. >> a cnn exclusive. audio of donald trump and michael cohen, despite past denials it seems the president knew about a possible hush payment to a playboy playmate. >>> $12 billion in emergency aid for farmers caught in the president's trade war. republican lawmakers are lashing out at one calls a soviet type of economy. >>> and somebody in san jose is $522 million richer this morning, before taxes. one jackpot winner in last night's mega millions drawing, as evidence by the fact i'm here, it's not me. i'm not regretting the $10 i spent on that, my financial analyst. >> all right, if it makes you happy. >> welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is july 25th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. michael cohen's flip on donald trump is all but complete this morning. a cnn exclusive breaking overnight. the attorney for cohen, president trump's fixer has presented eye-opening audio to cnn. candidate trump and cohen discuss buying the rights to a playboy model's story of her alleged affair wit

thanks for watching "cnn newsroom."early start" is next for viewers here in the u.s. >> and for viewers around the world our colleague max foster picks up "newsroom" live in london. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. >> see you later. . . . . >>> president trump calls out robert mueller by name claiming the special counsel has conflicts of interest. >>> several people are still missing as the wildfire rages through california claiming at least six lives. >>> a just released report is supposed to close the book on the mistysterious disappearance the malaysia airline jet. good morning. i'm

cnn joins us now from new york. tell us what the police are saying about this. >> reporter: yeah, actually, jim, what we're hearing are those packages are inside trump tower. what i've hearing from a source, again, this is preliminary information as it comes into the nypd, secret service, other authorities, is that there were three suspicious packages in three separate locations inside trump tower. i want to get out of the way so you can get a quick look at the street. this is fifth avenue right here where trump tower is. you can see it is shut down for cars on the scene here as bomb squad. we also have the emergency service units. and there's just a number of streets closed around this area. i was actually walking toward trump tower for something separate when i saw the bomb squad race by me, along with other emergency vehicles. so, at this point we know there's a lot of officials inside trump tower, heavily armed people, standing guard, trying to figure out exactly what those packages are, where they are. this is

have been supportive of cnn over trump's war with cnn, but i think that the truth is a lot of people don't trust the media. a lot of people think of the media as bad if not worse than the politicians. so it is quite an effective tactic among the base, although i think the vee mens with which he's now doing it is perhaps alienating rather a lot of people who fundamentally believe in free speech, thank goodness. >> yeah. and you talk about that vehemence. "the new york times" met with him recently to talk about that and they wrote about it. if we have that. about the meeting. mr. trump expressed pride in popularizing the phrase "fake news" when he met with the "new york times" and said "other countries had begun banning it." so the publisher of the "new york times" responded that those countries were dictatorships that that they were not banning fake news but rather independent scrutiny of their actions. it seems, though, the meeting with the "new york times" nothing to cause mr. trump to back down. sorry. we lost mr. gray -- >> yeah. >> thank you so much for joining us. we lost you th

randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> all right, joining me right now, cnn intelligence and security analyst and former cia operative bob baer and cnn reporter erica ordin. good to see you both. erica, you first, how much legal trouble potentially could the trump team be in if indeed cohen's claims are true that trump knew about this meeting before it happened? >> sure, so i think there are two ways in which it could be legally problematic for him. the first pertains to coordination between the campaign, members of the campaign, potential coordination between them and foreign nationals who are trying to influence the election. the other is with regard to mueller's obstruction probe. if trump knew about the meeting and the intended purpose of meeting and subsequently drafted or helped draft statements that did not disclose the purpose of the meeting, mueller will be examining those with respect to what he actually knew. >> and then of course there's the issue of don trump jr., what he told, you know, lawmakers on the hill that, you know, his dad didn't know and -- whether he perjured himself

breaking news in cnn. militants in gaz aire say they reached a cease fire agreement with israel after explosions and fighting this weekend. no word from israel just yet on this reported cease fire. but gaza militants reportedly have fired more than 100 rockets and mortars towards israel in the last 24 hours. the israeli air force meanwhile carrying out its single largest bombing campaign in several years. let's go live to jourm and cnn national correspondent ian lee. what is behind the sudden spike in fighting there, ian? >> ana, it can all be traced back to yesterday when israeli soldiers killed two palestines during protests along the border with israel. then early this morning residents in southern israel near gaza woke up to sirens warning of incoming projectiles. and throughout the day over 100 rockets and mortars were fired by gaza militants towards israel and more than 20 intercepted by the iron dome anti-missile system. israeli fighters retaliated by hitting of dozens of hamas targets. including co

