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The Situation Room

Romney Releases 2011 Tax Returns; Iran's Nuclear Program

Aired September 21, 2012 - 18:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Our national political correspondent, Jim Acosta, is in Las Vegas, where Romney just wrapped up a campaign rally. Jim has got the very latest for us.

What is going on, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Mitt Romney arrived here in Las Vegas knowing it's always a safe bet to do a document dump on a Friday. His campaign not only released his 2011 return, but his health records, and then some.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Mitt Romney came to Las Vegas and rolled the dice, releasing new tax information in the hopes of putting a lingering campaign issue to rest.

According to Romney's 2011 return released by the campaign, the GOP nominee paid nearly $2 million in taxes on almost $14 million in income, an effective rate of 14 percent. But Romney had to make some adjustments to get to that figure.

According to that 2011 return, Romney donated $4 million to charity, but only claimed a deduction of $2.25 million. He reduced his deduction and in essence paid more in taxes the campaign said to conform to his earlier estimate that he had paid a 13 percent rate in 2011.

That's despite what he told ABC News earlier this summer on whether he had ever paid anything less than 13 percent in taxes.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't pay more than are legally due. And, frankly if I had paid more than are legally due, I don't think I would be qualified to become president.

ACOSTA: The campaign posted this letter from Romney's tax preparer stating that the Republican candidate had indeed paid federal and state income taxes for more than 20 years. That appeared to be a direct response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who claimed without any evidence that Romney had paid no income taxes for a decade.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The word is out that he has not paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he has not. ACOSTA: Despite the flood of new information, Romney is still refusing to release more than two years of tax returns, standing by what he told CNN.

ROMNEY: Those are the two years that people are going to have, and that's all that's necessary for people to understand something about my finances.

ACOSTA: The document dump comes after a week of attacks over the candidates' perceived gaffes. President Obama on that hidden video of Romney talking about the 47 percent of Americans who he said are dependent on the government.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't see a lot of victims in this crowd today.

ACOSTA: And Romney on the president's statement this week on changing Washington.

ACOSTA: The president today threw in the white flag of surrender again. He said he can't change Washington from the inside. He can only change it from outside.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: The Romney campaign also released letters from the physicians of both of the men in this GOP ticket, both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Those letters declared both men are in good health and ready to deal with the rigors of the upcoming campaign.

BLITZER: There was a scare as you know involving Ann Romney's campaign plane this afternoon. Tell our viewers what happened.

ACOSTA: Wolf, we don't have all of the information, but what we understand is that Ann Romney's plan was heading into Denver earlier this afternoon.

The plane was filling with smoke, and it basically made what the campaign called an emergency landing in Denver, but according to a Romney press aide, Mitt Romney called Ann Romney just before coming out to talk to the crowd of supporters here in Las Vegas. Ann Romney told Mitt Romney that all was well, everybody was just fine, no problems or injuries as a result of that flight.

But as you see from the picture tweeted out by the campaign that this was an emergency situation, and I'm sure startled and rattled a lot of people on board that flight.

BLITZER: Must have been scary in there in that plane, saw smoke in the cabin, apparently some sort of electrical fire or whatever. Fortunately everyone is OK, and Ann Romney is just fine. Thank you very much for that Jim Acosta.

The headline from Mitt Romney's health evaluation is he has no impairments that should interfere with the rigorous demands of being president of the United States. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, once again is here.

You looked over the information that was released by the doctors, information involving Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. You're a physician. How do they look?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They look pretty good, as Jim was just saying.

I should point out these are letters, sort of summary letters from their doctors. You remember when John McCain, Senator McCain, we received extensive medical records, but now President Obama and certainly Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan gave us these letters of summary.

But it looks good. A couple of highlights sort of regarding Governor Romney overall, they talk about his overall health being very strong and physically fit, things like his height, weight, body mass index. People paying attention to that, it is actually within normal range, does not smoke or drink, and there was a couple of things to note.

Just overall, which I picked up on, he does have slightly elevated cholesterol levels, he takes a Lipitor for that.

BLITZER: He does take Lipitor?

GUPTA: He does take Lipitor.

BLITZER: How high is his cholesterol?

GUPTA: We only got the numbers after he is on the Lipitor, and the numbers were pretty good, about 184, his total cholesterol.

BLITZER: Well, 10 milligrams, 20 milligrams? Did they say how many milligrams?

