sunday this weekend. and the foundation is their not for profit arm which is the charitable arm of the foundation which does a lot of work with human resources for a member of the screen actors guild. and every year, i'm assuming they're going to have new ambassador to represent the foundation at the ceremonies and to present a check to that's been raised for their efforts. i think they're going to present a check for a million dollars. but i'm very, very proud to have that rowe, that kind of ad hoc role for them and i'm very, very proud of my union. >> alec, it's been a great pleasure. thank you very much much indeed. >> my thanks to you, piers. >> that's all tonight. ac 360 starts right now keeping this em honest with a fight for florida. with round house punches that mitt romney and newt gingrich are throwing in english and spanish to win the crucial state and new polling that shows how close the battle is right now. they're going to face off in another debate tomorrow night right here on cnn along with rick santorum and ron paul.

it's the race between romney and gingrich that is dominating coverage. new polling shows a statistical dead heat. 36-34. well within is the five-point margin of error. romney there at the 36. that's from the sampling done sunday, monday and tuesday. now, as always, expect those numbers to change. expect tomorrow night's debate to move that the needle, as well. also expect more of what we saw today. each candidate hammering the other. >>. [ speaking foreign language ] >> the gingrich campaign today stopped running the spanish language radio spot accusing romney of being "the most anti-immigration candidate in the race." they took the ad down after florida senator mark rubio has yet to endorse a candidate took strong exceptions to it calling it inaccurate and inflammatory. the romney campaign meantime angling for the latino vote with an ad slamming gingrich for being the ultimate washington

insider, specifically his relationship with freddie mac. romney has consistently described him as a former lobbyist for the mortgage giant and today at a town hall event, the speaker heard from a heckler about it. listen. >> you work for the people or freddie mac. >> i'm glad you asked that. i work for the people. of course, i work for the people. now, and by the way -- >> pac money. >> wait. >> shame on you. shame on you. >> now, now. this is a free country. and people are allowed to come and be noisy. it's part of the american tradition. i just want to say for the record, i don't know that this lady wants to listen. but i will say to the rest of you for the record, if you go to the july, 2008 "new york times" you will see the only reference to my talking to congress about freddie mac. i told the house republicans to vote no on giving them any more

money. i was opposed to them getting any more money. and that is a fact. >> keeping them honest tonight, was speaker gingrich a lobbyist in the two members of congress say he was. they say he lobbied them. first though, listen to how he described his role back in november. >> i have never done any lobbying, every contract that was written during the period when i was out of the office specifically said i would do no lobbying. i offered advice. my advice as a historian when they walked in and said we are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything. but that's what the government wants us to do. i said to them at the time, this is a bubble. this is insane. this is impossible. >> that consulting firm was paid $25,000 a month for years by freddie mac. governor romney ridiculed the notion that freddie mac would pay someone that kind of money for a historian's advice. just prior to that debate, the gingrich campaign released the

2006 portion of the contract with freddie notably vague about his services. last night, we got the 1999 contract which goes into much more detail. on page 14, it describes in four bullet points a wide range of services he would provide. the two that stand out are "to be as advisor to freddie mac in the areas of strategic planning and public policy for freddie mac priority issues," also to engage in discussions with mitchell delk and other senior fers of freddie mac relative to strategize on approaches to freddie mac business opportunities and challenges. mitchell was fred i pack's senior vice president for government releases. in other words, their chief lobbyist. according to open secrets database, he was indeed a registered lobbyist for freddie mac. so speaker gingrich's contract specifies activities that are right at the intersection of freddie mac issues and public policy. he's being specifically hired to work with freddie's head lobbyist. whoever drew up the contract

seemed to realize it's lobbying but everything but names. on page 14, there's this, nothing herein is or shall be con trued as an agreement to provide lobbying services of any kind or engage in lobbying activities. kevin madden is a former romney spokesman and a romney supporter. also a senior advicer to the gingrich campaign. kevin, could it be a mistake for the romney campaign to push this attack when their own campaign might get caught in the cross fire? >> it's an important part of the contrast you try and place before voters in florida. right now, i think voters have to decide whether or not they want a nominee for party and whether or not they want a president of the country who has been somebody who's been a washington insider and made their career in washington, d.c. or whether or not they want someone like governor romney who's built his career in the private sector outside of washington, d.c. and as a very successful governor and somebody who headed the olympics in 2002. so those kind of contrasts at a time where voters are making

