there because people see the flashes that go. they're trying to blow a hole in the hull so rescuers can start getting in there is going to make the search and rescue team have better access and make it easier for them to get out. still looking for 29 people who remain unaccounted for if death toll right now is standing at six. there are also stunning new images coming in from under the water today. i want to share that with you. rescuers have to swim through debris in the hull ways. first flat block box has been picked up already and apparently picking up minute by minute betails. since they now located the second black box and divers are trying to retrieve that black box as well. this morning seeing the transcripts of the recorded conversation between the port authority and the captain of the ship. the first time it comes to us from the italian newspaper and the port authority says this. how many people are on board? the captain whose last name is schettino says, 2, 300. keep in mind there are 4200 people on that cruise ship. port authority says, how come so few people? are you on board? schettino says, no, i'm not on board because the ship is keeling. we've abandoned it. the port authority says, what, you've abandoned the ship? schettino says, no, what, abandoned? i'm here. the port authority says, you must return onboard, climb the ladder, the rope ladder, return to the fore, the stem, and coordinate the work. and shet tchettino says nothing. they say, you must tell us how many people are on board, how many women, how many children, you have to coordinate the rescue operation. commander, this is an order. now i'm in charge. you have abandoned ship and now you are going to go to the stem and coordinate the work. there are already dead bodies. at this point the captain jumps in and says, how many? the port authority says, you should be the one telling me. what do you want to do? do you want to go home? now, go back on the stem and tell me what you want to do. and it ends, we have seen, with schettino saying, okay, i'm doing it. according to newspaper reports though the captain never went back to the ship. absolutely -- absolutely -- >> admission. what he's done by saying the word abandonment, that is an admission. >> he seems to retract it, and i should say she's our former prosecutor so she goes right in on the junk lar on the criminal gas. and rick kaine is here and political science assistant professor at columbia university. nice to have you joining us. so let's talk the criminal case. he says abandon and then seems to back away from the abandon. >> soledad, he does it so quickly that to i peach him on his statement would be so easy for any prosecutor. you know italy is a pretty tough system. we've seen that with amanda knox. and here this case is very analogous, i think, to the dr. conrad murray case because you're looking at what the standard of care was in that job. by breaking it they're going to be able to say that he's reckless. manslaughter is one. >> i'm shocked at this. i'm willing to grand good will, cloak it in competence. you jumped off the ship because you wanted to do something to help. i'm going to assume these things. i did assume these things. his answer, was no, i didn't do anything to go help. this ship is turning sideways. it's going under, i'm getting off. what are you talking about? that was his response. >> today he's facing manslaughter charges, charges of shipwreck, and facing charges of abandoning the ship which is at least 15 years total apparently. >> that's right. >> the other issue here is that most of the staff on the ship were not trained adequately to help the passengers get to safety. how libel are they? >> i will tell you. prosecutors to that goes also to that standard of care. as captain, you are part of your job, part of your duty is to train your people. and by breach that standard of care, again, it could go to the reckless but also the civil suit. huge factor in the civil suit. >> let's get to cnn's barbie nadeau, in the courtroom, the captain is being questioned by a judge. she joins us by phone for an update. where does this stand right now? has the captain said anything officially in front of the judge? >> right now the court is closed to the public but we've got reports coming out. just adjourned for the morning, whether it's for the lunch break or the day. we haven't heard yet. the prosecutor will come out and say a few things and the lawyer is expected to come out and also speak. we do know that from reports and people inside the court who are affiliated with the court who have been communicated with reporters out here that he did answer all the questions that were asked-oim. he reserved his right, would be the guidance of his legal counsel, to not answer all of the questions. but basically today we're not going to get much more than whether or not he has to stay in jail. he's been in custody since saturday and his lawyer right now is trying to get him out of jail for the investigative period. he can be held for one year without being charged by italian law. and he's facing charges for, as you said, manslaughter, abandonment of ship, and shipwreck, causing the wreck. we will know within the next, say, 20 to 30 minutes exactly what happened inside that courtroom and whether or not he has to stay in jail. >> barbie, thanks for that update. we'll be watching that obviously. we've been talking to captain jim staples over the last couple of days now. he's been a captain for 20 years. also joining him is gab sagley, senior editor of travel zoo. captain jim, nice to have you back. there's so much to talk about here. first, if t. black box. there is a recording. it's unclear if it comes from the black box which would indicate the captain is on the ship or the port authority's recording which would indicate that maybe the captain was not on the ship. would the port authority be recording this trans skipt as well? >> possibly on the vhf radio, whatever types of communication they were using. could have been recording that. but on board the vessel there is what they call a vdr which will have all the communications that was being transmitted by the vessel at that time. >> when you hear me read this transcript, i mean, we think it is stunning. as a captain yourself, what was your take on it? >> complete dereliction of duty. he was to be on that boat until the last surviving person was on that vessel. there was no reason for that captain to abandon that ship and leave the passengers to fend