and general charles jr., the chief of staff at the air force was asked about his thoughts of the song. he told reporters he didn't want to judge it, but added i'm sure it'll grow on us. maybe you loved it the first time you heard it, so let's see. it's out there now. it's part of the american thing. don't forget you can watch out front anytime anywhere on cnn go. ac 360 with anderson starts now. good evening. tonight what happens now that lawyers of the former president have seen their wishes fullfuled only to learn it might be more than they bargained for? they wanted a court appointed special master to scrutinize documents including ones marked top secret and higher taken from mar-a-lago. they wanted it so badly the opening line of their court filing read and i'm quoting now, politics cannot be allowed to impact the administration of justice. well, they got a special master. they proposed raymond dearie for the job.

they got him. and got more including the deadline from the review well past. today having gotten what they wanted they were called onto do something they've notably not done in any court filing or proceedings so far, namely back up what their clients and allies are suggesting saying these documents were declassified. for the government's part today they signaled their willingness to take this all the way to the supreme court. jessica schneider starts us off and joins us now. let's talk about what the trump legal team told the special master. >> yeah, well what's interesting is their response to that ultimatum from the special master where he said he might have no choice but to accept the government's claims that 100 of those documents are classified, if trump's team doesn't step windup the proof that the former president declassified them. and that's really something that trump's legal team has resisted

repeatedly asserting both in person in court and in legal filings. so, you know, we saw a filing last night and they said they may have to save any evidence of declassification to use it as a defense if trump is indicted. and then today in court trump's attorney he said the legal team -- they haven't seen the documents yet, so they said they can't fully address the declassification issues. so really they're dodging this question at every turn. and really, anderson, they've gotten themselves into somewhat of a thorny situation here where the special master is saying he needs proof or else he'll believe the government. >> separate but related in a different federal court today, the 11th circuit court of appeals in florida. the trump legal team filed its response to the justice department's appeal of the ruling that green lit the special master in the first place. >> we're waiting for word any minute now from the 11th circuit on what's next from this appeal. of course doj they're asking for two things. they want to resume using the

classified documents in what's an going criminal case. they also want to stop the special master and trump's legal team from even seeing those classified documents. so time is of the essence in that regard. now trump's team actually said in the response today they said that the appeals court shouldn't find for the government here. they said the government doesn't need to block documents. they don't need to resume using them, and so they're saying the 11th circuit should reject the appeal. interesting, anderson, once again in their filing trump's lawyers are continuing to cast doubt about whether those documents are even classified, but what's become a trend here they just refuse to offer any proof. we'll see how quickly the 11th circuit acts since really the special masters review is already moving full steam ahead here. >> if the justice department lieus its appeal in the 11th circuit how likely is it they take it to the supreme court and what kind of timetable could that involve? >> very likeliotomy go to the supreme court because the attorney arguing before doj in

court today said pretty plainly before the special master if they lose in the 11th circuit to trump's team that this will be appealed, and that means it could move next to the supreme court. how quickly is a big question. the nine justices could step in very quickly. they could sit on it a while but given this case involves classified documents in dispute that could be up for a special master i would think it's likely the 11th circuit could move quickly here and if the doj loses or either side appeals ultimately the supreme court would move pretty fast, too, if it gets to that point. >> jessica schneider, appreciate it. joining us now is steve miller. he is among other accomplishments in the counter terrorism for the police department. a lot to talk about. it's a little bit confusing for folks that have been following.

awhat do you make of the refusal to go on the record with their claims of declassification or not of documents? >> el, i think the difficulty for them, anderson, is that they're just right now as far as we know there doesn't seem to be evidence there really was a declassification. there doesn't seem to be an actual document either before the fact or after the fact that they would be able to present indicating that the former president had declassified the documents. the documents themselves based on the photos that was released from the fbi's search retained its classification markings, so that's against the argument that the documents were actually declassified. and there's been nobody who has come forth in their pleadings or any witness testimony or anyone they've been willing to offer under oath who's willing to go on record and say that there actually was a declassification either before or recorded after the fact, memorialized after the fact. so it doesn't seem that they

