good evening. we begin, keeping them honest. a sequel on things your elected representatives do that would land you in jail if you tried them yourselves. if you don't know about this, you have to listen because it is stunning. right now, what the law allows members of congress to do. tonight, a bill to make congress members who have made the same rules that you and i do when it comes to making money on inside information, that bill has been put back on the shelf. until tonight, it appeared as if the legislation was on a fast track to passage. a fast track that seemed to have been created just a few weeks ago after steve kroft on "60 minutes" revealed that congress members were legally allowed to use inside information, information they learned through briefings or reports to make money. something regular people like us would be arrested for. >> why does congress get a pass

on this? >> it's really the way the rules have been defined and the people who make the rules are the political class in washington, and they've conveniently written them in such a way that they don't apply to themselves. >> reporter: the buying and selling of stock by corporate insiders who have access to nonpublic information that could affect the stock price can be a criminal offense. just ask hedge fund manager who recently got 11 years in prison for doing it. but congressional lawmakers have no corporate responsibilities and have long been considered exempt from insider trading laws, even though they have daily access to nonpublic information and plenty of opportunities to trade on it. >> we know that during the health care debate, people were trading health care stocks. we know that during the financial crisis of 2008, they were getting out of the market before the rest of america really knew what was going on. >> so that was steve kroft on "60 minutes." but what was going on? he reports that gop congressmen like spencer bachus of alabama

and fellow members of the house financial services committee were getting dire, top-secret briefings on the banking crisis back in 2008 from treasury secretary hank paulson. at the same time, congressman baucus started making stock bets that the market would go down. his office says he never trades on nonpublic information, but the timing is certainly suspicious. baucus reported -- his reported take on trades was around $50,000. and it is a bipartisan story. they're doing it on both sides. take democrat nancy pelosi, the former house speaker. in 2008, she took part in visa, the credit card company's invitation-only initial stock offering, buying 5,000 shares just as legislation that would have hurt credit card companies like visa began the trip through the house. legislation that incidentally failed that time, ultimately passed through the senate. steve kroft asked her about that. >> i wanted to ask you why you and your husband, back in march of 2008, accepted and

participated in a very large ipo deal from visa in a time there was major legislation affecting the credit card companies making its way through the house. and did you consider that to be a conflict of interest? >> i don't know what your point is of your question. is there some point that you want to make with that? >> well, i guess what i'm asking is, do you think it's all right for a speaker to accept a very preferential, favorable stock deal? >> well, we didn't. >> you participated in the ipo. and at the time you were speaker of the house. you don't think it was a conflict of interest or have the appearance of a conflict of interest? >> no, it only has the appearance if you decide you're going to elaborate on a false premise. but it's not true, and that's that. >> reporter: i don't understand what part's not true. >> yes, sir. that i would act upon an investment. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi talking to "60 minutes'"

steve kroft. she denies any wrongdoing. as we mentioned, his report got action. suddenly a bill to curb insider trading called the stock act which had been going nowhere for years gained traction in more than 200 sponsors. we wanted to get every single lawmaker on record. when did we do? we called every single lawmaker now in office in the house and the senate. >> i'm calling from cnn, & er soon cooper 360, and i was hoping to speak about your position on the stock act. >> we called 100 senators, 434 house members. the majority in both chambers said they'd get back to us but haven't yet followed through on that. we did get 201 house members to go on record with 16 maybes, 184 yeses and just one single no. so the bill is clearly gaining support, or so it seems. but now congressman baucus who happens to chair the house financial services committee, is postponing action on it, reportedly on orders from majority leader eric cantor.

