middle-class families pay. we'll explain what's going on. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." dramatic new developments today in the cruise ship disaster off the coast of italy after blasting holes in the capsized "costa philosopconcord" the massive liner hits rocks and ripped open the hull friday night. it shows the dramatic escape as people clamor off the sinks vessel. the ship's captain is under house arrest, and he may face charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. now a stunning -- the transcript between outrages authorities on shore and the captain. matthew chance is faults this unfold. what's the latest, matthew? >> reporter: these transcripts and recordings that have emerged of astonishing. they show conversations that were taking place between the captain of the "costa concordia." his name is francesco scampino. the coast guard asking about the situation. he sounds confused. then emerges much to the astonishment of is the coast guard that the captain has abandoned the ship, while hundreds of passengers are still on board, some bodies are there as well. this is something that has absolutely shocked the coast guard. he becomes very angry. he orders the captain to get back on board and to coordinate the rescues efforts, which the captain says he will do, but parent never actually does. that captain now of course being held and facing charges off abandoning his post and manslaughter. take a listen to the conversation between these two figures. as passengers try to escape the stricken "costa concordia" shocking exchanges have emerged between a frustrated italian cost guard and a captain, now accused of abandoning his ship. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: an astonished coast guard questions why he left his ship in the first place while his passengers still lang wished on board. >> reporter: regardless, the coast guard demands the captain returns to the ship to help the women and children on board. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: amid the chaos, the captain now facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning his duties never returned from his lifeboat. he may find that hard to explain. matthew chance, cnn, london. what caused this massive ship, the size of a skyscraper to end up lying on its side and why were some people simply unable to get out. chad myers joins us with a closer look on what's unfolding. i suspect this investigation is only just beginning. >> it really is, wolf. people ask me all day how can there be a hole in the left side and yet leaned over and fell on the right side. that's because the captain did turned ship back towards shore, and you kind of lean when the care turns to the left -- the boat listed right there and literally fell over onto its side with a huge hole on the bottom. the captain said we've lost power, it's because the engine room probably got flooded. it came very close to the show, hit a rock, only wen one more mile. this being one full hour, as it turned to the left, the entire boat fell over i want to show you the size of the rock. there's the rock right there. now, this right here, wolf, that's the waterline. this dark area, that's below water. this may only be 5 feet, maybe 3 feet below the waterline where this rock was actually located. so clearly no sense of say too close to shore, no matter about that at all. there it is from the view. this boat's going to be here a long time. they'll have to pump this water off. there are still people missing on this boat. there may be doorways that simply will not open. it's no longer a square boat. it's beinging more of a parallel ogram. the whoa top structure is sliding or bending. you put a door into a parallelo gram hole, that door may, owned 20 some people missing may still be alive in that boat somewhere. they are certainly looking for them. >> i want you to show our viewers, 9 route it was supposed to take, but they went so colloid to this island. now there shall ought these reports that the captain wanted to show off to people so they could wave, get excited about seeing what was going on. clearly it was a reckless move to get that close to the shore, a huge vessel. i assume you agree? >> it should have been two miles offshore, you can go to liveleak.com and watch where the ship went minute by minute by minute. it turned clearly to the right. as it came in here, it was going to make a close pass to show the people on the port side of the boat the beautiful i'd. at it turned, i believe the way that whole in the stern looked -- in the port side looks, it looks like the boat was almost sliding sideways, like it almost hip-checked that rock, that rock right there, as it was turning. it didn't even slide. it didn't make a glancing blow at this rock. it slammed into the side of the ship making that huge hole, taking on so much water. i understand they do this a lot, to show people the beautiful shores and coastlines, but you can't do it when there's a rock in the way. >> once it hit the rock, they should have stopped, not got and made the u-turn. that boat never would have tipped over as it did, if they would have stopped at that point and dealt with the hitting of the rock instead of trying to move on. that's what a lot of experts have expected over the past day or so. chad, thanks very much. when thousands of people go to sea, any accident can become a massive disaster. the cruise liner could have even been much worse, so who's making, enforcing the safety rules for thinks giant ships? mary snow has a closer look. >> wolf, it's an agency under the u.n. responsible for the safety. under the international convention of safety of life at sea, a treaty that came after the "titanic" disaster, but there are questions how much power that agency really has. as investigators search for answers into what caused the "costa concordia" disaster, one maritime union says it should be a wake-up call. one concern, the ship's size, roughly the lens of two football field. the group says many are effectively small towns at sea, and the seer number of people on board raises serious questions about evacuation. they clearly had serious problems about evacuation. micha mike crye -- >> the fact is this industry is remarkably safe. it