actually have facts upon which to make that argument. and so i think they're in this difficult position of arguing about classification when really the justification that they offered for requesting the special master to begin with had to do with issues of executive privilege and attorney privilege, not classified information at all. >> and john, if there was declassification by a president, there would be some sort of paper trail. i mean other agencies at the very least even the president just used a special wand he invented and did this, other agencies would have written that down. he used the wand and now these documents are no longer classified. >> exactly right. a former president can't classify or declassify anything. if he did it when he was president he would have to give that instruction for someone in the white house to then notify the agency that produced that document this is unclassified. so far there is zero evidence that any of that ever happened. >> so how concerned would

intelligence officials be, folks at the fbi who want to continue this investigation are being hamstrung about the -- the delay in their ability to actually use these documents, to look at them, investigate them, and also even protect any assets overseas or anywhere who may be damaged by them. >> there's so much there. first of all, the fbi is concerned with there are 40 color sheets from secret to top secret and other classifications that didn't have documents inside them. where are those documents? are some of those the documents that were separated from their cover sheets that were part of those 100? by not being able by the court's order to continue their investigation by reviewing those documents, the clock has stopped on that. the other question is so who saw those documents? how did they get to mar-a-lago? did they come in that moving truck that arrived on january 20th? were they handled by people who were completely not cleared to

handle them? were they seen by people? did a foreign service get an employee in mar-a-lago with a lock pick and go through this? all of that is part of the potential damage assessment and the investigation that's been halted. >> all the talk about whether the documents were classified obviously it's why the stakes are so high. how much does it actually matter to the government's case. does the law prohibiting unauthorized a distinction between classified and nonclassified? >> there's different departments of the justice department investigating, so under the espionage statutes, the mishandling of information, that provision, what they're investigating generally pertains to classified information. but there also is the retention of government documents. the archives ability to get back the documents. so the former president's holding onto these documents is -- was not okay from the

perspective of holding onto former documents. in my judgment it's the classified nature of the documents, though, anderson, that prompted the physical search at mar-a-lago. i have a hard time believing that they would have gone to those lengths had there not been these national security actors at play. >> if they're at logger heads now and trump says for whatever reason we're not going to produce the information for declassification, how does that get resolved? does the judge then rule i have to show something or i'm going by what the department of justice is saying? >> well, the default is the judiciary would defer to the executive branch anyway. so there's no reason why the judge in this stance should depart from that anyway, absent any kind of evidence to begin with. but the normal process is that the judicial branch writ large defers to the executive branch on matters of classification. that would have been his practice when he was a fisa

court judge. >> if you're in the intelligence community, john, and you're seeing the fbi and the doj getting hung up, how concerned must they be about just the ability to mitigate any damage to overseas intelligence? >> well, the intelligence community hates this whole thing. they hated how classified documents were handled in the trump white house, not just after he was president where they were left around and it was hard to keep track of who had them or seen them. lots of people who work in the white house don't even have top secret clearances. they're appalled at the idea it was suggested by a judge that the special master should determine what's classified. as carrie said, that's something for the intelligence community and the executive branch, not the judiciary. they're upset at the idea now a codary of lawyers are asking to have access to these documents and others, and these are very tightly held secrets --

>> they were. >> and once you bring in this crowd and bait they're getting less and less secret. that's putting the techniques used to find these secrets in jeopardy and the human beings who turned over these secrets overseas in danger. >> as you said mar-a-lago is a club. all you have to do is pay a couple hundred thousand dollars and any shady character can do it. we know the president has a history of hiring people with dubious documentation. late today we learned the house january 6th select committee's next public hearing will be on the 28th of this month. chairman benny thompson who broke the news said barring any developments it'll be the last. congressman, appreciate you getting in -- being here for yus us. what's your reaction to how this fight over the mar-a-lago documents is playing out in court particularly that the trump legal team won't actually go on record with the former president's claims about declassifying the documents? >> well, i don't want to

