tomorrow night, cnn films brings you "and the oscar goes to." that's tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. eastern. that's all for us. anderson cooper starts right now. good evening, everyone. on the breaking news arizona governor jan brewer just moments ago bowing to enormous pressure from federal leaders, big name conservatives, sports, you name it, vetoing a bill that supporters say protects religious freedom and critics call license to discriminate. we'll take you into the cold cold heart of america's ice age. rivers on the move leaving entire communities on the rocks. later a 360 exclusive, spike lee joins us live. we'll talk about his tirade on gentrification and why it takes in his words an influx of white people before the garbage is picked up and streets are kept safe. he got a lot of people talking today. tonight he's talking to us. it will not be a dull night.

we begin with the breaking news. arizona governor jan brewer's long-awaited decision on sb 1060. the passage of it touches off major backlash, with big names calling for a veto. several companies and businesses warnings this will hurt business in the state of arizona and jobs. governor brewer got the bill on monday. just minutes ago she went before the cameras. listen. >> good evening and thank you all for joining me here this evening. i'm here to announce a decision on senate bill 1062. as with every proposal that reaches my desk, i give great concern and careful evaluation and deliberate consideration, and especially to senate bill 1062. i call them like i see them, despite the cheers or the boos from the crowd. i took the necessary time to make the right decision. i met or spoke with my attorneys, lawmakers and

citizens supporting and opposing this legislation. as governor i have asked questions and i have listened. i have protected religious free doms when there is a specific and pressing concern that exists in our state. and i have the record to prove it. my agenda is to sign into law legislation that advances arizona. when i addressed the legislature earlier this year, i made my priorities abundantly clear. among them are passing a responsible budget that continues arizona's economic comeback. from ceos and entrepreneurs to business surveys, arizona ranks as one of the best states to grow or start a business. additionally, our immediate challenge is fixing a broken child protection system. instead, this is the first policy bill to come across my desk. senate bill 1062 does not

address a specific or pressing concern related to religious liberty in arizona. i've not heard of one example in arizona where business owner's religious liberty has been violated. the bill is broadly worded and could result in unintended and negative consequences. after weighing all of the arguments i have vetoed senate bill 1062 moments ago. to the supporters of this legislation, i want you to know that i understand that long-held norms about marriage and family are being challenged as never before. our society is undergoing many dramatic changes. however, i sincerely believe that senate bill 1062 has the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve. it could divide arizona in ways we could not even imagine, and no one would ever want. religious liberty is a core

american and arizona value. so is nondiscrimination. going forward, let's turn the ugliness of the debate over senate bill 1062 into a renewed search for greater respect and understanding among all arizonans and americans. thank you. >> governor jan brewer just moments ago. we just heard the governor's statement. there have been crowds out there for several days. how did people react around you? >> reporter: well, they began chanting -- they were chanting "veto" one moment and they were chanting "thank you jan" the next. they're starting to gather over near the senate building here at the legislature. they are listening to democratic legislators now make announcements there in front of the senate here in arizona. enormous jubilation this has been vetoed. not a huge surprise for folks, though, given the way this thing has broke throughout the week.

members of the senate that we oke to today who had met with the governor said she expressed surprise and concern that it seemed to be rushed through both the house and senate so quickly. she wanted to understand how they got to this place. you heard her statement tonight saying very unequivocally there was no reason for this and she vetoed the bill outright. there was a previous bill last year almost exactly the same as this one she vetoed on other grounds. this time she's come out and vetoed the substance of this particular bill. >> miguel, you should still point out, there are still -- this bill was vetoed, but other than three cities in arizona there are no state anti-discrimination statutes protecting people based on sexual orientation, correct? >> reporter: this is the crux of this, what the fight was over this bill cities like phoenix, tucson, bisbee, flagstaff that had nondiscrimination laws, felt

that those city ordinances could have been trumped by this state law. on the other side of it there is a concern among conservatives and very religious people that there is an initiative for gay marriage coming down the pike here in 2016 that either the state or the federal government may make sexual orientation a protected class. and that's what this bill was trying to get at. creating a little bit of a cul de sac and protection for those people for what they see as a threat from this new world order that the governor addressed tonight, anderson. >> miguel marquez, appreciate the update. want to bring in new york university professor kenji. he's been our legal guide to what's in the bill and the larger implications of it. your reaction to what the governor said. >> well, i think it was a really smart decision. she didn't wait until the very end. so i think that she had until friday i guess to veto it. i think it was good she did it early. it was fairly decisive. i think she gave dog whistles to both sides in the sense she said the family is under attack so

