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all the big moments and the network's new mission. welcome back to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is tuesday, august 21st. 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's start with the latest. conservative think tanks in the u.s. senate. united states senate the latest targets of hackers linked to military intelligence. microsoft stopped the attack last week. the company took control of six web sites operated by the same group behind the 2016 dnc hack. let's bring in fred pleitgen. >> reporter: the organization that we're talking about, the hacking group, called fancy bear. that is the group that hacked into the dnc and hillary clinton campaign in 2016. u.s. intelligence highly likely believes this group is linked and possibly directed by russian military intelligence known as the gru. as far as the organizations and groups targeted by the attack, apparently, parts of the senate and then two think tanks. hudson institute and international republican institute. both critical of president trump's advances to vladimir putin and also toward russian foreign policy. we have to point out that apparently no evidence that these domains were used for successful hacking or spear phishing attacks. this is months after deputy attorney general rod rosenstein indicted 12 russians for election campaign and meddling. we know a few days later, president trump seemed to side with the russians instead of the intelligence services while at the helsinki summit with putin. now president trump gave an interview to reuters where he would offer russians sanctions if they work with u.s. with Get a jump on the day's news with Christine Romans and Dave Briggs. in prison if convicted on all charges. later today, the trump administration rolls back clean air provisions put in place by president obama. the move gives states power over emission standards for coal fired power plants. this is expected to increase the release of carbon dioxide at a rate 12 times higher than current standards allow. those emissions can lead to heart disease and stroke and cancer. the issue likely to come up tonight when president trump headlines a rally in west virginia. one of the nation's leading coal producing states. chris watts expected in a colorado courtroom today. formally charged with first-degree murder in his pregnant wife and two young daughters. court documents revealed that watts claimed he killed his wife after she killed the girls. prosecutors are not buying the confession. at the conference on monday, the father of shanann watts thanked the community for its support. >> we would like to thank everyone and the federal police department and agencies involved for working so hard to find my daughter, granddaughters and niko. thank you, everyone, for coming out to the candlelight vigil and saying all your prayers. they are greatly appreciated. keep the prayers coming for our family. >> we get more from cnn's scott mclean in frederick. >> reporter: dave and christine, we are hearing the story that chris watts told police. according to a new police arrest affidavit, he initially said he woke up early and told his wife he wanted to separate and went to work. she had apparently planned on going to a friend's house, but never returned. he then said he had killed his wife shanann, but not his daughters. he said after he told shanann he wanted to separate, he went down stairs. when he came up, he saw that an awful story. just ahead, the president is looking for help from his own federal reserve chairman. why he is not thrilled with that man jerome powell. i've been a navy federal member. thanks to their fast approval process, when it came time to buy a new car, we got everything we needed to transport my wife's little bundle of joy... ... who i just adore. open to the armed forces, the dod, veterans and their families. navy federal credit union. himself. the fed did not comment. historically, the presidents do not talk about the fed. it works independently from political influence. powell reaffirmed that issue last month. >> we do our work in a strictly non political way based on detailed analysis which we put on the record transparently. we don't take political considerations into account. >> the fed has carefully raised interest rates to keep the economy from overheating. experts worry it may be overstimulated by government spending and tax cuts. breaking overnight. a nazi labor camp guard has been deported back to germany. he has been living in new york city. immigration and custom enforcement carried out an order of deportation of jakiw palij. he became a u.s. citizen in 1957. he concealed his nazi service in the process. a candidate claims she was visited by aliens has been endorsed by the miami herald. bettina rodriguez aguilera is running as a republican. in 2009 interview, she claimed she boarded a space ship when she was 7 years old. the editorial board claims she is an unusual candidate. it agrees with the assessment her past comments about aliens are not an issue in this race. >> you can argue it is an asset. she knows how to deal with other countries or planets. the oakland a's hosted children from the make-a-wish foundation last night and one did something very special for someone battling cancer. andy scholes has this story next in the bleacher report. sergeant baker, how are you? they took care of everything a to z. having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa- now that's a privilege. 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(vo) one family. different unlimited plans. starting at $40 per line on the network you deserve. need a hair smoother get super fruit moroccan argan oil. with fructis sleek & shine. hair is super sleek, even in 97% humidity. no parabens. garnier fructis sleek & shine. super fruit. super hair. garnier. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. pop culture and politics colliding at the mtv video music awards. top prize going to camila cabello. she won artist of the year. cardi b. won moon person of the year. and jennifer lopez won vanguard award and paying tribute to alex rodriguez. >> you are my twin soul. my life is sweeter and better with you in it. you make me realize every day the sky is not the limit. the universe is infinite and so is what we can accomplish together with love and trust and understanding. >> that's how my wife talks about me. >> politics front and center. logic wore an "f" the wall shirt and inviting families on stage with shirts "we are all human beings." earlier, kevin hart went directly at the president. >> i'm looking at this like this is game day. do not worry. in this game, you are allowed to kneel. you can do whatever the hell you want. no old white man here to stop you. bad language, people run to the bathroom and sending out crazy tweets. it is like a typical day at the white house. >> mtv faced the get out to vote. it is aimed at getting young people to convince friends to register with them. okay. university of maryland football team making plans to honor their fallen teammate. >> andy scholes has more in the bleacher report. andy. >> good morning. jordan mcnair died in june 15 days after suffering a heat stroke at practice. the maryland head coach durkin remains on leave while the school investigates the circumstances surrounding his death. in the meantime, the teammates want to focus on mcnair's memory. >> it is time to get back to the important thing honoring our friend and teammate jordan mcnair. the moment we stop saying his name, the moment we begin to forget, his legacy will fade. we plan to have his legacy live on forever. >> maryland's players say no one will wear the number 79 until 2021 which would have been the season after mcnair graduated. the locker will be encased in glass and the terps will wear details of 79 on the helmets. the little league world series. georgia and texas. he gets a hold of this one for a game-tying two-one home run. all the kids start going nuts as does his dad in the stands. check him out. he starts running around everywhere. he could not control himself. the game would go to extras. in the 9th, georgia pops out. the umpire gets in the way. the winning run comes in to score. georgia wins to stay alive in little league world series. mets and giants playing extras last night as well. the mets may need to go back to little league. two outs in the top of the 13th. rosario and smith collide. easy pop up. drops to the ground. allowing the game-winning run to score. that sums up the season for the mets. giants win the game 2-1. oakland a's hosting children from make-a-wish foundation. and davis asked anthony slocomb to shines jury and he wore it during the game. you could see it when he was at bat. check out what davis did. hitting a blast to center field. davis said after the game, he thought about anthony rounding the bases and hopefully the home run brought him joy. i tell you what, guys, that is cool. that's what sports is all about. >> sports heals. it is great. thanks. breaking news this morning. microsoft has found another cyber attack linked to russian intelligence. the target? the u.s. senators and conservative think tanks. all in the lead-up to the midterms. unlimited ways to be you. unlimited ways share with others. unlimited ways to live for the moment. all for as low as 30 bucks a line. unlimited for you. for them. for all. get unlimited for as low at 30 bucks per line for four lines at t-mobile. so you have, your headphones, chair, new laptop, 24/7 tech support. yep, thanks guys. i think he might need some support. yes. start them off right, with the school supplies they need at low prices all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax. mom: okay we need to get all your school supplies today. school... grade... done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax. like these for only $2 or less a few problems actually. we've got aging roadways, aging power grids, ...aging everything. we also have the age-old problem of bias in the workplace. really... never heard of it. the question is... who's going to fix all of this? 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u.s. senators and conservative think tanks. a colorado man charged with killing his wife and two daughters. chris watts defense? killed his wife, but because she killed the girls. in this game, you guys are allowed to kneel. you can do whatever the hell you want. there is no old white man stopping you. >> politics at the mtv video music awards. the new mission to engage young voters. welcome back to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. we start with breaking news. conservative think tanks in the u.s. senate. united states senate the latest targets of hackers linked to military intelligence. a hacking group created fake versions meant to look like real sites. microsoft stopped the attack last week. the company took control of six web sites operated by the same group behind the 2016 dnc hack. let's bring in fred pleitgen. live for us in russia. >> reporter: good morning, guys. the organization we are talking about is called fancy bear. the same group that hacked into the dnc and clinton campaign during the 2016 election campaigns. u.s. intelligence highly likely believes this group is linked and possibly directed by russian military intelligence known as the gru. as far as the organizations and groups targeted by the attack, apparently, parts of the senate, and two think tanks. hudson institute and international republican institute. both are conservative, but critical of the trump advances to russia and critical of vladimir