with the announcement of the new indictment, u.s. special counsel robert mueller made it impossible for president donald trump to keep calling the russia probe a total hoax. a former intelligence chief predicts there's another shoe to drop. plus, as victim funerals take place, details about the parkland, florida shooter and how the fbi failed to act on a tip before 17 lives were ended. fans alleged sex crime scandal.

ceril travels to haiti to investigate. i'm natalie live in atlanta and cnn newsroom starts right now. our top story, the russia probe that u.s. president donald trump repeatedly dismissed as a hoax has now led to very real federal indictments against 13 russian operatives. the charges filed by special counsel, robert mueller, paint a vivid picture of well-funded russians pretending to be americans. they set up fake social media accounts and spread dirt about hillary clinton, championed donald trump and with members of his campaign. the president's initial reaction to it said nothing about the attack on u.s. democracy. he repeated, again, no

collusion. later, he released this statement. it's time we stop the outlandish, partisan attacks and farfetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors like russia and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions. for more on the indictment and how russia is reacting, matthew chance joins me live from moscow. hello to you. russia continuously denied, denied and denied and called all of this fake news. are they still denying? >> reporter: yeah, i was going to say, you can add a couple more denials to the list of denials you made. already, there's been a couple denials from senior russian officials. the foreign ministry spokesperson said it was absurd that 13 individuals could have basically distorted the outcome of the u.s. presidential election. her boss, the russian foreign minister, sergey lavrov said

there's much talk of state interference in the u.s. election. he added, i haven't seen a single fact to date. there are more denials coming from the russians. of course, the indictments i'd fi 13 individuals who the indictment says were involved in that manipulation of the election process. at least one of three companies is a notorious kremlin controlled. basically influence the politics and the election process in other countries, including the united states. take a listen. in may, 2016, a small group of anti-islamic protesters gathered outside a muz lislim community center. across the street, a rally formed. the two sides held a rally in a

stark administration of discord. the organizers were thousands of miles away, in st. petersburg, russia, working for a secretive organization, according to a recent indictment had a strategic goal. the name, the internet research agency, dubbed the kremlin troll factory by former employees who smuggled out rare images. cnn spoke to a russian journalist who went undercover as an internet troll there. >> translator: the u.s. elections are the key issue for the kremlin. of course, russia invested a lot into them. that's why they are working, i have no doubt. >> reporter: it was during the russian backed rebellion in ukraine in 2014, when evidence

emerged of pro-kremlin troll factories, filled with bloggers paid to spread false information online about the conflict. this is the russian who ran the operation. he is known as putin's chef, because one of his company's provides catering services to the kremlin. he denied guilt. americans are impression able people. they see what they want to see. i have great respect for them. i'm not upset. if they want to see the devil, let them see one. it is the devilish work of russia's internet trolls and the social divisions they have that the u.s. moved firmly against. there is a silver lining from the trump administration. the deputy attorney general, rob

rosenstein, also added there was no allegation that any american was a knowing participant in this illegal activity nor any suggestion that the meddling altered the outcome of the u.s. presidential race. again, that's something the trump administration may draw solace from. >> right. there could be more to come. matthew chance, we thank you for your reporting from moscow. thanks, matt. let's talk with our panel of experts, steve morris, cnn contributor and special agent with the fbi. reva martin is a civil rights attorney and ron brownstein is a cnn analyst and editor for the atlantic. thank you all for joining us to talk about this. well, finally after so much time, we hear from mr. mueller. indictments are handed down. it's quite interesting what all

is in this. let's bring it upright now and look at it. 13 russian nationals indicted, charged with conspiracy to defraud the u.s., posed as americans and created false u.s. personas online, operated social media pages designed to attract u.s. audiences. facebook, instagram and twitter. i want to go to each one of you to get your initial reaction to the first, significant charges. let's start with you, steve. >> you know what's interesting to me is what the motis op randa of these people are. it's like civilianized trade craft from the old soviet days, the standard poison pen stuff that they have used for years. it's the way they have always done it, including using unwhiting participants on the

