the president meant. and fox news host facing backlash from advertisers after a comment from a parkland survivor. the student not satisfied with the apology. welcome to "early start" on good friday. is david hogg fair game? i'm dave briggs. >> i'm michelle kosinski. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. he may have been a lower level aide, but rick gaetes could pla a pivotal role. details push for the collusion case. >> the court filing this week claims gates was in contact with someone who was working with the russia investigation. the investigation has been focused since the president took office. it appears collusion remains a focal point of the russia probe. we get more from evan perez in washington. >> reporter: dave and michelle, the special counsel prosecutors told rick gates they did not need paul manafort. instead, we are told, they wanted him to provide information on trump campaign contact was russians. that is the mission of the mueller investigation. the discussions with gates happened last year long before he pleaded guilty to criminal charges last month. this is important because it suggests that mueller is pursuing the question of illegal coordination with the trump campaign associates and russians. the president and allies call collusion. we are seeing how the mueller prosecutors plan to use gates to connect manafort and the trump campaign to russian spies. in a court filing, prosecutors said gates was in contact with a person that the u.s. government says was working with russia intelligence agents. alleged spy worked for the russians during the presidential campaign. the spy connection cited in court documents show they are making efforts to increase pressure on manafort perhaps to flip and cooperate with the mueller investigation. despite what you hear of no collusion, robert mueller is not done yet investigating. dave and michelle. >> thanks, evan. the special counsel is investigating events that took place during the 2016 republican national convention. specifically how russia came to be removed from the gop platform on ukraine. robert mueller's team looking into an event attended by jeff sessions and ambassador to the u.s. >> the attorney general has been under fire for failure to disclose. the year chronicled in the latest "time" magazine. it should come with a warning. interesting reaction with the frightening picture. meantime, sessions is not naming a special counsel to investigate republican accusations against the fbi. at least not for now. he did give the gop a little win. we get more now from laura jarrett in washington. >> reporter: top republicans on capitol hill did not get their wish for a special counsel to investigate the fbi, but they now got the formidable prosecutor with the selection of john huber. u.s. attorney in utah who has been reviewing republican driven claims that the fbi was involved in misconduct with with the hillary clinton use of the private e-mail server and wrongfully obtained a surveillance warrant on carter page. huber will say the investigation needs to be opened and if there is a need to appoint a special counsel down the line. he is at the center of the partisan war. huber received bipartisan support under president trump and obama. sessions said he had someone outside of washington looking into the allegations mounted by republicans. michelle. >> thank you, laura. the pentagon and commander in chief not seeing eye to eye on syria. just hours after the defense department announced the u.s. needs to stay in syria for the immediate future, trump declared the opposite. dana white says more needs to be done to ensure lasting defeat of extremists in syria. later, the president said this at the event in ohio. >> we'll be coming out of syria soon. let the other people take care of it now. we'll have 100% of the caliphate as they call it. sometimes referred to as land. we have taken it back quickly. we will come out of there real soon. >> it is not just land, but ideology that matters in syria. one official telling cnn it is not clear what the president meant and the u.s. still needs to decide on a policy regarding the future of bashar al assad. james mattis trying a little comedy to break the ice with john bolton. we think it was comedy. listen. >> thank you for coming and it's good to finally meet you. absolutely. i heard you are the devil incarnate. >> he has been concerned about working with the former ambassador to the u.n. he and bolton said different things about iran. >> t the president is in florida starting the long weekend at mar-a-lago. before he decided to fire a cabinet member david shulkin. mr. president is eager to see the day when you can run to the private doctor if necessary for the v.a. >> we will have real choice. that's why i made changes because i wasn't happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. i wasn't happy with it and we made a lot of progress. >> also developing this morning, several of president trump's outside advisers telling him he does not need a chief of staff or a communications director. hope hicks was the former communications director as of yesterday. the president's relationship with john kelly is strained. there are no signs mr. trump is ready to dismiss kelly. not yet. >> one