that critical choice in a place like florida and through the course of considerations that voters are going to go through the rest of this primary calendar is an important distinction for the candidates to make. >> kelly, the fact is newt gingrich did work for freddie mac. romney did not. why keep this story line going? >> you have to ask the romney people that because they pick this had fight. after the wheels came off inevitability train, they needed to go back to the playbook. there was nothing else in there. they were supposed to win three of three contests. he won one of three. he was the inevitable one. with having broken the back of electability and show we can beat obama the way romney can beat obama, we then wanted to have a level playing field to compete about the issues. now we're absorbing all this incoming about freddie mac. you know the reports today, anderson. it turns out that in governor romney's own tax returns, he and his wife have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars through mutual funds in government securities that include fannie and freddie. that was done after the government bailed this ep out.

>> by tarring him with freddie mac as well, it sort of nullifies. >> i think the whole thing is pathetic. i don't think one job was creates, one house was saved from foreclosure and one voter learned much about anything. kevin is an old friend. but if i see one more imaperson talking about what an insider newt gingrich is, the job for president of the united states is in washington, d.c. you can't just parachute in. i noticed something by omission that governor romney and smart people around him like kevin do all the time, they never talk about his record of governor. the fact is, he doesn't just have a background in the private sector and the winter games. he was governor for four years and he's running away from that record. >> we thought this tighten in florida. the race is 23 points closer than it was two weeks ago. what happened to your candidate, in your opinion? >> look, i think this always happens. we have been around enough of these campaigns to know at the

beginning, we always know no matter what you have with a 22-point lead, it's going to turn into a two, three-point lead. these things tighten as voters go through their consideration. we were not kidding as a campaign when we said very early on in the earlier part of this year that this was going to be a very close race. kelly ann mentioned the idea of inevitability. nobody up in boston, nobody, woulding for governor romney across the country believed this was an inevitable nomination. this was something that was going to have to be earned. >> on your website i believe it said about south carolina, it said on tuesday, the presidential candidate will be selected. i remember seeing that on your web page. >> there's another thing, too, anderson, is there's never anything wrong with having a lot of confidence. you have to have confidence and send those type of messages to your supporters. but this is going to be a hard fought race. the polls we're seeing right now are reflecting that close race. that's why everybody's down in florida working very hard to reach as many voters as possible to talk to them about governor

romney's experience and also what he would do to fix the economy. >> let's talk about these polls, too. gingrich has, if you look at the data closely, he has fallen off post-monday night's debate. why do you think thats? >> well, i think on previous program anderson, you probably saw the charts that showed how much negative advertising is being spent by which campaigns and which super pacs. it's not even close. that is not a tight race. governor romney's campaign and super pac are spending incredible amounts of money. not with positive ads about governor romney's record in massachusetts. if you look at it, you'll understand why he doesn't want to talk about that. >> given that a lot of absentee votes are already in and probably favor romney given the tie it was when those votes were made, don't you have to do better than simply which you might otherwise be able to do on tuesday night. >> absolutely correct. that is the calculation we've made internally. part of why governor romney

benefited so greatly from those early absentee voters was because everybody was pushing the narrative he was the overwhelming nominee. people just leaned into what they were told. he can win, he can win. anderson, the average voter doesn't ask himself who can win. he asks himself who can lead. you're seeing a very different and expanded definition of leadership this cycle. >> kevin, can mitt romney afford to lose florida? if he does knot win florida, what does that mean for his campaign. >> we're going to compete very strongly there. that's going to be evident come tuesday. i think that as a campaign this is a campaign that has been built to endure the lounge haul. we need over 1500 dels when we get to tampa. the campaign is built around that. if we don't win florida though i feel very confident about our chances, this is still a campaign that goes onto arizona, michigan, the nevada caucuses. >> if he doesn't win florida, there would be shock waves through that campaign, no?

