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Search for Cruise Ship Survivors Continues; Obama Administration Warns Iran; 23 Still Missing In Cruise Ship Crash; Paula Deen: Diabetic; Will Romney Release Tax Records?

Aired January 17, 2012 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. Watch this.

Hour two. Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A couple stories we're watching for you now. Rescue crews, they are looking for survivors of the cruise ship wreck off of Italy. Also, you will see a lot of blackouts on the Web tonight. And a young girl is denied a kidney transplant and the alleged reason is sparking all kinds of debate today.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette" and I want to begin with Dan Rivers on Giglio Island in Italy with the very latest on the cruise ship crash.

Dan, we saw some lights popping up behind you earlier. Are there rescuers in the water right now?

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think they're in the water, but they're certainly around the wreck.

You can see there are ships out there circling the wreck still. Again, through the night, they will go looking for more survivors, but realistically also expecting to find more bodies. They found five more today, four men and a woman, all aged between 50 and 70.

So that brings the death toll, sadly, to 11, with 23 people still missing. Meanwhile, there's been real drama in the story of the captain. Recordings of his conversations with the port authority were leaked earlier on in which you could clearly hear the official from the port authority berating the captain for leaving the ship and ordering him to get back on and ensure the passengers were safe.

And the captain apparently seemed to be kind of resisting that idea. It's not quite clear why. Some suggestion now that he may have given a blood test after he was detained to see if he was drunk or had drugs in his blood system, but certainly he now is under house arrest, rather than detainment, as prosecutors look towards possible charges. He's facing the possibility of manslaughter, charges of abandoning a ship, which could carry 15 years in prison.

BALDWIN: Possibly 15 years in prison. And again, quickly, Dan, how many people are still unaccounted for? RIVERS: So, we have got 23 unaccounted for. The biggest group is a group of Germans, the German Foreign Ministry saying 12 Germans among that, but there are a whole bunch of other nationalities, Italians, French, a Hungarian, two U.S. citizens, which we have reported on extensively, an Indian and a Peruvian. They're all still missing, and we don't know where they are, and that's why these guys are still out there tonight.

BALDWIN: Including that American couple from Minnesota.

I talked to a friend. He said this was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime for them.

Dan Rivers on Giglio Island, thank you so much, Dan.

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Next on "Reporter Roulette," Elizabeth Cohen joins me about the story of this 3.5-year-old girl who so far is being denied this kidney transplant. Her mother says it's because she's developmentally disabled.

So, before we even get into the back and forth here, why is she sick? Why does she need the kidney?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Amelia Rivera was born with a disease called Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. It's a terrible syndrome and many children die very early. Others will live later into adulthood.

But part of what happens in this syndrome, Brooke, is that your kidneys don't work well. And so her mother says that she needs a kidney transplant within six months to a year. And the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia told her, well, we don't think we want to put her on the list for an organ because she has a developmental disability. And that's what the mom says. So she's fighting that.

BALDWIN: I know enough about transplants that there are priority lists, but is really -- is it ultimately up to the hospital to say, sorry, but we don't want to give it to you?

COHEN: The hospital does get to decide who they put on the waiting list and who they don't. And the mom says that the hospital also said the drugs your daughter will have to take after the transplant could interfere with drugs she's already taking or her condition that she has.

But she says that the main reason they gave was she has a developmental disability, and we feel that for quality of life issues, that this organ should go to somebody else.

The hospital has gotten a lot of pressure all over the Internet. People are really, really coming down on this hospital. And she said the hospital has called her recently and said, come on in, we're going to have another meeting.

BALDWIN: Another meeting. You have been in touch with the hospital. What does the hospital say?

COHEN: The hospital says, look, in the past we have given organs to children with developmental disabilities. They also said they're reviewing their policies to make sure that they're in line with the hospital's core values. So they said they can't speak specifically about this case, but those are the two sort of overarching things that they had to say.

