>> the former presidents chief of staff said that he documents on fire, and qanon being discussed favorably at the highest level of the white house. pamela brown here in four and eight -- released today by the january 6th committee. in both cases, testimony by cassidy hutchison, former aide to then chief of staff mark meadows. we are joined now with the very latest on the striking newly-revealed testimony, and really just some stunning details coming up this transcripts. >> yeah, we have been seeing the throughout the past few days. this one in particular, a lot of new details. not as particular leap because one of these, it days from june

2022, crucially that was right after cassidy hutchison had fired her trump world attorney, and her new attorney was really letting her correct the record and tell every truth for the committee. first thing she told the committee that she saw mark meadows burning documents in his office, fireplace. she says about a dozen times, and that amounted in her estimation to about once or twice a week. that was between december 2020 in january 2021. she says also, twice she saw meadows burning documents after meetings with republican congressman, scott perry, who of course was subpoenaed by the committee but he never complied. then in addition, cassidy hutchison told the committee how these discussions about qanon conspiracies really permeated within the white house after the election. she said not only did mark meadows bring it up but also congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. she did mention, what is this far right wing political movement that spreads these atlantis --

she said that she had this exchange with white house trade advisor, peter navarro. cassidy hudson is saying at one point, i had sarcastically said, oh, is this from your qanon friends, peter? because peter would talk to me frequently about his qanon friends. and he said, how do you looked into it yet, cass? i think that they point out a lot of good ideas, you really need to read this, make sure the chief sees it. and cassidy hutchison said i did not take this as sarcasm. pamela, of course peter navarro has been indicted for not complying with the committee's subpoenas. but as these transcripts trickle out here as we are expected throughout the week, there are a lot of crucial new details in here that we might not have seen before. >> yeah. it is just remarkable that a top administration official like peter navarro will be giving credence to qanon, and these ridiculous conspiracy theories. we are also learning more about what former white house deputy press secretary john deere told the committee, and rumors that he heard about the former president conceding during the

week after the 2020 election, what do you know? >> yeah. john deere told the committee that he really heard this all is gossip from his white house colleagues. still, it was the week after the 2020 election, he heard from him that trump in fact was considering conceding, and even inviting the bidens to the white house. so judge there said that he was looked in on these conversations, because he would have been the one arranging the press access for any sort of visit from the bidens. they are told the committee that, as he said in the week after the election, there was gossip around the building that he was seriously considering conceding, even strongly considering and inviting the president elect and the incoming first lady to the white house. of course, none of those things happen, pamela. trump refused to concede. he held on to those claims of a stolen election and of those rumors actually came to fruition. >> they didn't. but i know from my reporting at the time that white house officials, they were saying that to reporters, that is what they were hearing. very interesting. stay with us, thank you so much.

i want to bring in gloria voyager along with cnn legal analyst and former prosecutor jennifer rodgers. gloria, is there any parallel in u.s. history that you are aware of for a white house chief of staff to be burning documents in a fireplace inside of the white house? >> you, know of the top of my head i cannot think of any. even richard nixon did not bring the tape. there was a gap, but he didn't bring the tape. this is stunning. look at the timing of this. after the election, before january 6th, i think that we should point out that we do not know what those documents were, we don't know whether they were required by the archives because of the presidential records act to be preserved. but i would say that unless this was some kind of a shopping list that he was throwing inside the fireplace for these dozen times, that this is a real problem for mark meadows. what was he thinking about when he threw things in the fireplace that he thought needed to be destroyed?

>> and we know that according to the testimony from cassidy hutchinson, two of the times where after meeting with the republican congressman scott perry who tried to install jeffrey clark as head of doj. the attorney general tried to get him to investigate some of these conspiracy theories and as we know, defy the subpoena from the committee. is there any legal justification that you know of that would permit a white house chief of staff to burn documents like this? >> as gloria said, pamela, only if it was something that really has nothing to do with the job. almost everything has to be maintained in the presidential records act. it is likely that whatever was being burned was being burned in violation of the act. the problem is if you are thinking about criminal law, of, course it is not good enough to say that it probably was. you would need proof beyond a reasonable doubt. but it just gives prosecutors a reason to dig into marquee -- or they're crucial witness in