would hope. president trump threatening a trade deal with south korea using it as leverage in the upcoming talk was north korea. the white house confirmed a revised trade agreement. here is what the president said about the deal yesterday in ohio. >> i may hold it up until after the deal is made with north korea. >> next month the two koreas plan to meet for the first time in years paving the way for the possible meeting between donald trump and kim jong un. the u.s. and south korea need a united front. this trade agreements removes the divisive issue in the korean peninsula. key changes to help u.s. car companies like new rules on emissions standards and doubling the number of cars exporting to south korea. the united states did not hit the limit they were allowed to i am -- import to south korea in years. donald trump knows all the best words and went to the best schools. we know that because he tells us. let's assume these were not part of the prepared remarks. >> a word you don't hear much you, but when i was growing up, we had vocational schools. they were not community colleges. i don't know what that means. a two-year college. i don't know what it means. i know what vocational means. call it vocational from now on. >> okay. for you in the oval office or elsewhere who know there is a difference. vocational schools provide hands-on education for careers like electrician or mechanic. the trump administration moving to loosen fuel economy for cars. sources tell the times the plan could substantially roll back obama-era standards. weakening the standards would be a win for carmakers. donald trump wants to cut back on environmental regulations. this could pave the way for court battles. the judge on the ninth circuit court of appeals died suddenly thursday. steven reinhardt suffered a heart attack during a visit to the doctor. he was a staunch critic of the trump policies and travel ban. his death may be a turning point in the federal bench. democrat elizabeth esty apologizing to prevent abuse of the male chief of staff of a staffer. the staffer's allegation claims are punched and threatened with death by tony baker. esty admitted she paid receis severence. she accepts the blame for her delayed action. >> i think we have not heard the last of that story. republicans may make some hay with that one. >> extreme allegations there. moscow should not be acting like a victim. that is the response after russia dispelled 60 american diplomats. you won't see these folks at the post office they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters ship packages all the amazing services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again the white house slamming russia's decision to expel 60 american diplomats. the announcement from the kremlin coming days after the u.s. booted 60 russian diplomats to protest the poisoning of the double agent and daughter in the u.s. press secretary sarah sanders calls it a further deterioration in the united states and russia relationship. the trump administration will quote deal with it. let's go live to moscow and bring in cnn's phil black. phil, where is this story headed? >> reporter: well, dave, for the moment, perhaps this draws a line under the current round of tit-for-tat expulsions. it locks in poor relations with russia and west and notably the united states. after the previous round of expulsions, instigated by president obama in the final days of his administration, russia held fire. did not retaliate. hoped things would be different under president trump. that hope waynednwaned. they wrach -- they matched the u.s. expulsions. this does not draw the end over the alleged use of the nerve agent. russia continues to insist it is accused unjustly and the united states and united kingdom are pressuring allies to gang up on it without evidence accusing it unfairly of using the chemical weapon. in addition to that, it is angry with the uk authorities because they are not giving information about the status of the russian citizen. yulia skripal, the daughter of sergei skripal. the former spy who is the primary target. she is now said to be doing better in hospital. no longer in critical condition. one small piece of good news in the horrible attack which has international repercussions. >> thank you, phil. laura ingraham went after a parkland survivor. now the social media campaign has advertisers fleeing her show on fox. we will tell you what ingraham is saying now. racing isn't the only thing on my mind. and with godaddy, i'm making my ideas real. when i created my businesses, i needed a way to showcase it. ♪ with godaddy you can get a website to sell online. and it will look good. i made my own way. now it's time to make yours. get started at godaddy.com ♪ everything is working, working just like it should ♪ if you'd have told me three years ago... that we'd be downloading in seconds, what used to take... minutes. that guests would compliment our wifi. that we could video conference... and do it like that. (snaps) if you'd have told me that i could afford... a gig-speed. a gig-speed network. it's like 20 times faster than what most people have. i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. a lawyer for the family of stephon clark set to announce