These decisions are tough. When you say, well, should you give it to someone who has got a shorter life expectancy, would you rather save that organ -- children's organs are really scarce. Or do you give it to a child who could live to be 100 with this organ?

BALDWIN: I wouldn't want to be in that decision-making business.

COHEN: No. It's a tough place to be. And these parents really feel that she's being discriminated against because she has a developmental disability.

BALDWIN: And again so when is the meeting? When will we find out?

COHEN: We still don't know. The parents, as far as I know, still don't know, but hopefully very soon that this will get resolved in one way or another.

BALDWIN: Let us know, Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

And that's your "Reporter Roulette."

Still ahead, a woman finds out her husband is cheating and allegedly drives hundreds of miles to confront the mistress. You're going to hear how this one ended.

Plus, the U.S. is taking rare steps, including secret back channels to warn Iran, don't push it. We're live for you at the State Department on that.

Also, experts say we could be on the verge of $5 gas. Price hikes are already here.

And then this has gotten a lot of you talking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, doll baby, how you doing? I dreamed about turnip greens in California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Paula Deen, famous for her hearty recipes, admits she has type 2 diabetes. But why did it take her three years to reveal that fact, and why is she getting paid for coming out with that?

Stay right there. Back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY COLVILLE, NEIGHBOR: All of a sudden, I was sitting up. My cat was growling and the other one was like freaked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A young woman who criticized the Iranian government and promoted women's rights is shot to death in Texas, and so far this mystery is stumping police. But investigators do know of a phone call she had at the very moment she was killed. We will have that for you in two minutes.

Plus, the Obama administration is apparently doing a lot to avoid a confrontation with Iran, including secret back-channeling. At the center of this whole thing, 20 percent of the world's oil, 20 percent.

We're live at the State Department next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Houston police, they are desperately trying to find clues in the killing of a 30-year-old medical student. She is Gelareh Bagherzadeh. She was driving home from work when she was shot in the head. Her car then crashed into this garage. Friends tell police that she was of Iranian descent and was very active in promoting Iranian women's rights.

We get more from Tiffany Craig with CNN affiliate KHOU.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIFFANY CRAIG, KHOU REPORTER (through translator): Between the crash and the gunshots, Sydney Colville got a rude awakening.

COLVILLE: All of a sudden, I was sitting up. My cat was growling and the other one was like freaked out.

CRAIG: She called 911 and so did a few others after walking outside and find a woman dead in her car.

RICHARD BOLTON, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: She comes down, walks out of her garage and sees the car over there against a garage door.

QUESTION: Still running.

BOLTON: Still running. She goes over there, sees the victim laying over the console.

CRAIG: Houston homicide investigators can't figure out if Gelareh Bagherzadeh, a medical student at M.D. Anderson, was followed home or if someone was waiting.

BOLTON: She was driving around this back drive back here, and as she made the turn is where she was apparently shot at.

CRAIG: Police tell us the Iranian native was on the phone with an ex-boyfriend as the shooting happened.

BOLTON: He heard a loud thud. He doesn't recall hearing any gunshots, but a loud thud and then a screeching noise. He said it sounded like somebody, you know, driving away.

CRAIG: Lorena Lopez tells us she was with that ex-boyfriend while he heard it all.

LORENA LOPEZ, FRIEND OF VICTIM: And he says that she screamed for her life. He heard screeching. He assumed that it was a car accident.

CRAIG: Three gunshots, that's what neighbors remember, and then what sounded like a getaway.

COLVILLE: Then I heard the tires screeching going out.

CRAIG: Now a bright medical student is dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Police are trying to figure out if discrimination or the victim's personal background are connected at all to this shooting. They don't have a motive or even any suspects at this time.

And now to a story that has been shoved to the back burner, but it needs to be up front. We're going to put it there today. I'm talking about the threat by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz and thus bottle up a good chunk of the world's oil supply.

I can tell you this. It is not on the Obama administration's back burner. They are using all kinds of means to tell Iran's leaders, don't do it.

Jill Dougherty for us now live at the U.S. State Department.