the investigation. >> we will talk a bit more about that because we know that cassidy hutchinson is already cooperating with the justice department. how do you think it fits into their investigation and doesn't give them leverage against meadows? >> they have long had a lot of leverage against mark meadows. he has been central to all of the different strains of the plot that they have been pursuing for sometime. this is just added to the pile of evidence that they want to confront mark meadows about. they will certainly be looking at meadows, so the question is, is he already talking to them, and are they treating him as a potential defendant, or a cooperating witness, that will be for doj to decide. but they will have all of those options on the table because there is so much evidence that mark meadows is not the center of this conspiracy and knew all about its various parts. >> gloria, what do you make of the fact that former trump aide, peter navarro, as well as republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene were pushing qanon conspiracy

theories inside the white house. >> it is bizarre, it is outrageous, and i never thought that i would say white house, and qanon in the same sentence. and it is remarkable to me that this even went as high as the former president himself. cassidy hudson pox about marjorie taylor greene being at a trump rally in georgia before january 6th. and this is a code from cassidy hutchinson. she was showing pictures of them, meaning qanon, traveling to washington d.c. for the rally on the sixth. what did the former president say about that? that is great? so excited to see qanon at my rally? i mean, what was that about? >> and i remember covering the white house, the president was asked multiple times about qanon and he was always reluctant to bash them or criticize them. so this adds an interesting

layer to that. cassidy hutchison also testified about how mark meadows was managing the oval office meetings during the transition period. what did she tell them? >> we're talking about mark meadows, she saw him burning documents. but it also turns out that he was giving this directive to some of the white house staff during the transition period to keep what he called a close hold on any of their meetings. and he basically said don't worry about what exactly that means, i will explain it later. but don't give any of this information out, don't leak, it don't tell anybody, and on top of that, cassidy hutchinson says that that means that none of these meetings were recorded in the oval office diaries. there is no record of them. she says that she doesn't really remember exactly what was discussed at these meetings, if anything surrounding january 6th was discussed. but it really adds this other layer to mark meadows potentially, on the one hand burning documents, now also making a conservative effort not to create any documents that were supposed to be created as a record of what was

going on at the white house. that is another concerning element to this. >> yeah. gloria, what cassidy hutchison said about this was corroborated by what sources told cnn that the white house diarist told the committee earlier this year that significantly less information about trump's calls and visits were being provided and in the days leading up to january 6th. putting all of the pieces together and knowing what was happening in the months after the election, it begs the question of what meadows was trying to keep close hold. >> and who was he trying to protect? this is the question. if the president, the former president's behavior grew more and more bizarre, if there were discussions going on inside of the oval office about january 6th, for example, or about changes at the justice department, et cetera, et cetera, which we have reported, these are important conversations that need to be archived. and when mark meadows was saying is do not tell the american people about the. do not let the american people

know what was going on in the oval office. >> gloria, jennifer, jessica, thank you so much. still to come tonight, the supreme court rules on title 42. the covid era restriction on migrants. we are going to have all of the details and we are going to lay them out for you. then later, a rise in the death toll from that epic snowstorm that bury the buffalo region. and a look at the travel nightmare that has ensued. much of it due to southwest airlines. what exactly went wrong there, we will take a look. about hydration. neutrogena® hydro boost lightweight. clinically proven. 48-hour hydration. for that healthy skin glow. neutrogena®. for people with skin. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. keep yours healthy with crest advanced gum restore. it's clinically proven to detoxify below the gumline. and, it restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days.

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administration to continue to let the title 42 expire. we want to go now to rosa flores who is in el paso tonight where officials say that 1500 migrants are crossing the border every day. rosa, what more do we know about the supreme court decision, and its impact there on the border? >> you know pamela, here on the border, and along the u.s. southern border, all of this back and forth with title 42 is really for human smugglers and human traffickers. let me put it to you like this, i can't tell you how many migrants i have talked to who say that words spread in their communities, that this was their chance to come to the united states for their american dreams because these individuals have sold everything that they own. they track their children through dangerous jungles and through multiple countries only to come to the united states border and learned that the border is actually closed. then they cut in this limbo

back and forth. i know that the biden administration has said multiple times that they have delivered the message that the border is actually closed but here is the reality. the message is not being received in a lot of these countries and so long as this back and forth continues because as you know, we have been here before, back in april and may we were doing live shots just like this talking about how title 42 is going to end. and through the court systemande shots just like this talking about how title 42 is going to end. and through the court system, they get kicked down the road for months and months, and here we are again. so all of this back and forth just gets brought to human smugglers who can then lied to individuals and countries across central and south america to tell them exactly. thought this was their chance. they are lying and they have zero regard for human life. >> it is really sad. rosa flores, thank you.

