internet romance went on trial. and as a result will die in prison. >> that's all for now. president trump's approval rating edges up to the highest point of his presidency, but ahead of 2020, he's struggling in head-to-head matchups against several democratic candidates. we're breaking down the new numbers. acting homeland security secretary kevin mcaleenan pushing back against unsubstantiated ae unsubstantiated allegations of migrant children living in unsanitary conditions. the u.s. women's soccer teams wins the 2020 world cup, beating the netherlands, 2-0. they will be honored with a parade later this week. s week

good morning, it's monday, july 8th. i'm geoff bennett, alongside jo ling kent. jo is kindly helping out. >> right on. president trump got some of his highest polls yet, measuring 47% among registered voters, up 5 points from april, while 50% disapprove, down 4 points. judging by the issues, the president is strongest on the academy, 51% approving of his performance, 42% on his job. health care, 38% approval. and 30% on abortion. among registered voters, the poll finds president trump down 10 points, to former vice president joe biden in the hypothetical 2020 match up but

effectively tied with senators kamala harris, bernie sanders and elizabeth warren and dead even with mayor pete buttigieg. meanwhile, the race for the democratic nomination, the abc news "washington post" poll has former vice president joe biden leading the field with senator bernie sanders at 19%, senator kamala harris at 13%, and senator elizabeth warren at 12%, pete buttigieg is in fifth place with 4%. in the real clear politics polling average, a recent surge for senator harris, since the june 27th debate has moved her past sanders and warren into second place with biden at 26% and harris at 15.2%, and then you see there, sanders at 14%, and warren at 13.8%. meanwhile, 45% of democrats are thinking biden is best positioned to defeat president trump next year. the abc "washington post" poll finds that 18% view sanders as the best bet to win while 9% pick harris and 7% are picking

warren. senator kamala harris fundraising missed the mark. according to new numbers released by her own campaign. the harris campaign raised less than $12 million in the past three months, boosted by a $2 million haul in the first 24 hours after the democratic debate, an additional 2 million last weekend. kamala harris's average donation was $39. the total lags behind her top rivals in the presidential primary including south bend mayor pete buttigieg who raised 24.8 million and biden who brought in 21 pn.5 million in t second quarter. she's in the range of senator bernie sanders who collected 18 million. and ahead of michael bennet and steve bullock who raised $2 million respectively. democratic presidential

candidate amy klobuchar is trying to differentiate herself from her other candidates, during an interview on "meet the press" staking out a centrist position by not supporting medicare for all, favoring an approach that would create a public option but allowing those on private insurance to keep her plans. she says she's the best candidate. >> there's a lot of people making promises. i'm not going to make promises just to get elected. i'm not running for chair of the democratic national committee. i'm running for president of the united states, and some of my colleagues, yes, they have, i guess you could call them bigger and bigger promise but i think what's most important to the people of america is we actually get those things done. >> president trump's top immigration officials disputing reports that migrant children have been held in crowded and unsanitary conditions at the u.s. border patrol stations. in an interview yesterday, acting homeland security

secretary kevin mcaleenan dismissed reports about limited food and water and called the situation extremely challenging. he was specifically asked about reporting from the "new york times" that claims that the agency's leadership knew for months that some children are no beds to sleep on, no way to clean themselves, and sometimes went hungry. >> "the new york times" says that the agency's leadership knew for months that some children had no beds to sleep on, no way to clean themselves, and sometimes went hungry. its own agents had raised the alarm, according to the story. >> we have no evidence -- >> did you know anything? >> we have no evidence that children went hungry, first of all. police station cells are not a good place for children as i have said dozens of times. >> had they raised alarms that you had heard about. of course we're worried about. everyone in the entire chain of command is worried about the children. >> you don't believe "the new york times" report? >> the stench of the closing was

so strong, they had scabies, chickenpox. >> you referenced three things that were unsubstantiated, unadequate food, inadequate water and unclean cells. >> the dhs inspector general has reported on the sub par conditions. president trump weighed in on twitter writing in part ft fathe news media is writing phony and exaggerated accounts. >> that shie legislation includ almost $3 billion to provide shelter and care for unaccompanied children. here's what she had to say. >> that's the one thing, i can say talk to the secretary and throw more money at an inhumane system. three agents took me aside away from my colleagues and said more money is not going to fix this