for themselves. >> fill us in on these two black boxes. what do you get off the first black box and what do you get out of retrieving the second black box, they identified but in the ro process of pulling out of this ship? >> well, one of the black boxes will contain a lot of the bridge equipment technical stuff that was being done, and the other one may have what was being done in the engine room. most merchant ships only carry one black box which is in the bridge area that takes care of all the communications that's being said over the radios. again, with the motors are being done, engine orders, technical things that gps position for the vessel will be used in ug an investigation. >> gabe, let me ask you a question about the impact to the cruise industry. this is literally of titanic po portions. i think this ship is twice the actual size of the titanic. what do you see and predict? >> i think the cruise industry is on the alert now. talking points are being disseminated between the cruise agencies. the hard core cruiser probably will be unfazed by this. it's an anomaly, as devastating as it is. i think the avid kruszer is still going to go ahead and make their cruising plans. perhaps the new cruiser that is going to set sail in 20 12, those are the folks that i think are going to need a little bit of coaxing. the cruising industry is prepared for a softening of demand here in the immediate term. could expect pretty dramatic marketing opportunities here in the next several months as a way to attract these occasional and brand new cruisers. >> maybe all the marketing in the world won't save some of these people who have seen these horrific pictures. we're going to turn to the the of other top story this morning. mitt romney's corporate record was a big issue with his rivals. governor perry demanding to see romney's tax returns. gingrich and perry pressing romney hard. here's what they said. >> there was a pattern in some companies, a handful of them with leaving them with enormous debt and then within a year or two or think have been them go broke. that is something he ought to answer. >> i visited georgetown, south carolina. mitt, it was one of those town where's there was a steel mill that bain swept in, they picked that company over and there were a lot of people who lost jobs there. >> joining us from mirt approximately beach, south carolina, a senator jim demint. he has a new book which is called "now or nerve, saving america from economic collapse." it's nice to have you back, sir. i know we will be talking as we head to south carolina in the next couple of days. was there a winner in tonight's debate? who do you think did the best job? >> pr soledad, it's good to be back with you. it's good to see cnn all over the state of south carolina. we're looking forward to having you here. it was a feisty debate. frankly when you give the candidates more time to talk, it made it a little harder to decide which one was doing well. but they threw a lot of punches, but i felt good about the whole field after i heard them talk even though they were attacking each other a little bit towards the end. i think they were doing a lot better about expressing their vision for our country. it's hard to tell a winner, but i think they all won in a lot of ways because we could see more depth in each of them. >> that's such a politically down the middle of the road answer. everybody was a winner last night because many people said it was mitt romney who was a winner but i get it. you're not endorsing anybody. the last time we talked you said you had no plans to endorse anybody. you have been annoyed, i think is a fair word, about the focus on bain capital from the opponents of mitt romney. so i want to play a little bit of what newt gingrich said last night in the debate about bain. >> i don't think raising questions is a prerogative of only barack obama and i don't think republicans should allow themselves to be intimidates because every time you raise a question someone yells you're doing something the democrats do. i raise questions that i think are legitimate questions. >> do you think that's a fair response? that, in fact, all the focus on bain which you have to expect is going to come from the democrats as they head into the general election are fair questions? >> well, it's fair to ask questions and i think there is a good chance for republicans to explain how free enterprise works how it makes america so prop prowse. if we can't defend free enterprise, we don't belong in the white house. i'm looking forward to it. i think if you look what the the government does when it tries to run the economy. you can look at solendra. but if you look at the overall record of companies line like bain, you see that the net outcome is job creation, long-term success of a lot of companies, but i was a consultant for a lot of business for years myself. i know that well over half of new companies fail. it's part of the creative destruction process. but the net result is the most prosperous nation in the world. we don't need to go towards europe just because you're trying to make someone look bad. but i think it's a good debate. i don't mind the questions and i just hope romney and a lot of republicans know how to answer it. >> senator demint, i'm going to ask you to stand by for a moment because i want to turn to our panel one second. another awkward moment in this debate was the question about the tax reforms. it was this -- which i thought was interesting because you think that mitt romney by now would have sort of tested that question and worked out whatever the office answer was going to be. it was a very tap dancy quite answer. he says eventually maybe april. >> i heard you say a moment ago that many people are saying that mitt romney won the debate last night. if that's true it's only because he didn't fall on his face or vomit on his podium. he did not do well. this was his worst debate. it's clear. that being said, because he didn't do those two things i just mentioned -- >> because he's such a front-runner. >> mitt romney what we see now is very good when he's prepared. he's prepared to talk about bain. >> how can you not be prepared to talk about the tax snes. >> when he's not prepared, it doesn't come off well. for some reason, he wasn't prepared to talk about his taxes. this one is understandable, he wasn't prepared to talk about the voting rights of felons that rick santorum boxed him into and won a big debate point on last night. >> lots of