a trade war is brewing. u.s. president trump threatens china with more tariffs after talks between beijing and washington stall. plus, house democrats subpoenaed. the treasury secretary. but president trump's tax returns, escalating the battle for information about the trump administration. also this hour, thousands of people without power and it could get worse. you're looking at severe weather and flooding, battering the

south central u.s. derek will have the forecast. >> looking at that reminds me of hurricane harvey. so bad there. a warm welcome to viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. >> i'm natalie allen. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. our top story, u.s. president donald trump dealing with trouble in at least three points around the world with no indication of what is coming next. >> first in china, which now faces tariffs of 25% of imports to the united states. this after trade talks break down, and no word when those talks will resume. the middle east, the u.s. has deployed additional fire power, the u.s. calling it a deterrent to iran. and also on the issue of north korea, mr. trump, downplaying recent short-range missile launches.

and diplomatic efforts are add a standstill. but the president says he is still open to talks. cnn has reporters covering all angles of this story. >> our matt rivers in china. ben wedeman in beirut, following the u.s. system deployment. and anna coren in hong kong for the latest on north korea. >> let's go to matt rivers. it comes down to exactly when china will retaliate and when, at this point. >> reporter: yeah, the when, it's not an if question, you're right, george. it's when. china says they're going to retaliate. they've done it before when the u.s. has hiked tariffs on the imports to the u.s. so we're just waiting word from the commerce ministry. i would expect that information is going to come out relatively quickly either this weekend or on monday, but that's what we're waiting for. in terms of how china can

retaliate, there's a number of different ways you can do it. interestingly, because of this trade war, most imports in china are already under tariffs. so when america sends goods here, chinese importers have to pay a tax. it's the initial retaliation that china first did. but what we do see china to is increase those rates. we could also restrict market cams for companies. and interestingly they could resume restrictions on chinese buyers buying soybeans. it may seem obscure, but americans sell billions of dollars of that crop to decline each other. that had been a casualty of the trade war. china lifted those restrictions but they could easily come back up again. that's where we're at george and natalie. we're not exactly sure how china is going to retaliate. we know they will, it's just a question of mad. >> matt, we hear from the united states president saying the u.s. is negotiating from a place of

strength. there in china, what is the word from xi jinping about the nation's economy and how they endure in the long term. >> reporter: if you believe what the white house is saying that it was china walked back on agreement that's how it came back from where it was looking like a deal to where we are now. but if you believe what the house is saying, look, china knew what they were doing when they got into that. so, i think in the halls of power in beijing, they do, at least, can infer a sense of relative position of strength, in terms of they're looking at the economy here and saying we're resilient. we can get through this. that's the line you're see something state media. trying to drum up nationalistic support against the americans in this trade war. now, whether that's true, economists really have a wide range of opinions on this. i think the general feeling is that china's economy might not last as long as the american

economy could in terms of being okay during a trade war. there's really a whole bunch of opinions. at least for knew beijing things they can weather this. >> matt rivers following the story, matt, thank you. there is another growing dispute involving the u.s. this one with iran. the pentagon saying it is has deployed more patriot missiles to the middle east, in order to deter potential attacks businy or its allies. >> still, the u.s. insists it doesn't want war. it also gave switzerland a phone number that iran can use to call president trump. >> we'll see if they make that call. let's talk about the standoff with cnn's ben wedeman, live this hour in beirut. the united states seems to take these threats very seriously. the question is, how and why iran is making these reported threats, ben. >> well, i think the fog of

prewar, natalie and george, is very thick at the moment. for instance, the deployment of this -- the abraham lincoln carrier group. it wasn't decided a few days ago. it was decided months ago. it was announced a month ago that it would be deployed to the middle east. it was only late on sunday night that u.s. national security adviser john bolton announced it was because of unspecified iranian threats. what we're hearing is a lot-intelligences or so-called intelligence from unnamed sources. but there's nothing much less solid you can put your hands on at the moment. somewhat reminiscent of the leadup to the 2003 war against iraq. we all know how that happened. now, the latest moves by the united states is that it's announced it's going to be deemploying one patriot anti-missile battery in the region. but just a few months ago, it