that they were not trained to separate children, that they don't want to separate 2-year-olds from their mothers. that's not what they were trained for. that's not what they signed up for in their service to our country. they signed up to protect the border. they all said this is a broken system. when i voted against it, many of us voted against it, three or four or five voted against it's because we knew this was not the choice that we needed our country to noomove forward on. >> and joining us from washington is politico's daniel litman, coauthor of the political play book. given that dhs has denied poor conditio conditions. >> democrats are very angry at these types of conditions and also they view mcaleenan as basically defending the administration and kind of playing to the audience of one,

which is president trump to try to keep his job. remember he had cancelled his sunday show appearance a week or two ago when he did not want to defend what was going on in terms of those i.c.e. raids that trump had postponed but now are back on track. and so it looks like he was doing that same job yesterday to say, well, you should ignore what the dhs inspector general says, that things aren't as bad as they seem. >> daniel, you have a new piece out about president trump's self-described germophobia, tell us about that. >> i interviewed people around trump, including some of his aides and they told me some fun stories like, the first thing that trump asked for after he leaves a campaign event where she's shaken lots of hands is give me the stuff, referring to

purell, to ensure he doesn't get sick, and he asks visitors to the oval office if they want to wash themselves at a bathroom near the oval office before having dinner. he is constantly washing his hands and white house staffers, they have been known if they are coughing or showing signs of sickness, they should stay away from the president. he doesn't want to be around them. it can end arguments that trump is involved in at the end of the campaign in 2016, he came down to the trump tower, you know, to the campaign headquarters and was yelling for brad parscale who's a digital director saying where is my money, because he saw a report that $94 million had gone to parscale. kellyanne conway defended parscale, then trump went nuts and left the room. >> donald trump has never been a

touchy feely kind of guy. he's not an i feel your pain kind of president. is this why or does it have to be more part of his personality? >> he's long been a germophobe. i talked to a person who used to work for him, jack o'donnell at the trump casino in atlantic city, and he said trump wasn't very good with customers because they would try to shake his hand on the casino floor, and trump would basically brush them off. if you're a businessman, people want to shake, especially donald trump's hand, who was a celebrity back in the day. >> daniel litman, thank you for your time this morning. billionaire convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein was arrested in connection with what law enforcement say is federal sex trafficking allegations. according to three law enforcement officials, the arrest which was part of a joint

nypd and fbi investigation stems from incidents spanning from 2002 to 2005. epstein had flown from paris to new york where he was arrested in teterboro, new jersey. a source familiar with the investigation said the epstein case was led by the southern district of new york's public corruption unit while working with the sex crime division. the nypd, and the fbi all declined to comment. >> epstein is expected to appear before a federal magistrate judge in new york today to face charges that include sex trafficking of minors for which there is no federal statute of limitations. a federal judge ruled in february, after two sued the government for not telling them about a nonprosecution deal until it had been finalized. according to "the new york times," that ruling opened the possibility of nullifying the agreement and allowing epstein

to be prosecuted on the original federal charges. at the same time, the justice department opened its own investigation into the plea deal and whether its attorneys committed professional misconduct in resolving the case back in 2008. still ahead, the justice department assigns a new team of lawyers over the battle to a controversial citizenship question on the 2020 census. later, joe biden offering up an apology for his comments about segregationists but gives a sweeping defense of his civil rights record. we'll give you those new comments plus a check on the forecast when we come right back. s a check onhe t forecast when we come right back

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that's 120 dollars less a year. better, faster. i mean sign me up. comcast business. beyond fast. more court filings are on the way as the justice department announces a major shakeup in the ongoing legal battle to add a citizen ship question to the 2020 census, the doj swapped out lawyers arguing the case on sunday, bringing in an entirely new team of career

and political appointees to replace the attorneys who had been in the process of winding down the yearlong legal battle. the doj did not offer specifics on why the change was made but a person familiar with the matter told "the washington post" that some of the original team expressed concerns over the legal maneuvering by president trump. the shuffling comes as the fight to add a citizenship question to next year's national head count was unexpectedly restarted via twitter last week, a fight president trump is determined to win. and iran is saying it's set to breach the uranium purity limits set in the 2015 nuclear deal. it comes 14 months after president trump withdrew from the landmark accord, and reimposed hard hitting sanctions, even though iran was in compliance and remained so until last month.