GUPTA: It didn't say. It just said Lipitor.

BLITZER: Sometimes, you take 40. That's a lot.

GUPTA: That's a lot. That's part of the problem with the summaries of the medical records, because you don't get all of that information.

But overall in pretty good health. He does have a family -- they both do in fact -- of heart disease, both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan. But as you point out from what we can gather there, pretty healthy, both of them.

BLITZER: He said -- I worked out once in the gym at one of the debate at a hotel gym, and he was on a machine, and he was working and sweating pretty good. He's obvious in pretty good shape. I was very impressed. I was sweating next to him and he was in pretty good shape. He is 65 years old.

Paul Ryan is, what, 42 years old?

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: Because I remember when they announced him that that was the first time you had a candidate who was now younger than me.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He is 42 years old, but his father died in his mid-50s, his grandfather died in his mid-50s, so there is a history there. He is obviously in great physical shape. You see him exercising.

GUPTA: Yes, I think about this all the time, because I have a family history as well. We did a whole documentary about this, as you know.

There is plenty of things he can be doing and it sounds like he is to try and not to meet the same fate as his father or grandfather. A lot of them has to do with his physical activity. For example, his high density lipoprotein is above 70, that's usually from physical exercise, and that can be protective against heart disease.

It sounds like his weight and body mass index, everything is in good shape. As you know, though, President Clinton had eight years of executive help when he was president, and then just a couple years after that ended up having to have heart surgery.

I think anybody who has that family history needs to be monitored pretty carefully which they both have. I have their medical letters of summation here in front of me and it seems like they have both been pretty diligent about getting those requisite exams.

BLITZER: Going back to Mitt Romney, he is a Mormon, so obviously no caffeine, no alcohol. I assume that makes him healthier.

GUPTA: It's interesting. We did a story about this. I found it fascinating. On average, Mormon men tend to live about 10 years longer than on average and Mormon women about six years.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Ten years average longer than non-Mormon men.

GUPTA: Than the rest of the population and women about six years as well.

Take a look at the numbers. But it's interesting. They don't think it's because of the no alcohol use. There's a couple things which they really point to, smoking being the big one, and just simply not smoking is a large part of that, but also being part of a community such as the church, having more than 12 years of education, and being in a long-lasting marriage, those are the things they point to as a reason that Mormons typically live longer. We did a story about this not long ago.

BLITZER: Who knew. (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Smoking is bad, as we can agree.

GUPTA: That's right. And it's good to see you in person. I don't get to this do this very often.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Thank you. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, you can check my blood pressure later. Thanks very much.

(LAUGHTER)

(NEWS BREAK)

BLITZER: You are going to want to be watching us later this hour, I think near the half-hour.

Fareed Zakaria asks Bill Clinton, the former president of the United States, if he sees an electoral landslide coming this November.

Up next, though, a top Iranian nuclear official admits something the United States has suspected all along.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Iran's atomic energy head now admits he lied, he lied in order to protect his country's nuclear program.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

And the question is now, will anyone believe Iran's denials that it's trying to build a nuclear weapon and will the international response get any stronger?

For more on this, let's go to our Internet intelligence correspondent, Suzanne Kelly.

This is fascinating details of what was in this article.

SUZANNE KELLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is fascinating and the comments were really very direct, as you know, the most direct admission yet of Iran's response to what it calls efforts by the West to spy on its nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY (voice-over): Was is it a defensive move or an admission of defiance? An official from Iran's atomic energy organization telling a reporter from "Al-Hayat" newspaper that not everything Iran has said about its nuclear program is true.

Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani accused British foreign intelligence of spying on his country's nuclear program and admitted that "We often presented false information to protect our nuclear sites and our achievements, as there is no other alternative but to mislead foreign intelligence," going on to say, "We often show weakness that we do not suffer from in reality and at times we show strength that we do not possess."

He does not specify in the interview just who the Iranians have lied to, but the State Department didn't seem surprised.

VICTORIA NULAND, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: Imagine that, Iran lying. It's telling that Iran is finally admitting in public that it lies about its nuclear program. This just further increases the international community's concern about what the real story is in Iran.

KELLY: This as inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency continue to push for unfettered access to the country's nuclear sites. Iran has publicly insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

But the admissions complicate an already challenge relationship between Iran and the IAEA, whose inspectors have often been accused of being spies for the West, accusations the organization has repeatedly denied. But it does make the IAEA's mission to verify that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program all the more difficult, according to a former inspector.