the results of the autopsy of the unarmed man shot by police in sacramento. officers thought clark had a gun, but only his cell phone was found at the scene of the shooting in his grandmother's backyard. >> people had to sit outside the sanctuary at the funeral. reverend al sharpton was interrupted by stevante. >> stephon will live for generations. the clark family will never die. >> the protesters were out yesterday, but after forcing the golden 1 center to close doors the last week twice, they stayed away from the arena last night. janice dickinson subpoenaed to testify in the bill cosby trial. she revealed she was sexually assaulted by cosby in 1982. his attorney called the accusation a fabricated lie. the judge in the retrial rejecting demands from the defense lawyers to step aside. they argue he should recuse himself since his wife is a social worker and advocate for assault victims. a california judge ruling coffee stores across the state must carry a cancer warning because of a carcinogen in coffee. arguing larger coffee businesses were in violation of state law. a california law requires disclosing the toxic chemicals. the judge decided the defendants failed to show it poses no risk or add any health benefits. >> as i drink my third cup of the day. i won't stop anyone from drinking coffee. fox news host laura ingraham apologizing after a tweet mocking parkland survivor david hogg back fired. the proper trump commentator tweeted out the rejection from four colleges. hogg tweeted back to boycott advertisers and now eight advertise advertisers pulled their ads from the show. >> she said in the spirit of holy week, i apologize the tweet caused him or any victims of parkland. he is welcome to return for a productive discussion. hogg was not impressed. an apology to save your advertisers is not enough. i will only accept your apology if you denounce how your network tweeted my friends and i in this fight. baseball is back and so, too, is the long ball. emotional opening day in miami. that is stoneman douglas high school grad anthony rizzo. he described the moment as an out of body experience. elsewhere, giancarlo stanton. the newest member of the yankees pounding two home runs parking the bronx bombers over the blue jays. and matt davidson of the chicago white sox becomes the fourth player ever to hit three home runs on opening day. he led chicago to a bears-like victory over the royals in kansas city. i know you were gripped to the baseball action all day. >> just say ball and stick. as much as you say to describe it, my brain sees ball, stick. >> i have an hour and a half to convince you of the joy. >> that part of my brain is missing. ahead, he is already cooperating with robert mueller's investigation. does rick gates hold the key to more than we thought? the road map to collusion could run through this former trump campaign aide. "i have antivirus, but my computer's still slow..." "that's not right..." "maybe if i reboot..." "what's with all the popups?" "why does it keep on crashing?" "this is taking forever." "i think it's time for the fixmestick." fixmestick is a plug-in virus removal device. it's the smart, simple, safe way to clean your computer yourself. with fixmestick you don't have to replace your computer. it helps you keep your files, and your privacy. fixmestick reboots your computer from a system on the stick, so that it can remove the malware that got past your antivirus software. it's the smart, simple way to clean an infected computer, with a whole lot going on inside the stick... [computers sound] "alright, this computer's powered down. " "let's reboot from the stick, and start scanning..." fixmestick contains 3 independent scanners, and connects to more in the cloud, for fast and effective detection of the latest threats. "i thought so - this one got around the antivirus software!" "not a problem." "we're on it." today's viruses sabotage the computers they infect, like a burglar who gets into your house, and deactivates your security system. once your computer is infected, it's far easier to clean it with an external device... that's what makes fixmestick so effective. "ok, i see spyware, trojans, keyloggers, and here it is, the rootkit!" the fixmestick is like having your own it department in the palm of your hand. and because it connects to the internet, it's always up to date. "coffee" we're going to need some more coffee down here... " "anyone," "coffee?" advanced technology in an external device has enabled people all over the world to get the upper hand against viruses and malware. try it for 30 days, and see for yourself why more than a million people trust fixmestick to keep their computer fast, clean, and safe." call us today or visit us online. the russia special counsel is trying to connect the dots on collusion. to make it happen, a renewed focus on the campaign aide in touch with the russian agent before the election. the situation in northern syria, important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of the violent extremists. >> we will come out of syria very soon. let the other people take care of it now. >> a bit of a disconnect with the president and the pentagon. challenges remain in syria. officials are at a loss for what the president