And, you know, Jill, when we hear the phrase back-channel communications, obviously, our ears perk up. What's going on?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have these back channels.

And one of the reasons that they need them is because the U.S. and Iran don't have any official diplomatic relations. So how do you talk to them? And there are a variety of ways. The Swiss represent U.S. interests. You can talk through the Swiss. You can talk through the Iraqis. You can talk through the Turks. There are a number of different countries.

And the latest that we are hearing from U.S. officials is that there was a letter that came from the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, to Iran saying essentially what the United States has been saying in public, but it is very important to get this message across.

And that is exactly what you said. Don't even think about blocking that. It's a highly dangerous situation, very, very narrow strait. You have big ships. You have huge amounts of oil. In fact, it's 60 percent of the world's oil that is shipped around the world on ships.

So it's very, very important that that's not blocked. And the question, Brooke, is that, are they getting this message?

BALDWIN: Well, speaking of the message, you put on your piece that you wrote that it's actually hard to know exactly who is calling the shots for Iran, correct?

DOUGHERTY: Precisely. Iran really has, I think you would have to say, numerous power points.

We think of President Ahmadinejad as the person that we pay a lot of attention to, but, actually, when it comes down to it, he has very little power in Iran comparatively. The person who really does is the supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei. And they are at odds with each other. There is a real power struggle going on.

So when you look at this, if you get a message let's say to Ahmadinejad, it does not necessarily mean that it will get to the ayatollah and vice versa. And then there are other groups that support each of them.

And one of the key groups, of course, is the Revolutionary Guard Corps. They have their own navy and they are involved, along with the regular navy, in the Strait of Hormuz. But they are much less let's call it disciplined, and that could be the difficulty.

BALDWIN: One part that may seem, though, counterintuitive is if Iran decides to bottle up the Strait of Hormuz, they would be hurting themselves, wouldn't they? People refer to this as potentially economic suicide, so why would they do that? And are the sanctions they face over their nuclear program, Jill, are they that severe?

DOUGHERTY: Well, they are quite severe already, and Iran's economy is being hurt.

Now, is it enough to stop them from continuing with the development of their nuclear program? They claim it's for peaceful purposes. The U.S. and the West say it is not, that it is designed to develop a bomb. But are they shooting themselves in the foot if they block the Strait of Hormuz?

Yes, they would be, but one thing they're doing right now is they're trying to intimidate the rest of the world. Don't install any of those -- or go forward with any of those sanctions. It's not working. But in this kind of cat and mouse and increasing pressure from Iran, it could get very, very dangerous.

So what the U.S. is trying to do is make sure that there is no room for miscalculation, that Iran knows precisely that this is a red line, as the defense secretary said.

BALDWIN: OK. Jill Dougherty, thank you.

Still ahead, we're going to take you back to the huge cruise ship story out of Italy. And to do that, we're actually going to speak live with a member of a dive unit in Florida about what these crews are going through in the race to find survivors in that cruise wreckage, including what he thinks of using explosives on the ship.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's playing dirty, dishonest politics. We don't need someone who supports lies and promotes lies and stands behind those lies in order to get elected president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just a little taste at how nasty this GOP race has been getting, as Rick Santorum blasts Mitt Romney on the trail.

But get this. For months, critics have pressed Romney to release his tax returns and reveal his own income. Well, he has made some news. We're live in South Carolina next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Time for an America's Choice 2012 update.

And let's go to Jim Acosta, who is live in Florence, South Carolina, following camp Romney today.

Jim Acosta, we know Mitt Romney had an interesting admission today regarding his income taxes. What did he say?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

Well, as you know, Brooke, we have been trying to pin down the former Massachusetts governor for weeks on whether or not he is going to release his tax records. Well, for the first time today, he said essentially that he's going to release last year's tax returns some time in April.

We can talk about the timing of that in just a few minutes, but that revelation there prompted a question about what tax rate, what effective tax rate Mitt Romney pays, and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's the effective rate I have been paying? Well, it is probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything, because my last 10 years, I have -- my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual income.