joining us now, el paso mayor. thank you so much for joining us tonight. what is your reaction to the supreme court ruling? >> i think that we have seen, as we were talking earlier, this is bigger than just title 42. we have seen the big impact that started in early august, we had quite a large number of asylum seekers coming through the border. this is a lot bigger right now than really petal 42. >> the executive director whose organization helps to run some of the shelters in el paso said this about the supreme court ruling. quote, the decision of scotus will extend the bottleneck at the border, create unsustainable pressure on border enforcement, and lead to more deaths. do you agree with that statement and the idea that keeping this border policy in place will increase the pressure on border control in the future? >> like i said, it is bigger than title 42. the city alone has done a lot to make sure that we continue

to take care of the asylum seekers. we welcome the county coliseum, we have actually also opened to schools to make sure that we have plenty of shelter. we will continue to do that. we have warming shelters all over the city. because we want to make sure that we do not lose anybody. we want to make sure that people are treated with dignity and respect and that it is not only the city of el paso, the county, our congresswoman, and everyone who has been involved within the city has been doing. that the state senator. you see in the picture that you are showing there, people out on the street, because these are people who do not want to except shelters. we actually go three times a, day and we offer them shelter. we offer them protection, and we need, and continue to do that. these are people from venezuela, who would be expelled if they went into any shelter. but that is not the, deal we will make sure that we treat them, take care of them, we want to get everybody off the street to make sure that they don't have any additional risk on there --

>> there have been dangerous freezing temperatures for people across the country. what has the effect been on el paso and the migrant population crossing the border? >> we were at 20 degrees just a few days ago and we continue to make sure that we provide shelters, and we provide housing, and we will continue to provide warming centers. but as you see in these pictures, again, we have had as many as 2500 crossings a day. and that will continue. this is well title 42 is still in place. again, this is beyond title 42, and we have had incredible support from the federal government. we have gotten about $10 million in money to be able to provide these service. but again, this is just a band-aid on a broken immigration system. the system has to be fixed, because we can't continue to go this way. we can't continue to, work whether it is el paso, all the

way up to texas borders, we can continue to go with this manner with a broken immigration system that has to be fixed, and it is bigger than the united states. they have to work with the u.n., and countries around us to be able to fix, it because again, it is a band-aid that we cannot continue to go in this way. >> thank you for your time tonight. up next, how freezing weather caused a meltdown for southwest airlines and nightmare for southwest passengers. that is far from over. how did the airline get it so wrong, and what does the ceo have to say about it? we will have details on that, up next. research shows people remember commercials with nostalgia. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's one that'll really take you back. it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual!!!

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>> the storm related death toll is now at least 54 nationwide. 31 in the buffalo area alone, which saw nearly four feet of snow and more than 37 straight hours of blizzard conditions. right now, as you can see on your screen, the big problem remains. air travel and the specific culprit is southwest airlines according to flightaware. the more than 3100 cancellations in a country today, about 85% were southwest flights. in fact, southwest today was responsible for more than half of all canceled flights on planet earth. transportation secretary, pete buttigieg, called it a mile down. >> this is an unacceptable

situation. you look at the number of passengers who were stranded. you look at how hard it is even to get somebody on the phone to address it. from what i can tell, southwest is unable to locate even wear their own crews are. let alone their own passengers, let alone baggage. >> so late today, southwest ceo put out a video statement apologizing for the mess and offering this explanation. >> the tools that we used to recover from disruptions service, 99% of the time, clearly we need to double down on our already existing plans to upgrade systems for these extreme circumstances so that we never again vase what is happening right now. >> and he added, quote we are optimistic to be back on track before next week. in a moment we'll will be joined by southwest airlines captain and vice president of the union representing south west pilots. but first, let's go to gabe cohen at the airport. so, describe what you have seen