with drew four such batteries as the war against isis was winding down. they're also going to be deploying the "uss armington" which is an amphibious vessel that delivers marines and military vehicles. that, in fact, was also planned to be deployed in the region. its deployment, however, has been accelerated. so, certainly, we see the moves from elements within the u.s. administration certainly heading toward an escalation. but we've also heard president trump said the iranians should give him a call, because all he wants is for the iranian nuclear program to come to an end. which is exactly what the 2015 iran nuclear deal was designed to do, at least until the year 2030. now, president trump doesn't seem to be on the same page as mr. bolton who has long been a

proponent of regime change in iraq. he -- rather, president trump saying that he wants the nuclear program to end. bolton, obviously, has a much broader program or agenda. he wants to see an end to the regime itself. in tehran. so, confusion rains, but definitely, the fog is very thick. >> absolutely. yes, relations between the two countries have been deteriorating ever since president trump withdrew from that nuclear deal. ben wedeman for us in beirut. thank you, ben. so, again in the face of all of these different crises that are playing out, the u.s. president is downplaying north korea's latest missile tests. >> on friday, president trump told politico that he did not consider the short-range missile launch thursday to be a breach of trust by north korea's leader. he called it, quote, very standard stuff. and the u.s. special

representative for north korea says the door for talks is still open. >> let's go live to hong kong. our anna coren has been following the story. anna, it doesn't feel like the response from both sides has been measured for this relationship. >> that's right. because there's so much at stake. not only are we talking about the difference between pace of war on the korean peninsula, i should say, but we're also talking about a u.s. president who wants to have that foreign policy accomplishment. he wants to be the u.s. president to denuclearize the korean peninsula and bring about peace. we have to remember when those two leaders, kim jong-un and president trump met in singapore last year and that bromance that flourished, shortly after that, president trump said there was no longer a 38 from north korea. well, since then, we've seen a

deterioration in that bromance, although, as you say, they're keeping things quite measured. but north korea is, without a doubt, testing america. it desperately wants its attention. it wants to return to the negotiating table. it wants those sanctions lifted. but the united states, under his administration, he is saying that north korea denuclearize before those sanctions are lifted. so, as we say, george, there's so much at stake. but there's a lot of face to save as well. as you mentioned, you know, trump has many foreign policy issues happening all over the world. and he is stretched. he does not want to see this unravel on the korean peninsula. what he has worked so hard to achieve. but it is a big gamble. for all we know, these short-range missile tests could

soon become long-range missile tests. and that will certainly get up in arms of the united states. because those are what they are most concerned about. as for now, donald trump says the relationship remains. nobody is happy about what is taking place. but north korea clearly isn't ready for the talks. and that would suggest that the united states is not prepared to go into the negotiating table with north korea anytime soon, george. >> anna coren, thank you. and that, of course, is the global front. but the president certainly faces much on the domestic front. the u.s. attorney general seems to think donald trump did not obstruct justice. so why won't the former white house counsel that you see here say that? we'll talk about that story coming up here. speaking of denied requests, it looks like the u.s. congress won't get a look at mr. trump's taxes anytime soon. we'll take a look at how they're trying to change that.

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>> telling special counsel robert mueller that he didn't think mcgahn had obstructed justice. but mcgahn and his lawyer didn't believe a statement was necessary since the attorney general had come out and said he didn't on instruct justice. meanwhile, the u.s. pressure tore secretary and the tax commissioner has been subpoenaed to turn over the tax returns. >> earlier this week, steven mnuchin refused to turn over six years of returns as the house had requested. he had said there was no legitimate, legislative purpose for it. they have until next friday to comply. mr. trump's personal lawyer says that he is not going to the ukraine after all. >> yeah, rudy giuliani, had planned to push ukraine to investigate democratic presidential candidate joe biden. and look into biden's call in 2016 to have a ukrainian prosecutor removed. that prosecutor had investigated a natural gas company connected to biden's son.