that satisfies the religious right. then she also said i believe in nondiscrimination which satisfied the lgbt community, played it down the middle. >> before she made her ruling, you and i had a discussion with nancy barta, state senator in arizona supporter of this bill, was a supporter and remained a supporter of this bill. and i pressed her on -- we both discussed with her if she could come up with one single example of discrimination based on religion in arizona that people of faith have suffered through. she couldn't come up with one other than hypotheticals that maybe might happen. but she had no actual example of it actually having occurred. that's interesting because governor brewer specifically pointed that out. i want to play some of that exchange we had with nancy barta, one of the authors of sb 1062. let's listen. >> senator, do you have any actual example of someone in arizona being forced to do something against their religious beliefs? >> well, in arizona it could be

happening all the time, yes. >> do you have an actual example? >> well, surely. people may be being asked to -- >> i mean where it's actually happened. >> well, obviously if people aren't bringing it to court we don't know about it at this point. but we do know that without this law, people would not be able to defend themselves in court. >> but again, you can't name actually one example where this has happened. because people opposed to this say look, this is a problem -- this is a solution in search of a problem. you actually have not had this problem. >> it absolutely is not. >> you can't name one example. >> here in arizona -- yes, i can raise a hypothetical just as our opponents are raising tons of -- >> i'm talking about an actual case of discrimination. >> an actual case could happen right now because people are having same-sex ceremonies even without a same-sex marriage ordinance or constitutional right in arizona.

they're getting married. they're having same-sex ceremonies in arizona, all over the state, in fact all over the country. so are you telling me that if somebody wanted a photographer, let's say in arizona, to do their same-sex wedding photographically, that that person would have protection without this law? i say no. we need to learn from what happened in new mexico. >> one more chance, do you have any actual example where someone of faith has been discriminated against in arizona ever? >> you know, i haven't seen that raised in the newspapers here, but i know that things are happening. without this law they will be. >> kenji yoshina joins us again. you actually did the research on discrimination in arizona from the eeoc. you found thousands of cases of different forms of discrimination. but she can't come up with one example of religious-based discriminations.

there are federal and state protections already in place. >> absolutely. i did a little follow on there. i asked how many phone calls had come to their help desk out of arizona for lgbt discrimination. they said almost 400 in the past four years i think is the statistic. so there's a significant number of charges based on sexual orientation. but she couldn't come up with a single one. i think this is a place where the media really helped frankly. because i think that you've shown a light on the fact they didn't have a factual record. then you heard governor brewer say that was one of the reasons why she vetoed the bill. >> stick around. we're going to hear more from kenji. and representative klinko, the only openly gay member of the arizona house. governor brewer, in vetoing

this, you had previously called this state-sang chuped discrimination. what are your thoughts? >> to see a bill move through the house and senate and land on her desk is very discouraging for the lgbt community and gay rights throughout, i think not only our state but really throughout the country that's really a setback. in her vetoing the bill i really feel like there's a possible hope for reconciliation within our state and we can maybe move forward past this really sort of unfortunate chapter. >> in vetoing the bill, the governor said the bill could bring about unintended consequences and the state respects religious freedom but doesn't believe in discrimination. certainly strong words from the governor. but it is still not protected except in a few cities in arizona, discrimination based on sexual orientation. >> that's absolutely true. and i really hope that out of this perhaps will start a dialogue in the house and in the senate and put forward legislation that will really ensure that the lgbt community

and other important minorities in our state are really protected into the future. i would hate to see another discriminatory bill come forward. we have a tradition of this. and i'd really like to see an end to that in our state. >> it's interesting. i talked to a representative yesterday, a senator who had originally voted for this bill and then reversed himself, said it was a mistake that it would lead to discrimination. seemed like a lovely guy, very nice guy. he clearly seemed to have felt the whole process was rushed. he felt that he didn't really hear opposing viewpoints. is that accurate? if people were listening, were all these issues raised while this was being debated? >> these issues were absolutely raised during the debate. but i think more importantly, this is part of a series of bills moving through our house and through our senate that really provide discrimination whether it's against women or the lgbt community. there's another bill that deals with the solemnization of marriage that's moving through

