Joining us here in the United States and of course from all around the world. Im rosemary church. And im George Howell from cnn World Headquarters in atlanta. Newsroom starts right now. Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to control russian politics for another six years. He is claiming victory in sundays president ial election. Thats no surprise, of course, because he was the only real contender. His main political opponent was banned from running. President putin, you see him there addressing his supporters. This came after it became clear he was on his way to his fourth term as president of russia. Translator we have to think about the future of our country, the future of our children. We are doomed to success, are we not . Yes. Thank you very much. Together we will take up the massive job of work we have before us in the name of russia. Thank you. Going into this election, the question really wasnt about which candidate would win, but rather more about the voter turnout of this election. Yeah. It appears voters gave him a strong stamp of approval with almost all the ballots counted. Russian Officials Say president putin has won nearly 77 of the votes. Fred pleitgen has more now from moscow. Reporter Vladimir Putin coasting to victory in the russian president ial election, even as the first exit polls came out shortly after 9 00 p. M. Time in moscow. He was at over 70 of the vote. Now the russian president then came out shortly after words and spoke to supporter here right outside the kremlin. He thanked them for their support. He also said that unity was very important now to russia. There was a lot of work to be done to make russia better for future generations. It was about 35,000 people who turned out here at the square outside the kremlin, many of them waving russian flags. It was a very patriotic event that took place. No one here really expected that Vladimir Putin was going to lose this election. But two things were in question. First of all, how much of the vote was he going to get . And then second of all, how high was the turnout going to be. Turnout of course very important. Because one of the things that Vladimir Putin himself was wary of is whether or not there would be voter apathy. This is a man, of course, who has been in power here in this country for for a very long time. The field of contenders running against putin was quite weak. The next best contender, the runnerup, the communist pavel didnt get much of the vote. He was miles behind Vladimir Putin. So it really want in question that putin was going to win this election. The only question was really how much and also how big the turnout was going to be. Vladimir putin also went back to business as usual very, very quickly, talking about the case of the former russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter who were poisoned, saying that russia was not behind it. And if it was military grade nerve agent used twhierks have been dead immediately. Clearly the election for Vladimir Putin not much more than a formality as far as the election itself was concerned. And him going back to business as usual very quickly. Fred pleitgen, cnn, moscow. In his 18 years in power, president putin has led russia into multiple spats with the west. But his supporters at home continue to back him. So to understand why, it is important to look back at history to consider what life was like for russians under the former president of russia, boris yeltsin. Cnn contributor Jill Dougherty says that helps to clarify why Many Russians uphold mr. Putin with such high regard. Reporter people who support him say he brought russia up from its knees. Russia is standing tall. Its part of the world now. Its a major player. And maybe the west doesnt like it. Maybe people dont even like russia. But they respect russia. And thats pretty much the viewpoint, at least of those who support him there are a lot of those in the opposition who think really very differently about the president. I think also dont forget that in the beginning especially, right after boris yeltsin, Vladimir Putin was able to improve the Economic Situation of many russian citizens, and they still remember that. They remember the bad old days in the 90s when there wasnt even enough food. And i think those would be and then also one other thing. I was talking with some russians today about this. That finally, when they had mr. Putin, they had a president who was vigorous, strong, not unfortunately like boris yeltsin, who had a drinking problem. So they were finally proud and not kind of embarrassed about their leader on the world stage. That still continues. At least among people who are a little bit older and who remember those days of yeltsin. Jill dougherty there. Now in the meantime, and in the background, there is that continuing rift between russia and the United Kingdom. The russian president dismissing claims that russia was behind the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter in england. Mr. Putin says russia destroyed the nerve agent used in that attack a long time ago. But the uk now says it has evidence russia has been making the deadly substance for the last decade. Our melissa bell reports from london. Reporter it was two weeks ago that sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious in salisbury. Since weve seen claims and counterclaims, london and moscow engaged in a war of words and rhetoric that has seemed to get more intense with every day that has passed. Once again today, Boris Johnson spoke out, having claimed on friday not only once again that the russians were to blame for the poisoning, but that it had been ordered by Vladimir Putin himself. This morning speaking on british television, the British Foreign secretary had this to add. We actually have evidence within the last ten years that russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling novichok. Boris johnson went on to say that on monday, representatives, investigators from the organization for the prevention of chemical weapons would be here in the United Kingdom where they would be given access those samples that the british authorities had collected. They will then be taking those to labs to check what they say that the nerve agent is, and to check the veracity of those british claims. And their findings will matter a great deal because the entire world is being asked to judge, to take sides in this war of words between london and moscow. And this of course even as Boris Johnson prepares to go to the eu to get not only support from the rest of the european bloc, but he opens further measures of retaliation against russia. Melissa bell, cnn, in london. Melissa, thank you. Here in the United States, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have a warning for the u. S. President , donald trump. Leave Robert Mueller alone. Yeah, mr. Trump attacked the special counsel and his team in a series of tweets this weekend, the latest calling into question their impartiality. That prompted the white house attorney to assure lawmakers the president is not considering firing mueller. Boris sanchez has the details now from washington. On sunday we saw President Trump make a distinct shift in the way that hes talked about the special counsel, specifically rob mueller and his team, though previously the president had said that the russia investigation was a hoax and a witchhunt, he never really singled out Robert Mueller by name for criticism until this weekend. In a tweet sent out sunday morning, the president was arguing that the special investigation was biased because there were no republicans on Robert Muellers team. No one really there to defend the president. That