but late friday night, giuliani called off the trip. >> so, i've decided, sharon, i'm not going to go to the ukraine. >> you're not going to go? >> i'm not going to go because i'm walking into a group of people who are enemies of the president. in some cases enemies of the united states. in one case, an already convicted person who has been found to be involved in assisting the democrats with the 2016 election. >> we should point out it is not clear who giuliani was talking about there. but the mueller report could be on the agenda in moscow next week. >> that's where the secretary of state mike pompeo meets with russian president vladimir putin. the state department says their upcoming discussions will be frank and candid. our pamela brown has the story. >> reporter: president trump dispatching secretary of state mike pompeo to russia next week to meet with russian president vladimir putin for the first time since the release of the

mueller report. >> you know, i haven't heard the word russia in a long time. there's no more time about russia. what happened to russia? the russia witch hunt. >> reporter: pompeo and putin's meeting, the two leaders talked about several issues, except for one, election interference. >> we didn't discuss that. >> reporter: all of this a battle over special counsel robert mueller's potential testimony before congress heats up. >> mueller's going to testify. he's going to have to testify. it's just a question of how long they can stall. >> reporter: house judiciary chairman jerry nadler telling cnn, mueller won't testify next week as the committee had originally planned. >> what about bob mueller, should he be allowed to testify before this -- >> i've said publicly, i have no objection. >> reporter: president trump saying it's up to attorney general bill barr after he

recently tweeted mueller shouldn't testify. >> i'm going to leave that up to the very great attorney general. and he'll make a decision on that. >> reporter: cnn has also learned house democrats are considering on voting on multiple contempt violations in a single package which could include attorney general bill barr and don mcgahn subpoenaed by nadler's committee. >> if he has to, we'll hold in contempt. >> reporter: nadler has been negotiating with robert mueller as well as the department of justice to nail down a date to testify. one thing we know, according to nadler, it won't happen next week. pamela brown, cnn, the white house. let's go to london, ahead of the americas program the chatham house think thank. leslie, good to see you. >> thank you. >> let's begin with that word "contempt." that's something that we've been hearing about in washington. the congressional committee

keeps pushing for information. the white house pushes back. it's clear that the u.s. -- many are saying it's in the midst of a historic fight over the system of checks and balances. democratic leaders call it a constitutional crisis. do you think we're there? >> well, there's very clearly a serious concern and a very legitimate concern by the democrats in the house of republicans, on the various committees, as to whether or not they can actually exercise their obligation of oversight. and the president is -- by everything that we're seeing, suggests that he's not complying with that, certainly at the level of norms, right? the efforts to impede and block that on any number of dimensions create a very serious problem. the question here, of course, is what are the democrats doing. the gentlemen of what do republicans do. the recent poll from reuters

suggests that venn% of americans feel that ongoing investigations will get in the way of the ability of the government, of the president, of congress, to pursue business that's central to the concerns of the american people. so, it's a very tricky calculation. as to how to deal with what is clearly a dave difficulty for congress in fulfilling it's obligations under the constitution. >> right, right. if the white house, though, keeps the congressional committee from its oversight, is that an impeachable offense, do you think, for president trump? >> it's -- just again, it goes back to the question that's a political calculation that the democrats have to make as to whether or not any number of things are legitimate and meet that criteria to begin impeachment proceedings. contempt, when it comes to, you know, not responding to subpo a

subpoenas is certainly a concern. but it goes back again, to this question of whether or not congress can fulfill its constitutional obligation to exercise oversight. and there's also a, you know, secondary question, which is to what extent is congress now has to consider the question of whether or not we accept the new way of normalizing a new type of behavior. so it's a very tricky political calculation. the country is very divided. and congress is very divided. so it risks incredible partisan backlash. >> well, the impeachment question, of course, keeps coming up for democrats. nancy pelosi is, of course, against it, but democrats move in that direction. i want to talk to you about the presidential race coming up. people, of course, candidates, already on the campaign trail. would that complicate strategy for democrats, vis-a-vis, the presidential race, if they went

down the geefme meimpeachment r? >> absolutely, go back to what i just mentioned. 57% of americans are suggesting that investigations get in the way of america pursuing a positive agenda. whether it's the government, whether it's democrats. 45% of americans actually have indicated that they think impeachment is legitimate at this point. but the optics. if democratic candidates can't get together, and are liticulat very set of policy proposals for america. and if the attention focuses and if the sense of the democrats are focused on impeachment, rather than pulling america and pushing it forward and driving it forward in a positive way, it becomes very destructive. i think nancy pelosi has all the right instincts on this. nonetheless, the democrats are in a very difficult position. because to ignore their