there today. our passengers getting any help from southwest? >> well pam, we have seen travelers waiting in this line to rebook for more than three hours. some of them can't get a flight until january. for those who are calling customer service, many of them are waiting on hold for even longer. some people are literally sleeping here at the airport. so you can imagine the level of frustration here. as you mentioned, southwest ceo just put out that video statement saying and it that they will take care of the stranded customers, as he puts, that go above and beyond, offering refunds and proactively reaching out to those folks who were dealing with very costly re-routes and detours. in some cases, they are providing food, food vouchers to folks, hotels, and transportation. but, look at how spoken with quite a few travelers today who told me at this point that they are paying their way through this. there are footing the bill because they can't reach customer service. one young woman told me that she paid roughly $1,000 for a

flight home to syracuse on another airline because southwest cannot re-book her until new year's eve. and a couple trying to get to buffalo told me that they spend more than $1,000 on their hotel, on food, and on new clothing because they have been stranded here in baltimore without their luggage for four days. that says for customers like that, they can save the receipts, and submit them. those are going to be reviewed on a case by case basis. but i have got to tell you that quite a few travelers have said to me that they are skeptical and they are worried that in the end, they are going to eat these costs, even though the department of transportation is saying that they expect southwest to take care of the stranded passengers, and they are going to hold them accountable if they don't. >> that is what we heard from pete buttigieg today. right here on cnn. all right, give cohen, thank you so much for that. joining us now from denver, southwest captain, second vice president of the southwest pilot association, captain mccoy, when you hear gabe

describing what passengers have been telling him, and you see the same scene of stranded people in airports across the country with southwest responsible for the vast majority of these flight cancellations, what is your reaction? >> thanks for having me on. i can tell you that i am happy to hear that mr. jordan is finally coming to terms with the fact that we have internal problems that have perpetuated this, and caused this after the snow event that we had last wednesday. and, i do disagree with him on one thing. the tools that we have to recover from these irregular operations do not work 99% of the time. they might have work 99% of the time in the 80s and 90s, but the slides that we are at right now, if we look at meltdowns that are increasing in number, and increasing in intensity,

and the recovery times from these meltdowns are becoming longer, and longer, by the time that we are out of this one it will be well over nine days at least what they are planning to do. so when i heard passengers like that, they are showing customers that we love our jobs, we love her company, and we love our passengers. when we hear that, someone said it earlier today that we are kind of tired of apologizing on behalf of the company, because they have not given us tools to do our jobs, to complete the flights, or scheduled the cruise. this was very much self perpetuated because of the massive reassignments that the company does, and we have competitors right here in denver, united airlines for instance one for the exact same system as we did. and they didn't cancel as many flights, and the recovery is very expeditious. we are still recovering with 15,000 bags at the airport, now

we are over 15,000 canceled flights. so the tools that we identified in 2016, and brought it to the attention of the ceo, this is basically what is happening now. that is the lack of infrastructure, the scheduling system, and software that has the flight attendants to get them to the airplane. to get pilots and flight attendants to the airplane to offer something like it whether a vent. >> if the company had listened to you and your colleagues back in 2016, and i've upgraded the systems then, with this dramatic disruption still be happening, what do you think? we >> believe so. we believe it would not be happening. not to this severity. we have communication and documents that we sent to the company back in 2016 because we were a very analytical

organization. there are data driven. we show them exactly what is caught in these recovery from these meltdowns. that is reassignments, meaning pilots that are on a certain trend are supposed to fly a certain trip, get reassigned right away in massive numbers, we are talking 14 to 1500 percent increases. when the weather event happens. and the problem of the company had was the infrastructure i. t. problem, to be able to get those pilots to the airplanes. that has been going on since 2016. we identify that problem. earlier this month, we announced 400 and $20 million to shareholders. it's great. but the proportional amount has not been invested in the company infrastructure. i tybee island biggest one. that's what we are seeing the meltdowns that are getting

worse and, worse the recovery is becoming impossible. >> it's interesting, the context here, according to the wall street journal, southwest has grown in the past few years, expanding to 18 new cities, becoming profitable again after the pandemic. i was just reading the ceos bio, and apparently he used to be in charge of technology for southwest. in fact, that's how we started his job at southwest. there is a lot more questions that these races. but captain tom nwaokorie, thank you for helping us better understand the thinking of the other captains for the southwest. we appreciate it. up next, first condemnation from the true challenge congressman elect george santos, occluded from the low new york republicans, not to mention a republican jewish group that is not amused by the fact he was jewish in claim only.