putin's foreign policy. we have to point out it is unclear, or there is no proof, any of the domains have been used for any sort of successful attacks. this is big enough for microsoft to come out with this statement and we expect to get more information later today. this comes after the 2016 campaign and meddling in the 2016 campaign with the 12 russians charged by rod rosenstein. now just last night, president trump gave an interview to reuters who said he would be willing to offer the russians sanctions relief if they work with the u.s. with syria and ukraine. and this seems to be a fact that the russians seem to believe they will take the lead role and the u.s. needs to follow in syria. finally, i'm at the largest arms expo looking to showcase stealth fighter jet. another way russia wants to challenge the united states. guys. >> we are glad you are there covering it for us. thank you, fred. imagine you and your allies are under investigation, but you get to dictate how it proceeds. president trump talking about pushing robert mueller aside and talking about conducting the investigation himself. he said he has chosen not to get involved. saying, i don't have to stay out. as you know, i could go in and i could do whatever. i could run it if i want. jeff mason was on the reuters team that interviewed the president. >> he was out of it. it was better if he did. it is interesting. he was making it clear he viewed it as a decision and he made the decision to stay out. it wasn't the only option he had. >> president trump also said he is concerned about falling into a so-called perjury trap. if he consents to the interview with the special counsel. he worries mr. mueller would compare his statement with others like james comey who trump said was best friends with mueller. in that situation, the president said even if i'm telling the truth, that makes me a liar. this comes after his lawyer rudy giuliani who said the perjury trap truth isn't truth. giuliani attempted to clean that up monday saying he was referring to the classic he said/she said dilemma. a perjury conviction requires someone willfully telling a lie. not he said/she said. that is something that happens in court every day. >> joining us this morning is writer harry enten. good morning. let's stick with the russia probe and developments. when we ask voters what is important to them for the 2018 vote, russia probe is at the bottom of the list next to nancy pelosi. the president is obsessed with the russia-rigged investigation or hoax. whatever you want to call it. >> he is obsessed, but he is obsessed because he is watching cable news and we are talking about it. he says something, we say something. meanwhile, if you look at the polling, voters don't care. this encapsulates itself and the approval rating is stable despite the russia investigation. we think may be bad for him. it turns out voters are going meh. >> you mentioned nancy pelosi there who is a target of republican ads from coast-to-coast. voters don't care about that either. similar to what is going on with who? hillary clinton. president trump would love for her to reemerge in the scene. headlining three dnc fund-raisers. could this hurt? could this help? >> the reason donald trump won in 2016 was because he faced off with hillary clinton. donald trump's favorable ratings were the lowest ever for any nominee. hillary clinton's were the second lowest. hillary clinton reemerging can only help trump. the problem is she is not on the ballot. she is going out to raise money for candidates. we are not voting for or against her. we are voting for or against the donald trump agenda. >> you sometimes hear republicans hit at nancy pelosi and like to use nancy pelosi in their ads and the like. this all would suggest that using nancy pelosi -- will this hurt or help? >> when i look at those numbers, i see it really probably won't do anything. if anything, democrats are more motivated to turn out to vote because they want nancy pelosi to be speaker. if you go back to 1994, you will see an unpopular president and you see the opposition leader to try to balance and make it a choice instead of a referendum. it doesn't work. newt gingrich was not popular. >> how about race as a factor in the midterms? the president touting his approval rating with blacks in the country. is there proof to support that notion? >> yes and no. i think the president sometimes pumps up the polls shows support of the african-american community which -- that is not polling we use. if you look at the live interview polls and pew research center. he is at 14%. that is still really low. if you compare to the percentage of the vote he got in 2016. the exit polls, 8%. pew's research. 6%. there is a bit of a rise. it is interesting to see when you compare to the other racial and ethnic groups. their numbers are lower than in 2016. >> is it the economy? do voters believe his cheerleader on the economy? the african-american unemployment records are low because of me statement? >> that is a good explanation. a lot of us hear the statements that donald trump make and say there is no way he has a rise with african-american voters. they seem to respond to something. to me, the fact the economy is doing well to be the cause. >> suggesting the attacks on black nfl players and calling omarosa a dog is not having impact. >> certainly not at all. i point out the approval rating is still low. >> 14%. >> harry enten, thank you. white house counsel don mcgahn's cooperation with bob mueller's team unsettled donald trump. the president approved the mcgahn cooperation, but two telling cnn the president did not know the interviews stretched 30 hours nor his own legal team did not debrief mcgahn afterwards. as to why the president let mcgahn to talk investigators? the trump legal team did not have a strong