happened in that tax return. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm erin burnett, "outfront" tonight, mitt's taxes. now, romney is caving in to the mounting pressure. >> i think both president obama and hillary clinton released their taxes in 2008. just strikes me that governor romney ought to step and follow the same procedure. >> i don't know what my effective rate of tax is, but i'm fairly confidence it's a lot higher than 15%. >> mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people can see how you made your money. >> we know why releasing is so hard for mitt. rom nay pays a tax rate closer to 15%, and part of the reason why it's a loophole. not only legal, but pretty standard, but it doesn't feel fair and square. here's the bottom line. he was the founder and partner in bain capital. when you're a partner in a private equity firm, you get a cut of the profits you make. usually, 20%. now, stay with me because what happens here adds up to tens of billions of dollars in lost tax revenue for america. say my buddy, will, you've probably heard me talk about him. works at cnn. say he invests $5 million in bain capital. and mitt romney, as he has done, does a really good job. he invests will's money well. so a year later, will's investment doubles in value to $10 million. ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. mitt's cut, $1 million. and that money is taxed at 15%. now, the reason this is unfair is that it wasn't mitt romney's money he put at risk, which is the justification for a lower tax rate on things like dividends an capital gains. it was will's money and he put it at risk. now, this loophole, which is legal and like i said, standard, is ridiculous. but it adds up to a lot of money. if this money which is called carried interest, was taxed at the regular rate of 35%, the white house estimates it would raise about $20 billion in ten years, and hoppestly, when i looked at the numbers, i think you're going to get a whole lute of more money than that. look at the net worth of three of the richest investment titans in the united states. all of whom benefit from this loophole. steve schwartzman, $4.7 billion. henry kravitz from kkr. another private equity firm. net worth, $3.7 billion and john dofer, net worth, $2.3 billion. now, mitt romney's worth is $202 million, so compared to those guy, he's a relative pauper. now, we may never know exactly how much of mitt romney's fortune came from this loophole, but there's a problem here. james carville, steven moor with "the wall street journal. kwaelts james, let me start with you. how damning will it be for mitt romney when these tax returns are fully put out, and i want to emphasis that when his father ran for president, he put out 12 years of tax returns. barack obama put out multiple years. you can make one year look okay, but this kind of stuff is going to show up with a big tax return like that. >> apparently, mitt romney's thinks it's going to be damning. he's gone to great lengths to not do it and hasn't done it. newt gingrich tomorrow night is going to say that we need to see these returns. not that we care as republicans if you pay 15%, which everybody did, but barack obama will make something about this. before we vote and you put us in jeopardy in a general election, we need to see these returns now in south carolina. gingrich will make that point tomorrow night. >> let me ask you, steven, you believe strongly when people put their money at risk, they get a lower rate, but what about loopholes like this one which a very very few wealthy benefit benefit from. a lot, and they lobby in washington. this has been up several times in the last few years. the likes of chuck schumer, eric cantor and nancy pelosi have all conspired to not get rid of this loophole. >> it's a tough call. i'll admit. i want the lowest taxes possible in terms of the ratest, in terms of investment, but there's some real debate whether it's labor income or investment income. you made a persuasive case that this is probably labor income and should be taxed at the same rate that wages and salaries are, but i think the thing people should realize when you talk about these low tax rates on investment, capital gain dividends. let's not a key point that a lot of people are forgetting. not all of mitt romney's income comes from private equity. a lot of it is just owning stocks and having a return from that and those are corporations normally and those corporations as you know, pay a 35% corporate rate and then the investors only get money after that corporate rate was levied, so the real effective rate on investment income isn't 15%. it's closer to 40% to 45%. that's, by the way, the reason we impose a lower tax rate on capital gains and dividends because it's a second tier of tax. >> and a lot of that is fair points. there's a lot of conversation you could have. all of it, james carville, argues for a simpler, fair system. however you want to get there. >> a progressive system, it's ludicrous that mitt romney is paying 15% and you know, school teacher or somebody woo works at a dry cleaner is paying 25% or 30%. it's absurd. i don't think he's doing anything illegal, but the question is, was that offshore money involved? did he bet against the housing market? is he profiting from the misery of the middle class? we don't know that until we see these returns. it's not going to get by with