has had a history that is very good, compared to virtually any other means of transportation. so do they pose more safety risks? i don't know. bigger, more people on board? the impact in a disaster might be greater. however, the regulations have kept pace with the increasing size of the vessels. >> safety rules are set through the international maritime organization, an agency of the united nations, and they apply them around the globe. at one maritime attorney describes it, the agency has no teeth. >> there is no general policing out there. they pretty much run their own show. they're very well politically connected. they have very strong lobbies, and it's -- you know, it's a money business. that's the interest, the money. >> it's effectively owned by carnival, but operated in italy, so it doesn't have to follow u.s. laws. the international maritime organization did kim out with a statement saying the agency must not take the accident lightly, and if necessary, reexamine regulation on the safety of large passenger ships in light of the investigation being done. >> this investigation as they say, is only beginning. mary, thanks very much. we have live pictures of the ship right now. it's obviously nighttime over there off the coast of italy. you can see rescue workers and others dealing with this crisis. what a crisis it is. these are live pictures coming in courtesy of reuters. much more on this story coming up. also other news we're following. he's certainly a multimillionaire presidential candidate, but is his tax rate lower than yours is it. >> the effective rate is probably closer to the 15% rate than anything. >> will he release his tax returns? what impact will all this have on his front-runner status? plus a controversyial debate moment with newt gingrich. jack cafferty is standing by with "the cafferty file." when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. the pretty tough "daily beast" column with gingrich's own words as proof. before we start here, keep in mind, this was a debate held on martin luther king jr. day in south carolina. one of the moderators juan williams, who is black, asked gingrich whether some poor or minority voters might be insulted by his comments like when he said poor kids lack a work ethic and black people should demand jobs, not food stamps. gingrich -- so williams tried again, asking if gingrich areas words aren't belittling to the poor and to blacks. >> you saw some of this to a black church in south carolina, where a woman asked you why you referred to president obama as the food stamp president. it sounds as if you're seeking to belittle people. >> well -- [ booing ] >> first of all, juans. more people have been put on food stamps by barack obama than any other in history. i know i'm not politically correct, you're not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable. >> gingrich finished this exchange, got a standing ovation from the mostly white crowd. bynert writes he's not a racist and believes he genuinely cares. he suggests that gingrich's problem is ignorance, suggesting blacks and their leaders don't consider jobs important shows how out of touch gingrich is with politician and the priority that black leaders have put on jobs. what's more -- and this is probably the worst part, it's all pretty tough -- he doesn't get why calling president obama is the food stamp many highly offensive. he writes the most plausible is he inhabits a cultural and intellectual bubble, a bubble called the republican party, unquote. tough stuff, and not very encouraging when it comes to trying to get blacks to vote for them. post a comment on my block or go to our post. wolf? >> newt gingrich will be here in "the situation room" with me tomorrow. mitt romney isn't really to make the tax returns public, but he's revealed his tax rate. jim acosta is out there on the campaign trail in south carolina. >> reporter: after weeks of sending mixed signals, mitt romney peeled back the curtain just a touch. >> what's the effective rate i've been paying? probably closer to the 15% rate than anything, because my last ten years my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past. >> romney with an estimated net worth of up to a quarter billion effectively acknowledged his 15% tax rate is lower than what many middle-class families pay. it's closer to what billionaires like warren buffett pay, a fact who won't be lost, on the president. >> warren buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, an outrage he has asked us to fix. >> gingrich called on romney to do the same before his primary. >> what is he sake to the people of south carolina, you're not important enough for me to release my income tax? >> romney is taking hits from rick santorum. the new ad argues the former massachusetts governor is just like the president. >> obama gave us radical obamacare that was based on romneycare. >> it was a counterattack. >> he even voted to let convicted fluors vote. >> santorum accused romney of dirty politics. >> we don't need someone who supports lies and promotes lies and assistants behind those lies in order to get elected president. >> romney's response? what's the big deal? >> i hear that rick santorum is very animated that the super pac ad says he's in favor of felons voting. well, he is umpts. >> reporter: isn't it convenient now to say you would like to do away with the super pacs after the damage is done? >> and to me. have you not noticed that the super pacs have gone after me and the campaigns have gone after me? >> reporter: he also defended his claim in monday's debate that he helped create hundreds of thousands at bain capital, more than the 100,000 he's touted in the past. >> they weren't businesses i ran, but invested in, some 120,000 jobs today. he got testy when asked about the new figure. >> four companies created 120,000 jobs, okay? it's very simple. >> romney did say today he will release his 20 is 1 tax returns in april, but by then he may have wrapped up the gop nomination, that is, is it he survives south carolina first. wolf? >> we'll see what happens saturday night. thank you very much everybody jim acosta. we'll get more about the taxes and discuss it in our "strategy session." we'll also talk with the authors of a brand-new