meant. and fox news host facing backlash from advertisers after a comment from a parkland survivor. laura ingraham is apologizing, but the student is not satisfied. welcome to "early start." i'm michelle kosinski. >> i'm dave briggs. looks like you might stab me with that pen. >> my security pen. >> it is 4:31 eastern time on good friday. we start with the russia investigation. a lower aide in the trump campaign, but rick gates could play a role helping with the special counsel investigation. how they pushed for gates help for the collusion case. >> the court filing this week claims gates was in contact with someone who was working with the russian intelligence agency. the investigation has been focused since the president took office. it appears collusion remains a focal point of the russia probe. more now from justice correspondent evan perez in washington. >> reporter: dave and michelle, the special counsel prosecutors told rick gates they did not his help against paul manafort. instead, we are told, they wanted him to provide information on trump campaign contacts with russians. that is the mission of the mueller investigation. the discussions with gates happened last year long before he pleaded guilty to criminal charges last month. this is important because it suggests that mueller is pursuing the question of illegal coordination with the trump campaign associates and russians. the president and allies call collusion. we are seeing how the mueller prosecutors plan to use gates to connect manafort and the trump campaign to russian spies. in a court filing, prosecutors said gates was in contact with a person that the u.s. government says was working with russia intelligence agents. they also said that gates knew the spy worked for the russians during the presidential campaign. the spy connection cited in court documents show they are making efforts to increase pressure on manafort perhaps to flip and cooperate with the mueller investigation. despite what you hear of no collusion, robert mueller is not done yet investigating. dave and michelle. >> thanks, evan. the special counsel is investigating events that took place during the 2016 republican national convention. specifically how language critical of russia came to be removed from the gop platform on ukraine. robert mueller's team looking into an event attended by jeff sessions and ambassador to the u.s. >> the attorney general has been under fire for failure to disclose. his touch -- t-- turbulent year chronicled in the latest "time" magazine. it should come with a warning. interesting reaction with the frightening picture. meantime, sessions is not naming a special counsel to investigate republican accusations against the fbi. at least not for now. he did give the gop a little win. we get more now from laura jarrett in washington. >> reporter: top republicans on capitol hill did not get their wish for a special counsel to investigate the fbi, but they now got the formidable prosecutor with the selection of john huber. u.s. attorney in utah who has been reviewing republican driven claims that the fbi was involved in misconduct with with the hillary clinton use of the private e-mail server and wrongfully obtained a surveillance warrant on carter page. huber will say the investigation needs to be opened and if there is a need to appoint a special counsel down the line. he is at the center of the partisan war. huber received bipartisan support under president trump and obama. he has been a mystery man for months as sessions said he had someone outside of washington looking into the allegations mounted by republicans. michelle and dave. >> thank you, laura. the pentagon and commander in chief not seeing eye to eye on syria. just hours after the defense department announced the u.s. needs to stay in syria for the immediate future, trump declared the opposite. dana white says more needs to be done to ensure lasting defeat of extremists in syria. later, the president said this at the event in ohio. >> we'll be coming out of syria very soon. let the other people take care of it now. very soon. we'll have 100% of the caliphate as they call it. sometimes referred to as land. we have taken it back quickly. we will come out of there real soon. >> it is not just land, but ideology that matters in syria. one official telling cnn it is not clear what the president meant and the u.s. still needs to decide on a policy regarding the future of bashar al assad. as well as the russian presence in the country. james mattis trying a little comedy to break the ice with john bolton. we think it was comedy. listen. >> thank you for coming and it's good to finally meet you. absolutely. i heard you are the devil incarnate. i wanted to meet you. >> the old open mic. he has been concerned about working with the former ambassador to the u.n. he and bolton said different things about iran. the president criticizing amazon on twitter. accusing it of not paying taxes and using the post office as a delivery service. and jeff bezos owns "the washington post." and press secretary raj shah says this is not true. >> a lot of this is about personalities with the ceo of amazon. jeff bezos. this is really about policy. >> even when it comes to policy, trump's criticism of amazon is