one year. he's got to release five, six-year returns and gingrich and those are going to put enormous heat on him to do that. >> james, let's give him credit, at least he pays his taxes unlike half of the obama cabinet. >> please. >> but i do believe james and erin, you just kind of repeated the line we made in our editorial this morning that maybe this really does argue for a fundamental restructuring of the tax system. in a way that's fair. james, i want to correct you on one thing. when you said people like mitt romney are paying lower tax rates than a plumber or secretary, which is what warren buffett said, the evidence doesn't confirm that. congressional budget office report came out a couple of months ago that shows the average effective rate of the top 1%, the richest 1 persh in america, is about twice as high as the effective federal tax rate that is imposed on a secretary or plumbar. >> let's go back to 39.6 when we created 22 million jobs. i don't understand how these people with the straight face argue that cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs. we have living proof that 39.6 is right in the wheel house and that would be a great idea and then romney wouldn't have to be embarrassed. and could release his tax returns and everything would be fine. >> but james, don't forget, it was the president you worked for who did cut the capital gains tax. >> the top rate was 39.6%, and that's been something that the public insists and there's no evidence that cutting the capital gains tax -- fact, it created 22 million jobs. >> but he also -- >> and now -- bush created one million. end the argument. >> i'm not here to defend the the current tax system or bush, but i think there's on old saying in tax policy. if you tax something, you get less of it. if we're going to impose higher taxes, as president obama wants to on businesses and investment, that's not a very good strategy for creating jobs. >> if you let the bush tax cuts go away for just the 250s -- for everybody, 2.8 trillion. that is a lot of money. if the rates went back to the clinton years for everyone. >> i don't think -- i'm pretty sure mitt romney is not a tax cheat. i mean, he pays his taxes. >> i think we need to emphasize that. this is a standard rate. >> plus, until he does it, the minds will speculate about any number of things, and he's going to have to do this, and everybody knows it. and gingrich is going to put heat on him tomorrow night. he doesn't need this going into the debate. going into a tightening race in south carolina. >> and even though it's legal and fair, before we go, you have firms including bain capital all of which lobbied the likes of nancy pelosi every time this comes up, four times since 2007, to get rid of the loophole, they all lobbied to keep it. they fight hard for this. >> and one of the ironies here is guess what? most of the big billionaires you talk about who are owners of private equity firm, they're democrats. >> i didn't know steve was a democrat. he would have knocked me over. but go ahead. i think he could -- not going to mention the word. you would know better than i do. i don't think he is though. i would be surprised if he is, honestly. >> gets the loophole and you know, hey. thanks to both of you. we appreciate it. everyone, let us know what you think of this. next, did rick santorum actually beat mitt romney in ohio? john avalon has been obsessed, passionate, i don't know what word to use, ever since the day after iowa. an exclusive interview with the person exposing this and iran versus the west. leon panetta says military action is on the table tonight and a story we've been out front of for weeks. wikipedia, dark today. we'll be back. 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customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. so did rick santorum beat mitt romney in the iowa caucuses? the iowa republican party is going to announce tomorrow morning the official winner. john avalon has been reporting mitt romney's victory over santorum may not be a win. he said to me in the break, come on, why are you saying i'm obsessed? you are, and in a good way. you said the day after iowa, i think this isn't going to be this simple. tell me what you mean. what have you found? >> everyone remembers the eight-vote win, mitt romney over rick santorum. that led to this directly to the inevitability, that he's the only candidate to win iowa and new hampshire. not so fast. tomorrow, the certification comes in. in a county iowa -- apinoose county, southeastern county of iowa, a young guy named edward true attended the caucus and found that mitt romney was given 20 more votes than he actually received. he was tallied with 20 in the official total. initially, there were all sorts of attempts to deny and dismiss, saying don't worry about it. now, nobody is dismissing that fact. so if that number alone holds, that would give rick santorum a 12-point edge. >> i'm sorry, just have to take a pause to remind everyone. we're talking about 8, 12 people. it's amazing in the united states of america. >> but every vote counts and this is what matters. spend six months paying attention to the iowa caucus. it can make or break presidential candidates, so this matters. it's really an amazing story. it could be that there are so many mistakes, mitt romney comes out ahead. we won't know until tomorrow morning. but we know in