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>> two incoming new york house republicans delay today they condemn the congressman elect, george santos. what is calling for an ethics probe. also today, the republican jewish coalition issued a condemnation of their own. the reason? when he said this to the organization about being jewish, he was lying. >> shabad shalom to everybody.

thank you for being here, thank you for having me, my name is george santos. i would be remiss if i did i acknowledge my good friend lee zeldin really paved the way for all of us in new york. [applause] lee has served as an inspiration, a friend, and a leader for the jewish folks in congress and all of us in this room. at one point, just being two members. now we are going to be three. [laughter] >> again, that claim that his election to congress would make the third jewish republican in the house was a lie. and it was not the only lie he told the who he is, where he, worked, his education, and more. he is now trying to explain it all away and how he is going about does not seem to be helping his case. more now from cnn's eva mckend. >> an admission. >> did i embellish my resume? yes, i did. >> and an apology. >> and i'm sorry, it should not be done. >> after a week of controversy, congressman elect george santos

fessing up to lying on the campaign trail about parts of his resume, as he seeks to minimize and defend the extent of his tall tales from everything from his education and work history to his philanthropic pursuit and jewish heritage. >> i apologize if anybody feels hurt or betrayed. i will gain everybody's trust back. and making sure they do not forget why they voted for me in the first place, which was to get stuff done. >> desantis has boasted working for investment banks, citigroup and goldman sachs. he now admits he did not. the congressman elect claimed he received degrees from both nyu and root college, he now says he did not. but he maintains he is not a criminal and still intends to work in congress. >> i am not resigning. if i have to leave congress, it will be by a pink slip by the voters november of 2024. >> then there are the questions surrounding the alleged jewish heritage.

>> we're no stranger to persecution, my grandfather fleeing ukraine in 1920s to belgium, then fleeing belgium to brazil in 1940. >> those claims were contradicted by family trees compiled by genealogy websites. records on jewish refugees and, interviews with multiple genealogists. one professional genealogist spoke to cnn said there was no sign of jewish and or ukrainian heritage. and no indication of name changes along the way. santos now saying he never claimed to be jewish. >> i always joke that i'm catholic, but i'm also jew-ish, as in-ish. i made that joke because growing up, i grew up fully aware that my grandparents were jewish. >> cnn learning that santos described himself as a proud american jew in a document he shared with prominent jewish groups. >> chabad shalom to everybody. >> santos drawing the ire of

the gop jewish coalition, say they were deceived. sanders will no longer be welcomed at our juicy events. >> i'm not a fraud, i'm not a cartoon character, i'm not some mythical creature that was invented. i'm no russian puppet. >> wow, eva mckend joins us now. eva, i was on the phone tonight with a gop house member who said, quote, look, nobody wants to be associated with him other than marjorie taylor greene. and they say house republican leader mccarthy should speak out and say santos won't be given any committee assignments at the very least. what else are you hearing from republican lawmakers about this? >> pam, what we are hearing publicly about these republicans, they clearly differ from what we are seeing privately. publicly, to long island, two incoming congressman have come forward with one calling for a house ethics committee investigation, and potentially a law enforcement probe too. for the most part, they are following kevin mccarthy's lead. staying silent as the whole episode continues to play out.

>> yeah, eva mckend, thank you so much, the perspective from political commentator and former republican pennsylvania republican -- congressman charlie dent. congressman, as we noted, there is already one republican calling for an ethics investigation. how do you see this playing out? >> first, let me just say this gentlemen, mr. santos, will have a lot of problems. he has already become a distraction and an embarrassment for the part. i suspect he will be seated, he will come under tremendous pressure to resign. you know, last night i thought most of his problems are political rather than legal. although, i'm starting to think that he has some real problems with his financial disclosures. based on what i read, in a news source from the washington post, he reported that in 2020 he had earned a 5000-dollar commission and had no assets. when he ran a 22, he filed a

financial disclosure suggesting he was worth millions of dollars. he even land, according to the fcc, 580,000 to 1 of his political committees. you better be truthful if you are signing those financial disclosures to the house. they are criminal violations for those types of errors. by the way, i have to be clear, members routinely had incidental errors or omissions on the financial disclosures, and they usually amended them quickly, but they are minor errors or oversights. but if there are serious discrepancies here, that will invite real scrutiny from, i suspect, law enforcement. i think he has a lot of problems. by the way, i served at a time as well, pamela, when members, and i was chair of the ethics committee for eight years, i saw a lot of dirty laundry. meaning, i remember the kissing congressman, forced to resign. another one from maryland, infidelity, he resigned. anthony weiner resigned at that time, it was not a criminal matter.