other side. i think there was probably training involved in this. it just has the government's fingerprints all over it. >> what about you? >> i think, natalie, what is so shocking is the nature, the depth, the expansive nature in which the russians interfered in our elections. we have been hearing all year from law enforcement and intelligence community this meddling happened. we have also heard and watched our president push back on it, call it a hoax, say it was made up by the democrats as a way to explain why they lost the 2016 election. today, we have proof that this isn't a hoax. this wasn't something made up fwi democrats. there was real russian meddling in our elections and it wasn't just surface level. it was expansive, it was deep and designed to do exactly what we saw happen, to create

decension, casting doubt on hillary clinton as a candidate and creating this cyber warfare we saw take place. we can no longer say that this was made up by anyone. this is real. it happened in realtime. as far as we know, it's continuing to happen. >> we'll talk about the president's reaction in a moment. ron, i want to get your initial thoughts on this indictment. >> i would just say three quick points to compound what we just said. the first point is, this explodes the idea from the president that this was a hoax. the whole story, it was china. it was some guy who weighed 400 pounds on his bed in new jersey. this was a detailed, comprehensive russian plan to sew discord and to help donald trump. second, this is a clear and present, ongoing danger. everything laid out here can be applied in the 2018 and 2020

elections and the u.s. government, partly because of the president's reluctance to admit it occurred at all has not been diligent in that. the third point, most important politically in the u.s. is the humbling reminder, we don't know what bob mueller knows. we can safely assume, he knows more than we do. all the analysis of this investigation, i think, is limited by the reality he is constantly shown the ability to surprise us in this era of pervasive media. it shows he is more deeply into this entire tangled story than anyone on the outside comprehends. >> the fact there are 13 individuals indicted here, this is a lot to digest. i want to throw this to you, steve. it wasn't just that there was this network of hacking into media social sites, there were russians inside the u.s. in

various states. tennessee is one of them, pretending to be campaign workers, staging events and promotions, mingling with unsuspecting american voters. that's almost surreal. >> there's a word for it. it's espionage. it's old school. it's what they have always been doing. i think the only thing we can take away from this that's positive, at least as far as the government's react is the fbi doesn't really care if the president believes in this or not. the fbi is going to continue to investigate it and still move forward and the justice department is going to do what they can. at the same time, if the president is not going to jump on the russians about this, then there's limited political will here. >> let's talk about, also, it does not suggestion collusion, at this point, between the trump campaign and russia.

rod rose enstein was careful not to mention that. the focus, so far, is russia's attack on u.s. democracy. >> don't read too much into it. if assistant attorney general was careful in stating facts as it relates to this indictment. that's not uncommon. it wouldn't be common for him to stand there and project what may be coming as it relates to other individuals. what we do know is there are unnamed co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment. we don't know who those individuals are or what may happen with respect to those individuals. we don't know what may happen as it relates to further charges and indictments. when president trump says no collusion, no collusion, that's an empty statement at this point. we know that this investigation, all the reporting suggestions this investigation is ongoing. we don't know what further indictments may be coming after this indictment.

>> right. ron, i want to ask you to talk more about president trump. we all mentioned he's been calling the russian investigation a hoax since he was running for office. let's listen. >> yeah. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. the entire thing has been a witch hunt. look, there has been no abinstruction or collusion. >> i think it was russian hacking. i think we also get hacked by other countries and other people. >> ron, let's point out, this is a tweet from donald trump. russia started their anti-u.s. campaign in 2014, long before i announced i would run for president. the results of the election were not affected. the trump campaign did nothing

wrong, no collusion. back when he was visiting vietnam and meeting with president putin, after the meeting, he made it clear to the american people and the world that he believed vladimir putin. >> right. i mean, this directly is a, you know, a house dropping on the president's claims about the core issue of whether russia meddled. it does not, yet, get to the question of whether there was collusion on the part of the trump campaign. it's premature for the president to claim exoneration. the issue of whether it affected the outcome of the election, that is really unknowable. it's hard to imagine you would have hundreds of thousands of social media interactions and rallies and not move the votes of somebody. i mean, what the president is referring to is, there's no evidence that russians directly altered the results in voting machines or voter registration.

