jansing. it is 11:00 a.m. out west. two:00 p.m. in the east. following a couple wild days at the white house, at this hour, another reason for president trump to be worried about his re-election chances. a new associated press poll shows more than six in ten americans are not happy with the job he's doing. a disapproval rate of 62%. and it isn't just the president's tweets or behavior fueling it. trump earns weak marks on major issues from immigration to health care to guns. a bad sign for a president already under growing pressure on the economy. with new numbers showing both that the jobs picture isn't as good as we thought and that his tax cuts, while less effective at creating jobs, was highly effective at growing the deficit. now expected to hit $wool trillion for 2020. perhaps blood in the water. another republican has raised the prospect of primarying the president.

>> he's a horrible human being. a bad, bad guy. and every single day, every single day, you, i, and everybody watching us right now is reminded of how damn unfit he is. >> if you feel that way, are you running against him? >> i'm strongly, strongly considering it. these are not conventional times. look at the guy in the white house. these are urgent times. somebody needs to make that case. >> and in the middle of all this, nicki haleigh swatting away any idea that she could replace mike pension as vp. the thing is, no one had been talking about that for months. the big question we're asking today, is there anything team trump could do to turn it all around? for the "washington post," dana milbank.

the director of pregnant re . >> we know that when the polls are bad, the president doesn't believe them except that he seems to act out when he feels threatened and there is no good news for him in this poll. not a single one has high approval ratings. >> the first thing you said is absolutely right. this president said he doesn't pay attention to polls and dismisses the polls that aren't positive about him. and then they look back at the 2016 election. he and his advisers and say, look, the polls were wrong then and we did just fine. to your second question, the mood in the white house is up in the air right now. you saw his comments to us yesterday at the white house, the long gaggle on which he went off on a ton of issues and used language such as saying he was the chosen one with regard to china. so it does seem like there are

things are getting under president trump's skin. you don't need me to say that. you can look at his twitter feed. and this is all coming as he heads off tomorrow night for the g-7. we'll see if that same kind of attitude effects his meeting with world leaders there. >> yeah. and trump has the dubious distinction of being the only president whose rating has never been over 50%. this time, 36% approval. but it's been consistent in the ap poll. he's never dipped below 32, above 40. there's another poll today from mon mouth. he was at 40. and the vote for impeachment was low. is this it? this is his baseline of support. is he at the, i can shoot someone on fifth avenue and get away with it? these folks there are in for the long haul. >> i think we were at that point around charlottesville. because there wasn't a big shift away from donald trump, even among republicans in that moment. the message sent is that we're

sticking with him no matter what. that's pretty much on the far end of the spectrum of unacceptable behavior by a president to say they were very fine people among nazis. so i think what this polling shows us is two things. one, that two-thirds of independents disapprove of this president. so when we're talking about the 80% number, i think it is important to remember that that is self identifying republicans. and the entirety of the american electorate is shrinking. with two-thirds of independents saying, nope, we're not with this guy. that is a real problem for this white house. but in the end, no matter what, to my second point, democrats need to support who they support. vote who they want to vote for. and impeachment is an interesting question but i think that the key to defeating trump is to just organize and rally around the people that you support that are not donald trump. >> to your point, when you look at the polls, the obvious analysis is that republicans

should be very worried. on the flip side, ap points out, truman, nixon, carter, worse ratings during their time in office. is there a realistic road ahead for donald trump and what is it? >> i mean, i think the realistic road ahead is that democrats nominate someone that various independents in key states don't like and they stay home. that's the best case scenario for him. i think what this poll indicates is that donald trump does not have the ability to really move the needle in a way that would benefit him as far as turnout. for democrats, however, as they just pointed out. you do have gop leaning independent voters. the suburban voters that we saw in 2018 when you look at the polling analysis then. that voted overwhelmingly for the democrats. i think if democrats were smart, they are to talk directly to those voters.

