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headquarters in atlanta, we welcome our viewers around the united states and all aur rond the world i'm george howell. >> and i'm natalie allen, "newsroom" starts right now. >> around the world, the former number two man at the fbi has been fired but like his boss who took detailed notes about his interactions with the u.s. president, we now know that andrew mccabe did the same. >> those memos are now in the hands of special counsel robert mueller whose investigating president trump. they say the main reason is to call mccabe's character into question if he's useds a witness. mueller's team has already interviewed mccabe. a source tells cnn that mccabe was asked about the firing of fbi director james comey. >> that's conversations and mccabe's notes could be used to corroborate comey's accounts

with meetings with president trump. laura jared breaks it all down for us. >> not only did former fbi department director andrew mccabe keep notes on his conversations with the president, but cnn has confirmed that mccabe turned those memos over to special counsel robert mueller's team and sat down for an interview. one major topic covered during that interview, the firing of former fbi director james comey. a topic that mueller's team has pursued as they investigate among other things whether president trump obstructed justice in his dealings with top law enforcement officials. now, the mccabe memos could help bolster how comey describes some of his more past controversial interaction with the president. that trump has said never happened, including kwss for loyalty and to go easy on former national security adviser michael flynn, especially if mccabe documented those conversations contemporaneously with the events. but mccabe's knowledge of what

happened to comey at least in mccabe's view also explains why he believes he's been subjected to what he calls a pattern of attacks on his reputation and credibility. he told cnn during an interview that the president opportunity toed -- taunted him repeatedly and even asked who he voted for in the 2016 election. president trump did not ask him to end the russia investigation. >> the u.s. president's attorney is speaking out about the firing of andrew mccabe and the overall investigation and it seems that some statements that he made weren't exactly cleared by his client. >> here's what happened next. >> reporter: as the president relishes in the firing of former deputy fbi director andrew mccabe via twitter, his personal attorney john dowd is making some eyebrow-raising statements in a statement provided to the daily beast early on saturday he

said he was praying for the russia investigation to end and he apparently told them that he was speaking on behalf of the president as the president's personal attorney. he later walked that back to cnn. john dowd write, quote, speaking for myself, not the president, i pray that acting attorney general rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the fbi office of professional responsibility and attorney general jeff sessions and bring an end to alleged russia collusion investigation manufactured by mccabe's boss, james comey, based upon a fraud lentd and corrupt dossier. just end it on the merits in light of recent revelations. now, we should note that a source close to the president says that donald trump didn't authorize john dowd make that statement. if you talk to people close to the president, you get the sense that they're annoyed that he went in this direction because it contradicts so much of what

we've heard previously from the white house when it comes to the special counsel's investigation. over and over again officials have told us that they are 100% willing to comply with the special counsel in providing any requested documents or anything he needs. we've heard the president specifically say that he would not fire robert mueller. in fact, he said he was looking forward to sitting down with him to prove that there was no collusion between the trump campaign and russia. now, there have been rum blingt -- rumblings prior to this so much so that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle crafted ledge stlation would install safeguards to protect robert muler from being fired. that legislation didn't get anywhere, but we should point out in the next week there will be a spending bill that's voted non congress and there may be a push from some lawmakers to include some kind of language that pro wo protect robert muler from that kind of move by either someone at the department of justice or here at the white house. boris sanchez at the white

house, cnn. >> let's now bring in scott lucas. scott a professor of international politics in birmingham. scott, good to have you with us here on the show. so the president's attorney saying that he's speaking for himself but is calling for an end to the mueller probe essentially saying there's no there there. mr. trump also weighing in on twitter. let's fwlang tweet soup see exactly what he had to say here. essentially the mueller probe should have never been start and that there was no collusion and there was no crime. he adds, it was based on fraudulent activities and a fake dossier paid for by crooked hillary and the dnc and improperly used in fisa court for surveillance of my campaign witch hunt. okay, that tweet, scott, important to point in out. there are several things in that tweet that are flatly inaccurate too many to die zmekt this short amount of time, it's the challenge of covering tweets that are put forth as fact. but as a matter of fact, there