but, look, i think, politically, one of the impacts of these indictments are to make it, i think, much tougher for the president to entertain the notion that he is clearly entertained before of firing bob mueller. the idea of firing bob mueller, now, when something of this gravity has been laid out and he is in the midst of prosecuting and investigating is more fraud. >> we have to leave it there. there's a lot that's not in this round of indictments. also, how does this revelation affect the midterm elections? we'll dig down into those things as we push on here. for now, we have to let it go. ron brownstein, reba martin, thank you all so much. still to come here on cnn newsroom, president trump visits victims of the florida school shooting as the fbi makes a strong admission. what it knew and missed about the gunman. also, cnn heads to haiti to

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welcome back to cnn news room. president trump is in florida giving his condolences to the victims of the mass shooting, the massacre in parkland. trump visited with two of the wounded and met with first responders. he posted these pictures online. our brian todd is in parkland and was there during trump's visit. he has details about critical information the fbi bungled. >> reporter: president trump is spepding the weekend at his mar-a-lago estate, not far from here after the horrific school shooting wednesday afternoon. the president came to south florida on friday and spent time with the victims of the shooting at a hospital in broward county, then came here to the broward county sheriff's office to get an extensive briefing from first responders and the sheriff's office on the shooting wednesday

and the response to it. this comes as we are getting really disturbing, chilling new information about warning signs, clues that were missed and some information that was mishandled about the shooter, specifically a crucial tip that was given to the fbi. new and alarming details of missed and a mishandled warning sign. the fbi says it was given information on january 5th on a tip line. the caller provided information that nikolas cruz was erratic, armed, had a desire to kill people and showed the potential of conducting a school shooting. this information was never passed on to the miami field office. >> the po ttential for the fbi miss something. we have protocol to prevent these things. we will look into where and how the protocol broke down. >> reporter: this, in addition to a second notice regarding disturbing social media posts

including a massacre saying i want to shoot people with my ar-15. i want to die killing a ton of people. a former teacher said faculty received an e-mail in late 2016 prompting them to be on the lookout for cruz and let them know if he was seen with a backpack. describe the e-mail? >> it was simple. if he comes on campus with a backpack, let us know. >> reporter: recommending in january, 2017, a threat assessment be conducted to determine if cruz was a danger to the school. the document issued after he was involved in an assault. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of the document. it's not clear if the assessment was done and broward school has not commented. police records show 39 calls to the shooter's home over the past seven years for various reasons, including reports of, quote, mentally ill person.

child or elderly abuse and domestic disturbance. not all the calls refer to the shooting. >> i don't know how often, but there were definitely police cars in the driveway. >> reporter: she is two doors down. she and many neighbors had encounters with cruz over the years. her daughter saw cruz shooting toward a neighbor's yard. >> mom, that redheaded kid is shooting chickens. they had chickens. i saw him with a long gun, i don't know anything about guns. i saw it was long. >> reporter: cruz lived there with his adoptive mother until she passed away in the fall. a neighbor captured this video of a regular and frightening occurrence. a shooter wearing a make america great again hat firing in the backyard. he lived her until wednesday's deadly rampage. he fired 100 rounds during the

rampage. they detailed the moves, some of them seen calculated. some haphazard. he entered the school building, fired into rooms on the first floor before moving to the second and third floors. he finally exited the building and blended in with students. he made stops at the nearby walmart and this mcdonald's. after leaving the area, he was apprehended in nearby coral springs. as the parkland community searches for solace, many are asking, with so many warning signs, why wasn't he stopped? a question that is placing serious pressure on the fbi director. florida senator, rick scott says the fbi's failure to take action against the killer is unacceptable and is calling for chr christopher wray to resign. >> we are learning more about the confessed gunman from a

closed group that nikolas cruz belonged to, illustrating his obsession with guns and violence and among hundreds of racist comments, he talks of hating jews and mexicans. out of pakistan, a man sentenced to death for the murder of a 7-year-old in early january. shortly after this little girl went missing, she was spotted on closed circuit tv being led away by a man. her body was found four days later, tossed on top of a trash pile. the court found 24-year-old guilty on four counts, including abduction, rape and murder. protesters marched in force across the country after her body was found. they demanded justice and better protection for children against sexual predators. reviewing the agencies practices after several staff