speculate, but i've got to imagine that people don't want to add perjury to the list of offenses he's got to deal with. as john bolten publicly speculated, it's almost certainly a lie that donald trump had somehow attempted to declassify before in prior cases of declassification there had been some kind of executive order or a memorandum, and there's just no evidence to support it. it's also pretty much irrelevant to the offenses he's being investigated for, you know, like obstruction of justice, like concealment of evidence or concealment of military defense secrets. it doesn't have to be classified information, so it might not be relevant at all, and almost certainly completely fanciful on the part of the former president. >> as we mentioned a week ago

the committee sent a letter in the national archives asking for an assessment whether there are any presidential records still unaccounted for in the former president's possession. do you have any new information on that? >> no new information on that. >> you know, john miller earlier was talking about in those photographs that the justice department have that there are sleeves notifying -- indicating they had classified information that are empty that don't have documents in it. do you know what that means, exactly? is that just those documents were elsewhere or those documents are missing? >> yeah, i think that's part of the mystery of that case. of course, you know, our select committee on the january 6th attack is not interested in all of these crimes related -- potential crimes related to the

pilfering of information and the concealment of evidence and so on. we're focused on the january 6th events and the causes behind them. to the extent that things surfaced in that mar-a-lago investigation that bear upon our investigation, and of course we would be interested. but it looks as if in classic donald trump manner that's just a completely different set of crimes. >> in terms of your committee, the january 6th select committee's investigation we mentioned late today there'll be a hearing next wednesday and supposedly the last. can you talk about what the focus will be, whether there'll be live witnesses appearing before the committee, and will it be the last? >> well, i think it's very likely to be our last investigative fact finding hearing. there could be a final hearing on the legislative recommendations that the

committee makes, but that's not been decided yet. but we feel as if we've come to the end of our work but there are a bunch of loose ends that we can tie up here. we think we've got, you know, very strong evidences to the different elements of the attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, and we're going to try to lock that in our final hearing. i'm also very interested in the whole question raised by one of our prior witnesses, judge luding, to what extent do we still face a clear and present danger to democratic institutions. and i think that most if not all of us are convinced that clear and present danger is still out there and that we really need to fortify democratic institutions against the threat of coups, insurrections, political violence and systematic electoral sabotage.

>> congressman raskin, i appreciate it. thank you. coming up next what new video reveals about the 2020 georgia fake elector who claims she wasn't, quote, permly ininvolved, unquote in the data breach the subject of a criminal probe. and what another group of migrants says they were offered to get on a plane. [zoom call] ...pivot... work bye. vacation hi! book with priceline. 'cause when you save more, you can “no way!” more. wayyyy. no waaayyy! [phone ringing]

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we're carvana we created a brand new way for you to sell your car go to carvana answer a few questions and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds we'll come to you pay you on the spot then pick up your car that's it at carvana new developments tonight in a story that began the day after supporters of the former president stormed the capitol. on january 7, 2021, one of his supporters accessed voting data. it was caught on surveillance video. two weeks ago one of the people caught on camera denied any personal involvement. well, tonight new video appears to undermine that claim. more from cnn's drew griffon. >> reporter: the newly obtained surveillance video shows a republican county official and a

team of operatives working for trump attorney sydney powell inside a restricted area of the local elections office in coffey county, georgia. among those seen kathy lathem, a former gop chairwoman of coffey county who's under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elector in 2020. although she can be seen escorting she was not personally involved in the breach. but the video appears to undercut that claim, showing her inside as a team of republican operatives work on computers near election equipment and proceed to access voting data. scott hall, an atlanta bail bondsman and fulton county republican poll watcher, is one of the people who spent hours inside the restricted area. and in audio obtained by cnn hall later described what he did. >> i'm the guy that chartered to go down to coffey county to have

them inspect all of those computers. and i've heard zero, okay? i went down there. we scanned every freaking ballot, and they scanned all the equipment, imaged all the hard drives and scanned every single ballot. >> reporter: the georgia secretary of state's office calls what happened in coffee county criminal behavior, and a state criminal investigation is under way. but election experts say the damage could be even bigger than the illegal acsiscessing of vot equipment in georgia and other parts of the country. these operatives may be undermining the security of elections in the future. >> in most cases to complete a successful attack you need physical access to the machines. and so these efforts to unlawfully gain access to the machines opens up a new threat that we haven't seen in the past. >> reporter: and the video shows the access to this restricted elections office went on for