>> i think the focus will remain on winning delegates all the way to tampa. that remains the case. this is still a campaign that has the organization has it the right message and has the resources to continue on. >> kelly, and kevin appreciate your time. >> i can't emphasize enough that we feel good about florida. >> we feel even better. >> do you say if romney doesn't win florida, that that's huge? >> it's a huge shock wave because they keep on making excuses for each state they don't win. florida is more diverse and more like the rest of the country. the fact is that what will happen will be an extension of 2010 which is when the voters say i'm going to make up my own mind. >> thanks. another quick reminder, cnn is hosting it the next florida debate. tomorrow night 8 eastern time followed at 10 eastern by a special edition of "360." we're on facebook, google plus. follow me on twitter #anderson

cooper. up next, keeping them honest on promises the president made last night. they sound an awful like promises he made three years ago. also tonight, bill maher is both a supporter and critic of president obama from the left. we'll get his take on the republican opposition. i didn't catch that. to speak to a representative, please say representative now. representative. goodbye! you don't like automated customer service, and neither do we. that's why, unlike other cards, no matter when you call chase sapphire preferred, you immediately get a person not a prompt. chase sapphire preferred. a card of a different color. (phone ringing) chase sapphire preferred, this is julie in springfield. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪

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president obama made fresh promises to go after mortgage related financial fraud and provide relief for homeowners facing foreclosure. he outlined an investigation unit and named erica snyder man to help run it, as well. >> tonight i'm asking my attorney general to create a special unit, of federal prosecutors and leading state attorney general to expand our investigations into the abuse of lending and packaging and risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. this new unit will hold accountable those who is broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many americans. >> the president pushed for a way to give homeowners a break from big mortgage payments. >> i'm sending this congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates.

no more red tape, no more run around from the banks. >> but keeping them honest, both those proposals on mortgages and financial fraud don't sound florida, they're identical to promises he's already made take a look. >> the plan i'm announcing helps family who's played by the rules and acted responsibly. by refinancing loans for millions of family in traditional mortgages underwater or close to it, by modifying loans for family stuck in subprime mortgages they can't afford as a result of skyrocketing interest rates or personal misfortune, and by taking broader steps to keep mortgage rates low so that he families can secure loans with affordable monthly payments. >> so that's president obama in 2009 talking about mortgage refinancing and here's his attorney general eric holder the same year unveiling the justice department's new financial investigation unit. >> i'm pleased today to announce the launch of an interagency

financial fraud enforcement task force to combat financial crime. the task force is designed to strengthen our collective efforts in conjunction with our federal, state, and local partners to investigate and to prosecute significant financial crimes relating to the current financial crisis. to recover ill gotten gains and to ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes. >> sounds pretty familiar, right? the mortgage refinancing program called hamp promised to lower monthly payments for 3 to 4 million borrowers. only 657,000 offers have been made terminate. as for the financial fraud unit, critics say that has been a disappointment raising questions about president obama's ability to deliver on his promises. jessica yellin joins us now from chandler, arizona, where she's traveling with the president. so the administration, jessica, already created this task force

in 2009 specifically to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. so is the creation of this new unit an acknowledgement that that task force wasn't very effective? >> anderson, it's an attempt to appease critics of the administration, liberal critics who have been outraged from the beginning of the administration that not a single high level executive has been jailed for blowing up the housing market and for abusive mortgage practices. it's an attempt to show his base some fight. so today, i spoke to one source who's in the know on all this. he said because of this new task force, you will now see charges brought by the end of this year. i spoke to another source who said really, well, what the heck has taken so long? only he didn't use the word heck, anderson. >> of course, it is an election year. probably no coincidence with that. eric schneiderman has been very critical of the administration dealing with big mortgage servicers. was his appointment intended to silence critics who say the administration hasn't done enough to go after abusive

lending practices? >> he has been one of a handful of state attorneys general who has been a reluctant holdout on a deal that the department of justice is trying to with some of the big banks over bad mortgages. and these attorneys general have not liked the way this handful has not liked the way that this deal is going. and snyder man has been one of the folks saying i'm not willing to sign on if you're going in that direction. so either he has cut a political deal with the administration and he will soon sign on to this thing in exchange for this high profile political appointment, or he and the administration are about to be in a very awkward political position if he abstains and we just won't know until this deal is announced, anderson. but what snyder man fans say is that he's actually using the government so that he can get access to the tools, the investigative tools that the irs and the sec to go after more banks in his state in new york

which he gets access to through this new posting. we just have to wait a little bit longer to see how it plays out. >> jessica yellin, appreciate the reporting tonight traveling with the president. comedian and political commentator bill maher isn't one to mince words. bill maher live from silicon valley is going to be shown live on yahoo! on february 23. he's got plenty to say about the republican field but he's a self-described liberal. doesn't shy away from criticizing obama. i talked to the host of realtime" earlier today. when you heard the president announce last night that his administration is now going after the banks who were neck deep in the mortgage crisis, is that a decisive move or too little too late? what do you think? >> i think it was a breath of fresh air to find some reality on my television. i've been doing nothing as most people have for the past many months but watching republicans debate each other inside this bubble of irrealty they live in.