has been no conclusion on collusion yet. here's the question to you, though, scott. once again this draws into question whether president trump is considering firing robert mueller. >> yes. i mean, let's review what happened yesterday. let's go back to friday. when andrew mccabe was dismissed 26 hours before he retired, it was vindictive to stop him from getting a full government pension, but it was another sthot sshot to say this fbi role is not legitimate in the investigation. then trump's lawyer comes out and makes a statement that he's praying for the end to the investigation. the white house scrambles and says he's speaking in a personal capacity, but then hours later donald trump says the same thing as his lawyer. he says not only should the mueller investigation be ended, he says it should never have begun in the first place. so whether or not donald trump is being held back from advisers

from firing robert mueller or moving towards it, and i think he is, he now is gathering his troon ranks to set up that possibility. whether it comes to trying to put pressure on rosenstein who formally has to be the person to get rid of mueller. whether it's more pressure on attorney jeff sessions to intervene, even though sessions is not supposed to because he is recused over his russian links through the investigation. i think we're look at a president who feels like he is on the attack and that he can do this. >> all right. scott, i also want to get your thoughts here on what we're hearing from members of the intelligence community firing back. first response from the former fib director james comey saying, quote, mr. president, the american people will hear my story very soon and they can judge for themselves who is honorable whooped honorable and who is not. this comment from the former cia chief john brennan who tweeted this. when the full extent of your

venality, moral turpitude and political corruption becomes known rurl take your rightful place as a demma going in history. you will scapegoat andy mccabe, but america will triumph over put these are pretty strong statements for sure. >> not exactly pulling punches are they? >> here's the backdrop to awful this. that is donald trump took office and when he with first started getting revelations about possible links with russia, he compared his intelligence agencies to nazis. he did that in early zajanuary, 2017. in his opinion, those within the fbi, the cia, and the special counsel's team who are pressing the investigation, they are the enemy and james comey is saying, look, he asked me for my loyalty, i wouldn't give it, i did my job, he fired me. john brennan very flectiis refl

others are saying in the community. but mccabe may come out and tell mueller what he knew about comey's firing. but mccabe was interim fbi director after comey was fired in 2017. did trump also ask mccabe for his loyalty? did he also put pressure on mc kaye? if so that adds to the possible obstruction of justice. >> so you're you can talking about these memos, again, reminding our viewers, we mow that mccabe handed those memos over to the mueller team. he also had this to say, scott, about his firing. let's pull this up, this statement. he says, i am being singled out and treated this way because the role i played, the action is took and the events i witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of comey. these memos that he says that he took given what he witnessed, again, you say that will play into this investigation in a major way? >> absolutely.

the downside of donald trump's approach and the approach of his team which is we'll clear all these folks out and then we're left with loyalists, is that these people don't disappear entirely. we have seen this with people who have been convict and indicted in the investigation so far who are now cooperating with mule pert we have seen it with james comey. we're likely to see it with other officials that are put under pressure. what we don't know is the one person who has been silent through all of this is robert mueller, not a word. that's because while others may shout, may make their announcements, he's the one assembling the evidence painstakingly and it's not until he has it all connected up and the dots are there that we find out how much he has on donald trump. >> scott lucas, we appreciate your insight today. thank you so much. >> thank you. the people of russia are voting right now. there are eight candidates in russia's presidential election