the house and will probably come to the floor in the next week that again is another attack on the lgbt community. so it's a series of a whole number of bills during this session that attack really progressive views. >> listen, i appreciate your time tonight. i know it's a good evening for you. you're happy about this. appreciate you joining us tonight. let us know what you think at home. follow me on twitter @andersoncooper using #ac360. up next, gentrification happening in many cities across the country. spike lee is not happy about it in new york city. we'll talk about it in my exclusive interview with spike lee. plus why do we go all the way to the south pole when here at home rivers have turned into ice jams, that's right. that's gary tuchman in the thick of it tonight. when does your work end?

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tonight a "360" exclusive with spike lee. his movies have focused on topics such as race relations here in new york city. lee has weighed in on the subject of gentrification. obviously many cities in this country are being transformed as

people with high incomes in many cases, many of whom are white, move into neighborhoods previously home to those with lower incomes. many of them african-american. speaking to students last night at the pratt institute in brooklyn, lee denounced gentrification that's changing new york city and harlem and brooklyn itself where he was raised. listen. >> i grew up here in fort greene. i grew up here in new york. it's changed. and why does it take an influx of white new yorkers in the south bronx, in harlem, and bed sty and crown heights for the facility to get better? the garbage wasn't picked up every [ bleep ] when i was living in 165 washington park. p.s. 20 was not good. rothschild 294. the police weren't around. when you see white mothers push their babies in strollers 3:00 in the morning down 125th street that must tell you something.

and then comes the mother [ bleep ] christopher columbus syndrome. you can't discover this. we've been here. you just can't come and bogart. [ applause ] there were brothers in the street with mother [ mute ] african drums in mount more park for 40 years and now they can't do it anymore. because the new inhabitants said the drums are loud. my father was a great jazz musician. >> because his father was playing bass. he said there has to be respect for cultures generations old. spike lee joins us now. good to have you on the program you talked about the trash getting picked up, facilities getting better, police being more active. all those improvements after a community starts to gentrify. to you is that because white

people have moved into the neighborhood? or could it be a function of pure economics? like it or not in this society the more money you make the louder your voice is heard, the more politicians and police pay attention? >> i think it's a combination of the two. but i don't think you could deny the fact that race takes a part. now, i'd like to say first of all, last night i spoke at pratt institute. i was invited to speak there for black history month. and people there have a very short memory. there's a thing called white flight where with the decay of urban cities, white americans left these cities. they'll flee away from taxes, crime, whatever. and went to suburbia. it followed them. they said why are we spending three hours a day on the long island expressway? let's move back into these cities. so for me it's about people get displaced.

where the black population of new york city has declined. the hispanic or puerto rican population of new york city has declined. it's about having affordable housing so people whoever they are can live in new york city. and it's not just new york. d.c. used to be called chocolate city. chicago, they knocked down the cabrini green projects and now black people are stuck on the projects outside of chicago. >> sorry. isn't this something that has happened to in every generation to all sorts of different groups? little italy in new york has gotten smaller as parts of chinatown have grown and other neighborhoods have grown. one an area that used to be predominantly jewish then changes over to another ethnic group. you don't see this as something -- you think it's escalating? >> here's the difference, anderson.

because those, they were moving up. when you had the ghettos in the lower east side, they wanted to move to long island. we're talking about historically black neighbors, harlem, bedford styvesant. it's not like -- it's totally different i think. >> there was an opinion piece in the times recently written by a man who has lived in harlem for ten years and owns a restaurant there. the headline was, is harlem good now. he's asked all the time it when he goes to high profile events if harlem is good now. he said quote that is a question loaded with long-held ideas about race and class, one that dismisses the complex vital history of this neighborhood and its people, their contributions to civil rights and art. under one word bad. does that ring true to you? >> yes, it does. and when we began this piece tonight, you played some of my speech.