I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away, and then I get speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, why is this revelation interesting? Well, put it in the political context of what the Democrats have been talking about for several months.

President Obama has been talking about tax fairness. He's pointed to people like Warren Buffett, who pays a tax rate somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 percent. Actually, Warren Buffett pays a 17 percent effective tax rate, he told "The New York Times" last year.

So Mitt Romney is essentially where the super rich are in terms of paying a tax rate. Where do middle-class earners fall when it comes to this tax rate? Brooke, it's somewhere between 8 and 27 percent. We talked to the Congressional Research Service about this earlier today. And that number is very difficult to pin down, but it's safe to say that Mitt Romney is paying a tax rate that is lower than what middle-income taxpayers are paying.

And that, of course, is something that the Democrats have been waiting to hear for months and months now, and they're seizing on it now.

BALDWIN: Yes, I was about to say, isn't this just simply red meat for the Obama reelection campaign, A.?

ACOSTA: Oh, yes.

BALDWIN: And, B., you mentioned the significance of April. What's the significance?

ACOSTA: Right.

Well, the significance of April is that he may have locked up the Republican nomination by then. If he waits until April, he can wait until after South Carolina, Florida, Super Tuesday, you name it, and then he comes along in April and says, here are my tax records.

Well, by then, this thing may have been wrapped up, and so that's why Newt Gingrich was saying even today that Mitt Romney should go ahead and release his tax records now. That's why you heard Rick Perry talk about this last night. And, in fact, Gingrich says he is going to do that later on this week. So that may put more pressure on Mitt Romney to do that.

But he's sticking to his guns. It sounds like he is going to wait until April, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. That's right. And Gingrich said he would do it by the primary this Saturday.

We will wait and see if anything, as I mentioned, is going to be red meat for President Obama, right?

ACOSTA: We will.

BALDWIN: Jim Acosta, thank you so much for us in South Carolina.

ACOSTA: That's right.

BALDWIN: Still ahead, Democrats make a big announcement today about their convention and also President Obama's speech.

But, first, a woman finds out about her husband's cheating, then allegedly hops in a car, drives 250 miles to confront this mistress. But is this a crime of passion, or is this premeditated murder? Sunny Hostin is "On the Case."

She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: "On the Case" now, a crime of possibly passion here. Fast, unthinking, out of control, but just how long can that state of mind last? That may be at the heart of this murder case, where a wife allegedly gunned down the other woman.

Investigators say Shannon Griffin was in marriage counseling with her husband, Roscoe, when he told her he wanted a divorce and he would not give up his mistress. Police say Shannon Griffin, who used to work at NASA, then drove more than 250 miles -- see the map -- all the way from, you know, to the Missouri home of the mistress, shooting her three times from four feet away. They say the mistress' mother witnessed the attack.

Sunny Hostin always "On the Case" with us, and, Sunny, Shannon Griffin, she has been charged with premeditated murder. Does the defense have any standing when police say Shannon Griffin drove four hours to the woman's home?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN REPORTER: I think it's going to be really difficult, because she's facing capital murder; she's facing a theory of premeditated murder, and in order to combat that, people do usually please temporary insanity, it was a crime of passion.

But the law provides that you have to have done it almost immediately. You can't have any time for reflection. Four hours in a car driving 250 miles gives one plenty of time to think about something, right, Brooke?

So I would imagine that this insanity defense really isn't going to be viable for her, it really isn't going to be effective. Perhaps an insanity defense, but temporary insanity? I don't think so. BALDWIN: So we fish and in caller (ph) has been saying she shot the mistress. Do you think the husband can testify against his wife? Does husband-wife privilege, I guess, come into play at all here?

HOSTIN: That's a great question, and people ask me that all the time, can my spouse be forced to testify against me? Well not forced to testify against you, but the spousal testimonial privilege lies with the spouse. So he can choose to testify against her or not. The privilege lies directly with him, so if he chooses to testify against her, he certainly can, Brooke, and we may very well see that in this case.