so to finally see somebody talking facts, yes, i mean, maybe it is a little too late but at least we're living in a world unlike the world where mitch daniels was portraying where it's not haves and have nots, 80s haves and soon to be haves. you know, this fantasy land, the carrot that they're always holding in front of people. at least obama is living in the world of realty would be my answer. >> you said though in the past in recent past that you've been terribly disappointed with him. you at one point said the magic is gone with obama. do you still feel that. >> you know, i mean, this is what us liberals do. we complain and we lose a little perspective tim spectivspective. yeah, there are ways in which he has been disappointing. he always seems to come up in the ninth and hit it out of the park like he did last night in the debate. nothing focuses the mind so much as seeing republicans. i'm sorry, but when you see newt

gingrich and rick santorum and mitt romney standing together, it makes obama look pretty good. it really makes me run back into his arms screaming. >> so you're optimistic for this election? you think no matter who the republican candidates are, you think obama's going to win? >> oh, definitely. i think it's -- my money is still on mitt romney. and i think he's going to get the nomination and then i think obama is going to beat him like a runaway sister wife, yes, i do. >> geez. a runaway sister wife? i haven't heard a flds punch line in quite awhile. what. >> you should come to my standup show. >> all right. why in why do you think romney can't win? >> well, first of all, he's a rich guy in a environment now that is very poisonous for the wealthy. he's got a lot of baggage.

you know, i mean, even his own base doesn't really like him. you know, some people in this country will not vote for i an morm -- a mormon. basically he's a flip-flopper. it's interesting the republicans ran against kerry in 2004. remember he was a flip-flopper. now they've got the biggest flip-flopper of all. they're going to have to flip-flop on flip-flopping. again, we've only heard the republican side for so long, these endless debates. too many, anderson, really. >> you think. >> i know you have one coming up. >> i think they've been really interesting. >> i do, too. i made the point that the debates have been a good thing even though people complain about them, i said for example we would have never found out that rick perry was an idiot. you know, he was the guy that everybody was banking on for a while because he was just as

mythical figure from texas. they didn't know much about him. he looked like a president, standing tall in the saddle. little sound bites. then he had a chance to open his mouth. it's like the cute guy in the bar. the girl's all excited to meet him and she's like get me away from this guy, i can't even do it. that was from the debates. look, there's a point where it's just too much. why do we need two debates in florida three days apart? it's like any television series. you love it, you love it, but at a certain point you know, it hits a peak, it jumps the shark. and then we're looking for something else. i feel like that's where we are with this debate. monday was a bad episode. it was a bad episode of the series. >> but we're going to have applause and sharing i believe in the upcoming cnn debate. >> that's right. newt gingrich needs the mob. he needs the crowd. i think he said he wasn't going to participate unless there was cheering and the crowd was allowed to make sounds in the upcoming debate. you know, he was throwing out

the red meat and the lion was just laying there. well, that's no good for him. that's what he depends on. that's what a demagoguery. and it's also better for the viewer for the fan, for the fan of this realty series. i like to see the crowd cheer and i like to see -- i would love to see newt be the candidate because he's even more beatable. obama is beating had imin texas in the polls. texas. so if they want to nominate newt gingrich, this is a great day for liberals. >> we've got a text 360 question from shawn. is there a position on which you agree with the republican candidates? you said pretty much at least in terms of foreign policy i think you said you're on the same panl as ron paul. >> absolutely. but ron paul certainly doesn't express the opinions of most republican voters i don't think. you know, republican voters. they look at or at least the audience when ron paul -- and i got to i sa, ron paul has some crazy ideas like getting rid of the fed. yeah, let's go back to the whims

of the mining industry and the gold standard. you know, stuff that i just don't agree on what he said about health care. we should just go back to neighbors helping out. just loony. but when it comes to things like the drug war and foreign policy, this guy is so great. also, even when i don't agree with him, at least he's honest. you get the feeling this is an authentic person saying what he really believes. as far as what he says about foreign policy, the guts to stands up there debate after debate while they boo him or look at him like he's got three heads, the others just stare at him like what are you talking about, the golden rule, please, ron paul. this is the party that loves jesus. what are you doing, quoting the golden rule? >> bill maher, good to have you on. thank you. >> okay, anderson. bill maher. ahead on "360," the dramatic rescue kf two aid workers, one of them an american held hostile in somalia. u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s carried out

the mission. details ahead plus an emotional day in washington. congresswoman gabrielle giffords says good-bye to her colleagues. >> there is no higher calling. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover.