OLLI HEINONEN, FORMER IAEA OFFICIAL: We have seen this deception for quite some time, actually now about a decade. When this all came up, you know, it started all with the deception and not telling the truth.

KELLY: The Iranian official's comments comes as Israel puts pressure on the U.S. to draw a red line, a point in Iran's nuclear program that, if reached, would most likely be met with an international military response.

Abbasi addressed those sentiments as well, saying, "The United States did not strike Iran militarily yet because it's not capable of doing so."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY: Now, it's important to note here that Iranian news outlets are not even reporting this story, and CNN has reached out to Iran's mission to the United Nations for comment, but, Kate, we have not gotten one yet.

BOLDUAN: And I can only imagine that the IAEA isn't happy about this. Have they responded?

KELLY: They haven't. And that's interesting as well, because we have asked them their thoughts.

And, as you might expect, they're not commenting on the reported statements, but former inspectors have said in the past that political rhetoric on all sides can really make their job much tougher.

BOLDUAN: I think that's the understatement of the year. Suzanne Kelly, great reporting. Thank you so much.

Wolf, as Suzanne says, this comes at an amazing time, with Israel really ratcheting up the pressure on the U.S. in terms of drawing those red lines.

BLITZER: The tension is increasing by the day, I think it's fair to say.

Meanwhile, Kate, another mystery involving Iran. This time, it's an American who has been held captive there for five years -- how his family is now hoping to intervene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's been nearly five-and-a-half years since a retired FBI agent disappeared during a business trip to Iran.

Now his wife has gone to New York in hopes of meeting Iran's president in order to plead for his help.

Our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, is joining us.

Susan, what are the chances of that meeting taking place?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.

Well, the chances are not good. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has never agreed in the past with a meeting with Mrs. Levinson, but he is arriving in New York for the U.N.'s General Assembly next week, and Bob Levinson's wife won't stop asking for help, desperate to bring her husband home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE LEVINSON, WIFE OF MISSING U.S. MAN: It's my husband. I have to take care of him. I have to get him home.

CANDIOTTI: But after disappearing more than five years ago, Christine Levinson's husband, Bob, is a long way from home, where he once cuddled his newborn grandson.

ROBERT LEVINSON, MISSING: I'm not in very good health. I'm running very quickly out of diabetes medicine.

CANDIOTTI: This video showing the much thinner retired FBI agent being held hostage was sent to the family two years ago. The State Department says it's unclear who is holding him.

C. LEVINSON: When we received the video, we had high hopes, because we e-mailed back a number of times in order to get whoever is holding him to let us know what we need to do to get Bob home. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened.

CANDIOTTI: Levinson disappeared on Kish Island off Iran's coast in 2007, where his family says he was investigating cigarette smuggling for a private company. FBI billboards are now up in New York's Times Square, in hopes that visiting delegates to the U.N.'s General Assembly will see them.

(on camera): What makes you think that he is still alive?

C. LEVINSON: I just believe it in my heard. I know that, from the video, that he has lost weight and hopefully all of his health problems are at least at bay, and he will be able to get home safely to us. I can never lose help.

R. LEVINSON: Please help me get home. Thirty-three years of service to the United States deserves something.

CANDIOTTI: What gives you hope when you look at that video and see how he looks?

C. LEVINSON: I know when he looks determined. And he looked very determined to make it home safe and sound.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Her husband missed walking one of his daughters down the aisle. Another daughter's wedding is in February.

C. LEVINSON: His closet is still full of his clothes that I know will not fit him anymore. And I haven't even touched his dresser.

So, every morning, I'm reminded that the nightmare continues.

CANDIOTTI: If he is able to see this, what do you want to say directly to him?

C. LEVINSON: We will never, ever, ever stop looking for you. And I miss you every day. Love you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: The U.S. has offered no new information about where he is and who is holding him.

I spoke with a source with knowledge of the investigation who says -- quote -- "There is every reason to believe, based on all the evidence, that Levinson is alive and well."

And, Wolf, the strained relationship between the U.S. and Iran makes this even more difficult.

BLITZER: It certainly does. Hopefully, he will be home soon.

Susan, thanks very much.