iran breached other limits exceeding the amount it could stockpile. mike pompeo said the latest actions would lead to further sanctions. president trump responding leaving his golf course in new jersey and shifted the blame to president obama. >> iran better be careful. because you enrich for one reason and i won't tell you what that reason is, but it's no good. they better be careful. iran's doing a lot of bad things. and remember this, the obama agreement, which was the most foolish agreement that you'll ever find, it expired in a very short period of time. whether you have this conversation now or in a number of years from now, a few number of years, it's a very important conversation, except the way they want it, they would have automatic rights to have nuclear weapons. iran will never have a nuclear

weapon. southern california is on high alert after two massive earthquakes last week. on thursday, a 6.4 earthquake hit near ridgecrest and a much stronger quake hit saturday night. nbc news kroncorrespondent migu almaguer has the latest. >> reporter: seismologists confirm some 4,000 earthquakes have rocked the region near ridgecrest. after friday, 7.1 tremor and thursday's 6.4 sizable after shocks are rattling nerves, leaving many on edge. >> out here we feel a little bit safer. >> reporter: bridget cunningham's family won't sleep under their roof, instead living in tent. >> it's more scary to think about the roof caving in on us and not being able to make it out or even to our kids. >> with the governor declaring a state of emergency in the area. >> you have to go over the huge

cracks and krcrevasses in the road. >> reporter: april rodriguez left the shake zone. >> it will never feel the same again. i don't know if any of us will feel safe again. >> with the large tremors cutting power to thousands, many are rebuilding what they can. the big worry here is infrastructure, while cracks like these can be repaired in a few days, it's what engineers don't see that worries them most. >> reporter: at the four square church, the foundation is too damaged to hold sunday church. >> it's just a building. the real church is the people. >> reporter: in the church parking lot, a sermon in giving, free food and water for those in need. >> anytime that we can, you know, go through a 7 point earthquake and not report a fatality, a major injury, that's a blessing and a miracle. >> reporter: the road to recovery, while many are still living in fear of what could

come next. >> our thanks to miguel almaguer for that report. >> that's scary stuff. all those after shocks happening. we're going to get a check of the weather now with bill karins. >> what's amazing, what now we know is a 4 shock was the 6.4, and there was only a 5% chance of exceeding that, 1 in 20 chance, and we did that with the 7.1, doesn't happen that often, pretty rare and pretty strong too. let's get into the weather forecast for today. overnight, heavy rain in areas of the mid atlantic region and see this, see that car flip there, this is an area outside of philadelphia in new jersey, a land spout tornado, it was a small little tornado but it was strong enough to pick that car up. so yeah, even small ones aren't good. let's get into the forecast. we have one flash flood warning that's outside of hagerstown, and areas of west virginia. we have a flash flood watch until 10:00 a.m. for baltimore, washington, d.c. this area got soaked on and off over the weekend. now some of the rain is trying

to push through the poconos in northern new jersey. it's not supposed to rain in new york city. it's getting awful close. this will break up and die off as the sunrises and we'll go and watch some of the rain shift to the south. this is at 7:00 a.m. still hit and miss showers and storms around washington, d.c. carry that umbrella. the norfolk areas, down around virginia beach, and this afternoon, we get scattered storms in areas of north carolina, especially coastal areas, anywhere from myrtle beach northward up along the coast. the forecast for today, hit and miss storms in the southeast, as you would expect. same for florida through tampa. 97, feeling about 105. same for dallas, san antonio, and the texas heat will really start to be increased as we go throughout the week. tell you what, beautiful weather, minneapolis, chicago, st. louis, ohio valley is nice. lower humidity, you felt that yesterday after a soupy saturday, and as we go towards tomorrow, we're looking all clear in areas to the northeast. we'll focus on the southeast as

we go throughout the rest of the week. this is hurricane season. we do have a chance of something developing in the gulf at the end of this week. i'll give you those details coming up. sounds good. still ahead, the moment you have been waiting for, all of the highlights from the women's world cup final and why the victory set off calls for equal pay. we're back in a bit. r equal pay. we're back in a bit.