and my thing is this. i don't hate anybody. i think anybody is entitled to live where they want. my problem is that when you move into a neighborhood, have some respect for the history, for the culture. and i'm going to explain the word bogart for people who don't know. bogart comes from humphrey bogart meaning you come in and just taking over. you can't do that. these historic -- harlem is a historic black neighborhood. history. bedford styvesant. fort greene. just come and be humble. don't come in saying we're here now and this is the way it has to be. that's crazy. to me. >> it's interesting, because you were talking about your own dad who bought a building in the '60s. >> we bought our house -- we bought our brownstone at fort greene for $40,000 in 1968. my father is a great jazz musician. no one has ever complained about my father playing music.

until last year when the new neighbors, they called the cops on him. we bought the house in 1968. now they're calling the cops? the new neighbors are calling the cops? he's been there way before they were. >> it's interesting that people move into a neighborhood because they like the neighborhood, often it's -- they like that it's a unique neighborhood, that it has personality. but even in the process of moving in, as you say, they're not respecting the culture that exists there. the thing that maybe even attracted them there in the first place. >> well, sometimes there's a saying you want it but you don't really want it. and i just hope that there's affordable house for everybody so new york city can stay the great city it is. because if you can't -- if you have to be a millionaire to live

in new york city, new york city not going to be the great city that it is. because the arts aren't going to be there. you can't afford to send your children to private school it's just going to be a disaster. we need affordable housing, and just whole rethinking of what the city's going to be in the united states of america in my opinion. >> so as somebody who sees the headline what you are talking about and you talking gentrification, to you is there any good that comes out of a neighborhood attracting new people? >> there's good. but what cost? if we lose half of the african-american population, in my neighborhood fort greene, and the schools become better, what happened to half the people that left? and it's not just about people owning homes. everybody can't own a home in a neighborhood. people rent. so people can't afford the rent. and we talk about the borough of brooklyn after coney island it's

the atlantic ocean. where are you going to go? >> in terms of though property values for people who have owned a building for like your family were saying bought in the '60s, and as an area gentrifies, property values go up, people benefit in that way. so i mean, that's a benefit for those who own property. but for those who are renting you're saying that's not a benefit obviously? >> yes. everybody is not fortunate enough to own a house. so i'm not going to say there's absolutely no benefits. i'm just saying at what cost. and i just find it interesting you have to have an influx of white new yorkers to move into these neighborhoods for the services to go up, for the schools to be better. they get better sanitation, get more police protection. >> right. those services should have existed before. >> why not that happened before gentrification? we're still paying taxes. still new yorkers. >> right. there are, i know you've heard this, there are some people out there who take an issue with the fact that you're talking about

these neighborhoods, your old neighborhood of fort greene that you don't still live there, you left fort greene however many ten years ago. >> the reason why i left fort greene, everybody in fort greene knows me and they ring my bell. my wife said we have to go. my office is still in fort greene. woody allen does not live in mid wood. barbara streisand moved out. jay-z moved out. spike lee is not the only person from brooklyn who's left the borough. my heart will always be in the republic of brooklyn, new york. >> i haven't heard anyone calling out woody allen for leaving brooklyn. spike lee, it's good to have you on the program always. it's interesting. thank you. >> anderson, anytime you call me, i'm on. >> all right. i appreciate it. take care. up next, it sounds like something out of a spy novel. private bankers, a secret elevator, statements hidden in the pages of a magazine. we're going to tell you how senators say a swiss bank helped wealthy americans hide billions of dollars to evade taxes.

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rick turns out these were a sign of things to come at home. back home, you can see the same kind of pictures on local lakes, rivers and because ice takes up more space than water, you can

see it hammering into bridges piers and gary tuchman, these days he's looking like a south pole scientist. where are you, what are you standing on? >> reporter: anderson, right now i'm standing on top of the kankakee river, about an hour south of chicago. just a few days ago this weekend, this was iced over. then it started to thaw and melt and it got ridiculously cold again. the windchill is about 20 below zero and this has become a river of ice bolders. it looks like scenes of the arct arct arctic tundra. everyone we're talking to who lives around here say they've never seen the river looking like this. during the summer, this is a popular place to go boating. right now it looks like a