Bill Clinton is talking with CNN about the latest developments in the race for the White House, including Mitt Romney's 47 percent comments and the possibility, possibility of an Obama electoral landslide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: And the breaking news happening right now in Benghazi, Libya, more violence.

Just a little while ago, we saw demonstrators storm an Islamist militia headquarters.

Our CNN international correspondent, Arwa Damon, is joining us on the phone right now.

Update our viewers, Arwa, because the drama is unfolding right now on the streets of Benghazi right now, where only a few days ago the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And this very much is a reaction to that, Wolf.

There was a massive demonstration held earlier today by pro- democracy individuals, thousands of people taking to the streets. And it was hundreds of them that later on that very same night just a short while ago then went and stormed the headquarters of the extremist militia known as Ansar al-Sharia.

They were burning a car. They were burning other parts of the building as well. We saw the smoke rising. There was quite the euphoric sense amongst people, saying that they're the ones that started the revolution in Libya, they were going to be the ones who were going to take their city back.

They have been demanding that the government rein in these extremist militias for quite some time now. They say that they freed 20 prisoners from Ansar al-Sharia's headquarters. But then we really saw things taking something of a sinister turn. We just left the headquarters of what is known as the Ansar al-Sati (ph) battalion. We're hearing some pretty intense gunfire, from small explosions surrounding the location. It was unclear who was firing at whom.

But this particular battalion, Wolf, has actually been endorsed by the government. And what people are telling us, is that pro- Gadhafi loyalists have tried to arise on the euphoria of the people and managed to convince them to go and attack this location, as well. Except it has now turned into, perhaps, something of a minor gun battle taking place there, given that this is a battalion that has been endorsed by the government.

But it really just goes to show you how chaotic the situation here can be, and also how easily manipulated people's emotions are at this point in time.

BLITZER: How dangerous is the situation on the streets of Benghazi? I can't tell you how many people are tweeting me and sending me e-mails asking about your security over there, Arwa. What's going on?

DAMON: We're fine, Wolf. We're keeping our distance; we're taking cover. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) It's just -- it's getting a lot of -- plus, a group of individuals who were watching what was taking place unfolding. And it was interesting to hear that conversation because they initially, themselves were part of these militias that exist out there, but slowly, the news began trickling in that no, Asharia (ph), they are the bad guys, and the Ansar al-Sati battalion, they are the ones, in fact, endorsed by the government.

One of the members of our team -- one of the Libyan members of our team just got off the phone with a spokesman for the February 17th brigade. That is the same brigade, if you'll remember, that actually came to the aid of the Americans that were inside the U.S. consulate.

They're trying to bring the situation under control. They're inside of the location where the gunfire is taking place, trying to calm people's emotions down. We're looking at the situation being controlled. Because it seems as if, based on what we're hearing, again, rumors flying around the street, that perhaps the attack on them was instigated by people wanting to create chaos, by people who are, what we're hearing, in fact Gadhafi loyalists. They've managed to instigate this situation. Because we're hearing inside this particular battalion headquarters are a number of detainees, people who have been detained during the revolution and post the revolution, as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: Arwa Damon on the ground for us in Benghazi. Not a whole lot of foreign correspondents there. Arwa is there, watching what's going on, and dramatic developments happening right now.

The former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, sat down with our own Fareed Zakaria in New York. Bill Clinton talking about the race for the White House. You're going to want to hear what he has just told Fareed. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Former president Bill Clinton is giving his take on this week's dramatic developments in the race for the White House. The former president is preparing to host international political and business leaders next week in New York for his Clinton Global Initiative.

BOLDUAN: And he sat down with CNN's Fareed Zakaria and started by talking about the Mitt Romney video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think what Mitt Romney said about the 47 percent had an element of truth? Do you think there is a problem, that a growing number of Americans are department on various forms of government, subsidies, or benefits in various ways?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No. Do I think there are some Americans who are trapped in a cycle of dependency? Yes. I think that is a problem. That's why I supported welfare reform, to change it from an entitlement system to a work- based system, to an empowerment system. But the money we spend is not out of line with other advanced countries. In fact, we spend a smaller percent of our GDP than almost any other country. And the 47 percent, those that are adults, they do pay taxes. They pay Social Security taxes. They pay Medicare taxes. They pay state and local taxes.