constitutional position, and oversight and take seriously things like the mueller report and obstruction of justice would also be a violation of their duties as elected officials. >> right. as you say, it's partisan. republicans keep saying let it go. the former attorney general jeff sessions. reduced it to just a squabble going on. democrats would probably take issue at that word. but is there any merit to the white house, president trump, choosing to stonewall on every issue, including the release of his tax returns? >> there's certainly no merit for the better good of the country. you know, there's a tactical question for the president as to whether or not the tactics that he's using help to solidify a base which, quite frankly, has been solid for most of his presidency. and then there's a second

tackicltack ic tactical question as to whether it does delay those investigations going forward. and then again it puts the democrats in a very tricky position of having to decide whether to move forward with contempt, which again could trigger a backlash for many of those people that they're seeking to pull on to their side as we move into a primary and an election. so, it's a set of very tricky calculations. but i think it comes to this very important point of how do we decide about where the country should go. is it through elections? is it through congressional oversight? is it through impeachment? those are very different mechanisms for the public and the government to exercise its voice. and which mechanism we use will have great implications, certainly for democrats. >> we thank you for your insight, leslie.

>> thank you. president trump likes to brag that he has a great relationship with the leader of china. here's the thing, though. it hasn't stopped those two countries from getting into trade dispute. we'll look at how this started. also ahead, parts of the u.s. state of texas under water. and derrek tells us more water n the way. look at that water. coming up on "cnn newsroom." because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair, while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans, now cleans itself. stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. what if you had fewer headaches and migraines a month? botox® prevents headaches and migraines before they even start. botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more.

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the latest inisn't just a store.ty it's a save more with a new kind of wireless network store. it's a look what your wifi can do now store. a get your questions answered by awesome experts store. it's a now there's one store that connects your life like never before store. the xfinity store is here. and it's simple, easy, awesome. welcome back to viewers here in the united states and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm george howell. >> i'm natalie allen. thanks for staying with us. here are the headlines.

sources tell cnn the white house asked former council don mcgahn to say publicly that the president did not obstruction justice. "the new york times" reports it happened twice. both times, mcgahn denied that request. democrats in the u.s. house and subpoenas to the treasury secretary, demanding president trump's tax returns. up to now, treasury sector to steven mnuchin has refused and said there's no legislative reason for it. they have until next friday to comply. the president is minut mini the significant of the north korea missile test. he spoke on thursday and said he did not consider thursday as 's launch a breach at all. he called it, quote, very standard stuff. the united states say its deploying patriot missiles to the middle east is to defer

potential iranian attacks. it comes as the u.s. decides to send a carrier strike through the region. switzerland has been given a phone number that iran can use to call president trump. a trade war seems to be looming with china, sailing now into uncharted waters. the trump administration now wants to levy duties on just about everything that comes into the united states with the label made in china. >> and that's just about everything in the united states, of course, these days. this comes after trade talks in washington broke off friday without an agreement. a 25% u.s. tariff was slapped on $200 billion of chinese imports. >> this time line shows you just how contentious the issue has been. beginning in march of last year, when president trump first hit chinese steele imports with tariffs. >> you can see back and forth of talks and tariffs continued into december when the two sides

declared a 90-day truce. that deadline expired. and now there is still no deal and no one can predict how this will end. >> let's hear some context with linda hu. linda is an author of "the great economists, how their ideas can help today." from london, good to have you with us. >> gornod morning, george. >> no deal with the trade talks. chinese president xi jinping saying the economy is strong enough to endure this in the long run. if it comes down to who blinks first, who do you believe has the stronger hand. >> yeah, that's a great question. i'm not sure either side has that strong a hand, but i would break it down this way. in the short term, if china retaliates pretty strongly, the united states if it goes ahead