members were accused of using prostitutes while they were deployed in haiti. the aide group denies they tried to cover up the behavior, which allegedly occurred during haiti's 2010 earthquake. cyril vanier reports for us. >> reporter: barbed wire, tall walls. this compound is like many others, yet this is one of the villas at the center of the oxfam prostitution scandal. the security is sketchy. no cameras allowed. this apartment complex was rented by a british agency in 2010 at the height of the earthquake relief effort. oxfam confirmed they are one of two locations where staff brought prostitutes. we spoke to neighboring store owners who were here at the time. some of the vendors knew ngos

like oxfam were staying in the area. he was surprised to hear of the allegations. the man of the center of it all left the country seven years ago. a belgian national. he ran oxfam's investigation during the earthquake. he admitted to bringing them to the villa, but those details were not made public at the time. the times in london first reported the allegations and cnn has been unable to reach him for comment. thursday, he spoke to phlegmish media and hinted as exaggerations. >> translator: i don't feel good about the people told by less professional journists that oxfam does sex or jis to keep money from the civilians. that is not true.

>> reporter: in haiti, authorities are launching their own investigation to find out what happens. the foreign minister hopes it leads to arrests and ultimately, prosecution. prosecuted where? >> translator: a haitian court. a haitian court because the alleged actions were committed in haiti and involves haitian women. definitely a haitian court. >> reporter: oxfam is not in danger of being expelled from the country. at a park, emotions are mixed. >> translator: what i'm hearing about the ngos, exploiting the vulnerability of the youth. if things don't change, it will always be the same. >> reporter: it's not good for the country. exploitation is a word we heard a lot after a string of scandals involving ngos, haitians feel let down by aide groups.

>> translator: these people who came to help, they profitted from the misery. the vulnerability, its abuse, its exploitation. what happened is horrible. >> reporter: cyril vanier. we'll have the latest coming up on cnn newsroom. ♪ it's time for the 'ultimate sleep number event' on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort your sleep number setting. and snoring? does your bed do that? right now during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed with adjustable comfort on both sides. plus 24-month financing. ends monday. visit sleepnumber.com for a store near you.

welcome back to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world, you are watching "cnn newsroom" in atlanta. i'm natalie allen.

13 russian operatives have been indicted by special counsel, robert mueller. they face charges of meddling in the 2016 election. they posed as americans, set up fake social media sites and tried to damage democratic candidate, hillary clinton. the so-called trolls promoted republican donald trump and had contact with unwitting members of his campaign. president trump visited a hospital in florida and met with two victims of wednesday's school shooting. he posted pictures, smiling with one of them, and with medical personnel. he said, it's very sad something like that could happen. but did not answer questions about changing gun laws. he also met with law enforcement officials thanking them. florida's governor is calling on the fbi director to resign after the agency admitted protocols were not followed in the school shooter case. last month, a caller gave

information on a tip line about nikolas cruz's gun ownership and his desire to kill people. the fbi did not follow up appropriately. authorities say no one was killed on friday by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern mexico. it's a huge relief in a country where hundreds of people died in major earthquakes last september. friday's tremor shook buildings, panicking people who fled into the streets. ivan ivan cabrera has more on that. >> you really never know. you are in the building. it's beginning to shake, is this an 8.0? you head outside and hope for the best. this time, it was the best. to tell you what, no fatalities. the differences, not much, as far as the magnitude of the last quake. you are watching scenes from

where there shouldn't have been too much panic, the shaking would have been lighter. this is several kilometers away from the epicenter where it occurred. it was south and west. this is more toward the gulf region in the pacific. here we are in southeast mexico. this also occurred during the day. last quake, five months ago was the middle of the night. that's also not good. this time around, similar magnitude. these things can really have a significant impact or not, depending on where you are. the topography, the building structures, how protective they are or how earthquake resistant they are. quite deadly, 25 kilometers is not that deep, right? it's shallow. that energy that comes to the

surface comes quick in the form of shock waves. there it is, september, 2017. we covered that five months ago. i was here with you covering that 7.1. that occurred on the 32nd anniversary of one of their deadliest in 1985, a magnitude of 8.0 that killed thousands of people. very busy ring of fire here. by the way, we have had aftershocks. you can expect that with 7.2 and upwards of 5.8. i want to leave you, if you are traveling into the united states or watching from the northeast, winter storm warnings posted from new york and boston. the purple is where the lesser amounts will fall as far as snowfall. this area of low pressure to the north and east. saturday night, to the early part of sunday, we'll continue to see snowfall falling. great news, it is happening in the middle of the weekend. it shouldn't be too much as far as travel disruptions. >> just pretty.