cnn's patrick snell here to tell us about it. and patrick, look, people have been scratching their heads, debating this for a long time. now we know. >> now we know. headed west. headed to the golden state, lebron james. this is a whole new era. and we were expecting something. we were expecting something, george, but we didn't quite know for sure where it was going. here are the details. here's what we do know. according to the agency the 33-year-old signinging a contract worth a hefty $154 million. that's a hefty contract indeed. as he leaves his hometown team as i free agent for a second time. let's just remind our viewers worldwide of his status in the game. he is basketball's biggest name. no question about that. he's a three-time nba champ. he led cleveland to a fourth straight nba finals this year. but they were swept there, george, by the golden state warriors in four games. and you could tell at times by his body language i think during those finals that all was not well. and the critics were saying that he was carrying

he provided it to cnn. what that tells me is that michael cohen does not yet have a deal with federal prosecutors. because if he did, this tape, we wouldn't be hearing this tape. the prosecutors would not want this tape out. this is a plea to get a deal for prosecutors, and michael cohen's legal team is putting it out there to sort of tantalize prosecutors, telling them, in effect, we can fill in all the blanks for you, so give us a deal. >> michael, john, thank you so much, gentlemen. i appreciate it. >>> when we come back, the trump organization responds to our cnn exclusive, the cohen-trump tape. plus another cnn exclusive. why stormy daniels' lawyer, michael avenatti, reportedly asked for a meeting with michael cohen. is a settlement on the table? michael avenatti meets with me next hour. paying too much for insurance you don't even understand? well, esurance makes it simple and affordable. in fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of $412. that's auto and home insurance for

the cnn center in atlanta. our breaking news coverage of the high-risk rescue in thailand. you're watching cnn, thank you for being with us. we do whatever it takes to fight cancer. these are the specialists we're proud to call our own.

cnn cannot independently verify that number. in jalalabad people were killed in a suicide bombing atack on sunday. the provincial police chief told reuters the bomber targeted a vehicle carrying members of the country's sikh minority. 17 sikh are dead including the only sikh candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election. >>> the u.s. national security adviser says he believes north korea could dismantle its nuclear arsenal in a year. this if pyongyang cooperates. at last month's summit north korea pledged to work toward denuclearization of the korean peninsula but no specifics or no timelines really given in the joint statement signed by kim jong un and president trump. >> we have developed a program. i'm sure that secretary of state mike pompeo will be discussing this with the north koreans in the near future about really how to dismantle all of their wmd and ballistic missile programs in a year. if they have the strategic decision already made to do that and they're cooperative, we can move very quickly. and it's to north k

sources tell cnn trump's former lawyer michael cohen claims mr. trump knew in advance about the june 2016 meeting in trump tower. the meeting where the trump team expected russians to deliver campaign dirt on hillary clinton. cohen's claim, if true, would contradict, no fewer than 15 denials by the president and administration and family and lawyers. for example, these. >> did you know at the time of the meeting? >> i didn't know anything about the meeting. it must have been a very unimportant meeting because i never heard about it. >> did you tell your father anything about this? >> it was such a nothing. there was nothing to tell. >> let's focus on what the president was aware of. nothing. not aware of the meeting. did not attend the meeting. was only informed about the e-mails very recently by his counsel. >> the president's critics have long doubted denials. they point to phone calls that trump junior made to a blocked number afterwards. the kind the president has. two days before the meeting, the president mysteriously announced plans for a m

a cnn exclusive breaking overnight. the attorney for cohen, president trump's former lawyer, and fixer, has provided some eye-opening audio to cnn. during a discussion about the campaign, candidate trump and cohen discussed buying the rights to a playboy model's story of her alleged affair with mr. trump years earlier. >> just before the election, the trump campaign denied any knowledge of a planned payoff to karen mcdougal, but the september 2016 recording seems to confirm mr. trump knew at the time about the proposal. listen as cohen tells trump about his plans to set up a company to purchase the story rights from american media run by trump friend david pecker. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, you know, so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up and i've spoken -- >> give it to me -- >> i've spoken to allen wieselberg about how to set the whole thing up -- >> so, what are we going to pay -- >> with funding -- yes. and it's all the stu

