president returned to the country and is looking for the united states' help to keep him in power, and some of this was political in nature. >> sure. absolutely. in fact, the u.s. government discouraged him from returning to yemen, as did the saudi government. we know that from officials in both governments. he went back anyway. he is looking for support. we don't know whether or not the united states was directly involved in the killing, the yemeni government does not have the capability without u.s. assistance to get this done. >> fran townsend, hope you'll still around. many more questions. live to istanbul to check in with mohammed jamjoom who has information about exactly where al awlaki was killed. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, christine. we're told by the yemeni embassy in washington, d.c. that the operation that killed anwar al awlaki was killed out in a province of yemen about 140 kilometers from the capital, from sanaa. interesting, because anwar alky was believed to be in another province that's known to be a stronghold for militants, and al qaeda and an says-of-a also, trying to target and kill al awlaki and -- [ inaudible ]. >> all right. we're having technical difficulties, because, obviously, it's difficult to have somebody from istanbul. let's head to washington. we're talking about waking up to news to nor key al qaeda death, but we still don't know a lot about how anwar al awlaki died. what do we know now, dan lothian? >> reporter: as reported, in fact, anwar al awlaki is in fact dead. what we're still waiting to find out is the u.s., and what role the u.s. might have played in his death. the haas been very active in that region over the last few years with u.s. drone attacks and there were at least a couple of other reports post some of those drone attacks that, in fact, he had been killed, and those turned out not to be the case. now the u.s. in fact confirming that he is dead. suggesting that to most americans he may not be on par with osama bin laden but what made him very dangerous is the fact he was and is an american. the president himself last year issued the kill and capture order. so that sort of puts it into some perspective as to what the u.s. felt about this threat from yemen. at the time his father had sent a letter to president obama suggesting that this order should not be put in place, because his son was not in anyway connected to al qaeda, but, again, the u.s. has been very active in the region believing that that was a very real threat, because of his involvement, from just supporting these operations to attack americans, to actually being involved in some of these operations himself. we are waiting to get more details from administration official. i'm told by one senior administration official that, in fact, more information will be forthcoming. at this point, just confirmation that in fact he is dead. >> i suppose, dan, that president obama will come out a little later this morning and talk about this? >> reporter: we have no indication yet the president will come out. in in fact he will step before the cameras or the white house will release some kind of statement from the president, but this is, in fact, a big achievement for the u.s. it by no means wipes out the threat of terrorism from the region, but it is a key component of the threat, and so it is a good day for the obama administration, and we are trying to find out if, in fact, we will see the president, hear from the president on this today, whether in person or in some kind of release. >> dan, talking to fran townsend saying in the bush administration she personal pushed their president, saleh that he was on the loose and dangerous. now it's shifted a little for saleh. he's back from saudi arabia. the united states has warned him against coming back to his own country. how does that play into here? could he and his government have helped in this mission? >> reporter: well, you know, you're right. the timing of all of this, but i think what's important to understand in terms of resources, it's difficult to see how in fact yemenese could have carried this out alone. it appears from the track record the u.s. played have involvement in this because of the resources. as i pointed out, drone attacks have been consistent over the past few years. some suggested this could have been the result of drone attacks. so the haas beu.s. has been sup in that, but we have no confirmation yet as to exactly how this mission was carried out, who was involved. those are pieces of this puzzle we're still trying to put together. >> all the yemenis had, was the information. that was my point. maybe now that -- maybe they was something in a bigger picture. they knew where he was. >> the united states couldn't have done it without the yemenese helping. interesting, they put out a big announcement, announcing the death of anwar al awlaki. so, dan, i guess what i'm asking you, the obama administration has obviously been working with the yemeni government over a long period of time to achieve this. so it's really -- it's really been a long relationship in getting this done. >> reporter: it has been a long relationship, and, again, going back to what i was saying, they may not have had the resources but a lot of times when the u.s. carries these operations on outside of country, they rely on their intelligence, not only their own, on the ground but the yemenis intelligence. they would have had to have had some intelligence from the yemeni government. we're trying to get more information on that. i don't want to get ahead of -- certainly there are reports out there. no confirmation on exactly how that came together, except for the fact that the u.s. is confirming that he is dead. >> dan lothian reporting live from washington. stick around. we have more questions for you as you find out more information. dan lothian, many thanks. >> reporter: okay. coming up, what was conrad murray doing in the moments after michael jackson was found unconscious? 