I saw a graph just today which said that, basically, if you break us down into quintiles -- 20 percent, 20 percent, 20 percent -- then you break the top 20 percent down into 10, 5, 4, 1, we actually wind up paying pretty much in proportion to the amount of income that that group takes out of America every year. So I think that's overstated.

We should always be trying to promote empowerment over dependency. But the American people can easily be misled -- that may be too strong of a word -- but confused now because whenever you have a recession this deep, spending goes up on things like Unemployment and Food Stamps, and Medicaid for health care, and revenues drop because people aren't making as much money.

Well, a lot of those people who don't pay ordinary income tax would love to be back paying ordinary income tax. They'd love to have a full-time job instead of a part-time job or any job at all, or be able to get a pay raise. And as this economy begins to improve, those numbers will go down some, simply because their incomes will go up, and they'll go back into tax brackets again.

ZAKARIA: If you look at the numbers, Obama is now leading in pretty much all the swing states, and if you think these polls are reasonably accurate, it could translate into an electoral landslide. Do you think that's possible?

CLINTON: It's possible, but we still don't know who's going to vote. You know, he won an enormous victory in people under 30, but they are disproportionately likely now to be unemployed or stuck in part-time jobs, to be frustrated. I think for all kinds of reasons, they're unlikely to vote in large numbers for Governor Romney. But will they vote?

How much will the vote be lessened or reduced by the fact that in Florida, except for four counties, the pre-election voting, advanced voting has been cut down to eight days and doesn't include the Sunday before the election, which is an arrow aimed straight at the heart of the African-American churches, who pull up the church buss on the Sunday before election and take elderly people who have no cars or people who are disabled to the polls so they can vote.

How much is all that going to affect the turnout? In my lifetime, nobody's ever done anything quite this blatant, so I still think you have to assume it's going to be a close rate, assume it's a hard fight, and then fight through it.

But I think the president has the advantage now. We did have a very good convention. He got a good boost out of it. I think people kind of get that we were so damaged that we couldn't be back to full health in four years.

The real question is, who has the better plan for the future? I think he'll win that argument.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Good interview, and you can watch Fareed's entire interview with the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton Sunday morning 10 a.m. Eastern, and 1 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

BOLDUAN: Let's dig in a little bit more on what President Clinton said about the campaign and presidential politics with CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

So Gloria, what do you make of what President Clinton said there. He had a pretty lengthy answer to the 47 percent question. What kind of a surrogate? We talk about this a lot. How helpful or hurtful is President Clinton as a surrogate for President Obama at this point in the campaign?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: On a scale of one to ten, ten being the most helpful...

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BORGER: ... he's an 11. OK? He is -- first of all, he's a former president who is very popular. Last time I checked, his approval rating, which is at the time of the convention -- it may have gone up since then, but it was like 66 percent favorable.

So you can see that he not only is favored among Democrats, but lots of Republicans like him and lots of independents like him, because they recall the Clinton economy.

He's also a terrific explainer. Lots of people say, myself included, that he often explains President Obama's policies better than the president himself. And that's what he did in his convention speech.

There is no counterpart on the Republican side. Even if former president George W. Bush were to go out on the campaign trail, which he is not going to do...

BOLDUAN: Right.

BORGER: ... but even if he were going to do that, he's not that popular among independents or certainly among Democrats, and even lots of Republicans don't like him because they consider him a big spender. So there is no equivalent to Bill Clinton in the political world right now, so he's surrogate No. 1 is, which is why you see him doing campaign ads, face the camera, in battleground states for the president.

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, it's interesting that next week the Clinton Global Initiative, the good work that the former president has been doing over these years, raising literally billions of dollars, he not only has the president of the United States, Barack Obama coming, but Mitt Romney will be speaking at the CGI next week, as well. It's pretty impressive when you think about it. Both of these candidates showing up.

BORGER: Right, and all Bill Clinton had to do was ask. I mean, in the last campaign, remember John McCain also -- also went to speak there.

So I think that this is Bill Clinton, who now occupies such a level of popularity, that these candidates are happy to go speak to the Clinton Global Initiative. Never mind the miraculous work that you were talking about that the -- that the initiative does. But also, to a certain degree -- and you heard this at the Republican convention -- the Republicans look back at the Clinton boom in the economy and say, "This is what we need to get back to."

