violated. >> renee reporting for us. good report. thanks. very much. and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." let me wish a happy and healthy new year to all our jewish viewers out there. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. next, breaking news. hurricane maria leaving behind total devastation. 100% of puerto rico tonight no power. could the storm hit the u.s. mainland next? plus, more breaking news. a new report says former trump campaign chief offered to give private briefings to a russian billionaire. this as cnn is learni ining mue wants documents directly related. and the deadly mexican earthquake. a desperate search for survivors, now, a race against time. let's go "outfront." good evening. tonight, the breaking news, maria, powerful hurricane.

bringing death and destruction across the caribbean. the storm is now considered one of the strongest atlantic hurricanes ever, has moved off of puerto rico, completely devastating that island. it's now expected to gain strength again. slows down over land, expected to gain strength again over open, warm water as it churns north. putting it on a possible collision course with the u.s. mainland. models show the hurricane potentially impacting cape hatteras and outer banks of north carolina. this is maria from space. sustained winds at 110 miles per hour and it will speed back up. it was a monster category 4 this morning when it slammed puerto rico. high wind, heavy rain, storm surge, leaving the island in a complete blackout. heavy damage to buildings and no phone service, no power. as we said, 100% no power. we are getting a first look at the devastation. also on the island of dominica. these first images are coming days after maria struck there.

we'll have much more on that in a moment. we are live in san juan where maria made the direct hit today. also in the dominican republic where the storm impact is just starting to be felt. i want to begin with tom though "outfront" in the weather center. tom, obviously, hits puerto rico at a category 4. slows down over land, now continuing to gain strength. and people on the east coast now need to be i ware. >> we do. all of the above. we missed a category a landfall by just two miles an hour. this was the strongest since 1928. what we have now is a category 2. the mountains of puerto rico, nicely shredding the system apart, after maria shredding partds of puerto rico. we have a system now we're going to have to watch because it didn't take long for this eye to reform. i'm surprised how quickly this thing is getting back to strength. the water rs in the mid to upper 80s. the storm surge for turks, up to 12 feet. that's higher than the lesser

antill antilles. and of course with this system being a strong as it is, pushing in that direction. if you missed it last night, about this time, we were going through an eye wall replacement cycle. that was good news. usually, it loses strength, but by 11:00, by midnight, it was gaining strength. up to 175 miles per hour. so had to toss a prayer up and hope for something because there was no wiggle room. it was going to hit something. first, the southern coast of st. croix. the lashing of the coast helped break the system down. spare e e spare d st. thomas. they were hit with irma. then the other island off the coast interacting with the eye there as well. by 6:15 in the morning, it had dropped from 175 miles to 155. doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a big difference, but now it's made its way through, the eye is next on turks and caicos.

this is what we're watching now. pha a spa getty plots in good agreement. obviously, some separation. next couple of days out, but it get more critical. here's the new track. they keep it at a category 3. but with this rapid development we see, i wouldn't doubt a possible category 4. by day four or five, we're going start to see more wind, that's shear, trying to break the system down. they drop it to a 2 on sunday afternoon, monday, a category 1. really, where does it go from here? we know the waters are cooler. but to help better understand maria, we've got to talk still about jose. can you believe this system is still going on? this is still a tropical storm and we've had significant flight delays in the coast, but just like harvey, that moved into texas, we knew they had 72 hours before landfall. but then we knew there was no steering currant and it was going to stall and drop record rain. thank goodness it's dropping record rain over water and not land, but we've lost the

steering. when you look at the models and we'll pu put them into agreement here, they're going the base itself on high pressure. if it hugs the coastline, this will slide mariea more toward te outer banks. if it slides away, which is what we want, more toward the east, but jose hanging out there now, it gives us an indication that this area of high pressure is hold iing steady, so that's unfortunate for us now. we still have no definite answer of whatst going to happen. just moments ago, new models came in. europe nn blue. u.s. in red and they were hugging the coast. just about 30 minutes ago. they still are a little by, but they're starting to edge away from the eastern sea board, but erin, we cannot be definite. this is several days out. thursday eechk, so again, every day is krit sal. >> such a record breaking storm here again and again. just showing the ability to speed up incredibly quickly.