weeks. people connected to efforts to overturn election results kept showing up. new video shows an i.t. specialist working with election deniers named jeffrey lindbergh entering the restricted area more than two weeks after the initial breach. lindbergh is under criminal investigation by a special prosecutor in michigan in a series of voting system breaches there. in a recent interview he said he didn't personally breach the machines in what he called testing. >> all the testing, all the equipment was operated by the local certified election officials there. we didn't -- we didn't touch it. >> andrew griffon joins us. do we know what kind of data may have been compromised and what these people may have done with it? >> reporter: we don't know what they've done with it. we do know what was compromised, and that was as they said in that report and we heard from various depositions. they scanned everything,

anderson. the voting system software, the ballots, how these machines worked. what they were planning to do with it, we don't know. what they were looking for we sort of know. they were looking for any evidence that in this small, rural, mostly republican county they were looking for any discrepancy in the vote so they could challenge the entire state of georgia's votes. they obviously didn't find it. the woman who let them in probably sympathetic was that kathy lathem. she's the republican county chair person down there or was -- let them through the door. despite even today's report her attorney is adamant she did nothing wrong, in fact sending us a statement saying ms. lathem has not acted improperly or illegally. anderson, we're going to find out. there's plenty of investigations here in georgia and other swing states where these breach teams did this very same activity. >> drew griffin, appreciate it. thank you. i want to get perspective now from christopher krebs, who

famously said the 2020 election was not rigged and got fired. you called the 2020 election the most secure election in history, after which as we mentioned president trump fired you. what is your reaction seeing this new footage of partisan political operatives being given access to restricted areas, sensitive election machines and data? >> well, anderson, first off it was not just the most secure, it was the most litigated, most scrutinized, most ozted election in american history. and those claims continue to hold up. the concern here where you have local election officials opening up systems to basically randos. we know who the people are that are accessing them, but they're in no way qualified to look at election systems forensically or otherwise. if the election officials have concerns their responsibility, their duty was to contact the secretary of state brad

raffensperger, who, by the way was a republican much like the county leadership. or you call law enforcement. you call the georgia bureau of investigation or other attorneys general. so their claims don't hold water. and my greatest concern here is that perhaps we are under-reacting for what was a multi-state unauthorized, unconstitutional access to election systems. and to the prior point by the protect democracy legal representative is, yes, we have systems that have we fully uncovered the degree of access. and those systems needs to be verified all over once again. >> is there any innocuous reason to grant physical access to such a sensitive site to a bail bondman and other associates of sydney powell? >> not that i can think of, no, of course not. again, there are processes in place. and the duty is to contact the appropriate law enforcement official and the -- you know, the relevant state authority.

and again, that is the secretary of state in atlanta. >> i mean what i don't understand is how does something like this even happen? i know the mishegoss that was that time period. the woman who's been named as the primary contact of the visit, the former chair who's also under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elector in 2020, i mean is it really that easy to -- when they say breach voting systems, what does that really mean? >> well, they had physical access so they could, you know, tap into the systems through whatever available ports there were. you know, anyhow how you stick usb drives into systems, they can also open them up and access some of the memory or otherwise. but, look, the unfortunate thing is that the coffee county election official or the republican party official was a victim here. and i know that sounds crazy but she was kind. she fell into the grift that the

former president started the summer before the election and or the hangers on including sis sydney powell and others continued to amplify. there was a great story out of the "the washington post" today about the system that emanated out of the false election claims. they make money on a daily basis on this nonsense. >> you're saying the grift continues by giving lectures, having symposiums people come and pay money to get a card to make them a super secret operative like you used to get in a comic book? >> well, i mean, that's actually the more i think innocuous or innocent aspect of it. i think the greatest peril to democracy right now is candidates for statewide office like doug mastriano of pennsylvania, he continues to talk about decertifying the election. there was a great interview with the secretary of state republican candidate in arizona,

mark finchem, who talked about if in the event joe biden, if he ran again in 2024 and he won the statewide he certify. and he remarked that would be a fantasyland. so we are way, way, way through the looking glass here, and i have significant concerns about those that are in positions of responsibility and accountability that may be elected in '22 actually delivering for democracy in '24. >> great to have you on. thank you so much. just ahead last week it was florida governor ron santis throwing migrants to martha's vineyard. today a texas sheriff says there are plans for a flight much closer to home for president biden. plus a look about what these migrants are being told about where they're being sentnt.