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in russia this hour. there are eight candidates that are vying for the top spot. fair to say the russian vladimir putin is by far the lead contender. >> he is expected to easily win re-election after 18 years in power. he is already russia's longest serving leader since soviet dictator joseph stalin. cnn is live in moscow. matthew chance following the election from the polls and cnn contributor jill dougherty is there to give us further context. first to you, matthew there at the polling place. no one questions who will twhwi this election. are voters enthusiastic? >> reporter: well, i mean, look, the feeling before this, the concern amongst the kremlin officials before this voting day was that there was a lot of apathy in the country simply because the democratic choice in russia is, let's say, not very broad. there are eight candidates and there's a picture of them here

on this board we can see in this voting station. these are the eight candidates but there's only one who's a real contender, vladimir putin right in the middle of this poster. it gives some biographical details about him. he was born in '52. it says here that he also has 13 bank accounts containing a total of about 240,000 u.s. dollars, he has a flat, a garage, and three russian cars. so it's giving a bit of biographical information. apathy was a concern. but vladimir putin himself came out on national television a couple days ago and appealed to people to make their voices heard. and at least in this voting station in the center of moscow people are responding. it's voit busy, very busy in fact at the moment. people are coming out to cast their ballots. but we're going to see what the nationwide turnout it is to try to get a better assessment of just how enthusiastic people are in this country for what would

be a fourth term as president for vladimir putin and given, of course, the main opposition figure in this country has not been permitted to stand in the election. he has a criminal conviction which he says was politically motivated to prevent him from standing in this ballot. but we want to get a sense of just how much enthusiasm there is whether it be through the turnout in the election nationwide for this presidential election in russia. >> thank you. let's talk more about turnout with jill dougherty at our moscow burrow. despite the obvious outcome, the kremlin wants a strong showing, it's concerned about that because it would reflect a stamp of approval for vladimir putin. >> reporter: definitely. and, you know, we have to remember that vladimir putin legitimately is popular across this country among many, many people. so it's no, you know, question that he would be reelected. but, as you pointed out, it's really the turnout. now, if you were a voter and you

don't agree with vladimir putin, your options aren't really very great because the candidates who are in this race the other ones don't really have a lot of viability. you would have to admit. so your dhoiss eechoice is to e vote, and that's something that's been suggested and propose and promulgated by the opposition person who cannot participate in this election. so some people are staying home. but the -- certainly the kremlin has been really beating the bushes to get out every single person they can. and i think, you know, domestically it gives that mandate to vladimir putin and also i think this would play internationally that vladimir putin received this would be in quotes, the overwhelming majority of russians voting for

him. look at the united states with all the questions about voting and deid hillary get the popula vote, here the kremlin can argue there nor questions. people support him and they voted for him. >> back to matthew. matthew, it's been quite a weekend speak of vladimir putin. we've seen tensions heightened between russia and the uk over the nerve attack agent in england. is that having any sort of spillover on the election? was it expected to? >> reporter: you might expect it to looking from outside. the fact that vladimir putin has once again apparently led russia into confrontation with the west. but, in fact, it doesn't appear to have dented his popularity at all, as we've had no sense of that. if anything, vladimir putin has been using this latest standoff with in this case britain to

reassert this idea that he is a powerful russian leader, that he will not allow russia to be pushed around by its enemies in the west. an example of that is just yesterday, the day before, voting opened in this country. that was the day that vladimir putin and the russian foreign ministry chose to issue their response, their retaliation for the expulsion by britain of 23 russian diplomats earlier this week. they just yesterday announced they were expelling 23 british diplomats and they were closing down the british consulate general in saint petersburg and shutting down the operations in the council which san educational cultural exchange backed by the british government in russia. this was again vladimir putin saying to his voters, i will not let the west push this country, our country, around. and that goes down well with many of these people voting here

today. >> yes, that has kind of been the hallmark of his leadership, hasn't it? thank you. let's get the view from the united kingdom. melissa bell joins us from london. despite russia's denials, britain is standing firm as we just heard from matthew, the russian president wanting to look powerful on the world stage. they may not see it like that. what's the latest from the government there? >> reporter: well, the very latest is the british foreign secretary speaking out in the british press this morning. you'll remember it was he that went so far as laying the poisoning of sergey and julia skripal firmly at the feet of vladimir putin himself. this morning he wrote an article in the british press going over the argument again and. end pointing out that, look, perhaps the biggest proof that britain's position is stronger than russia's on this is that britain has international allies and friends. that is the idea that's going to