this one county, there's a real cause for question. >> i'm going to bring edward true in a moment who is with us exclusively, but i want to ask you one more follow up on that. i get intellectually, there's a difference in being the winner. ron paul came in third and got seven, so this 12-vote win wouldn't change the count, but it changes the headline. >> that's right. >> how much does that matter. >> you can't unring that bell. it matters a lot. the truth matters. part of the pride of iowa is money, momentum, and that matters enormously. the truth matters, the vote matters. >> let's bring in edward true now, the voter we were talking about in the iowa caucus who noticed some discrepe nlsys in the voting and reported them. you went to the caucus us. you were a ron paul supporter. when did you realize there was a problem, that the tally you walked out with did not match the tally reported? >> i first found it, it would have been the afternoon after the caucus. i started checking things and i seen the numbers reported by the county and then went on to check it by the precincts, and when i seen it, i actually thad to do double take on it because first i questioned my ownself, then after seeing it again, i noti d noticed, there's something wrong here. >> and you called the chairman and you kept calling, right? been going all the way to the top. >> the precinct chairman was the first person i spoke with. he confirmed my numbers as well with me over the phone. after speaking with him, i spoke to the county chairperson. he confirmed my numbers as well and then i also contacted the iowa gop, but it took them more than 24 hours to respond to me. >> what does this mean, john, in terms of how -- the frustration, shall i say, that we all feel that we don't know. that this can still happen. that there can be this sort of discrepancies. if indeed this is the case. >> the whole world's watching iowa. we think there's an eight-vote win. that may not be the case. there's one documented case where the votes are dramatically off and the person is is dismissed. he's not allowed to talk about the votes. here's the big picture. in our age of the social media, an organization can't deny accountability and transparency. tomorrow, we'll know the final vote. maybe it won't have an impact on the final count, but this is a big deal that we know from at least one county, mitt romney got 20 votes less. >> john, thank you very much. and thank you very much, edward. we appreciate you taking the time. iran versus the united states. two u.s. officials tell cnn today that the obama administration has sent a letter to iran saying that the blocking of the strait of hormuz through which 40% of the world's oil goes a day would be quote a red line for the u.s. now, the administration also suggests the two countries establish direct channels of communication. now, it may amaze you these don't exist, but maybe they need to at a time when tensions are at an all-time high. today, leon panetta said america is ready militarily. >> we've always made clear that in terms of any threats to the region, in terms of some of the behavior that they've conducted in the region, we'll also be prepared to respond militarily if we have to. >> those are strong words. just how close are we to a confrontation with iran? joining us now, james reuben. >> assistant. >> assistant secretary of state. >> that's a good promotion. >> i just gave you a promotion. you should have taken it and run with it. we're about truth and transparency. but let's start with this letter, this red line we've been hearing about now leon panetta weighing in. why the frenzy of activity? right now? >> there's a lot happening at once. number one, the united states is imposing new sanctions. iran responded by threatening to close the strait of hormuz, and finally, an iranian scientist was assassinated. this has happened within a week or so and that has raised the threshold and led as you reported to an important communication between washington and tehran. >> so, we have no direct line of communication and there's some video, it's been amazing, that the pentagon just released. of iranian speedboats coming up to our big navy ships. the bull horns are blazing, go away, go away. the speedboats ignore. that could have turned into -- here they are, how close they det gfr you blow them out of the water, then you have samilitary confrontation. what's a direct line of communication entail? >> there are several issues. one is diplomacy. there has always been a way to communicate with iran, the through the ambassadors, through the swiss, who represent us in tehran. but what we're talking about here is if military activities begin to take place and signalling begins to take place, iran taking a step, these speedboats get in an accident, they can't turn at the last minute. they crash into the u.s. boat and military officials need to be able to talk to each other. this has happened between the united states and soviet union. it happens between north and south koreans. if military officials can't talk to each other, you have this incidents at sea could really escalate out of control. >> yesterday, we used the star wars drone. i don't know what it was. sorry, everyone, it looked like the drone that is missing and iran said it's going to send a little toy drone, we will trample you in pink, on the bottom, to obama. it is so funny, except for it's