glacier landscape in alaska. most residents have left for the season or left out of fear. how concerned are you when it starts to thaw? >> that's when the water is going to come up like a backed up toilet. the ice is going to take out everything. it's like somebody took a bulldozer and ran it through these homes. >> reporter: what do you think will happen to your home? >> i don't know. i'm praying for the best. it's in god's hands. >> reporter: an ice jam can be deadly deceiving. while the water looks to be still, nothing is moving, but in fact, there is still water piling up underneath. so this will break through and you can see big pieces of ice into people's homes. you can see the ice dam up and flooding around it. >> reporter: this is what it looks like when an ice jam finally breaks. >> suddenly, the entire river

started moving. extremely fast, like a freight train. >> reporter: this was ohio's rocky river last week. when the jam broke, the river rose six feet in just minutes. this week, that flooding is responsible for at least one presumed death. in this small town in illinois, rescue crews searched a second day for an elderly man. his boat capsized when he was trying to reach his home. the surrounding ice made his rescue next to impossible. >> there's not a lot of open water in the area where the victim was, and a lot of difficult stuff to deal with. >> reporter: ice jams have taken over waterways in the midwest and the great lakes. in fact, this nasa photo shows the great lakes over 75% frozen. ice jams as far east as pennsylvania, with warmer temperatures expected, these

communities are bracing for the worth. >> incredible images. when is the thaw supposed to come that the residents are so worried about, when is that supposed to happen? >> reporter: the forecast for here, anderson, at least another week of temperatures nowhere near the freezing mark. but by about thursday, temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s and that's when we can see the big trouble here. >> it looks like you're in the middle of a churning ocean that just suddenly froze. gary, thanks. susan hendricks has a "360" bulletin. an international arrest warm has been issued for viktor yanukovich, the ousted president of the ukraine. he was forced in office following protests. autopsies show that two security officers found dead aboard the maersk alabama died of possible heart attacks. but a lot of questions surround

their deaths. those who knew the men are spoked by their deaths. police say a syringe and heroin were discovered in the cabin. victory in texas for a lesbian couple who were two of the plaintiffs in a suit that banned same-sex marriage in that state. today, a judge struck down the law, but his ruling will not take effect until supporters of the ban have a chance to appeal it, which they vow to do. a weather forecaster in california was interrupted on air by an unwanted visitor. >> 61 in bakersfield. oh, my gosh. did you guys see that? sorry. there was a spider that fell. ahhh. >> take it easy. >> i hate speeders, man. especially when you're bald, you feel them crawling on your head. >> he made sure the little critter did not bother him again. he said his head is sensitive. >> susan, thanks.

a mysterious surge in birth defects in washington. we'll check out what's going on. [ car alarm chirps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze, and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned mercedes-benz for the next new owner. [ car alarm chirps ] hurry in to the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. visit today for exceptional offers. ♪ you get 4 lines on at&t's network... including unlimited talk... unlimited text... and 10 gigs of data to share. 10 gigs? 10 gigs. all for $160 dollars a month. you know, i think our family really needed this. it's really gonna bring us closer together. yep. yep. yep. yep. yep. [ family ] yep. [ male announcer ] introducing our best-ever family pricing.

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tonight, in one small pocket of washington state, a devastating type of birth defect is occurring at rates that are off the charts. almost all affected babies die shortly after birth. no one knows if this is just a random cluster of horrible luck. some experts say that's

possible. but what if something in the environment is the culprit. state health officials have found nothing so far. you would think they would be working around the clock trying to find an answer talking to every single mom who's lost a baby. they're not and outrage is growing. here's senior correspondent elizabeth cohen. >> reporter: in the rural and fertile yakima valley, an alarming number of babies born with birth defects. anencephaly, babies born with much of their brain and skull missing. >> i was stunned. three in a couple month period of time. that's unheard of. they are such tragic, terrible outcomes. >> reporter: barron's shocking discovery prompted an investigation by the state health department, which showed that in three counties in a three-year period there were 23 cases of anencephaly, a rate

