As Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló travels to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday, a group of Senate Democrats is asking the administration about the accuracy of the island territory’s death toll.

Thirteen senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have written a new letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke expressing concern that reports about morgues at Puerto Rican hospitals being full may signal that the official tally of 48 fatalities may be incomplete.

“An accurate death toll is important for understanding the true severity of the situation on the ground, for recognizing potential problems and vulnerabilities, for assessing the quality of the disaster response so far, and for setting policy going forward,” the senators wrote.

Four weeks since Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, more than 80 percent of residents remain without electricity, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Access to fresh food, clean water and medicine remains scarce in many parts of the island.

Warren was joined by her colleague from Massachusetts, Sen. Edward J. Markey, along with members of the Senate Democratic conference from across the country in signing the letter to Duke.

They wrote they were echoing concerns previously raised by Democratic Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and Nydia Velázquez of New York.

Thompson is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, and Velázquez was born in Puerto Rico.

“The aftermath of the hurricane continues to pose a mortal danger to many people on Puerto Rico,” the senators wrote. “There are concerns about dengue, chikungunya, and Zika. Puerto Ricans have been obtaining water from a contaminated Superfund site.”

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions took an unusual path to the witness table before Wednesday’s Justice Department oversight hearing. He looped behind the dais to smile and shake the hands of his former Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues and pat them on the shoulder.

But the next four hours made it clear that congeniality has faded for the former Alabama Republican senator. Democrats lectured him on immigration policy, questioned his truthfulness in previous testimony about Russia and criticized his implementation of the Trump administration’s conservative policies.

“Give me a break,” Sessions implored Chairman Charles E. Grassley at one point during questioning from Minnesota Democrat Al Franken. “I don’t have to sit in here and listen to his charges without having a chance to respond.”

Franken had been detailing Sessions’ previous statements about meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential election, when Sessions was part of President Donald Trump’s campaign. During his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions told the committee he had not met with any Russians. He later acknowledged he had met with the Russian ambassador three times.

Senators Spend Time Bickering Over Time at Sessions Hearing

The truthfulness of that January testimony was a theme Sen. Patrick J. Leahy used to drill Sessions like a prosecutor cross-examining a defendant caught between conflicting statements.

“We have known each other for decades. We’ve worked together on many issues,” the Vermont Democrat said. “If Sen. Jeff Sessions was in my shoes and he asked a question, he wouldn’t tolerate being misled. So, do you understand why your answer ‘no’ was false testimony?”

Leahy wasn’t the only one evoking the reputation of the dogged and insistent former senator, even as Sessions sometimes dodged answering questions Wednesday during his first oversight hearing as attorney general.

Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin appeared to be incredulous when Sessions declined to answer his question about whether Sessions had communicated with the Texas attorney general before a Trump administration decision to end an Obama-era program that provides deportation relief to undocumented immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children.

“I think this would have been just about the moment when Sen. Sessions of Alabama would have blown up if the attorney general said he can’t even tell us if he communicated with another attorney general in another state,” the Illinois Democrat said.

By the end of an exchange, Durbin used his index finger to alternatively strike the dais and point at Sessions while delivering a lecture about the attorney general’s efforts to withhold federal grant funds because Chicago is a so-called sanctuary jurisdiction that doesn’t fully cooperate with federal immigration officials.

“You want to cut off federal funds for that city and come here and criticize the murder rate,” Durbin said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

Sessions several times leaned on what he called his “former colleagues and friends” to build goodwill in the committee hearing room. He used the word “friends” as he told the panel that Trump wants to work with Congress on changes to immigration laws.

“But we have got to have more than just amnesty, friends, we need a good improvement in the illegality that’s going on and there is an opportunity right now, I’m telling you, an opportunity now to do something historic,” Sessions said.

Republicans were more welcoming. “We miss you on this side of the dais,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said.

Grassley slipped and called him “Sen. Sessions” several times.

“I just want to say I’m proud of the job you’ve done as attorney general. You’re still the same person of character and committed to the rule of law,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said. “Serving in public life sometimes is not fun, and certainly you’ve caught your own slings and arrows in the process.”