be sorely tested this week when britain tries to get the eu to back its prediction with more than just words. that's what we're likely to get on monday when they meet in brus else. perhaps a condemnation of what russia has done by the bloc. but anymore than that, it's very difficult to imagine that britain would get the eu to agree to much more than perhaps leaving in place the sanctions that already exist. but clearly the british government intends to go further anyway it again because theresa may speaking yesterday made it clear. >> today our ambassador in moscow was informed by the russian government of the action they are taking in response. in light of their previous behavior, we anticipated a response of this kind and we will consider our next steps in the coming days alongside our allies and partners. but russia's response doesn't change the facts of the matter.

the attempted assassination of two people on british soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than the russian state was culpable. >> so what you can expect really natalie over the coming day as we enter this new week tomorrow will be the british trying to get further pressure put on moscow both internally within britain, but also leaning on its eu partners to try and go further than just words and backing its position and in taking on the russian president. another interesting thing to keep in mind is that the labor party here in the uk having been crit sized for its stance on the skripal poisoning so far could seek to get further measures introduced that would target some of the wealthy russians that use london very much as their base. so you can expect this story to rumble on and for london to seek more objection ov

more actions over the coming days. >> thank you so much melissa bell. thank you jill dougherty in moscow and matthew chance at the polling place on this day that russia elects a president. thank you all. we have breaking news that we're following out of northern syria. the turkish president erdogan says the town center of afrin is now entirely under control of turkish forces an ally rebels. he told the audience that the flag of tush kir from the free syrian army rebels have been raised there. >> this has been yet another side chapter in all of the fighting that we've seen going in the region. this could be, though, a major turning point in turkey's operation olive branch against the kurdish ypg. the offensive was launched back in january to drive the kurdish malish about of the afrin region. anchor rah considers them a terrorist but they have been a key in the fight against isis.

>> we have ben weidemann following the story live in beirut, lebanon. talk fous about the implications of turkey taking full control of the town center of afrin. >> reporter: well, what it i peers is that they haven't yet taken entire control of the city. we've seen video of turkish tanks in the main square in front of the city council and the turkish flag raids over that city council. according to both the free syrian army, the rebel factions that are armed and trained by the turks as well as the turkish army's twitter account, they are engaged in dismantling or defusing mines and boobytraps that were left behind by the ypg in the city. the implications are huge. this was an operation that the turks began on the 20th of january. initially they were encountering some fairly stiff resistance but

it appears that the ypg militia has essentially pulled out of the decide in tcity. this is what the goal of the turkish forces in -- engaging in this offensive was. now, what's interesting is that the americans have been largely silent as this operation has continued merely urging the turks to minimize civilian casualties. and of course the ypg was one of the essential allies of the united states when it was fighting isis in the eastern part of syria. the americans, however, seem to have stood by and watched as their kurdish allies have been malled by the turks. >> it's a complicated cast of the characters in this situation, but it seems that turkey claiming a bit of victory here. ben weidemann live for us. thank you for the context and we'll stay in touch with you.

the porn actress versus the president. new details from the latest court filings in the stormy daniels lawsuit. we'll also have how the first lady is responding to her husband's alleged infidelity. plus, china is not happy about president trump's signing of a new u.s. law regarding taiwan. we'll have that story live from beijing as cnn "newsroom" continues. 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. and at our factory in boston, more than a thousand workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. yes or no?gin. do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet?

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our top stories, special counsel robert mueller has the notes taken by the fbi former number two man andrew mccabe. those notes detail his meetings with donald trump. mccabe was fired friday. no word yet what those notes contain or how they might be used. the british prime minister theresa may said the united kingdom is considering its next move in a diplomatic showdown with moscow. they have ordered 23 british diplomats out of russia. that the matches the number of russians ordered out of britain after a former russian spy was found poisoned in southern england. cheen knees premier is officially starting his second term. the president xi jinping appointed him earlier. mr. xi is also starting a new term after parliament approved and he to presidential term limits. turkish president erdogan says that his forces have seized town center of afrin along with