of course is inaccurate. Robert mueller himself is a republican, one who served under both republican and democratic administrations. Further, many of the attorneys on his team have prosecuted both republicans and democrats. There is no real partisan streak there. And perhaps most importantly, Robert Mueller still maintains a vote of confidence from an important voice in the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who has repeatedly said that Robert Mueller is carrying out this investigation appropriately, that he is not letting anyones personal political perspectives get in the way of finding the facts. The president , though, letting his frustrations boil over on twitter, not just about the special counsel, but also about the fbi, the department of justice, the state department as well, and former deputy fbi director andrew mccabe. At least one white house official, the director of legislative Affairs Mark Short went on a sunday morning talk show to defend the president , saying that his frustrations were merited because the Russian Investigation had gone on for so long, and yielded in his eyes few results. Listen to moore. Everyone in the white house has cooperated on this. And what i said is we have cooperated in every single way, every single paper they have asked for, every single interview. And i think the reality, margaret is yes, there is a growing frustration that after more than a year and millions and millions of dollars spent on this, there remains no evidence of collusion with russian. I think the president is expressing his frustration which is warrented. Of course we should point out the russia investigation has yielded a lot of results. Weve seen not only 13 indictments of russian nationals for election meddling, but four indictments of figures in the trump campaign, peel like George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn on top of others. On top of this, youre seeing Many Republican lawmakers now moving to try to defend Robert Mueller and warn that president that perhaps meddling in the special investigation isnt a good idea. Arizona senator jeff flake said it would be a red line that the president should not cross if he were to decide to fire Robert Mueller there has been some speculation that perhaps some kind of legislation might be out there that might get passed on a bipartisan basis that would install safeguards to give Robert Mueller some job security that previously had not gotten anywhere. But now with the more abrasive stance of President Trump and others in the administration are taking to the special counsel we may ultimately see that change. Boris sanchez, cnn at the white house. All right, boris, thanks. Lets put all this into focus now with steven ee earl linger, live via skype from brussels. Nice to have you live. The 39 putting a renewed focus on the mueller investigation, actually mentioning mueller by name. This is the first time, stephen, he has ever done this on twitter. But according to his attorney, ty cobb who had this to say to our own gloria borger, well pull a response up in response to media speculation, and related questions being posed to the administration, the white house yet again confirms that the president is not considering or cussing the firing of the special counsel Robert Mueller. All right. But mixed messages, stephen, to say for sure. What do you make of these mixed messages . I think once again you have a lot of republicans upset at a president who is consistently undermining the institutions of justice in the United States. That includes the fbi, which he has constantly attacked, which is important i think to the country as a symbol of neutral justice. And it also includes the mueller investigation. Now, its clear trump is fed up with the mueller investigation. He feels its distorting his presidency. But he has consistently in fact talked about firing mueller. We know this. We know it comes up a lot. Its not true when the white house says there is no discussion of firing mueller. Trump talks about it all the time. Now he has restrained from doing so, partly by allies like Lindsey Graham and jeff flake who sometimes will say very explicitly that it is a red line that the president should not cross. He cant fire mueller. He would have to ask Rod Rosenstein to fire mueller because Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the whole russian affair, which also infuriates trump. He keeps coming back at it over and over and over again. And rosenstein might have to quit rather than fire fueler. Wed have to see. The third person in line at the Justice Department recently left her job because i think she was afraid of the responsibility for firing mueller coming down on her if rosenstein was to resign. So we have a kind of potential saturday night massacre a la watergate. But so far the president has restrained himself to simply complaining about everything on twitter. All right. So you bring this up. His republican colleagues. We have heard from a few of them. Weve heard from Lindsey Graham, for one, who said the firing of mueller would be the beginning of the end of the Trump Presidency. This line in the sand that republicans are drawing for the moment, would firing mueller truly be a bridge too far for republicans . Or would excuses be made for the president of the United States . Well, as they say, thats a hypothetical. But republican lines in the sand have turned pink and disappeared in the past. But i do think for someone like Lindsey Graham, the integrity of the judicial process and its independence from the politicization of the white house is really an important part of american democracy. I think he is quite sincere about it. Now, would it be the end of the Trump Presidency . I think well know more after the midterm elections if the democrats happen to take the house, one can imagine went through and pushed rosenstein out and managed to get mueller fired, one could imagine that impeachment. I still very much doubt the senate would vote to convict. But the damage being done to the institutions of justice is i think what really bothers the republicans. You know, republicans are the law and order party. Theyre the justice party. Trump is not in many ways a traditional republican. And they have been afraid of his popularity. They have been afraid of his twitter abuse. Theyve been afraid of his insults. But it does feel like this is a line that Many Republicans wish, really wish the president would not cross. Steven erlanger, we appreciate your time. Well stay in touch on this. Thanks, george. To the southern part of the United States where the fbi is on the scene of another explosion in the capital texas, austin. Authority says two men in their 20s were taken to hospital with serious injuries, but both are said to be in Good Condition at this point. Police also examining a backpack found near the scene. Now earlier this month, three package bombs were delivered to different homes in austin over a period of ten days. And police said last week, those explosions were all connected. Two people were killed and two others injured in those blasts. Its not yet clear if sundays explosion might be related to the previous events. Well, u. S. , south and north korean representatives are set to meet in finland. Part of a series of diplomatic moves to discuss denuclearization ahead of the highest level talks between the u. S. And north korea. We will get the latest from south korea. Plus a statue of a kurdish legend toppled in syria. The very latest on turkeys afrin offensive as cnn newsroom pushes on. [burke] at farmers, weve seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. 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