>> there were issues raised by members on both sides of the aisle about this bill not being brought up in a vetted way. there are many other chairmen who have jurisdiction in this matter who need to be involved in this with the full vetting. and we intend to do that. >> congressman baucus issued a statement saying almost exactly the same thing. but keeping them honest, as recently as last tuesday, he actually seemed eager to move the stock act forward. in fact, he scheduled a markup on the bill which is the last step before a committee vote on it. then on wednesday according to politico, cantor smacked it down. telling a large gup of bipartisan members believe the legislation is flawed and being moved solely in response to media pressure. a co-sponsor and longtime reform democrat louise slaughter saying, quote, oh, for goodness sakes. last week we passed a bill worth hundreds of billions of dollars with less than a two-day layover

and no one knew what was in it. this bill has been around for six years. some of chairman baucus' fellow republicans are miffed as well. according to politico, they say baucus was putting them on the line to repair the damage to his reputation from that "60 minutes" report. one of them telling politico, quote, we're not going to cover spencer's ass by passing a half-baked bill. joining us is retired congressman brian baird who tried to pass a similar bill years ago without much luck. also, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. she recently testified before congress in support of the stock arkt. act. so congressman, you helped introduce the stock back in 2006. it died over and over again in committee. virtually no one even showed up for some of your hearings. do you think it just died again? >> well, it seems like eric cantor would like to see it die. i don't understand his explanation. the chairmen of the other committees say no, we'll let

financial services handle it. it's in their baileywick. why doesn't he set a date? he should say by the end of march we'll bring this bill up for a vote and get it done. it's not that complicated. it asks people to do the same thing in congress that we asked the rest of the country to do. he seems unwilling to make that happen. >> melanie, does it to you seem like this is dead? >> i don't think it just died. i think cantor killed it, and his calls for bipartisanship, that's a new one who hasn't cared about bipartisanship since his party took back control of congress. it seems he's doing the bidding of paboehner on wall street and bunch of chairmen of committees who don't want to see themselves tarred with the problem of being held responsible for insider trading laws like everyone else in america. >> congressman, when you were in congress and used to raise this issue, what kind of a response did you get off camera from people? because essentially, i think a lot of americans are stunned to learn that a member of congress could receive some information in a briefing, an off-the-record

briefing or behind-closed-doors briefings and use that information and buy stocks with that. i think it defies explanation. >> it does defy explanation. the most troubling response was "a," people did not understand the concept of why insider trading by members of congress would be a problem, that showed an astonishing lack of self-awareness. but beyond that, a number of people said that would be inconvenient. i don't want to have to report my stock trades the way other people do. or this could possibly lead to investigations that would be unwarranted. that's deeply troubling. if people in congress say in some ways they are morally superior and they would never abuse something or that the laws should not apply to them, we've got a serious problem on our hands. the fix was ready to go. we had a solution. it's been through three hearings, one in the senate, two in the house. it may not be perfect. okay, amend it, bring up for vote and let people say where they stand and we'll see what the public says. i think they want to see a

change. >> melanie, to his point, if they were serious about wanting to improve this bill, they would say we're setting a new date instead of putting it off indefinitely. >> that's exactly right. that's what's happened in the senate where lieberman and collins have come up with a new bill. it's not exactly the same as the house bill, but it's a new bill improved based on the hearing. and it's still not a perfect bill but better than it was. and they could easily move forward with that bill in the house or pass the bill they have and then work it out in conference. so there were lots of options other than just putting this off indefinitely. this was the way of postponing it without saying we're killing it but really killing it. >> and congressman, when people like nancy pelosi or baucus and boehner deny acting on nonpublic information in their stock trading, i mean, do you think they are just not telling the truth? do you think they're misinformed? what do you make of it? >> well, at the minimum, it serves the appearance of a conflict of interest there. but when someone like spencer bachus gets a classified briefing and trades options the very next day, it defies common

sense to believe that he's somehow segregating the knowledge he gets in one committee hearing or a meeting with the secretary of the treasury, he segregates that from the stock trades and then has the audacity to say i'm just a better stock trader than others, that's why i make all this money. the average guy says i don't get briefings from the secretary of treasury. i don't get classified information. and if i did, by the way, i'd probably go to jail. these folks don't. >> melanie, just how is this legal? i don't understand. insider trading is illegal. >> insider trading is illegal, but it's not completely here that the law applies to congress as it's written. that's why this bill would have made it completely clear. the s.e.c. sent over a letter saying no, we could prosecute this if we thought there was a case, but yet they haven't. so it's clear that they need this legislation to make it crystal clear that congress can't trade on inside information. but let me say, this isn't the