But such a pep talk highlighted how Sessions’ lingering bipartisan goodwill from former colleagues has slipped away in the distance after 10 months out of the Senate, compounded by controversial actions that include recommending Trump fire James B. Comey as FBI director and reversing course on Justice Department positions in key voting rights and LGBT rights cases.

What hasn’t faded: Sessions remains a stubborn and vocal defender of his reputation and his policies on the administration’s travel ban, fighting terrorism, battling rising crime, stopping the deadly drug epidemic and enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.

The most awkward moments came when the attorney general was pressed about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into Russian interference in the election. In a bit of a stilted exchange with Leahy early in the hearing, Sessions testified that he had not been interviewed by Mueller.

Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal asked him whether Mueller had requested such an interview or testimony. And Sessions kept dodging.

“Well, you know, maybe we should just leave that with the special counsel,” the attorney general said. Later, he said, “I’m not aware of it.”

Sessions tried to turn the tables on Blumenthal: “You seem to know. Do you have a source?”

“Well, Mr. Attorney General, with all due respect, you’re the one answering questions here today,” Blumenthal said.

For all the animated exchanges, the most telling might have come after a line Leahy delivered with a lowered voice. He asked what Sessions knew when he signed off on a May 9 memo that tied a recommendation to fire Comey to the handling of an investigation of Hillary Clinton.

Leahy said Trump himself had said Comey’s dismissal was over the Russia investigation and the Clinton matter was a pretext.

Sessions declined to answer, saying his communications with the president were privileged.

“My concern is you were part of the Russian facade and went along. And I’m sorry, I’ve known you for years, and I’m sorry you’d do that,” Leahy said.

Sessions got a chance to reply a few moments later. “I did serve a long time under your chairmanship, so it did hurt me to say you think I’m part of a facade,” Sessions said. “I’m not part of a facade.”

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Former President George W. Bush on Thursday delivered a scathing warning about Donald Trump, saying his “America first” philosophy portends a dangerous inward turn that is eroding democracy at home and threatening stability around the world.

“The health of the democratic spirit is at issue,” the 43rd president said during a speech in New York. “And the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand.”

“Since World War II, America has encouraged and benefited from the global advance of the free markets, from the strength of democratic alliance and from the advance of free societies,” Bush said. “Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children.”

He also warned of the dangers of a worldwide pattern of countries — including some in Europe — “turning inward.” And though Bush did not name Trump by name during his remarks, his warning about the current U.S. chief executive was clear.

“America is not immune from these trends,” Bush said. “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.”

Several hours before Bush spoke, Trump delivered a conspiracy theory via a remarkable tweet in which he suggested Russian officials, the FBI and the Democratic Party worked together to create a dossier of potentially incriminating information about him during the 2016 presidential election.

Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?

One line of Bush’s speech appeared pointedly aimed at Trump: “And we know that when we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed, it is the failure of those charged with preserving and protecting democracy.”

It contained two words “preserving” and “protecting” that appear in the Oath of Office both he (twice) and Trump have taken.

(The opening of that pledge reads this way: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”)

The former Texas governor and son of the 41st president, George H.W. Bush, also spoke of a “casual cruelty” that has seeped into American politics and culture. Trump’s critics have slammed him for what they view as cruel comments about individuals from Mexico, Central and South America, and African-Americans, as well as women and his political foes.

“We’ve become the heirs of Martin Luther King, Jr., by recognizing one another not by the color of their skin but by the content of the character,” he said. “This means that people of every race, religion and ethnicity can be fully and equally American. It means that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed.”

The audience, which remained silent during most of the remarks, cheered after that portion. Trump has given cover to white supremacist groups that organized a rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August that turned violent and left one counter-protester dead, saying both sides were at fault and that among the white supremacists some were good people.

Bush, a pro-trade and pro-immigration Republican, also went right after Trump on those policy issues.

“We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade — forgetting that conflict, instability and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism,” he said. “We’ve seen the return of isolationist sentiments, forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair in distant places.

“[Past] presidents of both parties believed American security and prosperity depended on success of freedom around the world. They knew that the success depended, in large part, on U.S. leadership," Bush said, later adding: “We need to recall and recover our own identity. We only need to remember our values.”

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