not funny. what do you make of that, propensity for sand box language? >> it's childish on iran's part, what you have to remember, for iran, the united states looms so very, very large. it was the american presidency that fell, that led to the revolution in iran. all of these things, for the iranians, america has loomed so large, that every stip we take, you have to multiply it by ten for them because it's a big deal for them. >> it's like i remember my high school. that was our tower hill. the school that always beat, you wait and wait and care so much about the game. >> but the problem is in just a minute, a second or two, we really got to make sure that mistakes aren't made, miscalculation, that one side thinks the other is doing something different and that's why talking, there's nothing wrong with talking with your enemies. we've been doing it for hurricanes of years. we've got to be able to communicate clearly. >> would we know if there were -- when would we know? military confrontation. it seems like it could happen an get swept under the rug because the united states is so desperate to not have a full out confrontation. >> i think if there was a closing of the strait of hormuz and leon panetta said we will respond, the world would know that quickly because there are many countries in that area, the oil tankers would stop flowing. the oil companies would let us know. i think that couldn't happen quietly. i think you know, if these low level covert activities like the presumed assassination by some countries of iranian scientists, those kinds of things can happen without us knowing. >> a flight from dubai into iran. you look down and see the tanker traffic. it's pretty amazing. thanks very much. amazing and important. appreciate it. good to see you. >> nice to see you. barack obama declared january as national slavery and human trafficking prevention month. this is an issue important to our show, and if you look at the state department's annual report about this issue, the details are disturbing. according to this report, last year, 27 million men, women and children were exploited through human trafficking worldwide. 2 million children forced into the sex trade and this is not a problem just outside the united states. get ready for this. the state department reports that every year, between 14,500 and 18,000 victims are trafficked into this country for the purposes of forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation. just a few days ago, a young woman came out front with her own story of forced slavery. you may remember her face here. she was a slave in colorado. sold by her family inige want. the united nations global initiative to fight human trafficking estimates that modern day slavery is a $15.5 billion business in the united states alone. that brings us to tonight's number. 46. as in super bowl xxxvi. it's set for indianapolis on february 5th and the annual super bowl is estimated to be the worst sex trafficking event in the united states. in 2010, 10,000 prostitutes were shipped to miami to coincide with the game and last year, police made 133 prostitution arrests in dallas. indiana is doing its best to avoid a repeat. on tuesday, the state senate there unanimously passed a human trafficking bill that closes many of the loopholes in existing law. it's now in the state house. lawmakers hope to have new legislation on the books in time for the super bowl. next, wikipedia and other websites dark. we told you about that. although not on my mobile. i went to wikipedia, it works. but did the blackout work overall? and nearly two dozen people still missing from the cruise ship in italy. rescue operations suspended today. what's next? [♪...] >> i wish my patients could see what i see. that over time, having high cholesterol, plus diabetes or high blood pressure or family history of early heart disease, can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. >> announcer: crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking or if you have muscle pain or weakness. that could be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. >> is your cholesterol where your doctor wants? ask your doctor if crestor is right for you. >> announcer: if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help. we start the second half of our show with stories we care about, what we focus in our reporting and find the outfront five. first, did rick santorum and not mitt romney actually win in iowa. john has been reported that romney's eight-point win might not have been a victory. edward true came out front. he had been counting the votes exclusively. he came here and talked to us about it. found a 20-vote error. turns out that could mean santorum wins by 12 votes. we will see. john had confirmed that reporting. tomorrow, we're going to find out formally from the gop in iowa when the certified results come out. number two, president obama rejecting the keystone xl pipeline today. he says further assessment is needed. to study the environmental impact. republicans attacked the president's decision saying he is going to prevent thousands of jobs from being created. john kilduff told us it will cause crude oil prices to jump $4 to $6 a barrel, 10 to 15 cents per gallon at the pump. trans canada is going to reapply to build it from canada to texas again. number two, online protests today by wikipedia, google and other sites against