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the democratic sheriff in texas conducting a criminal investigation. how migrants in san antonio were eventually flown the martha's vineyard last week told cnn a similar flight was postponed today at the last minute. florida governor ron desantis has spent the last nine months teasing the idea he'd ship migrants to delaware and other places. the recent flights and bus drives of migrants are a visible protest towards what they say

the biden administration's ineffective border policy. president biden was also asked about the possible flight today. >> do you have any comment or response to that, sir? >> more now from cnn's ed lavandera who's in san antonio. >> reporter: the streets around this city run migrant shelters in san antonio are confusing for hundreds of migrants crossing the border seeking asylum and have stopped into the swamp of american immigration politics. we met these men one from cuba, the other from venezuela. they'd heard about the plane florida governor ron desantis sent here to move some 50 migrants out of texas last week. they told us they'd just been offered a similar deal on

monday. of course he said we were told there'd be plenty of work and not so many migrants. they offered you a flight to another state but you didn't know where it was going to be. he says they pulled up next to us in beautiful trucks. they offered us hotel rooms with a pool and a gift card for food, and they told us they could take us on a flight where we will be taken to a refuge. they rejected the offer because they said it felt strange. attorneys for some of the dozens of migrants transported from texas to martha's vineyard have filed a class action lawsuit against florida governor ron desantis in federal court claiming they were deprived their liberty and due process over an unlawful goal and a personal political agenda. this after the bear county sheriff in texas says his office is opening a criminal investigation into the matter. >> if, in fact, these people

were lied to as they say they were and were taken under false pretenses to another part of the country it could qualify as a human trafficking case. >> reporter: even though the migrants weren't in his state florida governor ron desantis has claimed responsibility for sending them to massachusetts and defended the process tuesday saying those migrants were treated poorly by the biden administration. >> they were hungry, homeless. they had no -- no opportunity at all. the state of florida, it was volunteer, offered transport to sanctuary jurisdictions because it's our view that, one, the border should be secure. and we want to have biden reinstitute policies like remain in mexico and make sure people aren't overwhelming. >> reporter: state budget records show the florida department of transportation paid 950,000 taxpayer dollars to systems, an aviation company based in florida. days after migrants were flown to martha's vineyard. according to the texas governor's office more than 8,000 migrants have been bussed

from texas to washington, d.c. and 675 to chicago. and 2,600 migrants to new york, a number that's expected to climb. >> i think the governor of texas and others are for creating this man-made humanitarian crisis. >> and cnn's ed lavandera joins us now. as we mentioned earlier the rum bllgs is it clear what happened there? >> reporter: it's not exactly clear what has happened. we've been trying to chase that down all day. we just know from what we can tell so far it didn't materialize. >> appreciate it, thanks. just ahead coauthorsf a new book restoring faith on elections, the state of our democracy, and where it's headed next. newfound happiness and zero surprises. and all of us will stop at nothing to drive y you happy. we'll drive you happy at carvana.

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prop 27 sends 90% of profits to out-of-state corporations in places like new york and boston. no wonder it's so popular... out there. yeah! i can't believe those idiots are going to fall for this. 90%! hey mark, did you know california

is sending us all their money? suckers. -those idiots! [ laughter ] imagine that, a whole state made up of suckers. vote no on 27. it's a terrible deal for california. we win. you lose. earlier in the ram we talked to jamie raskin who sits on the january 6th committee. a possible final hearing scheduled in eight days. also how to fortify them. it's also the topic of a fascinating new book by my guest, the chief washington correspondent for cbs news and david becker, executive director for the center of election innovation and research. they are coauthors of "the big

truth up holding democracy in the age of lies." major, you spent a lot of time outside the beltway to look at what's happening in states across the country. how concerned are you about the vulnerabilities? >> so i talked to election officials, and we've talked to election officials. that's david's life work, but i've sort of become intensely fascinated with this part of american democracy over the last t few years. and there's two levels of concern. that's a deeply flawed perspective on american democracy, very dangerous. and the other is that skepticism or outright hostility manifests itself in violence in the mid-term elections or in 2024 or just the continued harassment of people who used to be viewed as what they are, their neighbors. elections in america are magnificently decentralized and localized.