thank you very much. as we speak, hurricane maria's bands are starting to pummel the shaores of the dominican republic. polo, what is it like there? we can see the winds starting to congresswoman in around you. >> absolutely, and officials who we just heard from warning that it is certainly going to get worse before it gets any better. though the eye is about 75 miles due east of where we are here, we are certainly feeling the effects. yes, palm trees are surely waving around in the wind. those are, that's going to continue throughout the night and there's the threat for flooding as we heard from officials a little while ago. we are expegting anything from 7 to 10 inches of rain here in the dominican republic for a country that's seen rain from irma and jose. as you're able to see these new pictures we just shot, you can see that not only is there a potential for wind, but for some of the flooding. what does that mean for locals?

for local, many have closed up shop. gone home. the government will be shut iti down for the next hour. that means nonessential operations will be shut down until friday. for tourists, close to 4,000 of them, they will be hunkering down many of them here in this hotel. others possible y in some shelts as well because the airport here, a very popular tourist destination for not only the united states, but for europe, likely not going to open until tomorrow afternoon. at least tomorrow afternoon. >> thank you very much. still amazing how many tourists still choose to say. i know some probably did try to get out. still stunning people are there. tonight in puerto rico as the sun goes down, everything stopped. the rescues, the searches, there are no lights. it is dark. entirely dark. and apparently, it could take months to get the power back on. think about that for a second in the modern world. months with no power. this is part of the united states. we're "outfront" live in san juan and you are there. fast destruction.

>> right, erin, we have seen this develop from early hours this morning from 4:00 in the morning when it really picked up the winds, it still is a little windy. it's still raining a little bit, but i tell you what, the governor said they have actually just sent out the first crew of rescue teams that is going out into the area. but you're right. power is a major issue. 100% of the island without any power. and then the governor has also said that a curfew was put in place about an hour ago and yet, you still see some cars that are moving around trying to get past flooding roads, trying to get past debris like this. this is part of the roof that actually a neighbor in the area told me when it came down last night, she thought the entire building came down. and not one neighbor in this area has been able to tell me exactly where this roof even came from.

really make iing the point of h powerful and vicious maria has been with puerto rico. [ inaudible [ inaudible ] >> maria roared ashore -- >> okay, i know we had some technical problems with that story. but let me go ahead and continue to tell you, exactly what we have seen today. those shelters remain full tonight. they have 12, 000 more than 12,000 people in them now. the governor saying that power is out on across the island. it is expected to remain out for not just weeks, but possibly months because of the infrastructure here. that power system is very vulnerable given that this is an island with some major economic

problems right now. and it's not just this area where we are right now in san juan. right now, much of the island is seeing some major flooding. much of those major roadways and highways are not passable because of all the damage on the roads. communication, erin, that is also a major problem. some of the people we've talked to that have been walking around past curfew, are on the streets because they're trying to reach loved ones. a lot of people unable to reach people by cell phone, by land line. by internet because communication is a major problem right now on this island. so, again, flooding. power out. flooded roads. back of communications. really a hard time for puerto rico now that maria has past. the rebuilding is just beginning, erin.

>> thank you very much. i want to go straight now to richard henning, you know him. the flight director for noaa. and right now, he's back doing his job. flying over hurricane maria in the jet you see on your screen. richard, thank you very much for talking to us again. you expected this catastrophic hit. the it has happened. flos power in puerto rico and there may not be for much of the island for four to six months says the governor. you're over the storm right now. we're b obviously reporting. it is strengthening, gearing back up. what are you see ing? >> well, we're seeing exactly the same thing. we took off from barbados this afternoon, flew across the top of the storm and now, we are sam pming the atmosphere ahead of the storm, north of puerto rico. we're about 350 miles north of puerto rico. taking some really critical observations with drops we talked about previously, those

instrument packages that fall by parachute from our aircraft to 45,000 feet. they're get a nice three dimensional picture of the atmosphere and it's going to spear this storm over the next couple of days. what we did see as the aircraft was in the storm is what you see on satellite. the eye is very quickly reforming. northwest of puerto rico. so the national hurricane center forecast that it's going to regain major hurricane status looks like it's right on track. it looks much better than it did just a couple of hours ago. >> and obviously, yeah, we saw the eye yesterday and then it did sort of get damaged of course by a flying over puerto rico, yesterday, it's that, it's obviously sinister, but seemingly beautiful from space, but you say you anticipate that is rapidly reforming. >> yes, it is. the thing to remember is that 90% of the storm did not go over