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[ all scream ] obscure space junk falling from the sky? we cover that. moving on. aah, aah, aah, aah. [ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. two kidnapped aid workers are free and out of somali tonight after a daring rescue. the hostages, one an american and a dane had been held captive for three months. the woman is jessica buchanan. after the state of the union last night, president obama personally called her father to say she had been rescued by the u.s. military.

the father was flabbergasted to get the call. even though the news did not break till hater, we got an indication that something was up when he greeted leon panetta. >> just seconds into the president's arrival at his state of the union union speech, the first hint something had happened. >> good job tonight. good job tonight. >> at the moment he congratulated his defense secretary, u.s. special operations forces were winding down a dramatic rescue operation halfway around the world. the u.s. military and fbi had been searching for the humanitarian aid workers since october. when somali kidnappers abducted american jessica buchanan and poul thisted. now they had found them more than 100 kilometers away. officials obtained specific intel where the hostages were and who was holding them. but a sense of urgency was building. >> jessica's health was beginning to decline.

she's a young woman in her 30s. we wanted to act. and they did. >> president obama green lighted the mission monday night. the weather was perfect for a tuesday night assault. as secretary leon panetta monitored the situation from the white house, special operations forces parachuted into the area. among them, s.e.a.l. team six, the same elite unit that killed osama bin laden if not the same men from that mission. they confronted nine kidnappers with guns and explosives nearby and killed all nine. they found the hostages at an outdoor encampment, then hustled then on to helicopters and out of somalia. >> just incredible. chris joins me live from the pentagon. you mentioned in your piece that jessica's health was beginning to decline. do we know how she's doing now? >> anderson, that's what's white house and pentagon officials says was one of the main reasons they went on this mission exactly when they did.

on the aim day as the president's state of the union address. but they won't comment specifically on her medical condition because of privacy laws. now, an official with the aid group with whom she worked says she wasn't that sick. she may have needed some medicine at some point. but anderson, in any event, they're both doing okay and their families are traveling to meet them now. >> you said these s.e.a.l.s are part of the same team that killed bin laden. s.e.a.l. people to six. do we know anything else about them. >> the thing you'll know most about them is we'll never know their names. there's only about 300 of them operating in the world. this was the same team, the snipers that took down those pirates on a rocking boat out at sea when they had the captain of the mersk alabama captured on board his ship. there were 17 s.e.a.l.s killed in a chinook helicopter crash last year in afghanistan. anderson, ironically the man who sort of founded s.e.a.l. team

six says he just made up the name in order to trick some other countries into thinking that the united states had more special operations forces than they really did at the time. >> there are a lot of hostages still being held in somalia. any other hostage from the u.s. still being held there as far as we know. >> you're exactly right. hostages from india, the philippin philippines, south korea. we believe there is one america being held by another pirate group. the thing is, there has been so much enfa sis on cracking down at pirates at sea, they've now gone to land to try to target some of these aid workers. you've worked with some of these aid groups in so many countries. the ironic thing is these groups are on shoestring budgets and can't begin to afford the millions in ransoms these pirates want. >> i think there was a french national too being held hostage in mogadishu. i'm not sure if he's been found yet. the white house released a

pictures of the president calling jessica's datd after he delivered the state of the union. do we know when she comes home? >> we don't believe she's going to come home to the united states. she was married. she had been working as a teacher in nairobi. so she lives overseas with her husband. we believe that her family is now on their way to europe to meet up with her. >> we wish her the best. remarkable the precision of these teams. so glad they're able to come home safely. chris lawrence, thank you very much. ahead on the program, accusations of a so-called honor killing in canada. three sisters allegedly killed by their own family. first, we're back with a 360 bulletin. >> thousands of egyptians packed tahrir square on this the one-yearfry of the start of the revolution that ousted hosni mubarak. at times the mood was joyous, other times tense with fear the protesters would clash with the misht. joe paterno was laid to rest today in a private service. and thousands of fans and

students lined the funeral procession to say good-bye. a public memorial honoring paterno will be held tomorrow on campus. joe paterno died suns at the age of 85. talk about a fashion statement. a golden cape made of silk extracted from spiders goes on display at london's victoria and albert museum to make the cape, dozens of specially trained handlers spent seven years collecting the more than 1.2 million golden orb spiders like this one. what do you think? you like your clothes. >> i'm mystified. it's a golden cape made by spiders? >> it's a golden cape. there you see the cape there. it's described as. >> golden color i suppose. >> a golden hue. >> thank you, okay. >> and the spiders spun the silk. >> how do you train those spiders to do that? >> this is what they do. >> work harder.