sources tell cnn. and sources say cohen is prepared to tell special counsel robert mueller what candidate trump knew and when. >> it is quite a bombshell. if it's true and corroborated. it would mean that the president was willing personally to accept russian help in the campaign and so it brings the collusion issue to the president's feet. >> reporter: president trump claims he was present -- of the russian's officer and alleges trump gave the nod of approval for the meeting to go forward. the president, his attorneys, the white house and others involved in the meeting have repeatedly denied that trump had knowledge of it before it took place. >> i just heard there was an e-mail. requesting a meeting or something. >> did you know the time they had the meeting? >> no. i didn't know about the meeting. must have been unimportant. >> this is not a situation where the president was involved this meeting. was not aware of the meeting. did not attend. >> he did. he didn't know about it until a few days ago?

a check on cnn money. looking to cut another $100 billion in taxes mainly for rich americans. that according to "the new york times." steve mnuchin told the times that earlier this month in argentina that his department was considering overhauling how the capital gains tax is calculated. that would allow to adjust the asset like a home or shares of stock for inflation when selling it. the treasury department is considering bypassing congress to make the cut cap. the recent analysis shows over 97% of the benefits would go to the top 10% of the income earners in the united states. >>> rejecting the threat to shutdown the government in september if he doesn't get the border wall. at least for now. >> finish up the measures. we have been considering several days and take more steps to the goal of cop completing the appropriations process and funding the government in a timely manner. >> if the president wants to shutdown the government, that is his prerogative. i don't think it will be necessary. >> even the m

cnn is live in russia on that. cnn is live in russia on that. stay with us. cnn is live in russia on that. stay with us. does your business internet provider promise a lot? let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go on line today. >>> welcome back to cnn "newsroom." i'm george howell. british police are stepping up their source for a second nerve contamination agent after a couple was poisoned in southern england last week. erin, tell us about the mood in and around that town. is there concern among people ability encountering this possible poison? >> reporter: people i have been speaking to here, george, they they absolutely have concerns about the possibility of further c

this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. the big headline, cnn reports michael cohen is prepared to tell robert mueller that donald trump knew and approved of that infamous trump tower meeting with russians in june of 2016. his attorney, rudy giuliani, you just saw him on with chris, challenging cohen's credibility in that interview a short time ago. thank you for that, my friend. let's talk about credibility. who does the special prosecutor believe? mueller and his team? for all these years, michael cohen has been a fixer for donald trump. he has his issues with credibility, as have some folks. and the president has his issue with credibility and truth. so who do you believe? it's important, though, and you keyed in on it, there are other people who were in the room who can corroborate it, correct? >> if the meeting is anything like what michael cohen, through sources, suggested, that he was at a meeting where others were present, then yes, you're right, and the key will be in the corroboration. >> so with rudy giuliani say

i'm very familiar with cnn heroes a fan of the show.aid wait a second, cnn heroes, dr. gore perfect match. here we are. i'm so proud of my friend as he xcels in this way. so surreal and exciting. so rewarding. >> to learn more about this story or to nominate someone you think should be a cnn hero, log on to cnn heroes.com but heads up the nominations close tuesday night. don't delay. we'll be right back. (vo) i was born during the winter of '77. i first met james in 5th grade. we got married after college. and had twin boys. but then one night, a truck didn't stop. but thanks to our forester, neither did our story. and that's why we'll always drive a subaru. it's willingham, edge of the box, willingham shoots... goooooooaaaaaaaallllllll! that...was...magic. willingham tucks it in and puts the championship to bed. sweet dreams, nighty night. as long as soccer players celebrate with a slide, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. pressure, what pressure? the play

better life. >>> now a cnn exclusive.tigation has found that a pharmaceutical giant, bayer paid doctors big money related to a birth control device called essure. and now some women say this device has caused them horrific health problems. cnn senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen has one patient's story. elizabeth. >> reporter: ana, i talked to a woman who said she felt pushed into getting in device. after giving birth to four children. christina potts wanted permanent birth control. she says her doctor in indiana suggested essure. a device implanted into the fallopian tubes. >> potts says she was in so much pain she had a hifterectomy to get rid of it. last week bayer pharmaceutical said the essure is safe but will stop selling it at the end of the year due to declining sales. but potts is wondering did essure last 16 years on the market in part because bayer was paying doctors millions. a cnn analysis of a federal database shows from 2013 through 2017 bayer paid a total of $$2.5 million to 11850 u.s. physicians