four times the national average. what could be causing such a high rate here? is it just a coincidence or something more serious? this epidemiologist at the washington state health department conducted the investigation. >> did you find an answer? >> we have not found an answer. and it's very frustrating because this is such a devastating diagnosis for a woman to have. >> reporter: but sarah barron wonders if perhaps they didn't find anything because they didn't look hard enough. for starters, the state hasn't spoken to any of the families who had the babies with birth defects. not a single one. they haven't asked key questions like what they ate or if they'd been exposed to the pesticides sprayed in this agricultural area. and that outrages andrea jackman whose daughter olivia was born with spina bifida, another type of neural defect. when this happens, they wonder did the moms all have similar occupations or similar diets. has anyone called you to try to

ask you these questions? >> nobody has asked me anything. >> reporter: if they didn't talk to moms like jackman how did the state do the investigation? >> we looked at all the information included in their medical records. >> reporter: for example what prescription drugs they were take or if they had an underlying condition such as diabetes. but medical records don't have details about diet or pesticide exposure, two key considerations for this type of birth defect. in their own press release, the washington state health department says medical record reviews might not have captured all information preventing a cause from being identified. >> medical records don't tell you everything. >> no, they definitely don't. >> so why not just call the women and talk to them? >> well, we have to weigh that heavily. this is a devastating diagnosis. and we know that for a lot of these women they had to make some hard choices. we do have to weigh about how invasive we want to be with these types of interviews. >> reporter: jackman says that

attitude is condescending and paternalistic to moms like her and harmful. she wants state investigators to ask her questions. after all, her answers could help solve the mystery and prevent more tragedies. >> anything that will help another mother to not have to go through what i went through, i would have been fine with it. what are you researching if you haven't physically called the families to find out? what are you researching? >> reporter: in her mind, there's no way a four-fold increase in the birth defect rate could be by chance. >> if it just happened to one person it could be random. but fact that there are so many different people that it's happened, to there's got to be something that you can pinpoint that caused this. >> reporter: star, the state epidemiologist, says the investigation is continuing and they may interview moms like jackman at some point. >> as time passes and you call these women years after their children were born, won't memories start to fade? >> it's very possible. and that's why we're definitely continuing on with following up

with the question. we're still trying to find what may be causing these. and we're still investigating this. we're not ruling anything out at this point. and as we so monitor cases for 2013, we're considering just about everything at this point. >> for a woman who might be pregnant right now in one of these three counties, should they be worried? >> i don't think so. >> reporter: but nurse barron isn't so sure. >> i think it's very scary. i think that there's absolutely something going on that needs to be investigated more thoroughly. >> reporter: and olivia's mother isn't so sure, either. >> there's got to be something. could even be the smallest thing. not knowing is scary. >> scary indeed. elizabeth cohen joins us live. it's been a year and half since the birth defects were first reported. the state health department still haven't interviewed the families? >> reporter: no. they still haven't interviewed the families. and the state says look, we know this can be frustrating but these investigations take time. but anderson, bottom line there are certain things you can only learn by talking to these women.

there was a cluster of these birth defects in texas the '90s. they figured out it was the corn the women were eating that was contaminated. you would never know if the women were eating a lot of corn products unless you picked up the phone and asked them. >> the state of washington is standing by the investigation. what do experts have to say about it? >> reporter: the experts we reached out to were pretty hard on the state of washington. one researcher who's been very prominent and done a lot of research on birth defects she said look this is bad research because medical records are of such low quality. let's take a listen. >> the problem with medical records is that doctors note what they have to note in their records, which are diseases and medications they prescribe. what they do not note in medical records often are all the other risk factors that we might be concerned about when it comes to birth defects that are from the environment.

>> reporter: now again, the state of washington says they might still reach out and speak to these mothers. anderson? >> elizabeth cohen, appreciate the report. thanks. up next, we'll tell you how senators say a swiss bank helped americans hide billions to evade taxes and that cost everybody here money. we'll talk about that ahead. i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. your hepatitis c.forget it's slow moving, you tell yourself. i have time.

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leaders of switzerland's biggest bank said they he will -- deeply refret helping american clients hide money in secret. brian todd reports on how the swiss bank helped americans cheat on their taxes. >> reporter: an elevator with no buttons, operated by remote control. whisking clients to secret banking rooms. a wealthy customer hiding a quarter of a million dollars in panty hose wrapped around her body on airplane flights. this isn't a white collar crime thriller. this what is a senate report says switzerland's second largest bank was doing to help rich americans hide their accounts from the irs. >> you don't want to be in the dirty business any longer of helping u.s. clients cheat on their tax.