welcome back, if you didn't already know, the u.s. women's national team has captured its second straight world cup title. >> that's right. it's awesome. >> that's why you've got your red on, in solidarity. the victory came off a second half goal scored by megan rapinoe who found the back of the net from the penalty spot. it marks the fourth world cup title for the u.s. women who become the second team to complete back-to-back world cup wins while jill ellis becomes the first women coach in history to win consecutive title. >> after the women won the world cup, fans in the stadium went from cheering to chanting equal pay. despite their win, the women will take home just a slice of what the men's team was offered last year. the 2019 women's world cup offered players $30 million in prize money compared to

$400 million that was handed out at the 2018 men's world cup. according to audited financial statements from 2016 to 2018, women's games generated about $50.8 million in revenue compared with 49.9 million for the men. after the win yesterday, nancy pelosi posting this on twitter, congrats team usa world cup 2019 champions, they showed us their greatness, show them the money, hash tag fair pay. >> looking at the numbers, forget equal pay, they should get paid more than the men. >> sounds like it if it's based on the revenue number. we'll see kwhawhat happens. new reporting that the fbi and customs enforcement turn to driver's license scanning to scan millions of faces. billionaire tom steyer is reportedly thinking about running into the 2020 white house race.

those stories and more coming up next. e race those stories and more coming up next do you want me to go first or do you want to go first, brea?

you can go first.

audible reintroduced this whole world to me. so many great stories from amazing people. it makes me want to be better. to be able to connect with the people's stories that i'm listening to. that's inspiration. it's on during my commute, it's on all the time. doing the dishes. working out. while i'm in the car. at bed time. an audible listener is someone that wants to broaden their mind. people who are tired of listening to the radio, or music. to hear her speak those words. it was incredible. it was unbelievable. with audible originals, there's something for almost every taste in there. everything you ever wanted to hear. i signed up for getting a credit every month, and i started exploring books that i normally wouldn't read. our ability to empathize through these stories, with these stories, can be transformational. it's my own thing that i can do for me. see what listening to audible can do for you. just text listen5 to 500500.

welcome back, i'm geoff bennett, alongside jo ling kent, in for yasmin vossoughian. after weeks of criticism and his record on race and civil rights, former vp joe biden expressed regret over his recent comments praising his past work with segregationists. speaking at a campaign event in south carolina on saturday, biden also gave his most forceful defense of his record

yet leaning on his time serving as former president obama's second in command. >> as if my opponents want to believe i served from 1972 to 2008 and then took a hiatus, the next eight years. they don't want to talk much about my time as vice president of the united states. i was vetted by he and ten serious lawyers he appointed to go back and to look at every single thing in my background from finances to anything i had done. everything. and he selected me. i'll take his judgment about my record, my character, my ability to handle the job over anyone else's. would have been nice if the day lyndon johnson signed the civil rights act, they and everything they stood for had been removed from the senate. and from the political landscape of america. but that's not the real world.

folks, now, was i wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression to people that i was praising those men who i successfully opposed time and again, well, yes, i was. i regret it, and i'm sorry for any of the pain or misconception they may have caused anybody. >> all right. so following that apology, former first lady michelle obama was asked at the essence festival in new orleans saturday night if she this any thoughts on bi on biden's recent spat with senator kamala harris. >> what, if anything, would you like to say about the biden, harris, bust up, do you have anything to say about that. >> i do not. >> i think that he is right to recognize the impact of his words and i applaud him for doing that, having the courage to do it.

if there is still a point of disagreement between he and i and that remains, just that part that is a very significant part, i believe, about that whole era, which is the issue of bussing, but i applaud him for having the courage to at least, as it relates to his comments about segregationists to make the statement he made. >> meanwhile, harris's own position on bussing came under scrutiny after she was asked to clarify if she supported federally mandated bussing. she said bussing should be considered by school district but not mandated by the federal government. a point made by biden. >> a president trump hit biden for his work with segregationists. despite his own tortured issue, president trump wrote on twitter, sleepy joe biden admitted he worked with segregationists and was plain about the fact he will be raising taxes as president. all democrats want to

substantially do is raise taxes, adding joe biden is a reclamation project, some things are not salvageable. pointing out a portion of his speech, writing quote if we don't defeat donald trump, the character of this nation will be fundamentally and forever altered. the first debates are done but a billionaire activist is telling allies he will soon join the democratic race, in january, environmentalist tom steyer announced he would not seek the nomination, and instead focus on rallying support for impeaching president trump. he has now told allies he has decided to run, with reports saying he could announce as early as tomorrow. a person family with steyer's plans, telling politico, he's focussed on the fact that the economy is not as good as people make it out to be. he planned to announce a