only time where congress has exempted itself from laws that applied to everyone else. the same goes for whistleblower protections, workplace safety laws. it's something that we often see with congress. why should they have to follow the same rules as everyone else? and it's part of the reason americans don't trust them. >> melanie sloan, congressman brian baird, thank you so much. follow me on twitter. let me know what you think. @anderson. the two top republican contenders promising to stay positive. are they keeping their vows? we're keeping them honest and looking at which one does better against obama in the polls now. and later, a courtroom surprise from jerry sandusky's corner. the move that seemed to come out of nowhere and what his client is saying about the sex abuse charges against him. as well as from attorneys from two of sandusky's accusers.

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another republican. >> thou shalt not speak ill of another republican. ronald reagan did not always live up to it, neither has newt gingrich. he is promising to try. take a look at this message to his supporters from gingrich. quote, since i announced my candidacy for president of the united states, i have made it clear that i intend to run a positive, solutions-based campaign. he goes on to say the american people deserve respectful and constructive campaign that focuses on a vision for rebuilding the country we love. all right. well, the question is, has he been living up to that pledge? take a look and decide for yourself. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> newt gingrich this weekend. mitt romney says it's important not to weaken anyone who might defeat president obama next november. so how does he explain this attack on gingrich and how does gingrich explain the counterattack? >> if he was working as a spokesman for fannie mae -- excuse me, for freddie mac, if he was there because of his

political connections, and then if freddie mac fails, i think a fair question is asked, why did he profit as freddie mac failed? >> i would just say that if governor romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years, that i would be glad to then listen to him. >> there you have it. gingrich calling romney a job killer. romney calling gingrich basically a political hack. how do they explain it? remember that message from gingrich to his supporters. he left himself an out. quote, i have refrained from launching attacks on my republican opponents, though i reserve the right to respond when my record has been distorted. joining me, ari fleischer, press secretary during the george w. bush administration. also, democratic strategist and obama 2012 pollster, cornell boettcher. cornell, you look at these polls. do the voting public care about whether or not a candidate goes negative? >> well, this is one of the

conflicts among voters, the contradictions. you know, all the voters talk about how they hate negative ads and they hate negative campaigning and how it turns them off. but the truth of the matter is, we know very well that it moves voters. if you have a valid and authentic attack line or strong contrast with your opponent and you put money behind that on television advertising and you keep pushing that message, eventually it does burn in and it does make an impact. and what you have to do is you have to pause those voters for moving to your opponent. look, mitt romney has to attack newt gingrich because he has to get in the way of those voters that 70% of the republican core electorate out there, he has to get in the way of them coalescing around gingrich. because if they coalesce around him, the race is over. >> ari, it does seem like gingrich has been able to stay above the fray or stay out of the fray really until this weekend. previously at other debates, he wasn't a top-tier candidate. he is now. can he continue to say, well,

look, i'm not going to go negative? i'm not going to be negative? >> no, i think that's, number one, not newt's nature. and newt, under pressure, of course is going to go negative. he always has. and frankly, anderson, i think people can be a little overly sensitive about this. it's a campaign. they're running against each other. and campaigns are based on what can you do for the country and what's the difference between you and the other guy who wants to do something for the country. so long as it's kept civil and focused on the issue which it largely has been on the republican side, this is the very stuff of campaigns, and it's what people should make up their mind about whether these differences they're arguing about, one person supported a mandate, whether somebody's for or against illegal immigration. these are substantive derchs differences that need to be and should be aired. >> i agree with ari on this one. we've all been to the rodeo before. there are differences between people, and that's why where a lot of this comes from. but is there a danger in saying you're not going to be neglect ty and then being negative, or does it not really matter? >> well, look, i'm a proud