the stop online piracy act, sopa, has had an effect. at least five senators have withdrawn their support for the legislation. last night, i spoke to wikipedia cofounder and asked him why he's angry at it. >> the right way to fix it is to not place censorship on the internet, not to force google to stop listing them, not to force wikipedia to stop talking about them. the right answer is follow the money. if you've got large scale piracy going on, it's the same as any other trade dispute and i think that's the right approach. >> wikipedia may be dark all day, but found a little work around and since the protest is almost over, we're going to tell you about it. you just have to hit the escape key before the dark scene taks s place on your screen, and it works. you probably realized it works on your choice. number four, the american debt ceiling. today, the republican controlled house voted against raising the debt ceiling. this was ceremonial because it's likely going to be rejected by the senate and the president has veto power, but we care about this a lot because of number five. 166 days since america lost its top credit rating. the downgrade came after congress fought last summer about raising the dent ceiling. newt gingrich is getting a boost in south carolina today and sounding pretty confidence. here's what he told our wolf blitzer. >> i think by saturday, we'll be ahead and depending on how many conservatives come home, we could be ahead by a pretty comfortable margin. >> he's reacting to our new poll that shows him gaining on romney. we've got three days go. the spread is still 10%, but it was 19%. newt has been ganging, especially among tea party supporters. now, the head of the republican national committee, reince prebus. how do i think it's going to go in south carolina? >> well, it's probably going to be pretty close. my focus, erin, as you know, is making sure we have a republican party that can compete for the campaigner in chief that is raisin money every day and giving campaign speeches on the taxpayer's dime, and that's what i have to focus in on, and i'm excited about south carolina as well. just that as a party chairman, getting too far in the weeds with this is something i can't do. >> i'm sure you've got a preference. let me ask you the questions this way. what's better for your nominee? a process that goes on for many more weeks or a process that ends now because obviously now, a lot of dirty laundry and nastiness is starting to come out. i'm wondering whether you think in the long run that's good or bad. >> you're going to hate this answer because i don't think it matters. i see some positives to it going a long time, like hillary clinton, barack obama did. i don't -- i know this is a big topic, but i don't buy into the fangt that a tough primary with a little drama is all that bad for a party. if you look at history and these battles between lee atwater and bob dole, bush 41 and reagan, clinton and obama. it's very much part of american history, so the long battle to me doesn't mean a whole lot. i think it actually brings a lot of value to our party. i think it brings a lot of talk and excitement to the challenging party. i've been on the other side of this, too, by the way, in '08, when we had pretty much a nominee in mid february with mccain. it was sort of boring and hillary clinton, barack obama was all the excitement on that side of the aisle. i think it's 6-1 and half a dozen of another to tell you the truth. >> all right. we will see how it goes. we'll know on saturday whether it's going to be short or long. thanks so much, reince. >> thank you. well, newt gingrich has been ruffling feathers today. listen to how we deal with illegal immigrants who have been in this country for a long time. >> i think we should go to a world war ii draft board model where you have a local citizen review committee in every county. you can apply for residency, not for citizenship, but residency, if you've been here a long time and have been paying your bills and you have an american family that will sponsor you and you have family now in the united states. i think most americans would agree we are not going to uproot grandparents and send them out of the country and break up their family. you're not going to put grandmothers on the bus. it's not going to happen. >> now, south carolina has one of the strictest immigration laws in the nation and polls in the state show that when it comes to illegal immigrants, the majority of voters favor deportation over any path to citizenship. so how is newt's view that you just heard there about not uprooting families going to affect his chances of winning on saturday? senior editor at the national review, jamal simons and gloria borger joins us as well. gloria, will this play as humane or not what voters want in south carolina? >> i don't think it's what voters want in south carolina. i think this is a very conservative state on immigration as you said, it's got a very, very tough law. newt gingrich is now trying to present himself as the conservative in this race against mitt romney, whom he calls the massachusetts moderate. but on the issue of immigration, romney is way to the right of newt gingrich and this is an issue that comes up at a lot of town halls in this state. people care about it. they care a lot about it in particular when the economy is bad. you've got 9.9% unemployment here