campaign in january but changed his mind in the final days. house speaker, nancy pelosi is facing fresh criticism following new comments over a group of democratic freshman congresswomen. in an opinion piece for the "new york times," titled, it's nancy pelosi's parade, maureen dowd discusses how house liberals have been mad with the speaker since she yielded to republicans and democratic moderates and agreed to pass a bill to send funding to the border, giving up demands for stronger protections for the migrant children being held in the detention facilities. dowd said she asked if it was jarring to get a bad headline, like one described the outrage of the squad, comprised of alexandr alexandria ocasio-cortez. she felt was the strongest bill she could get. pelosi added quote, all of these people have their public

whatever, and their twitter world but they didn't have any following. they're four people and that's how many votes they got. congresswoman cortez writing that public whatever is called public sentiment and wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country. >> to talk about all of this, joining us again from washington is daniel litman, the coauthor of "political play book." how could this impact pelosi's power position here? >> because much of the caucus is made up of moderates and long time pelosi backers, it looks like she's still in a pretty powerful position, and she's only gotten more powerful in recent months because, you know, she's seen as a person who can take the fight to donald trump, and that, you know, trump is scared of her, but also respects her. and so some of the nicknames that trump has tried to use on her, i think one was nervous nancy, that has not played well

because that's not, when you think of pelosi, you think of a person who's iron steeled, not a person who's nervous and so her fight with those four progressive members is kind of a long running struggle because she thinks, she and many other people in the democratic caucus think that those four people get much more attention than the rest of the democratic caucus, and unfairly at that. >> and pelosi's spokesperson said look, if you're going to throw a punch, you have to be prepared to get one back. let's talk about tom steyer as we reported that story, i saw your by line. it could be howard schultz reducts. how serious is his candidacy, and what are the next steps if he wants to jump into a crowded field. >> right now it's pretty serious but this is a guy almost mid flight was changing his mind in january. he could really be pulling a head fake again, although it's

weird, you know, it would be odd if he did not announce tomorrow given that there are only so many times you can say that you're not running for president. and so i don't know if it would be like howard schultz because, you know, steyer has more charisma than schultz and he's not going to tick off democrats who didn't want schultz to, you know, run because schultz was supposed to run as an indemnity, and steyer would play in the democratic primary. he has a lot of democratic, you know, people who are grateful for him because he did spend $120 million in the midterms last year. he is a top democratic donor. but i think he probably sees some weakness in the field and thinks that his voice should also be in the mix. >> the billionaire who wants to beat donald trump? >> most democratic activists are not looking to vote for a

billionaire, even someone as progressive as steyer. for all of these candidates, they want a platform for their ideas, so his idea is fighting climate change, addressing the economy to make it work for everyone, and also looking at impeaching trump. so it's hard to define a lane when all of the political consultants have mostly been spoken for, and it's very late in the race right now. >> it's late in the race, and we want to take a look at some of the higher polling candidates, harris and biden, that disagreement continues. what's the impact on voters? we have seen new polling out there? >> there isn't a huge impact, although it has dinged biden. most people are not going to vote on the narrow issue of bussing. this is not like the 1960s or 70s when that was a hotter issue. and so i think the broader question is how does this

represent biden and harris and speaking to issues affecting the new generation and harris is seen as someone who is, you know, more in touch with people's concerns in the present day versus biden who seems to be living in the past more. >> all right. daniel litman, thanks for your time this morning. we appreciate it. president trump is issuing a new warning to iran after officials there revealed they have taken a major step that could bring the country closer to developing a nuclear weapon. it's the latest moves by both countries as tensions continue to escalate. nbc news's has more. >> reporter: they will enrich uranium to whatever levels they want. iran says they need the increase to run civilian nuclear power plants, the u.s. and allies say it puts them one step closer to a nuclear bomb.