puerto rico. the only part that went over puerto rico was the core of the hurricane. the eye wall. the innermost eye wall and that did get severely disrupted by the mountainous terrain. however, the rest of the storm, which is still pretty much perfectly designed, remains in tact. so the storm has given the opportunity to redevelop that inner core structure that it had before. or at least something close to it. it's going rapidly intensify back into a major hurricane. i would not be surprised if it did that by tomorrow morning. >> so, that's -- >> approaching the turks and caicos. >> which has been decimated. as you point out again just like the storm has done before, intensifying so quickly. how concerned are you from what you see? what do you see in terms of the track and possibility of a

strike on the east coast mainland? >> well, right now, we're gathering the data that's going to be critical in those computer models that everybody sees now that the, the best forecasters in the world in terms of tropical meet yol ji. they're look at the models and using their years of experience and right now, for the time being, it looks like the united states might and i really want to emphasize might, be somewhat lucky in that the storm might stay offshore, but again, everybody along the east coast from probably north korcarolinal the way up to new england, needs to pay very close attention over the next couple of days because

as your moeteorologist pointed out, the lives of tropical storm jose and hurricane maria are very much intertwined. it's a strange situation, but that is a fact that what happens to swroes is going to have an impact on where maria goes over the next few days. >> richard, we're going the keep monitoring this as that storm rapidly hits the accelerator once again. thanks to you. obviously as we said, calling from within that storm. and next, the breaking news. sources telling cnn special counsel robert mueller is is asking for documents specifically related to president trump and this oval office meeting with russian officials. plus, "the washington post" with a major report saying paul manafort offered to give private briefings to a russian billionaire tied to putin and the kremlin. during the presidential campa n campaign. is this collusion? and the hunt for survivors of that deadly mexico earthquake continuing at this hour. it is growing more frantic.

the clock is ticking. there is hope for miracles. can searchers find survivors? when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz.

including worsening of symptoms. serious allergic reactions can occur. now's your chance at completely clear skin. just ask your doctor about taltz. with its high-tech the cameras and radar,c... now's your chance at completely clear skin. contemporary cockpit, three hundred and sixty degree network of driver-assist technologies, and sporty performance... what's most impressive about the glc? all depends on your point of view. lease the glc300 for $479 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing.

[woman 1] huh. can't find my [woman 2] oh no... [woman 1] oh, it's fine. [woman 2] yeah, totally. it's fine. but like...is it fine though? because, i would maybe be worried...really, really, really worried. uh...do you want me to go back and look for it? i will. i mean a lot of bad things could happen. you need to call the bank. i don't know how else to tell you, you need to shut that card off-- [woman 1] it's off. [woman 2] what? [woman 1] i can turn it on and off in my wells fargo app. [woman 2] huh! i feel better already. [woman 1] good.

'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico. goin' up the country. later, gary' i have a motorcycle! wonderful. ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. breaking news on the russia investigation. major new developments tonight. special counsel robert mueller wants new document frs the white house about president trump's

actions. including a controversial me meeting in the oval office between trump and the russian foreign minister and russian ambassador to the united states. also tonight, "the washington post" is reporting that trump's former campaign chairman offered to provide briefings on the 2016 race to a russian billionaire with ties to putin and the kremlin. all right, these are obviously two major stories, jessa schneider is in washington and "washington post" reporter who broke the manafort story is also with me. let me start with you so we can understand the documents mueller is looking for wh fr the white house that have to do with the president. what do you know? >> we know mueller's team, they want an array of documents and e-mails. that could potentially shed light on certain key events since president trump took office. so first of all, sources telling cnn they want information surrounding the dismissals of michael flynn in february and fbi director james comey in may. one source confirms that muel r