allied rebels. it has been held by the kurdish ypg militia. turkish launched a rescue back in january. president trump's legal team is snou officially involved in the matter of stormy daniels. attorneys for donald trump himself filed papers claiming that the porn star could owe as much as $20 million for violating an agreement about keeping quiet with her alleged affair with the president. he denies that affair ever happened. >> mr. trump's lawyers also want the case moved from state to federal court and are asking the matter stay behind closed doors and away from the public. speaking with our anna cabrera earlier, stormy daniels lawyer says his team's ready to fight. >> we're not surprised at the effort to move it to federal court. irrelevant regardless whether it's in state court or federal court we're prepared to fully litigate it.

i had the good fortunate just april last year of securing $454 million jury verdict in that federal courthouse, that very courthouse that they removed the case to. we're very familiar with the judges there, we very familiar with how smart they are and how deep the bench is, if you will, and we're prepared to litigate it whether it be in state court or federal court. >> not backing down as they face the u.s. president, his team of lawyers. as stories of mr. trump's affairs get the world's attention many may be wondering how this will be affecting the first lady. >> but they won't find out from her. the first lady is keeping to her safe for now. >> do you think the sprpresidens watching right now? >> i like to imagine him. >> i don't want to imagine him. >> reporter: stormy daniels may be speaking out, about melania trump certainly is not. despite the porn star's claims that she had an affair with donald trump, the first lady has

remained silent on the matter. in fact, soon after the story broke, melania trump canceled a previously announced trip to switzerland with her husband, quietly visited the holocaust museum in d.c., and made an unexplained solo trip to mar-a-lago. the white house telling cnn the first lady is entitled to some privacy. instead of the vulgar headlines and talk of hush money, mrs. trump has remained focussed on her duties as first lady and at least at times keeping her distance from the president. the stormy cloud hung over the president's state of the union address with the first lady arriving separately from the president, a break with longstanding tradition. that was january 30th. and the first couple hadn't been seen together at an official public event since new year's eve. weeks later in mid-february news of another alleged affair from 2006 with a former playboy play mate. trump denied it but after the story broke as the couple

departed for mar-a-lago, melania decided to skip the ride in marine one instead take her own ride to air force base where she met her husband on air force one. >> that same month mrs. trump did appear briefly after the president after the shooting in parkland, florida. and she also went alon on a day trip to ohio but she skipped her speech instead going to akron chin's hospital. reports that stormny daniels received a payoff reportedly blind side the first lady which may explain her low profile. still, this was hardly the first time she's had to deal with her husk accused of cheating or inappropriate behavior. >> i'm automatically attracted to -- it's like a magnet. >> reporter: mrs. trump was quick to dismiss that whole saga as mere boy talk. >> he was lead open like egg on

from host to say dirty and bad stuff. >> reporter: she defended her husband again when multiple women came forward accusing him of kissing and groping hem. mr. trump has denied it all. >> i believe my husband. i believe my husband the did they ever check the background of these women? they don't have any facts. >> reporter: facts may be just what melania trump is situating for before she breaks her silence again. randy kay, cnn, new york. now we turn to a story involving the trump campaign and social media. it concerns those facebook personality quizzes that you might have taken. but it looks like the results don't just disappear when the test is over. facebook says it's suspending a data firm with ties to the trump campaign for allegedly using information from the quizzes without users' permission in

order to target voters. >> that firm denies violating facebook's terms but earlier cnn senior media correspondent brian stelter spoke with our colleague anna cabrera to explain how this happened. >> cambridge analytica in its infancy who created this personality quiz, it created this app on facebook. listen, i've done some of these, you've probably done some of these. most of these are just fine, there's no evil purpose behind them. but in this case, this personality quiz which about 250,000 people took, the data from it was then used by this professor and then handed off to cambridge analytic ka and then used to create profiles of voters. now what's remarkable about this, you start with those 270,000 people, then you connect all their friends and before you know it you have 50 million facebook users's information. that's what was remarkable about using this personality guys and