political hack, by the way. i do this for a living. if you're the front-runner, it's classic front-runner card to pull out. i'm going to stay negative. we shouldn't level any attacks. >> you mean i'm going to stay positive. >> right, i'm going to stay positive. you can do that because the other people have to catch up with you, and they can't catch up with you unless they take you down. look, we hear this every campaign season, every campaign season people make hard contrasts. and i'm sorry, but negative campaigning works. it does. >> there's this new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll that i want to look at the numbers on. newt gingrich has a commanding lead nationally among republican candidates, 40% compared to romney's 23%. look what happens when you put him up against president obama, he only trails obama by two points. >> that's one of newt's biggest obstacles. if he's going to become the nominee, he's got to show a steady stream of polls. he has a mixed stream of polls

that show how he's going to do against barack obama. if americans get convinced that a vote for newt could be a vote for obama, but newt has had some good polls. there's a gallup poll that shows both newt and romney are beating obama in the 12 battleground states that barack obama won last year -- or four years ago. but newt needs to get that across the board. the numbers of the nbc/"wall street journal" poll you just cited are very problematic nor newt, and he's got to change that store. >> james carville was on the program last night. he said he thinks the next week or two for newt gingrich, those numbers are going to come down because there's going to be a steady drumbeat against him from the other candidates. do you agree with that? >> well, two things. one is that those national polls at this point mean absolutely nothing for the general election because the contours of the general election hasn't begun to unfold. you know, and there was a number of polls out. one said hillary clinton would

be a better candidate than barack obama. that's not how primary voters and caucusgoers think. the one that shares their values, that's the candidate that's going to be the best candidate in the general election because if not, what you're really saying is, then there's something wrong with my values and the way i think if my candidate is, in fact, not the best candidate. the other part about this, absolutely they will begin to pull back because you know what? now the sights are trained on newt. and again, we don't like negative campaigning, but once you start attacking someone and bringing up credible lines of attack, voters pause. and if you're mitt romney, you have to get those voters to pause in their consideration of rallying around newt gingrich. >> interesting. ari fleischer, thanks. cornell belcher as well. former penn state football coach jerry sandusky waived his right to a preliminary hearing this morning. that means we did not hear from his alleged victims of sexual molestation, but two of his are.

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in crime and punishment tonight, a surprise move in the case against former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky. now, prosecutors were ready to put witnesses on the stand today. we talked about it a lot last night including some of the young men who say sandusky sexually abused them when they were children, but they didn't

get a chance to testify. sandusky waived his right to a preliminary hearing. he also waived an arraignment scheduled for january, entered a not guilty plea and requested a trial. we'll hear more about what that means in a moment. first here's what sandusky said today outside the courthouse. >> to stay the course, to fight for four quarters. we'll get the opportunity to present our side. >> and we couldn't do that today. >> sandusky's attorney joe amendola went on to say he and his client decided last night to waive the hearing because the defense wouldn't have enough time to request prosecution witnesses. and he said sandusky maintains his innocence. >> we're ready to defend. we've always been ready to defend. today's waiver has nothing to do with conceding anything. there have been no plea negotiations. there will be no plea negotiations. this is a fight to the death. this is to fight for jerry sandusky's life. this is the game of his life. >> joining me now live is mike bonnie, attorney for the alleged victim number one and howard

janet, attorney for alleged victim number six. i appreciate both of you being with us. michael, you were in court when sandusky decided to waive his preliminary hearing. how did your client, alleged victim number one, react? >> anderson, he reacted with an interesting mixture of emotions. obviously, there was a great sense of relief. victim one, my client, is young. he just turned 18 years old. and as you can imagine, he felt a tremendous sense of relief. at the same time, he was angry. he was thoroughly prepared, got himself mentally prepared. i had dinner with him last night. and he was ready. he is an extremely credible, earnest, sincere young man and was looking forward to this day when he would have the opportunity to assist the prosecution. so he was angry that he did not have that opportunity. >> howard, what about your client with what the grand jury