mueller's team is also requesting information about an oval office meeting the president had with russian officials one day after firing james comey, where president trump reportedly told the russians that comey was quote a real nut job and that firing him had relieved quote great pressure on the president. now, all this comes as we know mueller wants to talk with key staff both current and former like reince priebus, former press secretary, sean spicer, hope hicks, but no interviews have been set up yet. plus, mueller's temperature wants to get the facts straight about what happened on air force one when the first statement about donald trump jr.'s meeting at trump tower with the russian lawyer was drafted. theb at that time, he wasn't involved then they said president trump had weighed in, so tonight, white house lawyer ty cobb tells us he's not

commenting. only fully cooperating with special counsel, but this point to the fact that mueller's team, they're zeroing in on the president's anchors while in office and they continue to dig on any possible obstruction of justice. >> all right, thank you very much. obviously, very significant because these are developments that pertain to the president of the united states. now to tom who broke the story on paul manaforce. this is obviously incredibly significant. we're talking about the report that paul manafort just as trump was about to be the nominee, one of the wealthiest people in russia next to put p. he is close to putin himself. what did paul manafort offer him? >> so, in this vast tehran chra

e-mail, they're a series that he had with a former aide of his. the guy who ran his office in i kiev and he asks how are things going with oleg. he asks about former clients in the region who have, who may owe him money and specifically, he says if it would be helpful, we can offer him briefings, now, manafort spokesman told us since the discussions are really quite ino inknonoknockous and the briefin would be to provide information about the campaign. but the person who would be receiving it as you suggested, a very unusual person. >> i can't imagine that it would be routine to provide briefings to someone who is in the inner circle of putin. you say in one of the e-mails that you quote here, if he needs

private briefings, we can accommodate manafort wrote in the july 2016 e-mail. portions of these were read to you along with other correspond. tell us how close he is to the kremlin, to putin himself? >> he has been scribed in some publications as the second wealthiest man in russia and there was a state department table that was leaked in wikileaks which describe him as one of the very few people who are close to putin. in russia. so, he's very powerful guy. one of the wealthiest people in the country. you don't get to that position of wealth and power without having a good relationship with the kremlin. i should note, erin, there have been times when he has had some conflicts with putin, but the two are believed to be very close and as investigators look for ties between the kremlin, prominent russians and the trump campaign, this is going to be an area where they'll be looking. >> and we're going to be talking more about oleg in a moment.

obviously, he and paul manafort had a long relationship that includes significant financial dealings. now, the information you have, these e-mails that you have been some of these that you have seen are coming from information turned over to congressional investigations and the special counsel. how central is this development? because again, you now would have from these e-mails the campaign chairman for donald trump offering to brief briefings on this election. >> so, we think that these documents are being reviewed closely by mueller. they certainly are by three congressional committees that are looking at this. and i can tell you, they present a complex picture. for example, while it shows manafort wanting to use his position to recover some debts and maybe offer a favor to powerful russian, they also show in one case, when a junior campaign adviser suggested that

candidate donald trump meet with putin himself. manafort rejecteded the idea. make it clear donald trump is not doing any such meetings, so, in some ways, it's a window into what was going on inside the campaign and then one of the things we're looking at is there was more interaction with russians than we've known. >> certainly so and who knows, but perhaps an awareness of donald trump shouldn't be doing this, but maybe i can. we'll see if that's what bears out as more information comes out. tom, thank you so much. obviously, a huge report here and next, more of our break iin news, our panel joins us including details on the russian billionaire that manafort reportedly promised briefings to. i'll tell you what he told me about his relationship with the united states and how russia weaponized twitter with a fake pro trump account to influence the presidential election. this is an "outfront" investigation tonight. trz when it comes to heartburn

trust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr.

track your pack. set a curfew, or two. make dinner-time device free. [ music stops ] [ music plays again ] a smarter way to wifi is awesome. introducing xfinity xfi. amazing speed, coverage and control.