grab so many people's data. now, cambridge analytica says we didn't use the facebook data to help the trump campaign but a whistleblower begs to differ. he's given interview to the guardian in the uk and "the new york times" in the u.s. he says he has a lot of regrets about how he worked with cambridge analytica on this data project. sth what said to the guardian in the sin sane. the company that created psychological pro fiefls 230 million americans now they want to get contracts and work with the pentagon? it's like nixon on steroids. that's high this matter snou on a writer -- the election is long over, the 2016 election. but cambridge analytica and other companies like it are still working on harvesting vast amgts of data about voters, individuals, and trying to use that data to target ads and information to us. >> brian stelt they're speaking with anna cabrera. china is slamming president trump's signing of a new u.s. law on taiwan. the taiwan travel act encourages visits between the u.s. and

taiwan officials. china says it firmly opposes the law and that it violates the one china principle. let's bring in steven jong following the story live in beijing. steven, clearly this plays into that very delicate balance of cross strait relations. explain to our viewers why china has staked out a firm opposition to this move. >> reporter: well, george, china's swift and strong reactions are not surprising considering beijing views taiwans a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary. so the taiwan issue is really a red line in the eyes of the beijing government and they simply do not want to see any country, including the united states, cross it. now, the timing of this signing is is also very interesting of course. as you know, mr. trump has increasingly focussed on china as he addresses the huge trade imbalance the u.s. has with the rested of the world. we have heard the recent tariff announcements and also officials

have been telling tlus might be more anti-china measures that the white house is working on that could be announced in the coming weeks and months. this comes at a very delicate moment of this bilateral relationship, an important but increasingly rocky relationship. mr. xi has just officially begun his second term so this will be a big test for him as well sblu mentioned trade but china also an important factor when it comes to north korea. we'll have to wait and see where this goes from here. thank you for the reporting. in miami, florida, police say they have recovered the last victims from beneath the pedestrian bridge that collapsed thursday. crews dug through 950 tons of rubble to remove some of the last cars that were crushed. for police, investigators, and victims's families, you can imagine this process has been harrowing. >> it is heart wrenching which you do so to lose a loved one

like this. i cannot even express the empathy, the compassion that they have and the empathy that i have to have to face them. it is heart wrenching, it's hard to hold back your tears when you listen to them and you listen to every individual story. but we finally got the last victim out. and it would not have happened if not for the work of the men and women from that fire department that is one of the greatest departments i guess to me it's the greatest department in america, folks, because they did not stop. the only pause, the only pause from the rescuers was when we asked them to pause so we can pray over every victim and escort them out with our motorcycle unit to the m.e.s office. that was the only pause in work. >> as for the victims, five victims were found under that bridge. one died in the hospital. police believe the final death toll the stand at six people dead, though they plan go back

through that wreckage one more time as a precaution. hurricane maria's wrath haunts puerto rico, people there still dying nearly six months after that storm passed through. we'll tell you more about why that's happening as cnn "newsroom" continues. tip that'll crack this case wide open! turns out the prints at the crime scene- awwwww...did mcgruffy wuffy get a tippy wippy? i'm serious! we gotta move fast before- who's a good boy? is him a good boy? erg...i'm just gonna go. oh, you wanna go outside? you gotta go tinky poo-poo? i already went, ok? in the bathroom! as long as people talk baby-talk to dogs, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. jardiance is the only type 2 diabetes pill proven to both significantly reduce the chance of dying from a cardiovascular event in adults who have type 2 diabetes and heart disease... ...and lower your a1c. wow. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration.