And of course, don't forget, Newt Gingrich during the primaries was talking about working with Bill Clinton on, of course, welfare reform. So who better to debunk Republicans' notions about how Barack Obama is rolling back welfare reform than the -- the author of welfare reform himself, Bill Clinton? Kind of works pretty well.

BOLDUAN: And quickly, just finally, Bill Clinton said right there to Fareed that he thinks President Obama has the advantage right now, that there's no surprise to see that Obama's up, but is he right? Is he talking motivation? Or is he -- because in the polls, they're neck and neck, though.

BORGER: Right, but it was so great to listen to him. Because of course he's right that President Obama has the advantage.

But Bill Clinton, above all else, is a terrific politician. And what he didn't want to do was depress turnout. He didn't want to say, "OK, Barack Obama is going to win. Therefore, Democrats, you don't need to go to the polls."

So what he was saying was, "No, no, no, they're trying to turn away voters at, you know, at churches, so you've got to get out there to vote." I mean, it was a Bill Clinton answer, and it was -- it was great.

BOLDUAN: A Bill Clinton answer, exactly. All right, Gloria. We'll all be watching it together. Thanks so much.

BLITZER: We certainly will. All right.

So we just heard Bill Clinton. Up next, Mitt Romney, he's now talking about the state of his campaign and whether he thinks he needs to turn it around.

Also, an historic day in Washington D.C.. Something we haven't seen in the nation's capital since 1933. I'll give you a clue: hash tag, Natitude.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's get back to the release today of more of Mitt Romney's tax records, Erin Burnett is going "OUTFRONT" on the story tonight with the former Democratic party chief. Tell us what's going on, Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. You know what, Wolf? We're going to be talking about the bottom line here. You know, we expected Mitt Romney to come out with his tax returns, the formal ones for 2011, and he did. He surprised a lot of people when he put out all these bullet points and headlines for the past 20 years but didn't give up the goods when it came to all the backup data that went in.

So will it be enough or not? We've been combing through this and have some very interesting takeaways. I'll just say this, though, Wolf. His hesitancy to put out all of the tax returns is sort of interesting on the same day that we get his medical records, right, and we get to know that his regular heart rate when he rests is in the 40s. That's amazing. His temperature, he weighs 184 pounds. Ten milligrams of Lipitor daily. We know more about this man than, well, anybody wants anybody to know about them, right? But the taxes seem to be more personal to him than literally his insides.

Back to you.

BLITZER: You'll explain a lot more coming up at the top of the hour.

BURNETT: Yes.

BLITZER: Erin, we'll see you then. Thank you.

Mitt Romney meanwhile has been sitting down with "60 Minutes" for an interview. CBS News has just released this clip. We'll show it to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are slipping in the polls at this moment. A lot of Republicans are concerned about this campaign. You gill yourself as a turnaround artist. How are you going to turn this campaign around?

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, actually, we're tied in the polls. We're all within the margin of error. We bounce around week to week, day to day. There's some days we're up; there's some days we're down.

We go forward with my message that this is a time to reinvigorate the American economy, not by expanding government and raising taxes on people, but instead by making sure government encourages entrepreneurship and innovation and gets the private sector hiring again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, I appreciate your message very much, but that wasn't precisely the question. You're the CEO of this campaign. A lot of Republicans would like to know, a lot of your donors would like to know how do you turn this thing around? You've got a little more than six weeks. What do you do?

ROMNEY: Well, it doesn't need to turn around. We've got a campaign which is tied with an incumbent president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you know, a lot of people were concerned about the video of the fundraiser in which you talked about the 47 percent of the American people who don't pay taxes. Peggy Noonan, a very well-known conservative columnist, said that it was an example of this campaign being incompetent. And I wonder if any of that criticism gets through to you and whether you're concerned about it at all...

ROMNEY: Well, that's not -- that's not the campaign, that was me, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the campaign.

ROMNEY: I've got a very effective campaign. It's doing a very good job, but not everything I say is elegant, and I want to make it very clear, I want to help 100 percent of the American people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: "Not everything I say is elegant," he said. He's been saying that line for a few days now, Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right. It seems that he's trying, trying, trying to get back on message. A very, very interesting interview. We will look for more of that.

But still ahead, complaints about its new map app are souring Apple's release of the latest iPhone. We'll show you what has some users complaining so much about.