change the way you wifi. xfinity. the future of awesome. sources telling cnn that robert mueller is is requesting documents from the white house related specifically to actions of the president. including his firing of national security adviser michael flynn and jim comey. mueller also interested in the oval office meeting between trump and russian officials in which he bragged about firing comey. acourt r cording to the "washington post" and "new york times," there are 13 specific areas he wants document frs the white house and president about. we also are following reporting from "the washington post" that former trump campaign chairman offered to give a russian billionaire with close ties to

putin private briefings on the 2016 campaign. e these are very significant developments tonight. i want to go now to the former white house counsel for nixon, john dean, former cia chief, steve hawe, our mark preston and editor in chief of "the daily beas beast". steve, let me start with you and "the washington post" report. they're saying paul manafort offered to brief this oligarch just before trump was nominated. offered briefings, plural. what's your reaction? >> erin, this is a big deal. at the least, which you have is manafort, at that time, the campaign manager, offering to deripaska, who he has to know because he's done business with him for a long time, has the know about his contacts with putin directly in the kremlin and he's offering a private briefing. for these types of things. now, if you're russian intelligence, the way you're going to interpret that as s as

follows. we have a very senior person who could be close to somebody who could be the president of the united states who is offering private discussions to talk about what's going on in the campaign. russian intelligence is going to be all over that. deripaska is plugged into the entire kremlin system and i would say, yes, absolutely, you that i can meeting or better yet, we do a more discreet meeting and we need to talk to this guy because he's reaching out to us and offering us information. it might not be secret yet, but it's something that we can leverage and perhaps use down the road. so this is is a significant thing that the russians will interpret in a very you know, way that's advantageous to them ant not to the united states of america. >> you're familiar with oleg and you know it is fair to say, right, he is close to vladimir putin. he is an inner circle oligarch. >> he's a senior oligarch. whether or not, the inner circle question is always something that's you know, sort o up for debate and as your reporter indicated, there's the issue of there have been types when they

have clashed. this is disciplining that putin does with many of his oligarchs, so safe to say, he's very close to putin and to other power centers in the kremlin. >> so, john dean, you hear all that. oleg deripaska, he's plugged in. he's connected. he could be, he's a confidant. deripaska obviously then linked to putin. we have lots of images of them together. they spent a lot of time together. he's also close to paul manafort and this is something people may not know fully. he worked for deripaska at one point. they had an investment partner shim, john, what do you think the significance is of manafort offering to brief deripaska? >> it doesn't strike me as criminal on his face unless there was some quid pro quo between them. or this was a way to get a debt settled or it could be interpreted it that way. i don't think there's a restriction on him briefing, i don't know of a violation off the top, it's just bad taste and

politically, not very advisable. but it sounds like it could be part of something larger. and that would be a problem. >> i went to toronto to interview oleg deripaska and i went to canada because the united states refused him a visa. >> let me ask you about this whole issue. this everybody in the u.s. i say i'm going to interview oleg deripaska. they say that guy is scary. when you hear that, does that make you feel good or annoyed? >> i pay no attention. >> pay no attention. what about the issue of the visa and the united states. i know you've been trying to get a visa. they've refused it i. given some of the cases going on right now.

why do you think they won't change their mind? >> why? because it's very difficult. they have limited information. they don't want to discuss the moment and actually i have no time to discuss. >> none. you know, "the washington post" knows the wall street report that was because of ties to organized crime in the russian mafia according to the "wall street journal." oleg continued when he was talking to me, to criticize the expansion of nato and say american leadership needs to change. of course, barack obama was president of the united states. how significant when you put this in context, this is a guy who's plugged in. who has a point of view. a point of view he certainly fits with the trmp campaign as thep candidate trump came out. >> look, i mean, it's more deepry unsavory character attached to the kremlin who seem to be casing the joint with regard to the trump campaign. the question is manafort a

griffither who comes in, $19 million partnership with this guy who himself is tied with putin. is manafort trying to use the campaign because he's clearly offering a bridge. and when you add this to all the other examples we have, you've got a picture of a campaign with more interactions with russians than they do with ordinary americans than in states they've written off. the fact this guy is tied to the russian mob, the kremlin, this may be manafort trying to see if he can get more pun out of the guy, but this is nothing in the universe of normal. >> mark preston. >> yeah, a couple of things. one, it seems like we talk about this every night. another shoe has dropped so to speak. there seems to be more oxygen to fuel the fire that there was some kind of connection with the trump campaign. maybe not with trump, but certainly with his associates and i think our viewer are starting to see the dirty

underbelly of political consulting with these folks are not only making money here in the united states, but really trying to leverage the relationships they have with lawmakers here to do work overseas for an incredible amount of money. paul manafort was certainly one of those people. and you have to wonder this as well. with all the leaks about him including what we have reported here at cnn about how they're going back many, many years looking into his past, are they trying, they being the mull mueller investigators, are they trying to pressure him to try to give up somebody bigger in it would be interesting to see how this really does all shake out. >> and of course, when you're talking about somebody bigger, that ties of course to the report iing "the washington pos and "new york times" tonight saying they want document frs the white house on 13 top bices. cnn reporting specifically on what several of those are, but the bigger person than paul manafort as the campaign chairman, there aren't that many and certainly, donald trump would be first and foremost on that list. >> absolutely.