president trump warning teheran again. >> teheran better be careful. you enrich for one reason and i won't tell you what that reason is, but it's no good. >> the pentagon has already moved an additional thousand troops to the region, and it was just two weeks ago that president trump ordered then cancelled a limited strike on iran in response to their downing of a u.s. drone. on the streets of teheran, there's a real fear of war. we are very worried about war, and the future looks very bleak, this man says, and also real aen anxiety as a result of crippling sanctions. not even drug stores have been immune. >> there is lack of medications, all sorts of medicine, and even if they find it, the price is very expensive. people are suffering and dying. >> thank you for that report. still ahead, how federal law enforcement officials are

benefitting from the information of millions of americans without them knowing it. starbucks looks to maintain another problem after police officers are asked to leave one of its stores following a customer complaint. and bill karins is back with another check on your weather forecast. back with another check on your weather forecast do you want me to go first or do you want to go first, brea?

you can go first. audible reintroduced this whole world to me. so many great stories from amazing people. it makes me want to be better. to be able to connect with the people's stories that i'm listening to. that's inspiration. it's on during my commute, it's on all the time. doing the dishes. working out. while i'm in the car. at bed time. an audible listener is someone that wants to broaden their mind. people who are tired of listening to the radio, or music. to hear her speak those words. it was incredible. it was unbelievable. with audible originals, there's something for almost every taste in there. everything you ever wanted to hear. i signed up for getting a credit every month, and i started exploring books that i normally wouldn't read.

our ability to empathize through these stories, with these stories, can be transformational. it's my own thing that i can do for me. see what listening to audible can do for you. just text listen20 to 500500. welcome back, starbucks is once again facing controversy over a tense confrontation between an employee and several officers at a store outside phoenix last week. the company is now seeking to make amends with that police department. nbc news, kendis gibson has the story. >> reporter: starbucks is apologizing publicly and in person, the meeting between police and company officials set to go into a second day today. the company moving quickly to quiet the controversy that has lit up social media with the hash tag dump starbucks. it started when six tempe police officers were enjoying their

drinks at starbucks when one of the employees said a customer was uncomfortable from their presence and asked them to move from their line of sight. >> nobody should be asked to leave if all they're doing is just having a cup of coffee. >> i think it's valid to a degree to be afraid. you don't know who's good and who's not. >> the officers at first called the situation disheartening and offensive and say they hope this can be a learning opportunity. >> we can move forward and connect our community and hopefully people will feel safe around law enforcement. that's why we got into this job. >> reporter: it's not the first time the company has come under fire. >> i have two gentlemen in my cafe who are refuse to go make a purchase or leave. >> reporter: in this viral video, police handcuffed who men at a philadelphia starbucks, people accusing the coffee giant of racial pro filing, prompting starbucks to close thousands of stores nationwide for mandatory bias training.

they say they are already taking the necessary steps to ensure this doesn't happen again in the future. kendis gibson, nbc news. "the washington post" is reporting that the fbi and immigration and customs enforcement are scanning through millions of americans' photos without their knowledge or consent by using state driver's license data bases as a facial recognition tool, federal investigators have turned state dmv data bases into the bedrock of an unprecedented surveillance infrastructure. neither congress nor state legislatures have authorized this system, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are criticizing the technology as a quote dangerous pervasive and error prone surveillance tool. officials with the tsa, customs and border protection and the secret service are expected to testify before the house committee on homeland security

later this week about their use of this technology. >> i see bill karins standing over there. let's get a check of the weather forecast. >> people don't know you are nervous. i told them there's going to be a weather game. they need to pay attention, and they have no idea what's coming. just sit there and be nervous. we're watching a little bit of rain that's trying to sneak into areas around new york city this morning. hit and miss showers throughout baltimore and dc. grab the umbrella as you head out the door. you won't need it later today, but just this morning a little bit. your week ahead forecast, exiting storms, showers and storms off areas of north carolina. florida, your typical storms, hot and humid from louisiana all the way through texas and maybe an isolated severe storm in the northern plains. you have been dodging them on and off the last three or four days. pretty quiet throughout the nild of t -- middle of the week. if happens, it would again drift towards louisiana, maybe even near the houston area. doesn't look like a huge storm. it could bring tropical rains down through the region. we'll keep an eye on that as we go throughout the end of the

week. it's a quiet weather map as we go towards friday. let's play a game. have you heard how hot it's been in alaska lately? >> 90 degrees. >> is that the answer? who's hotter, fair banks versus new york city? >> fair banks. >> fair bank sgs. >> the answer is fair banks. >> juneau versus denver. >> this is a harder one, i'm going to say denver. >> she's smarter, she has the west coast advantage. >> denver. >> juneau. >> the answer is denver. >> our last one, anchorage versus chicago. >> i was in chicago yesterday. i'm going to say chicago. >> anchorage. >> jeff on the board, i think we're tied. >> i have to do the megan rapinoe pose. >> she has to sneak behind you. >> anchorage, by the way, if it's 85 again.