if you think there was a conspiracy in the 2020 election that means your neighbor was a conspirator. that's not true. we all know that deep in our hearts and the well of our souls as americans. we know that, and that's what they're worried about. >> yet as you document in the book there's an industry -- there's a lot of money being made by people. you look at a lot of people out there on television, it does seem for many of them to be a grift. they're actually profiting off of this. >> and the sad thing is the targets of that grift are supporters of the former president, the losing presidential candidate. the people who including the former president himself are targeting their own supporters and telling them a web of lies about the security of the 2020 election, which we document in the book was the most secure, transparent, and verified election in american history. >> you write in the book you have, quote, deep but not debilitating fears. has anything that's happened between finishing the book and now that has made your fears deeper or any less debilitating or more debilitating?

>> my fears are a little bit deeper right now particularly around the potential for political violence. i think the election officials are going to have a run a good election. i think we'll have high turn out. for most voters they'll find the process to be really convenient. we talk a lot about the problems in voting, but 99% of voters have no problems in voting whatsoever. but there is a strong possibility given some of the candidates all over the country that if they lose they might claim an election theft which will then incite their followers to -- >> how will things get better? what are the steps that are necessary? >> so one of the remedies is to back away from what we describe as a new abyss in our cultural civic life. and that abyss is elections only are legitimate if my side wins. if we on any level continue to go down this road, and the other party -- and i'm not saying it would be because this is

primarily a problem with a certain faction of the republican party. but if democrats on different baess were to say the sing thing about elections than we live in a country where the legitimacy our elections conifer on an elected leader disappears and with it the very foundations of american democracy. >> how do you fex it when we know we have in the upcoming mid-terms and states you have people running to the lection officials who are election deniers am. >> i think one of the things happening right now that is a reason for some opticism is finally it looks like there might be some accountability for those who have engaged in criminal conduct. at the state level, at the federal level, whether it's the investigation going on with the department of justice or from the january 6th select committee or even in fulton county, georgia. >> and that would have an impact, you think? >> i think it will. i think we need to hold people accountable for their actions in inciting violence and conspiring to commit a coup against the

united states, and i think we're moving in that direction. and we need to further support election officials. that's the really important part here. they feel as if they're not adequately being supported and protected right now. they're really heroes of our democracy. >> and i would urge voters to use as a litmus test republicans who in a primary state an election was stolen but in a general election say i'm not so sure. that means they're perpetrating a hoax within their own party based on a lie and then trying to absolve themselves of telling that lie simply to become a party's nominee. that is a nasty and deeply dangerous way to try to assume and collect and hold political power. >> it is the story of our times. thank you. so important. i really appreciate it. >> thank you, anderson. >> again, the book "the big truth, upholding democracy in the age of the big lie." up next we take you to the tense fighting on the front lines.

and also how russia could be taking a first step to annex parts of the country. ♪ ♪ ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card.

in the coming days in ukraine and moscow installed leaders in four unoccupied leaders with. at the nation, they denounced the effort saying, quote, it will not change anything and the as you say calling the plan a sham. tonight, cnn's nick paton walsh gives us an upclose look at the battle in a key city in eastern ukraine where russian forces are trying to close in despite setbacks in other areas and ukrainian forces are fighting back. here's his report. >> reporter: the mood here is black and old. from a time past, ukraine didn't feel it was winning, taking heavy losses and struggling to hold on. but the russian enemy is something new. this is the very front line with russian positions literally 100 meters away from where i'm standing. the kremlin really wants the