and places say, a 25% tax on all chinese imports that's about $500 billion, about half of that, well, half to a third are actually consumer electronics. so u.s. consumers will certainly be hit in the short run. now, say china retaliates strongly, it hits farmers. we've already seen united states spend $12 billion on subsidies to farmers. and the u.s. has said vie ya th department of agriculture that they'll buy the items that china is not buying. and now about 200 billion, in terms of supply chains but the longer term impact is probably greater for china. over the medium term, china is a middle income country hoping to cap out. it has cut out of united states, in terms of technology access and markets. and they actually mean that it's harder for china to catch up, know what the global technology standards are and actually go

prosperous. so, i would say, yes, short-term on both sides, we've seen government spending and policies to counteract that. but in theed me term, the u.s. is a rich country and china say middle income country. so being cut off from the world's biggest market has got to weigh on the minds of chinese policymakers. >> and you talked about the impact on the united states. you talked about farmers. but isn't it the case that many of the places that will be hit hardest are those red states, those trump country states? >> yeah, absolutely. so, i have no doubt that a lot of the focus on farmers and a lot of focus in terms of the midwest in particular, those are, of course, key political battle grounds. we've got an election coming up next year. this is why i think there was a real expectation in financial markets that there would be a deal. and in fact, up until really this past week, there was a sense that because of how

china's targeted retaliation was really focused politically, that might induce -- well, that and the fact that it seemed like they were making progress on the enforcement. because that's always been the sticking point which is if the united states doesn't trust china to abide by its agreement, then what the u.s. ultimately wanted was to see the changes in law around intellectual property rights protection, making that effective. and support its enterprises. and apparently, that was a step too far. because the chinese have a different view of actually deals. they normally think if you sign a deal, that's where negotiations start. so i think the fundamental difference between the two sides, but because of the political imperative to get a deal done before the 2020 election, both sides may have overestimated their willingness of both sides to come to a deal. >> you know, president trump has argued that tariffs actually

bring wealth into the country. but isn't that a misconception? help our viewers to understand, where is that money coming from. >> so, you certainly do make tax revenues because, remember, tariffs are just a tax on imports. 25% on around $200 billion worth of chinese export to the united states it will add to the u.s. government's coffers. but the cost in terms of -- think about the cost for the wider economy will be. so, for consumers, prices will almost certainly go up if taxes go that high. and it encompasses all of chinese imports because that's mostly, as we said a moment ago, about a half to a third of consumer electronics. so, that's, of course, going to weigh on growth. and for economies, remember, china and the u.s. are very connected through supply chains. so, a lot of margins of supply chains are really tight. maybe only a few percentage points. so, you put a big tax on that,

that's going to add to the cost of econocompanies. when companies find it more expensive to produce, it's not just that they're rising the price of products, and they'll have the price of wage pressure, keeping wages down and leading to wider employment effects. now, when you take that into consideration, the dampening effect on the election. ands massive economy, $20 trillion or so. that's probably going to outweigh the tax revenue that immediately comes in from the purchases. and if the tariffs are really going to bite, you may actually see and this is one thing i'm a bit concerned about that chinese exports to the u.s. will decline because people will stop buying other things. that, of course, will bring down the tax revenues. but that also suggests, you know, there's going to be distortions in terms of what companies and consumers buy. so, of course, there are issues around the level playing field. china's markets need to be more

open. but i think one has to be very realistic about the economic harm that's going to come from opening up china through using tariffs versus other means. and to be fair, other means hasn't really worked very well. but we just have to be cog that distant of the cost of doing this and hope for a longer term gain, if there's structural change in china really levels the playing field a bit more. >> linda yueh, thank you for your time. thank you. torrential rain is battering the state of texas. more than 20 million people in three states actually are under a flash flood watch. and more than 64,000 customers have lost power. >> severe weather has been hitting houston, texas, very hard. earlier this week. just take ea look at this. the flooding caused this to happen. the man hole, make that cover fly. >> derek van dam has been

following it for us. it's not just texas. >> yeah, parts of louisiana, some of those images, eerily reminiscent of hurricane harvey. and that was the talk on social media yesterday at its worst. let's give you aerial perspective. flooding waters have reached homes, inundating streets and cars. this is thursday night into friday morning. this is when the flooding was at its worst. and just to put this into perspective, it's not just southeast texas, houston area, southwest louisiana, it is pretty much the entire central u.s. that is dealing with some sort of flood threat. in fact, 14 states with imminent or occurring flooding across some of the major rivers and streams that dock the mississippi and missouri river valley. now, houston, we talk about this area specifically, because this is the most recent within the past 24 hours. they have seen a significant amount of rain. this is rainfall accumulation.