>> faster faster. and then they would pluck -- pay attention. then they would pluck the spiders from their webb and take the silk, return the spiders to the wild and then they would start to spin their webs again. >>itiesy bitsy spider. >> you didn't appreciate that. >> i'm baffled but i this i it's amazing. i don't know, do spiders get paid? still ahead, crime and punishment. a family tragedy in the hands of a court. three sisters dead. their parents called it a accident. investigators say no, it was an honor killing. so-called. linked to their faith. plus, "360" follow. mississippi authorities now offering a reward for information on where a freed inmate is hiding. an inmate pardoned by the former governor. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future.

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>> crime and punishment, now in a canadian courtroom, a murder trial is fleering its end after days of testimony. the prosecution says three young sisters were murdered by their parents and brother, honor killing carried out because the girls had become too westernized. the defense says the girls and another family member died in a joy ride. some of the compelling evidence came from wiretaps of the family's minivan. >> in so many ways, the shafia sisters were typical teens, smart, beautiful, they enjoyed

going out with friends and flirting with boys. but that's what's might have gotten them killed. it was during the family vacations in june, 2009, when the car carrying 19-year-old zenab, 17-year-old zehar, 13-year-old giti and the woman they knew as auntie reason na amir mohammed mysteriously plunged into this open canal drowning all four. the girls' parents tearful in interviews explained it was a horrific accident during a pit stop on their trip back from ni agrag falls. the parents said the girls took the car out for a spin while the rest of the family remained at the hotel in kingston, ontario. but even as their bodies were being taken out of the water, as the vehicle was dragged out from out of the locks, police say they were learning something very different about what went on here that night and more importantly, what was going on in the shafia household. suspicious police bugged the

shafia minivan. what they heard, they say, evidence of first-degree murder. investigators claim hours of wiretapped conversations reveal how and why parents tooba mohammed yahya and mohammad shafia, along with their son, hamed, planned the murders. they also learned the so-called auntie, rona, was in fact, mohammed's other wife, cowife to tooba in a secret polygamous marriage. mother, father and son were charged with murder in the summer of 2009. now they're on trial. they've all pled not guilty. prosecutors are relying heavily on the bugged conversations. in one, mohammad shafia says in the afghan language darry -- i say to myself, you did well. would they come back to life a hundred times, you should do the same again. in another, may the devil

defecate on their graves. this is what a daughter should be? would a daughter be such a whor sne. >> i think that the wiretaps are extremely damaging to all three of them. >> columnist christi blanchford has sat through all the wiretaps, every witness. she's become an advocate for victims. >> we've been treated to the amusing side of defense lawyers said may the devil [ bleep ] on their graves, what did you mean by that? what other possible explanation but that is there for any of these things? >> but interrogations of the family never uncovered a motive. why would a mother, father and brother kill four members of their own family? the prosecution contends these where is honor killings. kaertd out by parents from a very conservative afghan background to punish rebellious, increasingly westernized daughters. zanae ran off to marry a man her

parents hated. zahar wore revealing clothes and secret boyfriends and little giti was failing in school and calling social workers to get her out of a violent home. auntie rona was their advocate. the prosecutors say they have clues how the girls died, the shattered headlight on the family lexus matches the damage on the rear bumper on the girls' car, suggesting it was rammed into the canal. police also believe the victims may have been killed or beaten unconscious before the car hit the water. that would explain why they didn't escape even though their seat belts were unbuckled and the canal was only seven feet deep. in one of the most chilling conversations recorded, mohammad shafia labels his daughters dirty whores, stead fast, he says, my conscience is clear. prosecutors are now trying to prove that to the shafias, honor was more important than life