legal case to stop it and they thought it fit with strategy of cooperating with the probe. >> the white house still could seek to prevent details in mcgahn's testimony by coming out by exerting executive privilege. the president in full attack mode on monday with tweets. disgraced robert mueller and his angry democrat thugs looking to impact the election. they are a national disgrace. >> at the very moment donald trump was attacking critics on twitter, melania trump was addressing the anti-cyber bullying summit. her be best campaign focusing on the well being of children. warnings of destructive and harmful uses of social media. she may have had her husband in mind when she says said -- she said this. >> let's face it, most children are more aware of the benefits and pitfalls of social media than some adults. but we still need to do all we can. >> melania trump announced plans to go to africa in october. her first major solo trip since becoming first lady. no word on which countries she will visit. back in january, you may remember the president used a derogatory term bemoaning the immigrants from "s hole" countries in africa. the verdict watch resumes this morning in the paul manafort trial. jurors will return for a fourth day in the bank and tax fraud trial. the former trump campaign chief faces 18 counts of crimes. his defense team sees it as a good sign the jury has not reached a verdict after three days. manafort faces up to 305 years in prison if convicted on all charges. later today, the trump administration rolls back clean air provisions put in place by president obama. the move gives states power over emission standards for coal fired power plants. this is expected to increase the release of carbon dioxide at a rate 12 times higher than current standards allow. those emissions can lead to heart disease and stroke and cancer. the issue likely to come up tonight when president trump headlines a rally in west virginia. protesters at the university of north carolina topple a confederate statue that stood for more than 100 years. the governor, a democrat, not pleased. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me now. i'm still clear. how sexy are these elbows? 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contemporary make-overs. like these for only $2 or less then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. breaking overnight. a nazi labor camp guard living in new york city has been deported to germany. immigration enforcement carried out a deportation order for jakiw palij. he came to america in 1949 and became a u.s. citizen in 1957. concealing his nationas nazi se the process. check out this video. 70-year-old father and son trying to escape a forest fire in glacier national park. jas justin and his father talking about it with no way out. >> easy. easy. >> god, help us. >> slow it down. you are all right. slow it down so we can see, justin. >> dad, what if a tree falls on us. please, god, help us. >> are yyou are doing good. >> they were stopped by a downed burning tree in the road. just contin justin had to reverse to the trail head and they flagged down a boat. they will be guests on "new day" this morning. authorities in los angeles are investigating sexual assault allegations against asia argento. she allegedly paid off an actor who accused her of assaulting her months after she claimed harvey weinstein raped her. >> "the times" reports it has legal documents showing jimmy bennett alleged argento assaulted him when he was 17. the times received the documents through encrypted e-mail. he played her son in the 2004 movie "the heart is deceitful." cnn has reached out for a comment. "the new york times" has been trying to get a response from her since thursday. heavy rain in the forecast for the ohio valley and in the east, we have an update with pedram javaheri in the weather center. >> we are watching what is happening in the ohio valley for heavy rainfall this afternoon and really setting the stage here for some major cooling trend into the forecast the next several days. here is the culprit. the disturbance over the ohio valley could lead to travel d disruption and east of the region. that impacts 16 million people. large hail, damaging winds are the main threats. pittsburgh, jamestown and roanoke could be in store for strong storms for tuesday. this morning, thunderstorm activity with 1,200 lightning strikes across this area in the country. we have flooding rains in the forecast as we go in toward philly and evening hours. the cooling trend is there. cooler temperatures thursday and friday and saturday. the forecast for areas around chicago is 78 today. in >> thanks for that. while you're sleeping pop culture and politics collide at the mtv video music award. top prize of the year going to ka mill low for havana. cardi-b got best new artist. jennifer lopez paid this beautiful tribute to her boyfriend, former yankee, alex rodriguez. >> you're like my twin soul. we're mirror images of each other. my life is sweeter and better with you in it because you make me realize it everyday the sky is not the limit. the universe is infinite and so is what we can accomplish together with love and trust and understanding. >> write that down for your anniversary card to your wife? >> politics very much front and center last night. rapper logic wore an at the wall shirt, fighting families displaced by immigration laws all wearing shirts that read, we are all human beings. >> kevin hart went straight at the president during the earlier monologue. >> i'm looking at this like it's game day, people. do not worry, this game you are allowed to kneel, do whatever the hell you want. there's no old, white man that can stop you. do it. you never know what's going to happen at the vmas. bad language, people run to the bathroom to send out crazy