BALDWIN: Ok. We'll follow it.

Case number two, we've been talking about this actually for a little while. We're talking about this teacher from Montana. Police say they now have these two men in custody. We today have their pictures. This is Lester Van Waters on the left and Keith Spell on the right.

Still, Sunny, still no body. These two may have been charged with aggravated kidnapping. Now the FBI is asking for the public's help in finding Sherry Arnold's body. How crucial is it to investigators to actually have a body to then go after these men? Do they have to have a body, Sunny?

HOSTIN: Well, look, you don't have to have a body, right? We're talking about a case right now on "In Session," the case of Michigan versus Stewart ,where they're prosecuting a man for allegedly killed his wife, without a body. There is no body to be found.

So prosecutors do do it often. I wouldn't say it's rare, but it's always better to have the body because you have to prove to a jury that someone is actually dead. You have to prove to a jury what happened to the person. And what better storyteller than the victim himself or herself?

So, certainly in these days of sort of the CSI effect, where juries want to see DNA, they want to see bodies, they want to see autopsy results, it's difficult to prove these cases, Brooke, but not impossible. My guess is that the FBI is investigating this. The FBI probably has a little more information that they're releasing to us in the media, and, hopefully, we'll have some relief for her family soon.

BALDWIN: Yes, we know the FBI is involved. They've been looking for these different burial sites on these different pieces of farmland in two states now.

Sunny Hostin, thank you very much.

We're going to talk next about this ship. This is the size of a skyscraper. And yet, divers are searching it for survivors underwater in complete darkness. So what kind of mindset does this take? And what happens when one diver makes a discovery, be it good or bad?

Coming up, we're going to speak live with this man, a dive unit member who tells us what the biggest risks are for these guys. Don't miss my conversation. But, first, back in 90 seconds with some free advice about your credit report and your 401(k). Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Donna Rosato is the senior editor of "Money" magazine. Jack Otter is the executive editor of cbsmoneywatch.com. Thank you both for being here.

Donna, your question comes from Susan in Oxford, Ohio. Susan (ph) says, "I've heard items on your credit report older than seven years are dropped. Is that true?"

DONNA ROSATO, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Well, there's a lot of confusion about that. It's true that late payments or debts that go unpaid do stay on your credit history for about -- for seven years. But it really depends on what that negative report -- what that negative item is. If it is an unpaid tax lien, Uncle Sam gets really upset about that. It could be on your credit report for at least 15 years.

And if it's a bankruptcy, you're going to look at it for about 10 years. Now if you have those kind of negative things on your credit report, the older those are, the less it's going to affect your score.

So you want to keep good credit habits, things that in the near term are going to help you a lot more. Pay your bills on time, don't rack up a lot of debt and keep the amount of debt available to you at a large amount. If you do those things, they -- those blemishes should diminish over time.

BALDWIN: Diminish --

ROSATO: That's right.

BALDWIN: -- not go away in seven years. Thank you.

And, Jack, your question comes from Kathy in Columbus, Ohio. Kathy wrote in to us: "I'm 30 years old. I have a 401(k) worth around $30,000 from an old employer. I'm thinking about cashing out the 401(k) and using the funds to purchase a home or pay off student loans that have an interest rate of over 9 percent. Am I crazy for considering this?

JACK OTTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CBSMONEYWATCH.COM: Well, she's not crazy but I would recommend strongly against it. For starters, she's going to pay a 10 percent penalty for withdrawing that money early and she'll going to pay back taxes on all of it. So suddenly that $30,000 is really more like $20,000.

Second of all, I know it sounds so far away at age 30, but retirement is very expensive and she needs all this time to compound that $30,000 so it's something real and can help her. Pensions are going away. I don't believe the scaremongers who say Social Security won't be there, but the benefits may shrink. So she -- and lifespans are getting longer. She really needs that money.