city of bakhmut, so here on its edges, it sent ruthless mercenaries from a group to fight. the shelling, endless. we're taken to their vantage point where they are leading ukrainians to open fire. it is just over there. they say that russian mercenaries appear to try and run at them, exposing ukrainian positions so the russian artillery can hit where they are. the field between them, charred, pock marked, they are almost eyeball to eyeball. the next attack is imminent. we can see a mortar unit, the drone operator says. they're preparing to fire at us. down in the shelter, the commander says they've captured russian convicts who were recruited to fight. it was get shot or surrender for the convict, he says, wagner act

professionally, not like usual infantry units. she alway shells continue to land all around them. bakhmut is a mess. russia edging towards it, but not inside. prepared for street-to-street fighting, and meanwhile torn to pieces. the losses are heavy and exposed positions around the city, particularly here. russia's invasion tearing through the green treasured land it claims to covet. why do they want bakhmut so much? >> they retreated elsewhere and they need a victory, so they throw forces here. of course we have casualties, not today in our unit, but you can't avoid dead or wounded. i lost my close friend five days after we came here. there are still many people here

buying a lot of potatoes. we sold half a ton today, she says. who knows where the shooting's coming from or going. don't be scared, she said. 24 hours later, ukrainian artillery is hitting positions on the city's edge amid reports russia has gotten closer. much fresh smoke and it's always hard to know what moscow thought it was hitting. walking home with a squeaky wheel and food is maria back to her son. silence and terror in turn enveloping the city. >> nick paton walsh joins us from kramatorsk, ukrainian. are these calls for referendums

having any impact on the front lines? >> the only outcome will be a number of the kremlin's choosing, don't consider this to be anything democratic. it's under military law under war conditions, frankly. but it seems that by monday or tuesday moscow will declare what they have conquered basically here in ukraine as potentially part of the russian federation if today is to be believed. a lot of expectation tonight, possibly early this morning, that we might hear from russian president vladimir putin possibly outlining some new measures, maybe to endorse the referendum. they allow moscow to start acting like the parts of ukraine that they've conquered are actually part of russia. does that mean they can send different types of troops, more troops, given their man power struggles towards the fight? does that enable them to reach deeper into the less conventional parts of their

military arsenal? we'll see that ahead, certainly. but it also purts pressure on the ukrainian front lines here as well to perhaps take more rota territory as quickly as they can and disrupt the referendum in the four days ahead. we're in for a tense weekend as both sides are looking at the clock ahead of these sham votes. >> nick paton walsh, appreciate it. incredible reporting, thank you. hurricane fiona now a powerful category 3 storm. for hours it has been pounding turks and caicos after causing damage in puerto rico. we'll tell you where the storm is expected, next coming up.

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♪ (don't stop me now) 'cause i'm havin' ♪ tonight hurricane sfoin a major category 3 storm with 150-mile-per-hour winds as it pounds turks and caicos with heavy rains. the hope is the storm heads to the southeastern bahamas eventually to bermuda. at least five people have been killed across the caribbean so far and fiona dumped up to 16 inches of rain in puerto rico, causing massive flooding in some areas. puerto rico's governor expects a large portion of the island to have power restored by wednesday except in the south where there's more damage. most of the island is without clean water. san juan hopes to have 75% of water running by tonight. this is a view the coast guard got when surveying the damage. whether it's the loss of life or destruction of entire communities, grieving is a constant companion in the wake

of natural disasters. grief and loss is something that we all will face in our life, and yet it often leaves us feeling alone and isolated. it's something we don't talk enough about, i think. a new podcast, the second episode is out just this evening, early morning on wednesday. it's called "all there is." just point your phone at the qr code on your screen, you can find it on apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. next episode is out wednesday morning. stephen colbert is my guest. his dad and two teenage brothers were killed in a plane crash when he was 10 years old. it's a deep and emotional discussion and i hope you give it a listen. i want to hand it to sarah snyder. >> i am sarah snyder, and this is "cnn tonight." the governor of florida is being hit on three different fronts for sending asylum seekers from texas to martha's vineyard. today he was hit with a class action lawsuit. he's already facing a criminal investigatio