they'll only hit 85 once in recorded history. still off the charts. >> and that's climate change. >> you can't associate one tiny event, one little spot, but, yeah, it's alarming, let's put it that way. >> thanks, bill, thanks for the quiz, by the way. >> we'll take it. still ahead, president trump firing back at britain's ambassador to the u.s., after leaked memos revealing his disparaging take on trump. >> it wasn't just the ambassador, as he continued to hammer the federal reserve. details about his latest gripes against the central bank. s late against the central bank do you want me to go first or do you want to go first, brea?

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welcome back, newly leaked memos reva memos reveal that the british ambassador doesn't think too highly of president trump. sir kim derek views trump as inept, insecure and incompetent. the memos are critical of the president's economic policies saying they could wreck the world trade system and described conflicts within the white house as quite knife fights. beyond that, the ambassador says the quote worst cannot be ruled out regarding allegations of trump's collusion with russia. in one instance, ambassador derek wrote quote we don't believe this administration is going to become more normal, less dysfunctional, less unpredictable, less fact driven, less diplomatically clumsy and

inept. president trump responded to all of this yesterday. >> president, do you have a reaction to british ambassador's comments? >> no, i haven't seen it, but, you know, we have had our ins and outs with a couple of countries and i would say that the uk and ambassador has not served the uk well. i can tell you that. we're not big fans of that man, and he has not served the uk well, so i can answer it, and i can say things about minimhim b won't bother. >> president trump is blasting the federal reserve, calling it the most difficult problem the u.s. faces and once again, criticizing the independent central bank for raising interest rates. trump took to twitter on saturday, strong jobs reports, low inflation, and other countries around the world doing anything possible to take advantage of the unite, knowing that our federal reserve doesn't

have a clue, they raised rates too often and tightened while others did the opposite. as well as we are doing the day after the great election, when the markets shot right up, it could have been even better. massive additional wealth would have been created. our most difficult problem is not our competitors, it is the federal reserve. all of these comments are coming a day after that june jobs report, showing the economy added about 224 jobs for the month, it blasted through expectations, and trump praised the report saying the economy would have been better if the federal reserve would lower interest rates. >> president trump who in the past has mocked president obama and hillary clinton for their use of teleprompters, he said friday that technical problems with his own teleprompter led to this remark about the continental army in his speech on the fourth of july. >> in june of 1775, the continental congress created a

unified army ouch tt of the revolutionary forces and named after the great george washington, our army manned the efforts, rammed the ramparts, took over the airports, did everything it had to do, and at fort mchendry, under the rockets red glare, it had nothing but victory. >> okay. so not only was the army not named after washington, but the continental army could not yet secure, and not yet exist in airports during the revolutionary war. the president spoke to reporters shortly before leaving for his property where he acknowledged he had technical issues because of the rainy conditions during thiz speech. take -- during his speech. take a look. >> the teleprompter went out, so i could have said, and actually right in the middle of that sentence, it went out. >> coming up, the president hits a high in the polls.

the new numbers showing president trump having his highest job approval ever. and details on which policies he's getting high marks on and where he faces reelection risks and the democrats that pose the biggest 2020 threat to him. we're back with the morning's top stories in less than three minutes. rning's top stories in less than three minutes.

president trump's approval rating edges up to the highest point of his presidency, but ahead of 2020, he's struggling in head-to-head match ups against several democratic candidates. wii breaking down the new numbers. acting homeland security secretary kevin mcaleenan is pushing back against what he calls unsubstantiated allegations of migrant children living in unsanitary conditions at u.s. border patrol stations. the u.s. soccer women's team wins the 2019 world cups, beating the netherlands 2-0. they'll be honored with a ticker tape parade in new york city later this week. good morning, it's monday, july 8th. i'm geoff bennett, alongside