So I would try to refinance those student loans. Nine percent is very high. Look for a government loan. You go to Direct Loan to try to reduce that number a little bit. And, look, everyone wants a house, but you know what, I don't think it's quite as high a priority as Americans often put on it.

HARLOW: Yes, I don't have one.

OTTER: There's no shame in renting. There's no shame in renting. Put aside what she can for that down payment. I don't see the markets skyrocketing any time soon, but, really, leave that retirement savings alone.

HARLOW: All right, Brian (ph). Great. Thanks so much. Thanks for your advice, and if you have got a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We told you about this before, those Italian Navy divers are blasting holes in the hull of this stricken cruise ship in their frantic and dangerous efforts to try to find any survivors. Today they did recover five bodies, raising the death toll to 11, some of them wearing life vests.

We wanted to just get a better idea of the dangers they face and methods they could be using, and for that we're turning to this man. This is Randy Lopez, dive unit member of the Tampa, Florida, Police Department, and, you know, Randy, I know you've been diving for 12 years with the unit.

From what I understand, when we're talking about this case, this ship off Giglio Island, these Navy divers, they detonated these five charges, five explosions against the hull of the ship today, two under the water line, three above. I don't know if you've done anything remotely similar, but how tricky is that, especially underwater?

RANDY LOPEZ, TAMPA POLICE DIVER: Well, this is amazingly tricky for these divers and stuff like that, and the skills they have to have and the training that they've had to go through to get to this point, to be able to do this is unbelievable.

The technical aspect of this diver -- those divers penetrating into that ship is unbelievable, especially in the dark water and the conditions that they're moving into now, with the weather starting to get a little worse there. And there's been reports that the ship is shifting and stuff like that. These are very -- these are very dangerous times for these divers.

BALDWIN: Can you be specific? I mean, tactically, what are some of the challenges they face? You mentioned the visual, the dark water, perhaps they could get entangled. What else?

LOPEZ: Well, I mean, obviously, going into anything like this, the divers themselves are at risk. They have to be tethered, in other words, they have to have a line. You don't know the layout of the ship so it's like being put into a maze blindfolded but without the ability to, oh my gosh, I can pull my blindfold off and OK, I'm all right.

These divers are in an environment that they are 100 percent rely on their equipment and on their training to be able to do this. And without specific knowledge of that ship, going, trying to go from room to room.

And as you know, cruise ships have big cavernous areas, where they move into, so they have to be very, very skilled in what they're doing to be able to do a good accounting of each and every one of these rooms they go into, looking for potential survivors or, you know, unfortunately, finding people that have been deceased but recovering those bodies for the families so we can put closure on this thing.

BALDWIN: Let's say, Randy -- and there are still 23 people who are still missing. Let's say they find a survivor. Let's say they find two survivors in perhaps a chamber that wasn't entirely flooded. How do you get that person out?

LOPEZ: I think, can you -- I mean, and here again, I mean, on the -- on the good luck that they find somebody, now you have to convince this person that, yes, I'm going to take you under this cold water, because you can see the divers are dressed for cold water. I'm going to put this equipment on you that you know haven't any knowledge of, and I'm going to take you to safety.

I mean, imagine trying to convince that person that this is the best thing for them. So I can only imagine having to go from there to actually find a survivor, which would be amazing in itself and then to be able to actually bring them back underwater and bring them back out the same direction you went in.

If that's the only way to do it, that would be amazing in itself. My hats off to those divers because they have their work cut out for them.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. One other sort of element here, I was reading one of the papers that says there are also concerns -- think about it. You know, you go on a cruise, you bring valuables -- thousands of people were on this particular vessel -- and there are valuables that are sitting there, left behind. There are fears about looters coming upon the ship. Is that a concern, security for the divers?

LOPEZ: I think the security has to be an overwhelming concern for everybody. I mean, but I think the first thing you have to really, really focus on is less about the valuables and more about we're trying to preserve human life. If there are still human lives still alive there, that's the number one thing we have to be concerned with.

