorrow,

a private visit with the president and of course, a papal parade. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm tamron hall. up next, white house senior advisor valerie jarrett will be live on "andrea mitchell reports." we couldn't say that, "cheerios are gluten free." oats don't contain gluten, but sometimes grains that do, get mixed in. so we took them out! which means now, cheerios can be enjoyed by everyone! just original cheerios? honey nut cheerios too, buzz. 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. across america, people like badominique wilkins...er

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♪ when cold cuts give your belly thunder, pink relief is the first responder, so you can be a business boy wonder! ♪ fix stomach trouble fast with pepto. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," heading to america. this hour, pope francis completing his historic visit to cuba, taking off for the u.s. the secret service and an army of law enforcement await him in washington. >> the numbers coming to philadelphia could far exceed anything else that we've had in the city in modern times. >> in an unusual gesture of respect, president obama will be greeting francis at andrews air force base. we will talk to one of barack obama's most trusted advisors, valerie jarrett. and good day. i'm andrea mitchell on this

historic day in washington. president obama will personally be welcoming pope francis this afternoon for his visit to the united states. those are live pictures as you see raul castro, the president of cuba, now on the red carpet escorting pope francis to his plane. nbc's ann thompson is already on board the papal plane about to take off for andrews and is on the phone, i believe. the pope is just wrapping up this historic visit to cuba. we expect more firsts when he arrives in just a few hours. >> reporter: yeah, his reception here has been remarkable and you can see raul castro has taken every opportunity on this trip to be photographed with pope francis. he has gone to three masses, he's here at the good-bye ceremony and i think it's really extraordinary. i also think that's indicative of the popularity of this pope in cuba. i have been struck by talking to people how much they thi t