and the documents they are lo looking would deal directly with him. that will raise the question of whether the president will try to exert executive privilege on this. the white house special counsel has given no indication they're going to do anything other than try the cooperate. that's been his position. but this is a good test case. their position is weakest in the area because of the nixon ruling, the u.s. versus nixon. that's where the subpoena, the grand jury, was shown to be effective where as congressional subpoenas don't work. >> as we're see iing. quick final word to you, john. we're reporting on four of the things they want information on. the air force one discussion about donald trump jr.'s meet wg the russians, firing of flynn and comey and the meemt wg the russians in the oval office. that leaves nine other instances the president's related to, they want documents on we don't know. >> watch that space. those nine other categories, these can become big document

dumps. if they've identified nine areas where they feel there's smoke and maybe fire and they're not things that come to the top of the mind, that's the place to watch. there's much more here, folks. >> thank you, all very much. next, an "outfront" investigation. new details about fake pro trump twitter account linked to russia in an attempt to sway the 2016 election. and desperate search for life. survivors of the mexican earthquake, some children, still being pulled from the rubble. time is running out. ♪ "zorba the greek" by mikis theodorakis ♪ ♪

the all-new volkswagen tiguan with available pedestrian monitoring. the new king of the concrete jungle. why should over two hundred years of citi history matter to you? well, because it tells us something powerful about progress: that whether times are good or bad, people and their ideas will continue to move the world forward. as long as they have someone to believe in them. citi financed the transatlantic cable that connected continents. and the panama canal, that made our world a smaller place. we backed the marshall plan that helped europe regain its strength. and pioneered the atm, for cash, anytime. for over two centuries we've supported dreams like these. and the people and companies behind them. so why should that matter to you?

because, today, we are still helping progress makers turn their ideas into reality. and the next great idea could be yours. nitrites or artificial ham has preservatives.tes, now it's good for us all. like those who like. sweet those who prefer heat. sfx - a breath of air and those who just love meat. oscar mayer deli fresh. sweet!

did any bag of dog or buy cat food at petsmart we give a meal to a pet in need? buying your favorite bag of food at petsmart will help us reach our goal of donating more than 60 million meals to shelters and food banks. that means millions of hungry pets across the country

(like this little guy) get to eat. buy any bag any size we give a meal to a pet in need. petsmart - for the love of pets. and now come celebrate our grand opening in your neighbourhood. tonight, the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee says he's be hearing from twitter next week. cnn is learning more about how russia used twitter as a weapon in its campaign to influence the election. using fake pro trump twitter accounts to influence votes. drew griffin has this "outfront" investigation. >> twitter is saying it is not in the business of policing political thought or messaging. and that's whether it's coming from republicans, democrats or vladimir putin. and while twitter will not

confirm russian actors were using its platform to meddle in the 2016 u.s. election, the proof it happened is adding up. this twitter account at tea party news. had a following of more than 22,000. it blasted the twitter world with pro trump, conservative, antiimmigrant stories and rhetor rhetoric throughout the campaign and among its followers was the now fired member, sebastian gor gorka. what gorka an other lowers may be surprised to learn is the klt has been outed by russian journalists. the account has been linked to the internet research agency, which a report by u.s. intelligence officials says is a shadowy company tied to the krim lynn. all part of the russian government's attempts to me l in the u.s. presidential race. twitter accounts created as part of the russian propaganda campaign helped the russians form an entire army of automated

twitter bots and trolls that overwhelmingly supported one u.s. candidate. >> midwest most of the accounts are made to look like trump supporters but begin and end in russia. >> samuel analyzed over 17 million tweets and found networks of automated accounts that retweet each other and played a powerful role in determining the flow of information in the 2016 election. some by foreign governments, attacking the u.s. through fake news. >> this is literally manufacturing interest in a tweet. >> by rapid fire repeating these retweets. >> right. people like to tell me, propaganda's been around forever, but when i say when you enhance it, you have a much more difficult time parsing information and understanding actually what's going on. >> is weaponize a word you would use? >> they are absolutely. >> tea party news has been shut down by twitter.