called victim number six? >> let me tell you something about my client. this young man is a devout, religious young man. when he read the grand jury presentment, cried. not for himself but for the other boys. and at that point in time, he made the decision that he was going to stand up and come forward again as he had done in 1998 as an 11-year-old and stand up for his rights and especially for these other children. so as a result of that, what he did was, he summoned the courage. he dug down deep, and he summoned the courage to face his accuser, to face him in open court, to face him under oath, to face him while the world watched. he was ready. but jerry sandusky ran away. sandusky didn't have the courage to face his accusers. he didn't have the courage to listen to what this young man and the other young men were going to say. he didn't have the courage to

let the world hear it. >> i want to play for you some sound from a cnn interview jerry sandusky's attorney, joe amendola, gave today. take a look. >> only several of these young men know each other, have known each other prior to charges being filed. we're looking into the possibility that there may be a financial motivation involved, that there might have been some collusion, interaction prior to charges being filed. we also know in a number of charges there isn't an allegation of sexual contact as much as maybe inappropriate touching. >> michael, is there any truth to amendola's claims that money is a motivating factor here for your client? >> there is no truth whatsoever. that is an extremely offensive remark. he has no evidence. it is categorically false. my client does not know any of the other victims, has never spoken with any of the other victims. and it is patently absurd for

mr. amendola to level these charges without an iota of evidence. he could say whatever he wants now and reach deep into his bag of tricks. but i can assure you that the furthest thing from my client's mind is money. what he wants to see is justice brought against jerry sandusky. >> howard, briefly, does your client, alleged victim number six, know any of the other alleged victims or want money? >> he does know some of the victims. some of them were second mile children just as he was. that was his feeding ground, if you will. but i don't believe for a scintilla of a second that any of these children are motivated, now young adults, are motivated by money. while i don't believe it as to them, i know it as to victim six. this young man was abused by jerry sandusky. it's evident upon the grand jury report. back in 1998, 13 years ago,

neither he nor his mother did anything other than report this to the police to try and seek the kind of justice that was required. he didn't file a lawsuit. she didn't file a lawsuit, never looked for a penny, never asked for a penny, and didn't come forward now -- he thought his matter was dead. the police came to him and reopened this investigation. >> okay. >> that's what happened. >> i want to bring in criminal defense attorney mark geragos and cnn legal analyst, sunny hostin. some legal analysts say waiving the preliminary hearing was bad for the defense because they didn't have to take the stand, essentially offering up contradictions in their testimony. do you agree with that? >> well, that's one of the reasons that if you're a defense lawyer, you want to have a preliminary hearing is it's your opportunity prior to trial to lock somebody in, to do a cross-examination, to kind of set the stage for trial. ever since i heard it this

morning, one of the only things that i can speculate as to why they waived it is you do, at a preliminary hearing, give the judge the opportunity to razor lower the bail based on what he's heard. and maybe there was some thought or some calculation on their part that if we go through this preliminary hearing with all of the attention on this, if it looks or if a judge had a credible basis for saying, well, i think that there's more here than there was when i was faced with bail, i'm going to jump his bail or make it a tantamount to no bail, that could have factored into it, because i've done that myself on occasion where i've waived a preliminary hearing because i didn't want to expose the client to being remanded into custody. >> so mark, you don't buy when amendola says we wouldn't have enough time to interview the witnesses, the alleged victims? >> well, the reason -- i don't know that i don't buy it, but i think the remedy for that generally -- and i think it was a pretty good remedy that he had, which was okay, thief added

all of these other counts. they've got new victims coming forward. your honor, we're not ready today. we want to continue the preliminary hearing so that we can get ready. now, the counterbalance to that is what he said. he went out there and he said -- and i'm taking him at his word -- that they're ready for trial. they're trying to speed it up, that they don't want to waive time. they want to go right to trial. you'll remember, conrad murray did the same time. he didn't want to waive time. he set it straight for trial. sometimes that's a good idea. most of the time it's not. >> sunny, there's some who thought maybe this is a sign that the defense might be looking for some sort of a plea deal. >> that's what i thought. it's extraordinary that a against attorney would give up the opportunity to see the prosecutor's hand. i've tried so many cases, anderson, and i've never had a defense attorney waive the preliminary hearing because they want to be able to cross-examine these witnesses. they want to be able to have the opportunity to see what they are facing. so the fact that they did this sort of at the very last minute tells me that they were afraid of what they were going to hear. they were not prepared to