And secondly, the divers have to be concerned about themselves and their safety. Then you start expanding your concerns out from there. But the first concern has to be finding the survivors or finding the deceased, and the second is the safety of the divers that are performing this task.

BALDWIN: Of course. As you mentioned, hats off to these divers, and my thanks to you as well, Randy Lopez. Thank you. Appreciate it.

LOPEZ: You're very welcome.

BALDWIN: Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA DEEN, COOK: Take responsibility for yourself, give it a little thought and stick to what you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: This lady has a lot of you talking today. Paula Deen, who has made a fortune off of recipes, reveals she is a diabetic. But why she's being paid to come out now with the news, three years after her diagnosis. This is trending. So it's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: What, or I guess in this case I should be saying who, is trending today. Paula Deen, the TV chef known for her unashamed love of butter or bacon, she now revealing she has type 2 diabetes. And she spoke on the "Today" show, saying her doctor told her she had the disease three years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEEN: I came home, I told my children, I told my husband, I said, 'I'm gonna keep this close to my chest for the time being' because I had to figure out things in my own head. I had to give time to think about it, talk with my doctor, because Al, at the time, you know, I tell everything.

I could have walked out and said, hey, y'all, I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and walked away. I had nothing to give to my fellow friends out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Deen has now become a paid spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk, launching the new program for diabetics that, according to the company, quote, "helps find simple ways to manage everyday challenges associated with type 2 diabetes," and that includes lighter versions of the foods she loves.

As Deen says in her statement, quote, "In the past I've heard so many stories of people like me that let diabetes control their lives. But I didn't want to let this slow me down. I wanted to take control and have a delicious time doing it. " In the past, fellow chefs have criticized Deen for her rich and heavy recipes. HLN's Joy Behar asked Deen about this last year, quoting Chef Anthony Bourdin, who called her the most dangerous person in America. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY BEHAR, HLN: "Your cooking is [ bleep ] bad for you." That's what he said.

DEEN: Well, let me tell you something, girlfriend. Maybe it is bad for you. I think people have a misconception of Southern food. I think that people think we eat fried chicken, biscuits and gravy every day, when, in fact, we don't. In the last 10 years, Joy, I've had a chance to travel and see what other sections of our country do. We eat more vegetables than any other area I've ever been to.

BEHAR: But do you deep fry the okra?

DEEN: Of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What do you think of this story? Send me a tweet @brookebcnn. By the way, "USA Today" reports Deen has dropped a clothing size since her diagnosis.

He may be down, he's definitely not out. (Inaudible) Texas Governor Rick Perry will be in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf is joining me now.

And give me a good tease, what have you and the Texas governor talked about?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Well, you know, he made a point last night of speaking of sort of at length about Turkey, a NATO ally, has been an ally for decades, basically since NATO was almost established. And, he, in fact, at one point suggested that the Turkish leadership were a bunch of Islamic terrorists.

We're going to go in depth on that. Does he want to revise, rethink some what he was saying about Turkey, because the Turkish government, the foreign ministry today issued a blistering statement attacking Rick Perry, saying he doesn't know what he's talking about, he doesn't understand a key American ally in the Mediterranean, namely Turkey. So we're going to discuss that.

We'll also talk about obviously Mitt Romney and his decision to go ahead in April and release his income tax forms, suggesting today though that most of his income is investment income, he's paying 15 percent tax on that as opposed to the maximum of 35 percent, which of course you and I and everybody else making over a certain amount of money have to pay on income, on salaried income, et cetera.

So there's -- not that Mitt Romney is doing anything wrong or illegal, but just a sensitive issue when you pay 15 percent as opposed to 35 percent in terms of your income.

BALDWIN: Right. We'll see you in seven minutes. Wolf Blitzer, thank you very much. But still, while I have you, the president returns to the football field this fall. And he will have a couple thousand friends cheering him on.

The Democratic National Committee announcing that Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina will be where President Obama accepts the nomination. The DNC hoping the stadium, the Carolina Panthers call home will be filled with supporters just as -- you remember 2008 -- Mile High Stadium in Denver? That was packed with people.