not entirely based on fact. taxes. amazon pays sales tax in every state that charges one and pays property tax for distribution centers. trump claims it is hurting the post office. the opposite is true. the post office reports losses, but package delivery service jumped 11% last year. they make money off amazon. a lot of it. how about the struggling retailers? true. amazon has helped decline. mega stores like walmart share the blame as well. this is not as clear cut as the president likes to make it out. president trump knows all the best words because he went to the best schools because he tells us. let's say this was not in the prepared remarks. >> a word you don't hear much you, but when i was growing up, we had vocational schools. they were not community colleges. i don't know what that means. a two-year college. i don't know what it means. i know what vocational means. call it vocational from now on. >> those in the oval office, or elsewhere, who know there is a difference. vocational schools provide hands-on education for careers like electrician or mechanic. the california federal judge putting stormy daniels' efforts to depose trump on hold. he denied the expedited trial saying the motion was premature. her attorney wants michael cohen and the president to testify under oath about $130,000 cohen paid daniels to keep quiet with the alleged affair with the president. they have not followed through with the plans to force daniels into arbitration. her attorney michael avenatti tells cnn as soon as the president and cohen file their arbitration petition, he will immediately re-file his motion if you keep up with the legal back and forth. >> i cannot. it is dizzying back and forth. especially with the performance of the lawyers. i say performance on cable news. they are performing to the highest level. >> that is what they are paid to do. a judge on the highly influential ninth circuit court of appeals died steven reinhardt was a critic of the travel policies and travel ban. his death could mark a turning point on the federal bench. he leaves a vacancy that donald trump could fill. and connecticut congresswoman apologizing after the alleged abuse by a staffer. she was punched and threatened with death by tony baker. baker was fired three months later. she said baker a severance and giving him a job. the coppi congresswoman accepts the blame for the delayed action. i would imagine republicans will make some hay out of this in the days ahead. we're talking moscow should not be acting like a victim. that's the response from the state department after russia expelled american diplomats. we're live in moscow when we return. the white house slamming russia's decision to expel 60 american diplomats. the announcement from the kremlin coming days after the u.s. booted 60 russian diplomats to protest the poisoning of the former double agent and his daughter in the uk. press secretary sarah sanders calls it a further deterioration in the united states and russia relationship. the trump administration will quote deal with it. let's go live to moscow and bring in cnn's phil black. phil, the russians did not retaliate when obama expelled 30 of them in 2016. this time round they are ready to keep up with the tit-for-tat. >> reporter: that's right, michelle. last time they held fire. they hoped the situation would be different under president trump. relations would improve. that hope proved to be unfounded. especially when congress removed from president trump the right to lift sanctions from russia. that locked the two countries into a pretty chilly relationship. with this latest round of expulsions, russia responded quickly. you are right. it has done so in a way expected. it was the minimal reaction from russia. the least they were expected to do. they have matched the u.s. expulsions. they have not escalated the situation further. the ball is now in your court, but we reserve the right to take further action. u.s. and allies reserve the right to take further action as well. where things go from here depends on the disagreements flowing from what is described from the skripal case. the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter in england. the uk and allies say that was a result of the russian nerve agent. russia continues to insist they are innocent and it is unjust and no evidence is proven. they are angry with the uk. they want access to yulia skripal. the other victim in the case. she is in hospital. she has been in critical condition, but said to be doing better now. russia wants access to her to hear what she has to say. >> the trump administration warned russia if they did exactly this, what they just did, then this administration could well take further action. thanks, phil. france's highest court or r ordering nicolas sarkozy to stand trial. attempting to intervene in the investigation of the 2007 campaign finances. investigators monitored cell phones nicolas sarkozy used to communicate with his attorney. monitoring revealed communication was the judge who is promised a position by nicolas sarkozy. in exchange for information about legal proceedings against him. he plans to appeal the trial summons. iphone users can now turn off the controversy feature that slows down older phones. details