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BLITZER: All right. There's some huge news coming out of Washington, D.C., right now. The Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team officially clinched a playoff spot last night. This is the first time a Washington team will play postseason baseball -- get this -- since the 1933 World Series.

Franklin Roosevelt became president that year and threw out the first pitch of the series, which the then-Washington Senators lost to the then-New York Giants.

It's also the year construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge, prohibition ended after a 14-year run, and the big movie of the year, "King Kong."

There have been 13 different presidents during Washington's playoff drought, and as you can see in these pictures, there's a lot more traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue than there was 79 years ago.

So congratulations to the Washington Nationals for bringing baseball back to Washington, D.C. Go Nats.

BOLDUAN: I can hear the grin from ear to ear. Give them your favorite line, Wolf. BLITZER: Hash tag natitude. I tweet it all the time. We've got the best record in Major League Baseball, and we're going, going, going.

BOLDUAN: You're very good. And I'm excited with you. Very, very good. That is a very big deal.

Also a big deal, the new release of the iPhone. If you can believe it back in 1933 people stood in lines, long ones, to make a phone call. Now they're standing in lines for Apple's latest gadget. The new iPhone 5 went on sale in stores today, but at least one thing about it has people upset. Brian Todd has been looking into that problem. What is this all about, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, it's about the map application. You know, by most accounts this is a sleek new version of the iPhone. It's already very popular, but if you want to use it to go from point A to point B, be patient.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): From Australia to Arlington, Virginia, they lined up for Apple's latest version of what's become an icon, the iPhone 5. It's faster, lighter, has a bigger screen than the previous iPhone, but there's one feature that's being widely slammed: its map application.

KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: So I think there was a little bit of disappointment when we started seeing a lot of kinks in it. You know, there's a lot of blogs that are pushing out problems here and problems there across the globe.

TODD: Apple has just moved away from Google's operating system for maps and rolled out its own to compete with Google. The early result: users say it steers them to the wrong places, even omits locations altogether.

We tested the new operating system out using an iPad, trying to find a local hotel.

(on camera) We typed in "Howard Johnson" on the new Apple map app knowing that this hotel in northeast Washington has been here for several years. When it came up, it did not show this location but others in this area that are many miles away. Now, you compare that to Google's map application, and this address comes up on the first try.

Let's try CNN Washington, D.C., and see where it takes us. OK. Heading there now.

Here we are now as close as we can get to the spot it told us to go, but hold on a second. That's the South Lawn of the White House. The Apple map failed to put us in the right spot the first few times we tried it.

(voice-over) When you search for the Hoover Dam the Apple map has the road at the right general location, but it's going right into the water rather than over the bridge that's there.

Experts say the problems are because Apple's new system uses less data to power the app, compared to Google's huge base of data points. Some folks who lined up were upset, but it doesn't seem enough to steer them away from the iPhone 5.

(on camera) Should Apple have maybe gotten the map feature a little better?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do think that they should have put a little bit more engineering into the maps.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: In response to the complaints, an Apple spokeswoman told us they knew the launching of the new map system was an ambitious project, that they're committed to improving the product, and they say the more people use it the better it will get -- Kate and Wolf.

BOLDUAN: But even though, you know, despite the complaints, Brian, it seems pretty clear that it's not stopping people from buying the iPhone. It's on track to set some pretty wild records, yes?

TODD: It really could be, Kate. You know, at least in the United States. One analyst estimates, based on counts at Apple stores in New York, Boston, and Minneapolis, the lines today were on average about 83 percent longer than the lines for the iPhone 4S last October. Whatever the flaws are in this device, it's always popular, as you know.

BOLDUAN: A lot of talk about it in the newsroom just today. Brian Todd, thanks so much.

BLITZER: And remember, we're always following what's going on in THE SITUATION ROOM. You can follow us on Twitter, @WolfBlitzer. And tweet Kate, @KateBolduan. Lots of news today.

BOLDUAN: Before we -- I know we don't talk fashion very much, but I do have to ask you before we go to tell our viewers about your purple tie. Why are you wearing a purple tie today?

BLITZER: Do you see this purple tie? It's a special purple tie. It's a purple tie because it's Go Purple to End Alzheimer's, and a lot of good people have asked me to wear this tie to show my solidarity with trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's.

BOLDUAN: That's great.

BLITZER: It's a good cause.

Have a great weekend to all of our viewers. Thanks very much for watching. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.