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seeing this machine. >> that takes me back. it makes me so angry. >> reporter: when this machine for sleep apnea started work, her husband 77-year-old natalio stopped breathing in the southeastern part of the island. >> suddenly he started to shake and i saw him, like, get on the floor and i couldn't do nothing to help him. that's why i say that if we had electricity, normal electricity at the time, he could be alive still today. he could be alive. >> reporter: she blames hurricane maria for wiping out the island's power, at least 120,000 customers still don't have power nearly six months later. the night her husband died, months after the storm, merriam says their generator ran out of gas leaving her home without power for the machine her husband needed to breathe.

natalio's grave is one of many this year. cnn has identified at least five deaths from 2018 identified by families, doctors, or funeral homes as related to hurricane maria. among them, this man. his family tells us he died of a heart attack in the parking lot of the clinic waiting for the clinic to open. the mayor says after maria, the town can't afford to run the once 24-hour service. car month rodriguez martinez, he her family tells us she died because she didn't have power for the machine she depended on for oxygen. dr. arturo torres listed hurricane maria has a contributing factor on her death certificate. >> is maria still killing people? >> yes. yes. i'm sure that my case is not an isolated case since there is no electrical power in many places that would accelerate the end of the -- of the life of that

person's. >> reporter: cemetery workers tell us the number of deaths have doubled since the storm pointing pointing to dozens of graves they believe are related, graves that cemetery workers tell us will not be getting a headstone anytime soon because families can't afford them after maria. natalio's family paid $4,000 for his funeral and still owes 1,000. the death must be certified as hurricane related to get aid. but pruk's list of certified deaths hasn't changed since early december. the official death toll stands at 64, even though the government's own death statistics in 2017 show an increase of at least 1,000 more deaths after hurricane maria compared to the previous two years. the puerto rican government hazarded a review of deaths since maria. dr. torres says the elderly and those with complicated health

conditions are too vulnerable to resist the challenges brought on by maria. >> so just last week the -- >> just last week we had a death. >> do you think you'll have to write maria again on a death certificate? >> i don't discard it. my opinion, yes. >> that's hard to hear. is it hard to say? >> it's hard to say, yes. >> reporter: even harder to accept that six months later. >> it was a normal death that wasn't. >> reporter: maria is still destroying lives. layla santiago, cnn, puerto rico. listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™

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of donald trump's excabinet members with the department stature of memorable plates. >> reporter: but the dishy part was how tillerson was fired by tweet, a tweet and thenned. >> congratulations to all. congratulations, rex, you've won an all-expense-paid trip to beautiful, get the [ bleep ] out of here. >> even when you get fired from dominoes, the manager takes you into that crappy little office and tells us to your face. >> reporter: but not face to face is president trump's way when he fired fbi director comey he sent an aide with a letter to head quarts. but comey ended up hearing it on tv he's gave a speech. after tillerson was fired, obama photographer pete souza posted this picture of president obama conferring with his secretary of state captioned back in the day when our secretary of state was treated with respect. >> donald trump's spent more time firing little john than did

firing the secretary of state. >> little john, you're fired. you go out there and knock them dead. he is a great guy. >> reporter: the white house chief of staff did call tillerson so warn his toop diplomat time was up flu was nothing definitive until the tweet was posted. some are comparing it to sex in the city. why you ask is rex tillerson like carey bradshaw. >> burger broke up with me on a post-it. >> on a post-it. >> uh-huh. >> i'm sorry, i can't, don't hate me. >> a mother [ bleep ] is concise. >> reporter: more concise than president trump with his 253 character tweet. andy bore ritz's headline saying, i hope trump finds out he's impeached on twitter. who says breaking up is hard to do when you break the news like this? >> he fired him on twitter.

>> reporter: yejeanie moos, cnn new york. >> oh my. >> he was concise. all right. as for the latest rounds of white house firings, the sketch comedy show saturday night slooif putting their stamp ton. >> here's their take on jeff sessions trying to explain why former deputy trickettor mccabe was fired. >> mellow. look at me, i still got a job. >> sir, sir, you can give us the exact reason mccabe was fired? >> well, yes. of course. mr. mccabe was in clear violation because of his lack of candor, i don't know, i can't even dance around. trump made me do it. >> "snl". >> thanks for watching cnn "newsroom" i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howl. for our veers in the states, new day is next if the thanks for

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