another one had tickle fights with his staff. he resigned. and there was a long list of members. one had a minor drug infraction. he resigned. oftentimes, they resigned to avoid further embarrassment and shame to themselves and to the families. but also to protect the institution. the leaders usually stepped in. the speaker and the minority leader, depending which party, they would step in and try to force a resignation. i suspect that's what should happen here. whether or not the republican leader, that will be kevin mccarthy, if he becomes the speaker, if he does that or not, i don't know. this will be a real problem for him. >> it's interesting, you have this added twist of kevin mccarthy needs his vote, right? to become speaker. as i spoke to eva, i spoke to wonderful tonight, who said look, republicans need to come out hard on this. this person had. not there have only been to that i've seen from new york have come out and publicly and said something. do you expect that to increase?

do you expect to eventually hear from kevin mccarthy? do you expect action to be taken? >> well, i think at some point kevin mccarthy will have to respond to the questions. they are going to be coming back to session on january the 3rd for the vote of speaker, i suspect questions will be raised at that time. and i suspect he will have to answer around that time. again, i don't think he -- i think he will be seated. look, he is not the first congressman to lie on his resume. his were agreed to flies, obviously. but he's got to deal with that. i don't think anything was going to happen to him before january 3rd when they have the speaker vote. >> all right, we will have to wait and see. it seems like it gets worse with each passing day. charlie dent, thank you so much. still ahead, the country is struggling to contain the fentanyl crisis. we will introduce you to the

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in >> 2021 the cdc says that more than 21,000 -- u.s. die due to overdosing on synthetic opioids. mostly fentanyl. a 23% jump from the previous year. cnn's josh campbell spoke to the parents of one teen that

died after taking a fentanyl laced pill, and tried to sound the alarm for other families. >> i found zach asleep at his desk, his head was laying on his arm. i could feel it before i even touched him that something was horribly wrong. >> every parent's worst nightmare. 17 year old zach didier found unresponsive in his room two days after christmas of 2020. medics arrived and began resuscitation efforts. but it was too late. >> i started resuming cpr. he just they just stood there, i got mad at them, i said guys, help me save my boy. when they didn't, i started trying to talk to zach. begged him, don't go. come back. please come back. do not go. >> i walked up and said, our baby is gone. >> we sat down with chris and lori didier inside of zach's old high school theater

classroom, surrounded by memories of their son. >> he loved school. he loved sports. he starred in the musical. zak was such a stellar young man. he always wanted to help other people. >> zach's sudden death unnaturally mistreat investigators. but the plaster county corner near sacramento had two theories on the davis debt, either an undetected medical issue or fentanyl. >> that further spiraled us into confusion. >> debilitating confusion, why would you say that word? we had no red flags of zach having struggles with any kind of addiction or depression. >> nine out of every ten overdose deaths in teenagers involves opioids. most commonly, it involves fentanyl. >> doctor scott haviland's head of adolescents and young adult medicine at boston's mask general for children's hospital.

>> fentanyl is so potent, that teens, particularly teens that never used an opioid before and have no tolerance to them, can die really quickly. we are talking within seconds to minutes. >> new cdc data indicates the most common place for teens to overdose is at home. experts say there are various reasons they turn to pills. >> two out of every five teens who overdose have a history of struggling with depression, anxiety, or other mental health problems. in many cases, these problems have gone unaddressed. >> in los angeles county alone, health officials recently announced accidental fentanyl overdoses skyrocketed over 1200 percent from 2016 to 2021. >> the problem is very serious. not just in the city of l. a., but nationwide. >> to understand where many teens are obtaining fentanyl, we spoke with an lapd narcotics detective. we agreed not to name him as his work deals with undercover operations. >> the most personal sites are facebook marketplace, instagram, and snapchat.