the company won't say why, but according to a russian journalist, the end of tea party news came just at the russian media began exposing it. >> they stopped to operate it exactly after our investigation. the last week was on the same a day or one day before it. >> he tells cnn the account was one of 50 such accounts. with more than 60,000 twitter followers. including at least one member of donald trump's administration. contacted by e-mail, gorka now seems to indicate he knew all along tea party news was a russian site, telling cnn he followed the site for the same reason i follow cnn, he wrote. to know what the enemies of truth with doing. samuel says getting followers to a russian account was an important part of putin's campaign. >> the hope of the bott is that someone picks it up and tweets

it out and then lot of other people make it viral. those things were started at maul trends pusheded out by boths then picked up by mainstream news media and politicians.incredible. when you put this together, possibly 50 accounts or maybe more, with 600,000 people following them. what is twitter doing about it? >> not much. that's by design. they're relying on its open flat form to basically police itself. they do remove accounts that are acting like automated spam or promote terrorism, but when it comes to judging fake news from the truth, their response is basically user beware the head of public policy saying twitter's open nature is a powerful and dote to the spreading of all types and says

this is important because we, twitter, cannot distinguish whether every tweet from every person is truthful or not. >> thank you very much and why weaponize is the right word. next, war of words. the president of iran demanding an apology for president trump, for quote extremely offensive comments. and desperate search for life in mexico tonight. they are trying to save those trapped in the rubble including children. we're live there with the latest. with me, mr. parker. when a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. stay with me, mr. parker. the at&t network is helping first responders connect with medical teams in near real time... stay with me, mr. parker. ...saving time when it matters most. stay with me, mrs. parker. that's the power of and.

i needed something more to help control my type 2 diabetes. my a1c wasn't were it needed to be. so i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating what's within me with once-weekly trulicity. trulicity is not insulin. it helps activate my body to do what it's suppose to do, release its own insulin. i take it once a week, and it works 24/7. it comes in an easy-to-use pen and i may even lose a little weight. trulicity is a once-weekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. trulicity is not insulin. it should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take trulicity if you or a family member has had medullary thyroid cancer, if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. stop trulicity and call your doctor right away

if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe pain in your stomach, or symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may include pancreatitis, which can be fatal. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin, increases your risk for low blood sugar. common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite and indigestion. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may make existing kidney problems worse. once-weekly trulicity may help me reach my blood sugar goals. with trulicity, i click to activate what's within me. if you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar, activate your within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. so find a venus smooth that contours to curves, the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you. skin smoothing venus razors.

my doctor recommended i switch laxatives. stimulant laxatives make your body go by forcefully stimulating the nerves in your colon. miralax is different. it works with the water in your body to hydrate and soften. unblocking your system naturally. miralax. . breaking news, a frantic scramble tonight to save lives including the most vulnerable children. right now rescue workers and citizens in mexico are doing what they can trying to rip away rubble, concrete and bricks trying to safe children. 21 children were killed at the school, others trapped possibly in the rubble. we've seen through the day rescuers raises their fists, which is a call for silence because they're trying to locate children who are still alive. including one young girl who they believe is still alive. it's just impossible to imagine

this. this is a scene that we're seeing across mexico after the deadly 7.1 earthquake. mexican government says 225 now died. that number will unfortunately rise. miguel is outside in the city. you've been at that school all day. they're still hoping they can save children including that little girl who they believe is alive. >> reporter: yeah. we believe the 8-year-old girl is alive and the pace is necessary nettic. the heavy machines are trying to pull out a lot of the bigger debris. no longer are we having the long silences here, instead they are moving in stretchers and doctors and everything into this area. keep in mind, this is just one scene of many across all of mexico. hand by hand, brick by brick,