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[♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply. . >> 11 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. more of our breaking news. this happened overnight. another key kill in the terrorist fight. anwar al awlaki is dead. >> more details from the yemeni government he has been killed. the u.s. confirming it. still don't know how, where, when. what can you tell us now? >> reporter: we certainly know he was targeted through a drone air strike earlier this year. in fact, the strike came so close as to bounce off the fender of his vehicle when he changed vehicle. it's not clear if it was a drone this time. we do know the activity of drones over the south of yemen looking for al awlaki, looking for him. in all probability, these are the way he was targeted. those fine details, we don't quite have yet. >> this is carol costello. fill us in on his background. he supposedly inspired the fort hood shooter. 14 were killed. and inspired the underwear bomber. trying to bring down that flight in 2009. tell us about this man. >> reporter: his real strength is the fact that he is charismatic, he has develop add b big following among muslims, people who follow his fire brand version of islam. on top of that, he speaks english. he speaks the language of the people that al qaeda want to appeal to do draw into their net to draw towards radical islam and to commit attacks against the united states and other countries. so this is a man who produces dvds, cds, audio messages, by the hundreds of thousands. you can buy them in stores, religious bookstores here in london. you can buy them on the internet. you can buy them all over the world. he has been more radical over the past ten years and his message, his voice, is something found with increasing appeal. not just among younger people. older people. i was in one of these stores looking at this cds, an elderly man came in and i asked, why do you buy them? he said, he liked his message. it's his language, it's his flo flowery message, because he is draw people in and al qaeda can use in attacks, as we have seen. possibly fort hood, possibly the christmas underwear bombing. >> what is his message then? >> reporter: his message is that the united states and the west are engaged in trying to diminish, to bring down work against islam, and the only way to -- the only way to take them on is to fight back against them, and to join a -- in terms of his messages now it is okay to go out and kill these people, because they're against islam, and that's what makes his message so dangerous. i think if we put it in the context of yemen right now, incredibly operationally active for al qaeda. still loose, al serie, may be under the bomb used, may be the bombs trying to bring down two aircraft over the united states last year. made the bomb that tried to, that was used to try and kill the saudi deputy minister of interior. you have this bombmaker. this top al qaeda bombmaker on the loose in yemen. yemen is disintegrating in a civil war. al qaeda has taken control of preprovinces there, al awlaki was the mouthpiece. he is now dead, but al qaeda is growing in strength in yemen and incredibly skilled at bombmaking. >> nic robertson, we'll get back to you. live in london. >> he served as -- here in the united states and in california, in virginia before moving back to yemen. so that's another one of the allures of him, that he was an american citizen. somebody who knows this system. >> i've watched his speeches online. he's charismatic, he's young. some people find him exciting. you can see why he might inspire followers. >> today he's dead. more about the when, where, how and why coming up later in the presume. switching gears, testimony against dr. conrad murray's murder trial. dr. murray directed alberto alvarez to pack up medicine before calling 911. don lemon is covering the trial live outside the courthouse in los angeles. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. basically, christine, they were saying that dr. conrad murray was trying to clean up after himself. as you said. cover his tracks. now, this logistics, which is essentially the head of his security on the phone the whole time being directed by michael jackson's personal assistant, walk towards the house. go up the driveway. now start running. hurry up. now go to the front door, and the front door is locked. then the nanny finally comes and sees him. now, run up the stairs. he says, when he gets to the door he sees dr. conrad murray, he's standing over the banister, goes up the stairs and he and conrad murray sort of go into the room -- or conrad mur goes into the room a bit before him and he seize conrad murray pumping michael jackson's chest with one hand and all