even if it meant killing their three daughters. >> completely warped idea of honor. we've seen this in the islamic world and turkey and pakistan and afghanistan. see it in canada, the defense team finished up its closing arguments today. what did the lawyers put toward to try to dispute the wiretap evidence and prove reasonable doubt? >> you know, this case, anderson is still circumstantial. what the prosecution doesn't have, they don't have an exact time of death even though they know they drowned. the defense tried to say, look, they didn't have any time to kill their family. these were not women who were being led like lambs to slaughter. they would have fought back. this could not have possibly happened. but you know, to your point earlier, anderson about the fact these are honor killings. the defense is trying to hone in on motive. they claim there was no motive. this family would have never wiped out these women in such a cruel malicious way. the mother even getting on the stand and saying i've never

heard of honor killings. they are really trying to say that look, even if they have to call those dead women liars and the defense did it point blank today, they were very blunt, they lied to social workers. they lied to people saying they were abused if this family. why? so that they could do what they wan with the family. >> the mom actually got on the stands and said she had never heard of honor killings? >> absolutely she said it twice. >> i mean, that's -- i mean, hard 0 believe. i think anybody who's traveled at all in any part of the world has heard of them. paula, appreciate the reporting. we'll continue to follow this. up next, an emotional day on the house floor as congresswoman gabrielle giffords steps down. more important to do. g he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families.

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on the house floor today, congresswoman gabby giffords cast a final vote before stepping down to focus on the recovery from a shooting that nearly killed her. the bill she cosponsored passed unanimously. after the vote, an emotional scene as giffords' colleagues paid tribute to her and she said good-bye in a letter read by debbie wasserman-schultz. here's dana bash. >> gabrielle giffords's emotional final morning as a member of congress began with a labored last walk to the house chime ber and ended with a behind the scenes moment captured by cnn, a hug from one of the many workers she encounters during her five years here. on the floor, moving tribute she's she has brought the word dignity to new heights by her courage.

>> as each person spoke, giffords turned in her seat to face them. >> gabby, we love you. we have missed you. >> and occasional wave and a smile to husband mark and mother gloria. and barely a dry eye in the house. >> no matter what we argue about here on this floor, or in this country, there is nothing more important than family and friendship. and that should be held on high above all else. >> debbie wasserman-schultz lent her friend gabby her voice reading her resignation letter alive. >> always i fought for what i thought was right. but neverdy question the character of those with whom i disagreed. neverdy let pass an opportunity to join hands with someone just because he or she held different ideals. i have given all of myself to

being able to walk back onto the house floor this year to represent arizona's eighth congressional district. however, today i know that now is not the time. i have more work to do on my recovery before i can again serve in elected office. >> with that a dramatic climb to the speaker's chair to personally hand a teary john boehner the letter formally ending her service in congress. >> dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. >> emotional day. let's get the latest, some of the other stories we're following back. aisha is back. >> anderson, a bloody day in syria. activists said 24 people were killed nationwide including at least four in homs where shelling was heavy. there were attacks on hammer. activists said a priest was among those killed today. mississippi authorities are offering an reward for help tracking down joseph osment, one of four convicted murderers

pardonened by former governor hail will he bash bour this month. he failed to appear in court on monday. and anal became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world one day after reporting the best quarterly results in history for a tech company. its stock rose 6.3% recent more than $447 a share. that's the latest. anderson? >> a connecticut mayor is under fire for insensitive comments about latinos. is his apology enough in soledad will talk to one of the alleged victims tomorrow starting point with soledad oh bine 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. eastern. a whole new way to read a classic in the bathroom. the ridiculist is next.

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time now for the ridiculist. tonight we're adding a little story about light bathroom reading. someone is selling six rolls of toilet paper on ebay. these aren't just any rolls of toilet paper. this particular paper just so happens to contain the entire typewritten text of moby dick. one of the greatest american novels forever written painstakingly reproduced on four and a half rolls of toilet paper. now the seller who goes by the moniker the help cat writes in the description that a friend made a bet that he or she couldn't type a novel on toilet paper. one economy sized pack of two ply cotton knell later, an entirely flushable moby dick. what more could you ask demeanor

other than a video of the toilet paper unfurling as the novel is read. >> he cared not to consort even for five minutes with any stranger captain exceptet could contribute some of that information he so absorbingly saw the. >> yeah, we chose that passage because it contains the word absorb. i find it hard to believe but these literary scrolls can be all yours for $999.95. i know that sounds like a lot of money for six rolls of toilet paper. just imagine if this is real, the time and effort involved here. not since capital ahab himself has there been such pinpoint focus on such a grand tark. mobe by dick contains about 210,000 words. someone spent about 88 hours typing this thing, probably more because i can only imagine how carefully one must spool toilet paper into a typewriter. sadly, the last time we checked