as you well know, erin, and in tough economic times, people resent, if you will, immigration more because they feel they're losing their jobs. >> that's an interesting point and i'm wondering your view of how this will play. there are some counties in south carolina, i've been looking at the unemployment rate. you've got unemployment, 16%, 18%. in some counties in that state, people are hurting. >> the politics of immigration are incredibly complicated and it's a real mine field for both parties. i think governor romney has to be careful in how he attacks speaker gingrich because he wants to avoid alienating hispanics for the general election. the stronger critique, that it's half baked. it's very much a newt gingrich proposal. the idea that you're going to have thousands of boards all over the country making these decisions with no common standard. there will be constant court challenges. makes no sense. >> jamal, look, this is a big issue on both sides of the aisle. you look at all americans, democrats and republicans. two thirds of them all not happy with the current level of immigration, 64%, which is ironic because we're not having much on the border because of the economy. but how does that play to barack obama who had deported a lot of people and has been by some accounts pulling back? >> the president is not exactly you know, hitting the ball out of the park on immigration issues. many people in the latino community. he has been able to do some things administratively that are going to make life easier for people, but he didn't get the dream act. on the other hand, you've got the republicans, particularly mitt romney, who are so far out of the mainstream on where this is. saying he's going to veto the dream act. it just shows he's out of touch with where people are. getting kids who have been here most of their lives and able to go to college while they're here, is not a radical idea. a lot of people are for it. newt gingrich is really playing a longer game here. he realizes when they leave south carolina, they're going to florida and down in florida, he's going to be able to make a case to some latino voters and i think he's got some meetings he's setting up. that he's got some idea of how to nuance this and play on this immigration field. >> gloria, what's your quick bet on who wins the hispanic vote in the primary on saturday? >> oh, well, that would be interesting. and i don't know how many hispanics are going to be registered as republicans to vote here on saturday, but i would think that newt gingrich would be more popular with them, but i will tell you that in the republican party, mitt romney was campaigning on monday with the man who wrote that tough immigration law, anti-immigration law in this state. so, he is touting that credential in this primary and i think that will serve him very well. >> thanks to all three. we shall see. hispanic vote, going to be front, center, crucial, outfront in the general election. we know that. the outer circle the outfront next. tonight, developments from the cruise ship that ran aground in italy. rescue operations suspended. suc. [ male announcer ] in a small business, it's all you. that's why you have us. at staples, we have low prices on everything your small business needs. staples. that was easy. we do this at the same time every night. our outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world. tonight, we begin in pakistan. the country reiteraing that it will address the former president if he tries to come home. he's wanted in connection with the assassination of the former prime minister, benazir bhutto. he has been in exile for three years. right now in dubai. plans to return to pakistan at the end of january and run in elections next year. michael, we said is pakistan actually going to go through with this arrest? >> i think it's unlikely. last week, he was reportedly in touch with the saudis and they are apparently negotiating for a smooth return for musharraf and the saudis exert a lot of leverage over the military establishment, which is chief power broker in pakistan. musharraf is an army man. they want to protect him and do what it can to allow him to return safely and without getting arrested. >> rescue operations were suspended aboard the costa concordia today. now, sensors determined the ship shifted, which made conditions too dangerous for divers. at least 11 people are dead. two dozen are still missing, including two americans from minnesota. five days after the ship's hull was ripped open by rocks, many are questioning who is going to be accountable. matthew chance is in italy with the latest. what is the latest in the search and recovery efforts? do they think they're going to be able to resume it or is this a ship has shifted, this will not change? >> reporter: well, they're hoping the ship will stabilize so divers can get back down there and resume that search, it's been several days since this catastrophe took place. there are still what, two dozen or so people that are missing o unaccounted for, but few people at this point with the exception of a few relatives are holding out much hope they're going to find anybody alive. as i say, it's turned from a rescue effort to more of a recovery and salvage operation at this point. we're not likely to see any more people being taken alive from the wreckage area. >> that would be a true miracle if that were to