you are live in the cnn newsroom. i'm ana cabrera in new york and thank you for being with us on this sunday there. is no time to stop and absorb the shock of losing wild lives to the an out of control fire in california. the big zest the carr fire. it has consumed more than 90,000 acr acres. it is moving so and erratic that the fire crews have barely been able to contain it for 5%, and that is after fighting for a week. today, they are warning that it is possibly becoming more unpredictable. that is one of 17 fires burning in california. the firefighters are spread thin. and also today, the crews are searching for 12 missing people. we are waiting for the live update. while we are waiting for official words, dan simon, this is not sounding good. >> well, the conditions are quite challenging, ana. i want to the show you the front page of the local paper. this is everything that you need to know. no end in sight, and the reason is because that the fire continue s continues to burn in all direction, and just 5% containe

cnn's dr. nation." >> reporter: the stink trench. man versus lake. and the world's longest set of monkey bars are just three of the 200 challenges to overcome at the rat race dirty weekend. the largest obstacle course race in the world. >> this is a big objective to conquer and might be the biggest thing they ever do. >> reporter: two hours north of london more than 5,000 adults and children tackle a 20-mile course featuring 200 invented obstacles. >> got to know what to expect and what's next around the corner. can't retrain specifically for it and kind of why i like it. >> anything can happen in a 20-mile race. a mind game to overcome. push through the pain and get to the end. >> reporter: the challenge is daunting, but course designer jim carefully considered the race's degree of difficulty. >> obviously physically challenging. we don't want it so difficult it's what we call a suffer event. no joy in not completing something. my favorite touch is the little things we do. we have an old londo

cnn sent different reporters to the event. and a statement from the white house called it misguided and inappropriate decision. fox news issued a statement in support of cnn and kaitlan collins ability to ask questions. >> most that cover the white house is competitive job and to have all of those other people competing with and say that was inappropriate on the white house. i will point out the president was tweeting about the subject early in the day. raising this to the level of the white house. the white house reporter would have that question. the president is the one who started the news of the day. >>> today is the deadline for the government to reunite migrant families separated at the border by the president's zero tolerance policy. it is clear the federal effort will fall short. we know 914 parents will not be reunited with their children for various reasons. parents cannot be found or have criminal records or were deported without that kids. we spoke with a program trying to help parents ejected from the u.s. withou

eastern right here on cnn. coming up, caught on tape.futable evidence of a thirsty president. >> they don't have any -- >> get me a coke, please. >> they don't have a legitimate purpose. stadium announcer: all military members stand and be recognized. no matter where or when you served, t-mobile stands ready to serve you. that's why we're providing half off family lines to all military. i knew at that exact moment ... i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors. it's not just picking a surgeon, it's picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. visit cancercenter.com/breast welcome to holiday inn! thank you! ♪ ♪ wait, i have something for you! every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. save up to 15% when you book early at hollidayinn.com save up to 15% when you book early overwhelming air fresheners can send you running... so try febreze one. with no aerosols and no heavy perfumes. so you can spray and stay. febreze one. >>> the price of a can of coke is on the rise. fallout from trump's tariff on alumin

are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm ryan nobody else in new york. ana cabrera is off today. >>> breaking news, a last-resort mission that may be literally the only way to save the lives of a boys' soccer team underground. this is a cave in northern thailand, 12 boys all under 16 and their coach, are trapped there. the nightmare began two weeks. rescuers have no more time to waste. the weather is going from bad to much worse. cnn's matt rivers is there where the rescuers are planning their next move. even though it is 3:00 in the morning, are you starting to see anything to make you believe this rescue mission is already under way? >> reporter: officially ryan, we have no word from authorities that the rescue mission that is started, but here's what we know. we know the weather is he expected to get worse, that has pushed rescuers up against a wall. authorities have told us we have a limited opportunity to get the boys out, where the water levels are as low as they possibly can be. we have been here, and for the tire

cnn has reporters on the scene. jonathan miller near the cave entrance and cnn's matt rivers outside the hospital where the four boys are now being treated. let's go first to jonathan miller. this was an extraordinary rescue. there's still a long way to go. so how do they pull this off? >> reporter: joe, they had about 90 rescue workers in total down in that incredibly labyrinth and cavern system. only 13 of them were involved with the actual rescue of pulling the boys out. they were the trained cave divers. each boy, each of the four boys who have come out had a diver, one ahead of them and one behind. the boy in the middle held on to a rope tethered to the front diver, who also held his compressed air tank. the diver on the back would also have been holding a guideline, the dive line, and they navigated through several passageways of submerged tunnel before scrambling out into the upper chambers of the cave. about the last third of the exit would have been this wading through caverns which have been drained of wat