radar estimate over the past five days and they've had 8 to 10 inches locally in and around houston. by the way that is $3300% to 60 for the first week of may. we have storms training, which is a meteorological term, with storms lining up against one another in a region with heavy rainfall. fortunately, the model has quieted down for now and all the of the models indicate we will pick that rain saturday night into sunday. here's a look at the latest weather alerts, we have flash flood watches and advisories in place for many of the rivers and the gulf coastal states. there's the storm system expected to flare up later this afternoon. weather prediction system has a moderate risk of flooding across this area. and we have had over 300 rivers

indicating some sort of flood stage taking place. this is an interesting satellite image. look at the mississippi river and the missouri river near st. louis, a year ago. fast forward to yesterday. and look at how much floodwater has just taken over that region. unbelievable. >> and it could continue on downriver. >> yes. that water needs to go somewhere. water seeks its own level. it goes south towards the gulf coast. we'll see the flood stages pick up across the south. >> thank you. seen as a win for the rights for children. a militia group in nigeria releases hundreds of child soldiers. but other groups in that country are still using them. but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena®

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yemen houthi rebel group are due to leave three key ports starti starting saturday. this is a first step that could pave the way for political negotiations after years of war. >> the reports include the country's main port and two others used for grain and oil shipments. the country's four-year war has crippled the economy there. and has sparked what the united nations has called the worst humanitarian crisis. a nigerian militia has released almost 900 children who were being used as soldiers in the fight against extremists. and here's some of those children. at a ceremony with unicef officials. they were recruited to fight against the terror group boca haram which also recruits child soldiers. >> in northene nigeria where this happened, children have been used for conflict for years.

cnn's david mckenzie has more about it. >> seen as a major victory for child rights in nigeria, almost 900 child soldiers have been released by the civilian joint task force in the northeast of the country. more than 100 of them were girls, the youngest of them, 13 years old. no chance of a real childhood. they were taken by their communities by this group that is fighting isis-linked boko haram. credited with some success against the terror group. but the use of child soldiers seen as a major stain on both them and the nigerian military, with whom they work closely. now boko haram in that region is seen as the worst offender when it comes to child rights. they've kidnapped thousands of young girls and boys. sent the boys out to fight and slaved the girls into forced marriages. and most disturbingly they sent children, and still do, send children out as suicide bombers to attack communities.

but this move by this group that they said they would do it back in 2017 is seen as a positive one. unicef says maybe they can get some form of normal life. they'll be go back to school, these young girls and boys, and soon hope to be reunited with their families. david mckenzie, cnn, johannesburg. >> we'll continue to cover that if they are. coming up here, no kevin durant, no problem. the golden state warriors advance to the next round of the nba playoffs with one of their top players out with an injury. we'll have the highlights. uage about their network and offers and blah blah blah. look. sprint's going to do things differently. and let you decide for yourself. they're offering a new 100% total satisfaction guarantee. try it out and see the savings. if you don't love it, get your money back. see? simple. now sprint's unlimited plan comes with one of the newest phones included for just $35 a month.

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try new febreze one. brand power. helping you buy better. to save 30% on all the medications we carry. so go directly to petmeds.com now. welcome back to "cnn newsroom." many u.s. cities are finding themselves the victims of a new kind of threat. their computer systems and their data held hostage by ransom ware attacks. >> so far this year there have been 22 known cases of this kind in the u.s. and experts say the problem will get worse before it gets better. here's cnn's alex marquardt. >> reporter: this city of baltimore is under an extensive cyber attack. hackers launching an aggressive virus called robin hood and