if you are buying it on a social media account, or buying it from someone on the street or a friend, than most likely it's going to be counterfeit. >> we look at the photos, the fake pill just looks like the real pill. >> they sure do. the dealer's main objective is to get you hooked. if you don't die from it, then you are a customer for as long as you live. >> in zach's case, his parents say even a drug dealer on snapchat who sold him a deadly fentanyl pill that zach thought was the pain reliever percocet. >> zach's case was the first for a county dealing with whether or not to hold someone who provides drugs to someone else who ultimately dies, whether or not to hold him responsible for their death. and if so, how much? the message to dealers is we are fed up, we are tired of seeing young people die in our communities. >> zach's dealer was sentenced to 17 years in prison. but plaster counties -- who advocated for aggressive charges on dealers says prosecution alone won't solve the fentanyl crisis. >> the solution will be education and awareness. talking to parents, talking to

teachers. >> i had a lot of struggles with them. >> warning families about the r danger that fentanyl become a life mission for that parents, they spent countless hours going into schools, telling their shattering story. >> as hard as it is talk about it, as hard as it is to share the story, i feel him with me when i do it. i feel him helping me find the words even. >> what is it that goes through your mind before you step out on the stage? >> i hope we reach them. i see their faces, i scan the room, they are listening and absorbing it, i think, please, let us reach them. >> pamela, zach's family says they already saved lives, one chilling example, they were contacted by a parent who saw zach's story and said that they made their child watch this presentation that the family gives as they go about telling their story. the child admitted to the parents that they just bought a pill on social media.

the parents had that pill tested, lo and behold, it contained a deadly dose of fentanyl. but for the parents telling their story, that child could have been the next victim. for parents out there that might be asking, how can i talk to my kid above fentanyl? teen health professionals say you want to approach the conversation in the spirit of curiosity. ask open-ended questions, like what you know about fentanyl? what do you know about the deadly effects? finally, i want to say, i know the didier family is watching tonight, pamela. it marks two years since they lost their son. i want to say on behalf of all of us at cnn, thank you for letting us tell the story. thank you for what you do every day to help ensure other parents out there don't have to experience the pain that you endured. >> it really turned their pain into purpose, saving lives just like that anecdote you shared, incredible. josh campbell, thank you so much. we will be right back.

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>> tonight, a lighter note to end the broadcast. a woman became a true hero after taking in a man who was stranded in buffalo, new york's deadly blizzard. a life saved thanks to the kindness of a stranger. 360's gary tuchman has the story. >> the worst of mother nature, bringing out the best of human nature. this is buffalo resident shakira autrey, on facebook live. >> i currently have an older 64 -year-old white man in my house. i found him yesterday, i heard him screaming for help. >> in the midst of western new york's blizzard, shakira spotted and heard the man in terrible pain in the frigid cold outside of her house on the morning of christmas eve. her boyfriend carried the man inside. that man is joey white, seen in

this picture at a toronto blue jays baseball game. >> he got away from his home, he lives in a group home he told me. >> joey's sister says her brother is mentally challenged and does indeed live in a group home. he works in a movie theater and made have gotten scared during a blizzard and try to walk home from the theater, getting lost in the heavy snow outside the mother of 3's house. shakyra did her best to care for him, comfort him and feed him and pleaded for help on a phone call held on facebook live. >> this man is not about to die on 1-11. we need to get this man some help. but her neighborhood was virtually impassable. christmas eve became christmas day. joey was in immense pain with severe frostbite on his hands. >> joe. listen to joe. how are you feeling joe? joe ready to go. he ready to go. he needs to go because he needs medical attention. i had to, he had a ring on his finger. i had to use these to cut the ring off of his finger. i am not no surgeon. >> with her 3 children by her

side, shakyra tried to convert joey. [inaudible] you feeling better? you're trying to feel better? pardon me? [inaudible] no you will not die. this is how you know he needs help. and that help was about to come. a good samaritan showing up in a vehicle that could make it through the snow. joey was on his way to the hospital. >> i am right here, joe. shakyra rode with him. >> see, i am right here. are you okay? i love you too, sweetie. you are okay. >> joey arrived at the hospital safely. >> this man could have died. 64 years old, could have died outside. i wouldn't let that happen on my watch, he wasn't going to die in front of my kids. >> joey has severe frostbite and is in the icu in the hospital burn unit. his sister evon telling us it is touch and go whether's hands can be safe but overall he is in stable condition and she is so grateful for shakyra autrey. >> this woman did somethin