you are live in the cnn newsroom. for being with us on this sunday there. is no time to stop and absorb the shock of losing wild lives to the an out of control fire in california. the big zest the carr fire. it has consumed more than 90,000 acr acres. it is moving so and erratic that the fire crews have barely been able to contain it for 5%, and that is after fighting for a week. today, they are warning that it is possibly becoming more unpredictable. that is one of 17 fires burning in california. the firefighters are spread thin. and also today, the crews are searching for 12 missing people. we are waiting for the live update. while we are waiting for official words, dan simon, this is not sounding good. >> well, the conditions are quite challenging,

we have cnn's ryan nobles in new jersey nearby where the president is staying this weekend and cnn senior international correspondent sam kiley, he's in moscow with details on the summit and cnn global affairs correspondent elise labott, reaction from the trump administration. begin first with you, ryan in new jersey. talk more about this second planned meeting. >> reporter: yeah, fred. the white house remaining pretty silent as to exactly what this second meeting between vladimir putin and donald trump could entail. the only real information we have at this point is a tweet by the press secretary sarah sanders that said the national security adviser john bolton was going to extend that invitation to vladimir putin and we know the secretary of state mike pompeo described it as being a good next step in the process of the conversation between the two countries, but there is a lot of angst in washington about what this second meeting could mean. especially when you take into account we are still hashing out everything that happened in that first summit between donald trump and vladimir puti

cnn's dr. charlotte, north carolina, with more on the growing health and environmental concerns. >> it's quiet. it's safe. it's a family atmosphere. >> reporter: danielle grew up in walnut cove, north carolina. the tranquil town of just over 1,000 people sits right along picturesque beluse lake. the lake that was a big reason to move into this area? >> dream location. it had everything that we needed. the price was right. >> reporter: the price was right because just over those trees is the beluse creek steam station. one of duke energy's largest coal burning power plants. one of the realities of coal burning plants is you need a place to dispose of the waste. and that traditionally has meant coal ash ponds like this. it may look like a beautiful lake but it is basically an unlined pit in the ground with millions of tons of ash. mercury, cardmeum, arsenic, contaminants associated with cancer, right in her backyard. in 2009, she began experiencing headaches. >> they told me i had a brain tumor.

nick paton walsh, cnn, islama d islamabad. >>> coming up on "cnn newsroom," long time confidant of president trump michael cohen has made a clean break from his old boss, it seems. we'll discuss why he's doing it and what risk he might pose to the president coming up. >>> a new oil russia in alaska spurred along by the trump administration is threatening thousands of acres of unspoiled land. how locals are fighting back. when i received the diagnoses, i knew at that exact moment ... i'm beating this. my main focus was to find a team of doctors. it's not just picking a surgeon, it's picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. visit cancercenter.com/breast and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audible. with the largest selection of audiobooks. audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. or discover magic when you hit the open road. with the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. and for just $14.95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. if you don't like it exchange it any time. no questions asked. you can also roll y

cnn's ed lavandera went to the u.s. find out if supporters are still standing by. >> with that kind of introduction, there's no guess that this is the topic. he's a staunch trump republican and credits the president with taking a tough approach to border security. >> with president trump we have someone who is making a serious attempt to enforce rule of law and enforce order law and enforce our sovereign border with mexico and get ahold of the situation. >> reporter: christina garfield has lived along the border all her life. she comes from a family of democrats, but she, like trump, sees a threat in the flow of illegal immigration. >> my biggest concern with the people that are coming over our borders is safety. safety is a huge deal down here. >> reporter: trump is far from popular here in texas where most of the zero tolerance policy attention has been focused. he only won 28% of the vote, but there is an undercurrent of conservative latino voters who kind of defy conventional wisdom. they're unphased by trump's rhet