occur. i know there have been released court documents. you had a chance to look at them. what do you say about the situation with the captain, who is charged with abandoning ship? >> reporter: well, they bolster those charges of him abandoning ship, also the idea that he was very negligent indeed and was the route cause of this accident. in it, the judge says he has acknowledged, according to these documents, that he made a navigational error. said that he was navigated by sight during the time when the concordia, the ship that struck those rocks, you know, actually was grounded and so, these are things that are revelations that have come out over the past day or so as a result of the leaking of these documents, previously had not been acknowledged that the captain was the root cause of this catastrophe although of course, that had been a suspicious all along and so that together with the transcripts and recordings of the conversations between the coast guard and the captain that shows he abandoned the ship and refused to get on the ship is damaging to his case. >> that -- not even speaking italian, even without the subtitles, just the tone of that conversation was stunning. thank you very much. live from italy tonight. captain schettino is actually under house arrest tonight. italian authorities are considering charges of manslaughter as well as abandoning ships. he comes from a family of sailors, the question is, will he be the only one held accountable. paul cowen is a new york city prosecutor. what do you think is going to happen here? he's admitted he made a navigational error. he says he did not abandon ship and that audiotape did not play fairly. what real grounds are there here to hold him personally accountable? >> i think there is strong grounds to support a manslaughter case, a ship wreck case. an abandoned ship case. you have a black box on the ship which would demonstrate severe navigational errors and you know, navigating by sight so close to land in a ship of this size is just on its face a reckless, reckless act. it sounds like the italians have a relatively strong case against the captain. >> now, you mentioned going this close to land. just to play a video for you that shocked us. and everybody. take a look at this. this is today. you can see the ship wreck. in part of the video and another costa concordia ship sailing right by it. looking at it. we have it. we'll play it. let me just ask you your reaction to that. could the ship company, costa concordia, be held accountable? obviously, that comes up to carnival cruise, too. >> yes, in civil actions -- >> there it is. you can see the lit ship sailing within distance. sort of amazing to look at. >> when i saw that earlier, the irony of that, there may be people trapped in that ship at this very moment while the other ship sails by just on a regular cruise and vacation. it's almost as if you should shut the thing down for a couple days until they recover the dead, but i guess business goes on. >> so what happens here? this happened in italy and as everyone knows, ships have these strange things about where their flags come from. the accident happened in italy. the parent company is carnival cruise line, based in the united states of america in miami. there's a lot of people who take cruises around the world and are about to do so this spring break will wonder, if something happens, what recourse do i have? >> and you know, a lot of americans were on board and they may think they can find justice in an american court. highly unlikely. this was an italian flagged ship. the accident took place in italian waters. it's going to be litigated in italy. >> something to make a lot of people take pause. up next, you know, we're doing one tonight because we thought we knew everything there was to know about camels, we get air nlt, but that's put in its place. we'll be back. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? 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[ 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. tonight's report comes all the way from the indiana report where the national bureau of genetic research honored two breeders with the savior award, and a cash prize for, quote, conserving this unique camel species for the last 5 to 7 generations. and not giving up these practices even in adverse conditions. what is unusual about this breed of camel. they can survive in coastal and dry environments, and unlike other camels, they have a rounded back, long, thirn, legs, and very small feet, and the most amazing part is they can swim. >> audio is fantastic on this, by the way, they can swim two miles to find mangroves. look at that. listen to that. when we saw this today, we were floored. we had no ideas that camels could swim offshore, but there they are, swimming. a few weeks uz go, i was walking up to spend a day with the camels at the bronx zoo, the director said camels are like cats in their behaviors, but they wouldn't swim two miles for food. this goes to shoyou as much as you think you know about something, there's always something more to learn. you have to be more -- more aware and more out front. on that note, here is piers morgan. i remember the days before copd. my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better, and that means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. 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