One fact certainly not lost on the DNC, the stadium has a lot of blue seats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE KERRIGAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: It provides more opportunity with 74,000 wonderful blue seats, by the way, not that we wouldn't have been here if the seats were red, but the blue seats helped push us over the top.

But it provides an opportunity with 74,000 seats to include Carolinians and Americans from all across the country and the region to come here and witness a great moment in history when we renominate the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Democratic National Convention is slated to start September 3rd there in Charlotte. And speaking of the president, you know, he could soon go head to head with Republicans over your taxes. And that bite, talking about it again, both sides facing a deadline before cash disappears from your paycheck. Talking about that with Jessica Yellin next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: These members of Congress didn't already know it, the number should prove it to them, the number apparently you're not very impressed by, the number being 11. Only 11 percent of Americans polled by CNN approve of the job Congress is doing.

So let's talk about one of the first orders of business in this new year, the payroll tax cut extension. They have until the end of February, that is next month already, to decide whether or not they're going to keep your Social Security taxes at that 4.2 percent or let them rise to 6.2 percent.

Democrats, they want millionaires to pay more income taxes to offset the difference. Talk to Republicans, they want to trim government agencies to help pay for that. Oh, and what about those of you who need a job in the first place? That is where the president comes in here. Jessica Yellin, chief White House correspondent here, and Jess, unemployment has dropped. We've been watching the rate. It's dropped gradually over the last couple of months, but that's not a huge headline that everyone's talking about. White House concerned -- are they concerned that's not really resonating?

JESSICA YELLIN, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Actually, I'd say that they think those numbers are penetrating to some extent. In fact, our latest poll indicates that the numbers are getting through. Look at this one graphic.

And if you look at the bottom number there, the number of people who think that the economy is doing basically absolutely abysmally, has dropped 13 points since November.

So bottom line, people think it's less awful than it was. Now, that's not great, but what the White House realizes is that people -- what that says is that people see a trend that maybe things are slightly improving, and what the White House wants to do is get the president out there showing that he knows things are still bad, could get worse, but he's working toward improvement.

BALDWIN: What about the jobs, though? We know the president met with his jobs council today. What did they recommend?

YELLIN: They recommended a whole host of things, but some of the headlines are they recommended improving the education system in the U.S., so folks are more prepared for skilled jobs. Headlines, they recommended overhauling corporate taxes.

And two points that are getting a lot of notice, because they overlap with Republican priorities, regulatory reform to ease business concerns, and more domestic energy production.

In the White House briefing today, Jay Carney argued that the White House has streamlined regulations and increased energy production focusing on clean energy, but Republicans say Democrats aren't doing enough on either front, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So there's the jobs issue then there's the payroll tax issue, which we talked a whole heck of a lot about, what, before the holidays. What is the White House doing ahead of -- we know it's a February 29th deadline on the whole payroll tax issue.

YELLIN: Well, the president has the bully pulpit, and -- but it's up to Congress to make the deal and pass that payroll tax cut extension for the whole year. And both houses of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans say they want to do it. The Senate isn't even back in session until next Monday.

So all their staffs are talking, the White House is looped into discussions that are ongoing with Congressional staff, but the main thing the president has is the bully pulpit. So he's going to be pushing it. The State of the Union is next week. I have a feeling it's going to come up in the State of the Union, Brooke. BALDWIN: Yes, and aren't they all hoping -- going to be sitting next to one another, do you think it will be the same Kumbaya moment that we saw the last time? Twenty second, what was your guess?

YELLIN: I'm sure that there will be a Kumbaya look, but not necessarily a Kumbaya feel.

BALDWIN: We will wait and see if the Republicans and Democrats are sitting side by side there. Jessica Yellin, our chief White House correspondent, Jessica, thank you so much.

Thank you as well for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in Atlanta. Now we go to Washington, D.C., Wolf Blitzer, "THE SITUATION ROOM" starts now.