cross-examine these witnesses. and the fact that he said that he wouldn't be able to cross-examine their credibility is just complete nonsense. the minute those boys got on that witness stand, their credibility was immediately at issue. and he would have had the opportunity to cross-examine them. >> howard, would your clients prefer to see sandusky take a plea deal? if it means not having to testify? >> this young man's not concerned about testifying. he welcomes the opportunity to testify and face his accuser. what he is looking for is justice. and what should happen here is jerry sandusky should be behind bars. the prosecution is going to make a determination as to how that should come about. >> michael, do you have a position or does your client have a position on a plea deal? >> he does, and he's 18 years old. this is all swirling around him like something none of us can understand. i think what my client wants is to see justice served. if he can assist in that process and give testimony, he will be ready, prepared, and he will be very credible in doing so. if a plea deal is struck that

puts mr. sandusky behind bars for a good long time, i believe he'll be satisfied with that as well. >> i want to play another sound bite, sunny, from joe amendola, the attorney. >> if anyone is naive enough to think for a minute that tim curley, joe paterno and gary schultz and for that matter graham spanier, university president, were told by mike mcqueary that he observed jerry sandusky having anal sex with a 10-year-old-looking kid in a shower room at penn state or penn state property, and her response was simply to tell sandusky, don't go in the shower room anymore with kids, i suggest you dial 1-800-reality because that makes absolutely no sense. >> it turns out the phone number he gave is a phone sex line of some sort. >> that's right. >> probably not the gritteeates line for him to be using at this point. are you surprised to the degree

to which sandusky and his attorney are speaking out? >> i really am. this attorney has had a sort of unorthodox way of representing him from the beginning. it's nontraditional. he's allowed sandusky to be interviewed and he's making all of these football analogies when he's speaking, so i'm not surprised, but it's really shocking in many respects that this is the tactic they're taking. i'm also very offended that he's put forth this defense of these boys getting together and colluding for money. i have never in my experience had a victim come forward and make something up because they want money. >> mark, do you agree with what she said to the amount to which they're both speaking publicly? >> well, you know, the problem is, this is what i call a super-sized case. i think a lot of the normal rules that you engage in as a defense lawyer may not apply. it's unorthodox. you don't see -- i mean, what were there, 200 credentialed media that were sitting there? the thing is being covered, you

know, wall to wall. and so sometimes this presumption of guilt in this case, which has come so quickly, you want to try to do something to stop the bleeding. at the same time, you know, until you've gone through one of these things, you don't understand what it's like to be in the middle of it if you're defending somebody who's the object of all of this hatred that's coming his way. so this may be something new to him, and i feel his pain. >> mark geragos, sunny hostin, appreciate it, all the attorneys, thank you so much for being with us. we're going to look later at another case of alleged abuse by a coach at syracuse. two alleged victims are now suing the university and head basketball coach jim bay hoeheb for defamation. plus, more fallout from fast and furious with eric holder at the center. we're "keeping them honest."

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another keeping them honest report, attorney general eric holder is under growing pressure from congressional republicans known as the botched gun-running operation known as fast and furious which was overseen by the justice department. today 22 house republicans introduced a no-confidence motion against holder. dozens more are calling for his resignation. let's start with the facts. for more than a year agents from the atf allowed thousands of illegal gun sales. the idea was the guns would end up in the hands of mexican

cartel leaders who could then be traced and targeted. the problem is the atf didn't keep track of most of the guns. two of which were later found near the body of a slain border patrol agent, brian terry, last december. his cousin testified as a congressional hearing in june. >> he had already made his travel plans to fly back to michigan and spend the christmas holiday with his family. brian's attention to detail had ensured that all the christmas gifts he had meticulously selected for his family had already been bought and sent in the mail prior to his arrival. brian did ultimately come home that christmas. we buried him not far from the house that he was raised in just prior to christmas day. >> testimony from brian terry's cousin. now, during these hearings, the attorney general, holder, has maintained he was not aware of the program until early this year. the justice department has launched its own investigation. some democrats are accusing now, though, republicans of a witch hunt. georgia representative hank johnson told "the daily caller,"