holding many government computers hostage. the assault causing emails to go down, as the board of elections, the finance department couldn't do business this week. fax machines and printers were on the fritz. >> we know that the teams are working hard. and we now know that they're not in control of certain parts of our system. it's really frustrating and this could happen anywhere. >> reporter: and it does. a new report shared exclusively with cnn by recorded future is one of the first to measure the scope of these kinds of attacks. showing that across the country, ransomware attacks are on the rise, crippling counties, cities and towns, costing them millions of dollars. since 2013, malicious foreign actors have been detected targeting local governments, law enforcement and universities 169 times. 22 attacks alone this year. figures the group behind the new study says which represent the tip of an iceberg. >> the bad guys see state and

local governments as a target that is willing to pay. and that they may be able to get a lot of money out of. if nothing else, they may be able to get a lot of news coverage out of. >> reporter: the attacks are not governments. this isn't about politics, but money. attacking targets big and small. often underfunded when it comes to cyber security. >> we've got a bunch of really dedicated people, but they don't have the latest tools and equipment to protect themselves. >> reporter: eric wyatt is one of those dedicated people. last fall, he fought off a multipronged ransom ware attack on his 1,000-person community in anchorage, alaska. >> they brought down the vast majority of our work stations and servers. the type of attack is that we saw was far worse than anything i've seen in my past. being in this industry for over 35 years. >> reporter: 1,000 employees were affected. old typewriters had to be dusted off.

the ransom wasn't paid. but it cost $2.5 million which still linger today, almost a year later. >> we don't have the resources to fight this fight. people attacking us are better organized, better funded. and we don't have the same level of capability that they do. so, they see us as a soft target. often, we are we are. the fbi is among the first calls that victims make. attackers have moved from targeting individuals to larger prizes because it's more lucrative. >> we're seeing larger and larger ransomware demands of these victims. >> reporter: the problem, the fbi believes, is only getting worse. >> people are paying the ransom and encouraging the behavior. i think we will continue to see an escalation in sophistication of text. >> reporter: the good news, according to the study which was obtained exclusively by my colleague kevin collier, just 17% of local and state

governments actually pay the ransom. we're seeing them as ripe targets because of the attention they get when of the goes are taken offline. alex marquardt, cnn, new york. >> alex, a very important story. they did it again. the nba's golden state warriors are headed to the western conference finals for the fifth straight system. >> they eliminated the houston rockets on their home court friday night. the intense back and forth showdown included solid efforts by the rockets. and 35 points from houston point guard james harden but that was not, the ws with a little help in the slash brothers, two-time steph curry and klay thompson combined. and the warriors bench as well. >> without kevin, i knew i had to get to my spots, rise up and

shoot. you know, when you're missing one of the greatest players in the best sport in the world, you can't collectively make up for what he does. but can you step up in his absence and help out the point production. i think everyone else just does a great job. sean livingston, what a game for him. our bench played amazing. >> i knew in a 48-minute game there was a moment i could really turn it on. second half, just try to not pick up a fourth early. a couple shots go down. i could see the floor a little bit, understand what they were doing differently and defensively. and then the floodgates over. so, the stage, in terms of where the game was, was huge. i've had games like this, maybe not as drastic, 37 it was even 33. things weren't going your way but then you figure it out. >> nba superstar lebron james was watching the showdown and he

reacted to the warriors' victory tweeting this, never underestimate the heart of a champion. we've got a historical footnote for you, 1 have t50 ye still going strong. yep, back on may 10th, 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed providing americans with uninterrupted travel from coast to coast for the first time. well, on friday, the state of utah marked the moment when a golden spike was tapped into the ground, uniting the union pacific and central pacific railroads. >> that monumental achievement wouldn't have been possible without immigrant labor, specifically the chinese. and for the first time, the chinese workers were included in this year's ceremony. >> well, thank you for watching "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. for viewers in the u.s., "new

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i have decided, i'm not going to go to the u crane. >> ewe're not going to go? >> i'm not going to go because i'm walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president. in some cases enemies of the united states. president trump jacked up tariffs on thousands of goods. >> i like the president. he is a friend of mine. but i'm representing the usa. he's representing china. >> the question here in china is not if china is going to retaliation, but how and when. >> the president lost another battle in the war over his tax returns today. >>