, log on to cnn heroes.com. >>> this is cnn breaking news.ern, 5:00 in the evening out west. i'm in new york, and you are live in the cnn newsroom. bralking right now on cnn a rescue mission dangerous despera desperate to reach a group of young boys and their soccerer coach. potentially deadly part

you have lanny davis denying his side leaked this trump tower story with cnn. their view is they have no interest in it coming out now. rudy giuliani said they didn't leak it. should the media be giving so much attention to that allegation. there is no tape, there is no document, it will be one person's word against another. obviously it needs to be reported, but with great caution. guy: but the allegation is explosive. it's someone in the inner sanctum of trump world for a long time saying one of the major assertions made by the president about that trump tower meetle is false and would be a capital l lie if michael cohen is telling the truth. howie: would it be a lie that would be much more important, you could call it attempted collusion more so than his relationship with the woman? guy: definitely. howie: sara, are we headed for the kind of story the media loves, michael cohen protecting his own interest, he seems to be saying i did a lot of things for donald trump, i'm not proud of him -- he doesn't use these words. now he's president and i have got to com

we'll see you later on tonight on cnn.re to tune in for "chris cuomo prime time" here on cnn at 9:00 eastern. thanks very much for watching. happy fourth of july. "erin burnett out front" starts now. >> breaking news, chief scott pruitt's personal appeal to the president. why he wanted jeff sessions out at the state department. >>> plus, the official white house twitter account used to take on top democrats over immigration. is that normal? and we're live on the scene of the cave rescue. i'll talk to a diver who is desperately trying to get the soccer team out. let's go out front. good evening, everyone. i'm kate baldwin in for erin burnett. embattled epa director appealing to president trum top fire attorney general jeff sessions

here is cnn hero chad houser.a dallas sheriff after a one-chance meeting with a young man out of juvenile detention who just discovered a love for cooking. >>> i remember consciously thinking that the system is rigged based on choices that were made for him, not by him, the color of his skin, the part of town that he was born into, the schools that he had access to. i just thought, it is not fair. he deserves every chance that i had. i thought, if you're not willing to do something yourself, then you are being a hypocrite. so either put up or shut up, and that was it for me. >> we want to learn more about chad's nonprofit. if you want to nominate your own cnn hero, visit cnnheroes.com. >>> thank you all for watching with us this morning. >> there is much more ahead in the next hour of "cnn newsroom." our colleague suzanne malveaux is up after a quick break. ♪ still a chance here. it's willingham, edge of the box, willingham shoots... goooooooaaaaaaaallllllll! that...was...magic. willingham tucks it in and puts the

cnn has reporters on the scene. jonathan miller near the cave entrance and cnn's matt rivers outside the hospital where the four boys are now being treated. let's go first to jonathan miller. this was just an extraordinary rescue. eight boys and their coach still until the cave. what are we waiting for next rescue? do we have to wait another 15 hours or so? >> yes, it could be 10 and 20 hours before they can restart f the rescue operation. the reason is apparently so many of the oxygen canisters had been used up in bringing these four boys out that they needed to replenish supplies down there but they've been pre-positioning them for days now. so it's obviously an oxygen-heavy situation. it is a terribly precarious operation. it's so difficult down there. it tests the limits of cave divers to the max. it's really difficult. it takes the best divers in the world about six hours to get out of the cave chamber where the boys are to the outside again. this operation this afternoon took seven and a half hours. it's remar

cnn politics and editor at large. michael geragos is here, one of our favorite lawyers who we have lots and lots of questions for. dana, first to you. you have this reporting on the president's response to learning this tape exists and that it surfaced, the whole i can't believe michael would do this to me. tell me more about how the white house is responding. >> we haven't heard formally from the white house, but we are hearing from the president's attorneys, including and especially rudy guiliani on this. as mj reported earlier, what they're pushing out is that this is exculpatory, meaning that this helps the president, this is the argument that his lawyers are giving, because this makes it clear that the president according to them, this is what the transcript they reviewed shows, the president wanted to make any payment on the up and up, wanted to write a check, wanted it to be recorded, meaning like basically a receipt or invoice to make sure this is clear this is part of nondisclosure agreement apparently, but t

he's asking cnn to cease and desist reporting essentially on the company, and he calls cnn a number ofs, says we're un-american for reporting on facebook and their position on his infowars page. of course, you know, cnn hasn't done a number of the things that we're accused of, including he says we're trying to ban his free speech. that's not what anyone at cnn is trying to do. we're just reporting on how facebook deals with the infowars page on their website. >> yeah, i mean, you might say we're doing our job. i'm an american and you are. oliver darcy, thanks very much. >> thank you, jim. >>> president trump denying michael cohen's claim that he knew and approved of the trump tower meeting with russians in 2016 promising dirt on hillary clinton. the question is, does robert mueller already know who's lying in this story? a republican congressman will join us live to respond. >>> plus, not even a week since the backlash against the president over his summit with vladimir putin, the white house now says that he's open to putin's invitation for another summit in moscow. hi, i'm joan lunde