book about mitt romney and what he really did at bain capital, his leadership role in the mormon church. stand by for that interview. and why president obama wants to see betty white's birth certificate. lisa sylvester is monitoring some other top stories in "the situation room" right now, including one of the most popular web sites apparently going dark. what's going on, lisa? >> don't panic, but for one day you won't be able to use wikipedia. the popular website says it would go off-line in protest of the bill. many media companies, including cnn's parent company time warner support the bill. most major tech companies strongly oppose it on freedom of speech grounds. gart brooks is in an oklahoma court after suing a hospital. the two-year-old suit stems from a $500,000 donation brooks made to the hospital. brooks claimed the hospital promised to name a new wing after his mother, but the money is now being spent on other projects. the hospital claims it was an anonymous and -- average credit card debt decreased last year, adding up to an 11% decline nationwide. credit karma.com reports that mississippi, alabama had the lowest debt. auto loan debt actually increased. thank you very much, lisa. searching for the real mitt romney. two investigative journalists have a new book out, here to talk about what they've learned, and rick perry isn't backing off the controversial remarks he made about a close u.s. nato ally. my interview with governor rick perry is coming up in our next hour right here in "the situation room." it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. i'm wolf blitzer. here are some of the stories we're working on. it's a sdauser scene, possibly a crime scene as well, we're taking a closer look. also, my review with rick perry. we'll talk about the race, the rivals, the controversial marks he made. and why stephen colbert is asking people in south carolina to vote for herman cain. stand by, you're in "the situation room." as mitt romney has emerged his corporate background, his wealth, mormon religion. now there are some answers. we want to get to the real mitt romney. thanks very much for coming in. thanks very much for writing this book. let me start with you, michael. tell me about the role that mitt romney played when he ran bain capital. >> we tell a very detailed story, how he started out in venture capital, but then switching over to a more controversial field call leveraged buyouts. he was the head of the company, there for 15 years action and this was basically an investment fund. you put your money in that fund, they use it to buy into existing companies. but there's a 15-year history. i think what i've seen so far is a couple companies are mentioned, everything collapsed together. what actually happened, and also what you can learn. >> and scott, at the debate last night, he said this. >> the report is darn good. that teal company i talked about, sports authority, they alone added 120,000 jobs as of today. >> he also said make about 10,000 jobs were lost, then went on to say you do the math. is he right in his numbers? >> the short around is this is impossible to say. a lot of the records are not available. some of the companies they were involved with were later bought, carved up. it's impossible to say this is -- these number of jobs he created. years ago he was careful to say i helped to create the jobs at staples. most of them in fact were created after they got their money back out. does he get some credit for putting in vc money, sure, but he's adding those to his tally, if i'm not mistaken. it's all in your definition of the word "create." did he help or spark? absolutely. did he have a hand in creating those jobs? that's hashed to say. >> when did mitt romney decide he wanted to be president of the united states? some friends who know him would say he always wanted to make up for his father's failure when he sought the presidency and failed to do so. clearly it's something he's had in mind for a very long time. we tell a story in the book right after the passage of 9 health care message he walked across boston common, went too the ritz carlton and met with iowa leaders who felt could help him become president. he set up committees almost shortly after he had become governor, and you can look back so he could run for president. even before that, he's been very careful to do things he knew might be examined some day. he was very cautious about the business deals he entered into. a friend of his told me a story how many years ago an investor came to him and said why don't you go into this real estate deal with me. the friend said there was nothing illegal, but it was kind of shady, romney was uncomfortable and his explanation was if i run for office, this is not something i want people to know about. this is three, four decades ago, so i think for a very long time throughout his life he has very carefully at least kept open the possibility of being in public life. it's no surprise to anyone that he's doing just that. >> you write extensively about mitt romney and his mormon faith. what was his role as the leader? >> i should kick it over to scott who wrote the chapter. >> this is something important to understanding mitt romney. it is central to who he is and who his family is. his family was very involved in the creation, really, of development of this young faith from the 19th century. so romney held several roles as a church leader in suburban boston, in charge of a congregation, then president of what's called the boston state, which is essentially like a catholic diocese. this was his first big leadership test. in the mormon church you have lay leaders who have incredible authority, great authority over the people in the church. it's not like catholicism or protestant churches where you have paid clergy. he was the clergy, so to speak. so he's counseling people on their marriages. he's delivering sometimes harsh messages from the church to sort of what the church thinks is the appropriate behavior for someone. this was controversial often when it involved women. we tell a story in the book about how he counseled a single mother to put her child up for adoption. so he's involved in all facets of people's lives and was for years, really up to th