cheering on that. before relose senator demint i want to throw another question at him. karen martin who runs the tea party in -- where is she? she's -- i can't remember. spar tanburg. she said this, i don't know a single tea party person who does not despise mitt romney to the very core of their being. how big of a challenge is this going to be in terms of a split? because when you look at the polls he does well or better than others on the tea party but you the have these really strong emotions from tea partiers who feel like they will never ever support him. is this a problem? >> i don't think it's true. i think you've got -- no one can speak tort tea party. it's thousands of groups all over the country of citizens who are active, worried about our debt, our spending. and i see in south carolina members of tea party supports all of our candidates. so i don't think that's true at all. i think whoever the nominee is for the republican party is going to get the support of active citizens all over the country because we're afraid of where this administration is taking us. republicans will be united. i think united along with libertarians. a lot of independents. those people who are concerned about our debt and our spending are going to vote republican later this fall. >> senator jim demint joining us. thanks, sir. time to check in with christine romans. she's got a look at other stories making news this morning. good morning gran. >> it's kind of like the first day of school today. members of the house returning to work after the winter recess. this is a live picture of the capitol. the top of the agenda will be funding a payroll tax cut. they face a february 29th deadline to extend the tax break for millions of americans. the senate will back in session next week. the fbi asking farmers and ranchers in montana and north dakota for their help in searching for the body of schoolteacher sherry arnold. arnold disappeared more than a week ago while jogging near her montana home. two people in custody are charged with aggravated kidnapping. jordan's king abdullah is in washington today meeting with president obama. both looking to advance peace talks between israelis and palestinians. king abdullah has taken a more active role in the mideast peace process. what goes up can go up higher. gas prices have been steadily rising and some analysts say gas in parts of the country could hit $5 a gallon by summer, soledad. >> all right. that sounds very depressing for our summer look ahead. christine, thank you. still ahead this morning, europe gets hit with a downgrade, how will u.s. markets react? we're going to talk with our panelists straight ahead. plus, republican presidential candidates make their case. tea partiers in south carolina. we'll talk to leaders to find out if this influential voting block has a favorite yet. storms ♪ south are affecting travel plans. we're going to check in with meteorologist rob marciano who is watching it all for us.as looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. 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. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. i've tried it. but nothing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. ♪ money talks and we're listening. so what will u.s. markets say when they open in two hours from now? standard & poor's have downgraded nine euro zone country on friday. many people knew that was coming as the region struggles to get a better grip on the debt crisis. the question is what effects are we going to see from europe's debt crisis right here in the united states? we've added the people who know the answer to this question to our panel. christine romans and ali velshi, they wrote the book "how to speak money" and they have our panelists back with us as well. so the markets will open because they've been closed for the holiday. what are the concerns going into this opening kday? >> the market reaction will be virtually nothing because we had this rumor on friday. anybody who felt like they wanted to trade on it did. we had european and asian markets open yesterday. not much of a reaction there. we knew this was happening. it's like the u.s. downgrade. it's what you call priced in and not surprising. the bigger issue is the question you asked, is this going to continue to have a larger effect on the world's economy. can europe probably in a recession drag the rest of the world down. things are getting a little better in america we don't need that problem. >> we are watching the credit markets in europe and the big bond markets that matter like italy's, they had a couple of big bond options p they did okay. investors still want to invest in. they are not paying as high a price to borrow money p governments. that's a sign that at least a little bit of that is easing. the eu and out of china and elsewhere you can see that the slow growth or the because it's the biggest stination for our goo. if europe can't get its act to the that means american factory workers will be idle >> o be much smaller than anticipated. instead of 2.5%, it might be 2% or 1.5%. that's going to have an affect by november. >> 1% feels like nothing. >> christine, you said there's been a big bond sales since this downgrade the other day. we know that prior to that they were aaa. we know that six months ago they downgraded u.s. debt to aa. we've had interest rates drop. does it matter what the bonds rating says anymore? >> for big bond yers, the biggest investors, they don't wait for this. >> they knew italy is shaky. >> they know that. here's the problem. there are a lot of mutual -- a lot of pension funds, for instance, that have rules that say you cannot be invested in a country that is not rated aaa. >> they have to have a -- they have to have vul other wise they could be investing in anything with the public's money. >> they've got to sell the bonds and buy something else. but, no, it's not like anybody was waiting for this to find out that yup is in trouble. >> i'm more interested in what the bond markets are going to do there. futures are higher. we're at six-month highs in stocks. if we were worried about europe burning down to the ground, why is stocks higher. if europe can hold the line and u.s. can slowly grow this year. >> another if. >> and both big if sglz that's why stocks will be -- >> thank you. appreciate it, christine and ali. mississippi's long-standing governor trustee program which essentially was a funnel from the trustee ship to being pardoned. we'