>> exactly. just check in with your carrier. >> thanks. kninic robertson, several a gathered for the conference. the president of the european commission is speaking. the uk's theresa may spoke last hour. in over an hour, we expect to hear from russian foreign minister, sergey lavrov. nic, much on the agenda. no doubt, the indictments are on the minds of world leaders, mainly the u.s. and russia are present. >> reporter: and national security adviser, hr mcmaster will speak after sergey lavrov. it will be interesting to see if lavrov mentioned the indictments or the fact the military confrontation recently between u.s. forces backing their syrian allies that were attacked by

syrian government forces backed on mercenaries. more than a dozen were killed. that's causing a stir in moscow. will lavrov mention this use of russian mercenaries in russia and the deaths? that's something we'll be looking for. what everyone was looking for from theresa may when she spoke was to deliver another of her brexit messages. there was a q & a session after she spoke, which was very telling. it was put to her that most people in the hole, that didn't like to see brexit were disappointed to see britain leaving the european union. she responded quickly to that saying the people of britain voted. we, the politicians have to respect that. there will be no referendum, no going back. we are leaving the european union. the crux of what she wanted to say here, i think although her

message is similar to the past, sometimes passion, sometimes intensity and some of the key points in it that really get us to understand that the british government, theresa may is very concerned about the loss of possible counterterrorism and criminal-type cooperation with the european union. so, her message was one that we have a common threat and a common enemy. this is what she said. >> these people don't care if they kill and maim londoners because it's the common values we all share, which shay seek to attack and defeat. but, i say, we will not let them. when these atrocities occur, people look to us as leaders to provide the response. we must all ensure that nothing prevents us from fulfilling our first duty as leaders to protect

our citizens. we must find the practical ways to ensure the cooperation to do so. we have done so -- >> reporter: the difficulty that theresa may is facing in making that argument convincing, this is why she said -- security partnership with european leaders is the difference in laws between what will be uk laws and the laws of the european court of justice. here, theresa may made a slight concession saying in future agreements, we could respect the laws of the european port of justice. that was a significant concession, but represents how much the british establishment are beginning to worry about what they will lose in terms of security cooperation when they leave europe, if european governments take decisions they appear they might take. natalie? >> thank you, nic robertson covering it for us in mu nick.

coming up, a fa millary face throws his hat in for u.s. senate. why president trump may not be happy about it. another scandal regarding the president's earlier escapades. a playboy model is opening up about an alleged affair. we have the details for you, next. you won't see these folks at the post office

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it's official. former presidential candidate and former massachusetts governor, mitt romney is running for u.s. senate. and, if president trump thinks he can count on republican romney to be a party line ally on immigration, he may want to think again. he >> reporter: mitt romney stepped out for the first time on friday night as an official candidate for the u.s. senate to replace retiring senator, orrin hatch. he talked of bringing utah values, goodness and decency back into the political dialogue, exporting utah's economic successes and market

principles to washington. this was a very low-key and informal mitt romney. he didn't even give a speech. he took questions from the audience. one of those was about donald trump. >> i'm with the president's domestic policy agenda of low taxes and low regulation and smaller government, pushing back against the bureaucrats. by and large, by the way, his policies are very similar to those i campaigned for. >> reporter: romney announced his candidacy earlier on friday, posting a video that surprised many people because of the moderate tone on immigration. that's a reflection of the compassi compassion many utah people have for immigrants. friday night, he dove into the issues he wants to tackle in washington, like the national debt and entitlement reform. at the end of the night, he took questions from press and then drove off, alone, in his pick-up

truck. cnn, provo, utah. the new yorker magazine is out with a report that says president trump had an affair with a playboy model more than ten years ago, while married to melania trump. the white house firmly denies the allegation. it is based on a hand-written document from karen mcdougal. she says months after the affair, a tabloid sympathetic to mr. trump bought her story, in order to kill it. brian has more. >> reporter: donald trump and former playboy model, karen mcdougal. in a bombshell story, the new yorker is detailing evidence of a nine-month affair that started in 2006 and a pay-off scheme to keep the story from going public. >> she feels she ultimately was cornered into a set of contracts she finds ownerous and exploitive. she's frustrated with her