quote, i think this is another manufactured controversy by the tea party movement. earlier, i challenged congressman johnson on that statement. congressman johnson, in an interview you describe fast and furious as a, quote, another manufactured controversy by the second amendment, nra republican tea party movement. i'd like to ask you about that. it's a fact this operation took place. it's a fact some 1400 guns can't be accounted for and a fact that the guns from this operation ended up at the crime scene where border patrol agent brian terry was killed. so what's manufactured about this? >> well, it's manufactured into a scandal or to an alleged scandal when, in fact, the scandal, anderson, has to do with the lack of federal laws which contribute to the numbers of assault weapons that enter into the hands of mexican drug cartels and others and are used to kill people. >> but sir, aren't you, then --

it sounds like you're just making a political position. yes, you oppose, you know, the nra, i assume. you oppose loopholes that allow guns to be sold through gun shows. but why not investigate who made the decision in this fast and furious program? we still don't know who actually signed off on this. >> well, i am interested, and there is an ongoing investigation that the justice department, through its solicitor general, is undertaking. and changes have already been made. that investigation is not complete. >> but i guess people -- >> i would allow it -- i would allow that investigation to run its course. >> but sir, it seems like you're saying, well, the justice department should be able to investigate itself when, in fact, if this was something else, i'm not sure you would leave it up to the people who have been accused of or questioned about the, you know, who approved it, whether someone in the justice department approved it. are they really able to investigate themselves on this? >> well, congress certainly has

oversight authority to investigate. >> right. and that's what congress is doing. but you're saying the investigation is manufactured. you're saying this is much ado about nothing, essentially. >> i'm saying that the means, the manner in which this investigation is being conducted by the house of representatives through the government oversight investigation's committee is scandalous. >> well, i guess maybe -- i still don't quite see your point. this is a scandal in mexico. there are many people in mexico very upset about this because these guns have been used. we don't even know at how many crime scenes. we do now a u.s. border agent is dead and guns were found nearby. the attorney general himself has said that guns from this operation, this fast and furious operation, will likely end up being used to kill people for years. that's not a grave and serious matter to you? >> yeah, it is. but so will the massive numbers of illegal weapons that fall

into the hands of wrongdoers based on the gun show loophole. >> so to the family of border agent brian terry, to the family of the mexicans who have been killed at countless crime scenes with weapons that the federal government allowed to go across, you say what? >> i say i'm very sorry that this nation which should be limiting the numbers of assault weapons possessed by wrongdoers does not do its job, and as a result, 40,000-plus people are dead. >> congressman hank johnson, i appreciate your perspective, sir. thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, disturbing new details about a new alleged hazing incident at florida a&m university. three band members now charged in the brutal beating of a female band member just weeks before drum major robert champion died. also tonight, holiday thieves caught on camera make out ridiculous. small business credit card.

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and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. critics say a major school district's policy on students' sexual orientation does, ignores the problem. the problem, kids bullying other kids about their perceived sexuality. in minnesota's largest school district, seven kids have taken their own lives in the past two school years. parents and say four were gay, perceived as gay or questioning their sexuality. that heartbreaking statistic, a

lawsuit and a national reporting including by this program has triggered the district to reassess his so-called neutrality policy. it bars teachers from discussing such things and critics say it answers the bullies with silence which bullies see as acceptance. earlier this year we did a special report on the problem, "bullying: it stops here." i spoke with parents and four amazing students who are fighting back including kyle who's had a lot to overcome. how do you get through the day, kyle? >> i pray every day that i didn't have to go back to school. and i go -- >> you pray every day you don't have to go back to school? >> yeah. i'd hide under the seats of the bus. and i would -- >> you'd hide under the seats? >> i would. and then i'd go to the nurse three times a day at least. >> just to get someplace? >> yeah, to go home. >> to go home. i understand at one point, how many kids did you know who were bullying you? >> 40. >> 40 kids? >> yes. >> you could identify 40 kids? >> yeah.