of a sudden the children start to come in. first paris came in. here's how he directed that young child. >> paris screamed out, daddy -- >> when you heard paris scream out daddy, was she crying? >> yes, sir. >> and was michael laying on the bed, palms out? looking slightly to the left at that time. >> yes, he was. >> would he have been actually looking slightly towards paris' location? >> yes, sir. >> so paris is crumbled up in a ball. that's what the testimony was yesterday, and then also prince there red-faced crying. the two older children in the room, and then, according to alvarez, instead of calling 911, they still hadn't called 911 yet, he said that conrad murray directed him to start helping him put away vials and other evidence. take a look. >> i was standing at the foot of the bed. he reached over and grabbed a handful of vials and then he reached out to me and said, here, put these in a bag. >> reporter: that wasn't the only thing he said. okay, so take these. put these in a plastic bag. take this plastic bag, put it in the brown paper bag. take the brown paper bug, put it in a blue bag. on and on. and then the 911 call. so much time was lost here, christine. >> ldon lemon. we're jettigetting more and mor this chaos. let's head to atlanta. >> check in with rob marciano. how's the weather? >> changes on the way. hello again. this storm that's going to finally shake up the weather pattern is creating winds across the great lakes right now that are impressive. gusting over 40 and 50 miles an hour along the shore of lake michigan and some of the waves here could be well over 20 feet crashing onshore. obviously in the way of showers as well. the big story is the wind and a cool front which will kick out. sitting and spinning here. unfortunately, this was not moving all that fast either. sticking around the northeast. some of these -- this temperature, getting to the east coast. 76 in new york today. but 59 in chicago. because the wind, a lesser extent the metros and san francisco. pushing everything out 15 to 20 degrees below average is what we expect over or the weekend. going to be chilly. and a category 2 storm passes by bermuda heading out again. bioluminescence, the red tide. at night when these phytoplankton, the waves actually glow. >> that's awesome. >> look at this. maybe a couple more weeks. if you live in socal, check it out. the question this morning, was herman cain fair when he said african-american voters were brainwashed. i know you heard him say think, but just in case, here it is. >> why is the african-american public -- >> many african-americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view. i am running for the republican as a conservative. it's brainwashing and people not being open minded. >> cornell belcher, a cnn political analyst calls cain's remarks racist. >> if i came on your show, anderson, and i said, all jewish people are brainwashed, i probably wouldn't be invited back to cnn. what herman cain said was a racist bigoted statement and should be treated like a racist and bigoted person who makes racist and bigoted statements. >> frankly, it's tough to get over the fact some african-americans forced the president to produce his birth certificate. >> -- born august 4, 1961 -- >> republicans say, wait a minute. don't paint us all with the same brush. >> i'm not going to dwell on this topic, but, remember, the question was about people get poisoned about a party. there's presumption in the question also that flows from the fact 90% to 95% of african-americans vote a certain way. when people throw the word racism around that's when i end the conversation. you cannot have an intelligent conversation with those choosing the public square of that. i don't even want to get into that. >> and gaining support in a new fox poll. the "talk back" question for you this morning, was herman cain fair when he said african-american voters are brainwashed? facebook.com/americanmorning. facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. >> used the word poison, he came back with the word brainwashed, there you go. florida throwing a wrench into the election. boy, have we heard that before. this time it's the race for the republican nomination. why a move by the state could shuffle everything around. it's 23 after the hour. 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"minding your business," future prices are down. stocks rallied then headed south. then a late-day surge sent the dow up more than 1 4 points. the s&p was also up, the nasdaq slightly down. needing people to pump money into the economy. at 8:30, did people just do that, spend more money in august, and the latest read on whether people are making more money. if you're a debit card customer, bank of america says beginning next year it's going to charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards in response to a government rule capping how much banks can charge merchants for the debit card transactions. for many, now may be a good time to buy a home. fixed mortgage rates hit their lowest levels since freddie mac started tracking them back in 1970. average, 4.01% this week. saving more for retirement. according to a study by mercer, 41% of people boosted their 401(k) contributions pup 10 percentage points from last year. 11% putting away the maximum allowed by the irs. 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