residence and rescuers alike are working around the clock to fine survivors of tuesday's deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake in mexico. here in mexico city, 75 miles from the epicenter all eyes on this elementary school where rescuers work to reach survivors they believe may still be trapped inside. immediately after the quake yesterday, these children were pulled from their collapsed classrooms. cnn's now learned at least 21 of their young school mates have died along with four adults. >> translator: emotions are very difficult to control and see what is happening to our neighbors even though we do not know them. we put ourselves in situation of parents and the children that are trapped in that school. it's really painful. >> reporter: across the city, scenes of determination as hundreds ban together to remove debris and find the missing. others, like these teachers

provide comfort to the tragedies jung east witnesses with songs. more help is on the way at this airport in panama. rescuers in full gear lined up to forward flights headed to the disaster zone. here's what they'll find. at this site of demolished buildings, handwritten signs and fists raised high requesting silence so crews may here calls underneath concrete. still signs are welcome here, a possible ambulance, possibly an indication of someone's loved one has been found alive. they just called for another moment of silence, it is not cheer what's happening now. they brought in seven more stretchers and they have a fire truck, a large ladder truck coming in to get access back

there. clearly they are on to something, what is not clear is whether there is more than one person alive back there. the 8-year-old little girl, we are relatively sure is a live, the department of defense here in mexico put out a picture of a rescuer holding her hand and were able to get water to her. they asked for fentanyl, a very heavy painkiller earlier in the day. lots of doctors and nurses going back there. this is the scene in one place in mexico tonight, this is playing out in many many places across the country. erin. >> thank you very much, miguel. we hope and pray for a miracle for that little girl. also want to talk about the u.n. today, president trump who came out talking about the iran deal. he said he's made a decision on what he's going today. here he is today at the u.n. >> have you decided to stay or to leave?

>> i have decided. >> okay can you tell us what your decision is? >> i'll let you know. >> so maybe he's decided or haven't decided. one thing we do know was he told american leaders the deal was an embarrassism to the state. out front now. tony blink con who is deputy secretary under obama when the deal was reached. you obviously know a lot about it. who is right right here? >> i'd like to say neither. here's the fact, erin. the deal's working, it is a good deal. its prevented iran to speed up the nuclear weapons. when president trump says it's an embarrassment, the truth is i don't think he can tell you what's in the deal and i wonder if he's read it. the organization charged with monitoring the agreement that said iran is in compliance with

the iea, president trump is excite satisfied iran is certified. if he turns around and say they're not certified, on what basis, what's changed. that'll open up a big big can of worms. >> if the deal collapsings iran has a lot of options. they clearly don't want the u.s. to get out of this deal. he said they could resume enrichment to a higher level of uranium. is that a direct threat they'd speed to a nuclear bomb if the deal gets out. >> i think what iran is saying if the deal -- if they pull out of the dale, the deal pulls off. i do think iran will stick with the deal even if we pull out. we want them to continue to trade with europe, russia and china all of which is allowed by the deal. the chans are we stay in, then

we'd be in a real bind. we want to stop these countries. >> and they won't. >> they won't. >> $200 billion and energy and construction needed and they'll go ahead with all the other countries. so they have that stick. you got two missile tests earlier this year from iran as you know. missile last year that iranian said on the side. israel must be wiped off the earth. how is that in compliance? >> the deal was just with regards to iran's nuclear program. we were clearly from day one this didn't dissolve iran from responsibility. so, on one hand you get missile tests that are problematic but you have iran destabilizing activity throughout the region. none of the partners who negotiated with deal with us wanted to put other issues in the deal, iran refused as well. we at least took the nuclear

problem off the table for a long time. as problematic as iran's deal is now it will be far harder to deal with if we had nuclear weapons. at least we've taken that off the table. we need to keep the deal in place because it's making us more secure. >> an interesting case. all right tony blaine ken thank you very much. i appreciate your time. "ac 360" starts now. this is cnn breaking news. >> good evening breaking news up and down the line, including not limited to hurricane maria, in a race to fine survivors, the earthquake that did this to mexico city. dozens of buildings came down like that, some were schools. the latest on the efforts, some of it brick by brick, hand to hand to save lives. young and old. what one volunteer call scenes of chaos and hope.