inability to speak, in her view and has regrets about this. >> reporter: the national inquirer paid $150,000 for the rights to mcdougal's story in 2016, then never published it. the company in charge of the tabloid, which is pro-trump, said they did not find her story credible. former employees of media inc. says it is a catch and kill. the story unfavorable to trump and kill it, bury it. >> it takes the story out of the market so it won't see the light of day. >> reporter: why? david pecker is a long-time personal friend of trumps. >> they met many years ago and maintains a friendship for a long time. david pecker takes care of his friends. >> reporter: it's a back scratching relationship. with trump, sometimes praising "the enquirer."

>> i always said why didn't they get the pulitzer prize. >> on the cover of "the national inquirer," there's a picture of him and crazy, lee harvey oswald having breakfast. >> reporter: that was debunked. joe scarborough and mika brzezinski claimed the white house planned a hit piece on them through the national inquirer. >> they said, if you call the president up, and apologize for your coverage, then he will pick up the phone and basically spike the story. >> reporter: on twitter, trump called those allegations fake news. more fake news is also how the white house described the alleged affair between trump and karen mcdougal, like they denied the affair between trump and

porn star stormi daniels. trump admitted he paid $130,000 for daniel's silence ahead of the 2016 election. which tabloid has been all over that story? not the inquirer, but the rival, "in touch" magazine. cnn, new york. we are off to the olympics next. cnn's christine mcfarland joins us with a preview of what's up. hi there. >> reporter: hi there, natalie. we'll tell you why there was a sea of winnie the poohs after this, coming up next. with more than 150 ethnic regions to connect to... ...it's the perfect time to find out where your greatness comes from. save 30% at ancestrydna.com.

it is day eight of the winter games in pyeongchang, south korea. germ any is dominating the olympic medal table with nine golds. norway leads the pack with 19 total medals. other countries still have a chance to get in on the action. japan, for instance, just won its first gold at the games in men's figure skating after a stunning performance.

we are joined from the olympics with more about the upset and the wins and those pesky winnie the pooh's. >> reporter: that's right, natalie. it's been super saturday here in pyeongchang with nine gold medals up for grabs, one of the most popular in the ice arena. hanyu had the largely japanese crowd here in floods of tears of his win. he put in a record breaking performance on friday. there were big questions whether his fitness would hold out because he was recovering from a long-term injury. he did just enough, intending down to touch the ice and stuffed winnie the pooh bears rained down. he was a huge fan of the fluffy bear and uses it in his competition as a mascot. also, in act, was american nathan chen, he said he wanted

to redeem himself after a dismat short skate. today, he did that, making history with six jumps signing off by winning the free skate, but overall, finishing in fifth. showing us what he is capable of at 18 years of age. there was high drama in the women's alpine skiing. speed queen, lindsey vonn, has been talking about racing for her late grandfather. it gave way to a mistake at the end of the race that put her out of contention and into sixth position. instead, it was an outsider from the czech republic that pulled off the race of her life for the top spot. the most extraordinary thing is she is the only athlete here competing at the games in twro different sports, skiing and snowboarding. because of that, she never

really expected to win. turns out, she's a better alpine skier than even she thought. an incredible story here on saturday. >> look forward to seeing her on that snowboard. what a versatile young lady. thanks so much, christina. we have this, too. jamaica's women bobsled team started official training runs saturday. earlier this week, their debut appeared to be in jeopardy. their driving coach left the team and reports she was taking the sled with her. a jamaican beer company came to the rescue. no bobsled, no problem. if you need a new ride, jambosled, put it on their tab. all eyes will be on them when the opening games start tuesday. that's "cnn newsroom" for this hour. i'll be back after a break with more of our top stories please stay with us.

new charges in the russia investigation describe the use of a virtual network to interfere in the 2016 u.s. election. cnn heads to haiti to investigate a prostitution scandal. and a standing ovation for this japanese skater dubbed the michael jackson of ice skating. we're live there cnn headquarters in atlanta. you are watching c"cnn newsroo." i'm natalie allen.