let's bring in cnn's brian todd. looks like kim jong-un may be sending some mixed messages. is that right? >> he is, jim. it's a typical north korean game of bait and switch. tonight, new information from sources that kim jong-un's regime is secretly moving ahead with his nuclear weapons production and sharpening his nuclear weapons capability despite the optimism and perceived sincerity we saw from kim just three weeks ago. >> better than anybody could have expected. >> reporter: tonight new indications the grand declarations in singapore and the promise of a safer korean peninsula may mean little or nothing to kim jong-un. cnn has learned the pentagon's top spy agency believes kim has no intention of completely denuclearizing his country. at least for now. that's according to an official familiar with the findings of the defense intelligence agency. >> that would be an analytic assessment. we've had eight previous agreements that have all failed because north korea cheated or didn't fully comply with the requiremen

let's bring in cnn's brian todd.the rescuers face big challenges before they can get everyone out. but everybody around the world is talking about these kids and how they're going to get them out. >> everybody's talking about it. jim, they do face some major challenges, but thai officials are confident tonight. they say they can keep those boys healthy as they prepare for the rescue operation, and they're not in a rush. but it's just the start of the rainy season in thailand, and the flooding in those caves could get worse. so veteran rescuers we spoke to say, this is an urgent operation and their warning it's very dangerou dangerous. the elation of finding 12 boys and their soccer coach alive and tempered tonight by concerns over what is sure to be a complicated rescue operation. they're trapped more than a mile inside a cave in thailand. >> we're coming. it's okay. many people are coming. >> the cave's flooded because it's monsoon season. it may stay flooded for months and more rain is coming. thai authorities have

breaking news just into cnn. that russian president vladimir putin says he is preparing to go to washington. speaking today he also extended another invitation to president trump to meet again. this time it would be a visit to moskow. our senior national correspondent sam kylie joins me with more. what else do we know about what putin said? >> reporter: well, he was very interesting in answer to a question from a russian journalist in the brits meeting in johannesburg. he said he was always keeping his campaign promises, and one of those campaign promises was to improve relations with russia. he said that he had extended and

cnn's manu raju joins me now. people interpret this as michael cohen trying to make it clear, raising his hand to the special prosecutor, to the u.s. attorney for the southern district, he wants to make a deal. >> reporter: no question about it, jake. it's a fallout of the president and a close confidant facing a criminal investigation and now willingness to testify to the special counsel and contradict the president about a meeting so central to the russia investigation could have major ramifications for both trump and his son. sources tell cnn michael cohen is ready to tell special counsel robert mueller that president trump knew in advance about the now infamous trump tower meeting. in which donald trump jr. expecting he would get dirt from the russians on the clinton campaign. >> what else is on the rest of the tapes? >> reporter: cohen privately asserted he and others were present. when donald trump jr. informed trump of the russian offer and that trump gave the go ahead to have the meeting. the bombshell cla

on cnn.n for fredricka whitfield. cnn's "newsroom" continues after this short break. welcome to 2018, folks. it's a made-to-order-world. one-size-fits-all just doesn't cut it anymore. would you put up with a one-flavor-fits-all ice cream? no. what about a one-size-fits-all shoe? no. so why would you settle for a one-size-fits-all family unlimited plan? well, verizon has big news. (shoes squeaking) starting now, everyone gets the plan they want, without paying for things they don't. mom gets the unlimited she needs, dad gets the unlimited he needs, kids get the unlimited they need. the dog, if he has a phone. verizon is bringing freedom to the family unlimited plan. and you could save some money, so everybody wins! (scattered applause) wow, all this for us? yeah, and every other family in america. i think the kowalskis are next. thanks, man, really good stuff. if you want, there's a really fun water park like 20 minutes away. i dig that, man. very cool. go mix and match! (vo) one family can no

start with cnn justice correspondent evan perez in aspen. what do we know about this particular recording? >> reporter: well, brooke, this is a recording that michael cohen did apparently talking to the president about a payment to karen macdougal, former playboy playmate that claims she had an affair with then donald trump as a private citizen obviously. this was a discussion that happened before the 2016 election and so of course now this raises a lot of questions. one of the things it raises, why was this a story kept out of the public in the 2016 election during the time, the run up to the 2016 election. if you remember, this was a payment that ended up not being made allegedly by michael cohen or by the president, it was a payment that was made by the publisher of the national enquirer. they bought karen macdougal's story, ended up not using, publishing the story. she was under an agreement where she was not allowed to talk about the alleged affair with the now president. the big question this raises from michael cohen is the fact is th