>> reporter: big wigs of suisses were grilled before a senate subcommittee. before 2001 and 2008, they held more than 22,000 accounts for rich american customers, totalling up to $12 billion. nearly all of the accounts never reported for tax purposes. >> you can have a foreign bank account. it just can't be a secret foreign bank account. you have to disclose it on your income tax return. >> reporter: but secrecy was an obsession. there was the swiss banker who according to the reports traveled to the u.s., had a discreet breakfast meeting with a client at a mandarin oriental hotel, then did something out of an old cold war movie plot. investigators say he handed the client bank statements hidden in a "sports illustrated" magazine. to entice rich americans to do their banking in switzerland, the report says, credit suisse set up a special office at the zurich airport. clients could fly in, service their bank accounts, then fly out, or hit the ski slopes. >> it really didn't mean much

that you had an office right there in the zurich airport. >> it was really an office whereas you say was an office of convenience for our clients. >> it certainly was. >> who would come in. but basically they held relatively small amounts of money. and there was no active management. >> reporter: quote small amounts most of us couldn't dream of, between $30,000 and $75,000 per account. credit suisse officials say this was all done by a small group of bad bankers. they say they'll get to the bottom of it. but so far the bank's handed over only about 230 names of american clients out of those 22,000 accounts. why? >> is the swiss government going to prosecute you if you complied with our laws and turn over those names? are you going to be prosecuted? is that your fear? >> yes. that's my fear. absolutely. >> the swiss government. >> what's the swiss government saying about all this finger pointing and secrecy? >> reporter: anderson, they're essentially telling us don't look at us for any finger pointing. they say they had an agreement, amendment under a swiss american

treaty that called for more sharing of client information about alleged tax evasion that they had ready to go that there's an amendment in the u.s. senate but that amendment is blocked by the u.s. senate. so the swiss government is saying you can thank the u.s. senate for blocking this amendment to the treaty that calls for more information sharing. that's why you're not getting the names of these account holders. >> interesting. brian todd, thanks for the reporting. >> thank you. >> that was brian todd. "the ridiculist" is next. stick around. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪

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time now for "the ridiculist." tonight we have a fish tale from rochester, minnesota where earlier this month the owner of a bait store had a problem to tackle. someone broke into his shop after he closed up. luckily he had activated 2 alarm system before he left. >> the last thing i did before i locked the door was turn billy bass on. >> at hooked on fishing much like in countless basements and garages throughout this great nation there is a motion-activated fish that sings "take me to the river" or "don't worry be happy" when someone enters this shop. in this case, billy bass was not just a delight for everyone, but also a top-notch guard fish. >> i saw the door had been damaged and the dead bolt was actually bent at like a 45-degree angle. i think he just did his job and scared whoever it was right out of their tracks. >> i think we're going to need

to see a dramatic recreation of what might have happened to send the robber reeling. >> i think when he opened the dooshgs i think billy kind of turned himself on. when i saw billy bass on the floor that something really was up. an then when i tried to close the door and it wouldn't close at all i just knew that billy bass had done his job and let somebody know that it wasn't just empty or something. >> i like that billy bass. i used to have one. thanks to billy, nothing was stolen from the store. local police sergeant says the bass really took one for the team. who better than a novelty fish to make sure the scales of justice swing in favor of the righteous. >> now he's my good luck charm. i'm going to keep billy until he can't sing no more. >> as he should. there are also security cameras at hooked on fishing so they're not relying totally on billy bass for security. but it is a good reminder while you're checking your smoke detectors do not forget to also check the batteries in your latex fish. which is a lesson you should have already learned from watching the original british version of "the office."

>> do you have batteries for billy big mouth? i'll pay cash. can't put a price on comedy. >> there are those times when it's undeniably good to have a big mouth on the ridiculist. that's it for us. erin burnett "outfront" starts now. next, republicans and their war on the 1%. one congressman wants to close a tax loophole and wall street is fighting back. plus, spike lee fired up, the film director unleashing a seven minute rant about race and real estate. the man who sparked the tirade. breaking news out of arizona. the government expected to make a major announcement about the controversial bill that critics call anti-gay. let's go "outfront." breaking news. much anticipated announcement