>> kyle was trying to survive in a climate would teachers could not even talk to kyle and whispers about what bullies were shouting in his ears. lawmakers are talking about a policy. it would presumably allow teachers to talk about sexuality as long as they don't, quote, advocate personal beliefs or opinions. we'll continue to follow it. let's get the latest on some of the other stories we're following. susan hendricks is here with a "360 news bulletin." >> three florida a&m marching band members faced a judge today on charges of hazing a fellow band member. they are accused of beating freshman brey hunter who police say suffered a broken thigh, blood clots and severe bruising that sent her to the emergency room last month. less than two weeks later, robert champion died in a suspected hazing incident on the band bus. no charges have been filed yet in his death. two men who accused former syracuse university assistant basketball coach bernie fine of sexual abuse are suing the

university now and its head basketball coach, jim boeheim, for defamation. boeheim accused bobby davis and mike lang of lying after they went public with their allegations. fine has not been charged with any crimes and denies that he abused anyone. we're also following this. the national transportation safety board is calling for a nationwide ban on using cell phones and texting while driving. now, the ban would apply to hands free as well as hand-held electronic devices. remember elizabeth taylor wore that wig in 1963 in that film "cleopatra"? according to reuters, it was sold to an anonymous bidder to $20,000. the iconic bob is made of human hair, by the way. anderson, back to you. coming up, if you're going to steal your neighbor's christmas decorations, you might want to smile for the camera. a christmas crime wave worthy of the ridiculous is next. learned in the military are very transferable into the corporate and real world. chase hired me to be a personal banker.

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time now for the ridiculous. and tonight we're adding a little pre-christmas crime wave that caught our attention. starting with the alleged grinchs who were actually caught trying to steal christmas. so this house in sweetwater, florida, was all decked out with christmas cheer. we're talking $500 worth of lawn ornaments. when suddenly they were gone. vanished. miami news station wsvn got to the bottom of what was stolen. >> mickey mouse on a horse, some hugging penguins, snoopy on a doing house and s doghouse and santa on a sled. >> it turns out there was security camera video of the actual crime taking place. look. not only that, the woman who owns the house called police after she saw her decorations on another lawn in her own neighborhood.

stealing your neighbor's holiday lawn ornaments, pretty bad. stealing your neighbor's holiday lawn ornaments and then putting those ornaments on your own lawn half a block away? well, that takes christmas balls. that's all i've got to say. thank you. two women were arrested on grand theft charges. two women. so most people know, it is wrong to steal christmas decorations, but what about hunting for them? and i mean that literally because a man in georgia was arrested after he fired a gun in a wooded area near a shopping mall. >> william roberson was firing into a tree to get mistletoe out to decorate his home for christmas. >> that was from wxia. and before you start feeling all superior because you've never had to shoot your own christmas decorations, listen to what one of the cameramen had to say about mistletoe. >> well, i've gathered it before. >> how did you gather it? >> the traditional southern way. >> which is? >> with a gun.

>> so yeah. it's apparently a thing in some parts of the south, people shoot mistletoe out of the trees. who knew? at least not us new yorkers. so after mr. robinson fired his double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun into a tree, he got arrested and spent the night in jail. he actually seems like a nice person and quite considerate. here's what he told wgcl about his quest for mistle troe. >> there's some in my neighbor's tree. i know him. i could have gotten it but he wasn't home. >> see, that's very neighborly, not shooting in someone's yard when they're not home. if they were home, it's much easier. he says after spending the night in jail, he has learned his lesson. >> i guess i assumed that everyone knew what i was doing. there was nobody around except this one car that was driving through. yeah, i'll get mistletoe next year, but it will be somewhere else. it will be way out in the country. >> i guess next year if you're way out in the country in georgia, just be on the lookout for shoulder-fired