on "cnn money" next. internet providers promise business owners a lot. let's see who delivers more. comcast business offers fast gig-speeds across our network. at&t doesn't. we offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g wireless network backup. at&t, no way. we offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. at&t, not so much. we give you 75 mbps for $59.95. that's more speed than at&t's comparable bundle, for less. call today. baton rouge police chief expected to announce his decision on the fate of two officers involved in the shooting death of alton sterling. the chief set to release video and audio of the shooting. the footage said to be graphic and disturbing. a cnn crew in baton rouge has noticed an increase in state and local law enforcement presence. a california judge ruling coffee stores across the state must carry a cancer warning label bass -- because of the carcinogen in coffee. they claim larger businesses were in violation of state law. california law requires the disclosure of the chemicals. the judge decided the defendants failed to show that it poses no risk or add any health benefits. yikes says the coffee drinker. facebook with the exodus and now laura ingraham -- fox host dealing with the exodus of the advertisers with laura ingraham. she made a comment of david hogg's rejection of four colleges. he tweeted back to boycott the show. now eight advertisers have pulled support from the show and ingraham has backed off. >> she said i apologize for my tweet and hurtful comments. he is welcome to return to the show for a discussion. hogg was not i mpresseimpressed. i will only accept your apology if you denounce the way your network treated my friends and i in this fight. baseball is back. so is the long ball. emotional opening day in miami. that is graduate from stoneman douglas high school anthony rizzo. he described that moment as an out of body experience. about the body on giancarlo stanton off to an impressive start. the newest member of the yankees pounding two home runs to win over the jays, 6-1. and matt davidson with the white sox is the fourth player ever to hit three home runs on opening day. he led chicago over the royals in kansas city on a thrilling opening day of major league baseball. a soggy start in the northeast as we begin the holiday weekend. here is meteorologist derek van dam. >> good morning. if you have travel plans along the east coast today, it could be a little bit on the slick side. we have rain showers moving through across many of the major cities along the mid-atlantic and east coast. this is all thanks to a cold front and area of low pressure that is allowing for the on again and off again showers. boston and new york and pittsburgh and washington and raleigh. a cold air mass settling in behind the system with snowfall across north dakota and minnesota and wisconsin and u.p. of michigan. the heavy snow falling from fargo south of duluth into marquette, michigan. we could pick up 6 to 10 inches of snowfall on top of what they have on the ground. we end the holiday weekend with the blast of cold air. look at the three-day forecast into chicago. dropping to 40 degrees by sunday. comfortable for your friday for atlanta as well as new york city. back to you. derek, thank you. let's get a check on "cnn money." wall street closed for good friday. the dow jumped 1% yesterday thanks to the rebound in tech stocks. still lost 2% for the first three months of the year. it ended a nine-quarter win withing streak -- quarter winning streak. at&t's anti-trust trial continues and one witness may have damaged the case. at&t is suing to block the purchase of time warner. it claims the merger could hurt rival companies. by withholding cnn and hbo in negotiations. the judge under cut that saying it would not hurt the future negotiations with time warner. walmart may buy humana according to "the wall street journal." last year, the justice department blocked two tie ups with the insurance companies and cited anti-trust concerns. how insurers are seeking different dance partners. cvs will buy aetna. walmart is looking into health care with the pharmacy business, but getting humana gives it greater clout. iphone users can turn off a feature that slows down older iphones. it updated the operating systems and has a list of features and fixes like the ability to disable a feature that slows down older iphones. apple previously admitted to slowing older models to save the battery outrages customers. apple added timely privacy features allowing customers to see the data and what it collects. >> i'm sticking with my blackberry. >> i'm sticking with the apple. >> i don't like to deal with that. "early start" continues right now. the russia special counsel trying to connect the dots on collusion. to make it happen on a renewed focus on a campaign aide in touch with an intel agent before the election. >> important work remains to guarantee the defeat of the violent extremists. we are coming out of syria soon. let the other people take care of it now. >> a disconnect with the president and pentagon. challenges remaining in syria. officials are at a loss for what the president meant. and fox news host facing backlash from advertisers after a comment about