. >>> this is cnn breaking news. it is 8:00 eastern, 5:00 in the evening out west. i'm in new york, and you are live in the cnn newsroom. bralking right now on cnn a rescue mission dangerous despera desperate to reach a group of young boys and their soccerer coach. potentially deadly part is how to reach them underground. cnn's matt rivers is near the entrance to the cave in northern thailand. the air, the weather. there's lot of things happening to create a sense of urgency to this rescue. do we see any signs the rescue is underway? >> while authorities have not officially said that the rescue mission is underway, there is a noticeable difference. we've been here all night long. so apparently we were grandfathered in. we're learning that all media in the staging area we've been in for about a week have to move down the hill. when you couple that with the fact they put up this green netting that blocks the view of the cave entrance, you can see a shift in the personnel here. there's actually less personally than befo

. >> so to see her obvious fix as she put it go to cnn heroes.com. >>> you are in the cnn newsroom i'm alex marquardt back with you for ana cabrera this afternoon we begin at the white house. silent, offering no clarity on what agreements president trump might have made with russian president vladimir putin behind closed doors in the one-on-one meeting in helsinki, finland. instead it's the kremlin controlling the nar pifr active offering the most information on what they've called quote, very important oral agreements. russia's top diplomat, sergei lavrov calling it better than super. if it's better for soup he were for russia what did the u.s. get out of it? we in the media and most members of the most senior members of the government are still waiting for answers to the questions from the white house. and while we wait we've gotten more news from moscow today. cnn has learned about a high--level phone call between moscow and washington from a kremlin website. secretary of state mike pompeo spoke with certifying aif lavrov today. what did they talk about? moscow says they discussed t

first, a preview of the new cnn film "american jail."t whether mass incarcerations are justified or a major injustice. >> in my hometown of eastern pennsylvania, nothing stood taller than the jail on the hill. every family had been touched by it. we all had tales of broken men in and out of lock-up. i just assumed i would end up there too. how many of you know someone who's been in jail? >> everybody. >> wait a minute, you've been in jail? >> yeah. >> if americans knew what was happening in prisons and jails, they would demand change. >> it's inevitable to end up here. >> if the jails were filled with white kids from the suburbs and they were making those white kids work for no money, how long do you think that operation would be allowed to last? >> the criminal justice system in this country's only real function is controlling poor people. >> when i went away as a kid, it taught me nothing. >> "american jail," a cnn film, premieres tonight at 8:00 on cnn. ♪ south l.a. is very medically underserved. when the old hospital closed people in

politics reporter, cnn political analyst josh rogan and cnn legal analyst paul cowan with us here. paul also a former new york city prosecutor. thank you gentleman for being with us. we certainly appreciate it. paul i want to go to you first, so if trump u president trump did know about the trump tower meeting in 2016, has there been a crime committed? >> it's an interesting question. you would think is president having, it's true if he knew he's publicly lied about it on previous occasions. however, we now have information from michael cohen his personal lawyer who says the president did, in fact, know about the trump tower meeting. now i think that puts the president in a difficult meeting. he was lying about it. it puts his son don, jr. in a worse decision. he testified before congress that the president knew nothing about the meeting before it took place. if that is true, it is possible that don junior has committed the crime of perjury by lying before a congressional committee under oath. so don junior has the big problem here that was created by the president, really. >> when

. >> and she wasn't just representing cnn. she was representing abc, nbc, cbs and fox, all of the tfr television reporter. she was doing her job. they should know better. >> it is more about her personally and it's more than about those networks that were represented by her in the pool. it is about the american people's rights to see and hear and ask questions through her of the president of the united states. >> yes. it is a very serious issue they have to fix quickly. let's talk about what we heard from the secretary of state. you came there. there were announcements made earlier. the president was not going to be meeting in the fall. they delayed it. the national security adviser said it would be next year after what he called the witch hunt. >> a couple of points. first of all the secretary of state was invited so he could tell us, the united states senate what happened in that private meeting, what agreements were reached, what understandings were concluded. he failed to answer those questions. the audacity of his evasive