it is 43 of those congressional districts. those moderate that's they won in 2018. those are the places would lead to victory for them in 2020. if i were advising the president, i would be extremely concerned. he doesn't have any room at all whatsoever to move the needle. so if democrats have the benefit of having increased turnout on their end, it will absolutely benefit them as far as 2020 november. >> so we asked a big question about whether or not trump could turn it around and you answered that for us in your column. i want to read from it. the question is not whether things will unravel but when. if the economy collapses in the next 15 months, dragged down by trump instigated international stability, he will lose re-election in disgraceful if he wins, and things go south after that, he'll be blamed. precarious u.s. finances and international isolation will make recovery more difficult. alternatively, trump can step aside now and blame his

successor for the problems he created. he can claim he achieved everything he wanted in just four years instead of eight. your message to the president is, quit now while you think you're ahead? >> or while you're more ahead than you will be later. you're less behind than you will be later. i am shocked to find he has not taken my advice. no announcement that he is not seeking re-election. >> maybe he's taking it under advisement. >> he's thinking it over. just the whole greenland purchase. it may come out in a few days. look, he is in a bit of a box here. but the one thing, there are two things we don't know. one is the economy. if the economy falls apart, as i was writing sometime over the next year, he is basically finished. that's why he still has even the 36% who are still with him. you get down into the 20s, if the economy tanks. the other thing we don't know is, okay, a 62% of the public disapproves of him, all he has to do is make sure a larger

percentage of the public disapproves of the democratic nominee. so obviously it will be a vicious and ugly campaign. the one thing we don't know is who he is running against yet. it is basically donald trump or what? and once we know what that what is, that's when it starts to get really, really ugly. and it is not out of the realm of possibility that he and the republicans can make the democrats look even worse than he does. he won't make himself look better. >> so in the midst of all this, you can consider it to be bad news for the president. you have nicki haley, saying she's squashing the rumor. what do you make of the tweet saying no, there's no truth to the fact that i'll replace pence as vp when nobody was asking. the word in the washington examiner is, that the folks in the white house are pretty irritated that she even brought it up. >> well, i don't think that

she's thinking about not upsetting the white house. let's just say that. i think she's obviously anging, not obviously but signaling that she has political aspirations. maybe 2024. what she doesn't want to do now is allow there to be any speculation about her replacing pence and muddying the waters around the republicans who support donald trump and mike pence and the evangelical support that donald trump, that we just alluded to by david. that could still support donald trump. do you know why they support donald trump? because mike pence is the vice president. we question how they could support donald trump given all his rhetoric, his mysogyny and affairs and all that. mike pence is probably the top reason. so i think replacing mike pence i think would be a gimmicky move by this white house. a sign of desperation. i don't think it would work.

>> the thing is, trump has been known to demand loyalty. but if you go back to his 2016 decision, where it was that he was already having second thoughts once he named mike pence, and critics will say there is nobody he cares about really, he's not loyal to anybody with that in mind, is anything off the table? >> it's hard to ever say with president donald trump that something is off the table. i wouldn't want to be the one to do that. that said, there would be a lot of advice, i think, that he would be giving against making a switch in the ticket right now. >> it wouldn't go over with evangelicals, for example. >> no. definitely not. in addition to the concerns about the economy, if he were to give pup support by making a last-minute switch or making a switch of mike pence, those votes no doubt would be up for grabs. >> what would nikki haley get

out of saying this now? obviously her critics. let's face it. she's one of the people who actually left service of this administration still looking, people looked on her pretty positively. skeptics are saying she's looking to boost her relevance because now she's not governor anymore. she's no longer the u.n. ambassador. she wants to put her name back out there. >> well, count me with the skeptics on that. it does seem to be a pr thing. it's like me saying there is no truth to the rumor that i'll be named the executive editor of the "washington post." >> i heard that. >> and i heard you'll be running nbc. but i think we should dispel that rumor as well right now. but of course that's what's going on here. and of course it would be insane for the president to make a change. but of course, the president does many things that are insane so we cannot rule that or anything else completely out of

bounds. >> thank you. we'll be back a little later in this hour. still ahead, the president's gun control plan. he claims to have one. where is it? and how far will it go? plus, one of the most mesmerizing places on earth is going up in flames. the insane blame game over what sparked these wildfires across the amazon. right after this break, democrats with their eye on the senate, liking their chances more and more now that john hickenlooper is out of the presidential race but in against corey gardner in colorado. [dog ] [dog barking] [dog growling] [horn blaring] [cat meows] (vo) the subaru crosstrek. with starlink remote horn & lights. dog tested. dog approved.

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i don't think corey gardner understands the games he's playing with donald trump and mitch mcconnell are hurting the people of colorado. i'm john hickenlooper. >> that's big news. candidates work the retake the senate in 2020. one week after he dropped his presidential bid, john hicken looper said he is in for the senate race. colorado has a vulnerable incumbent this corey gardner but it has a field of challengers. all of it coming amid the latest 2020 shake-up. washington governor jay inslee abandoning his white house bid but promising to fight clims change as he runs instead for

governor. joining me, the elections editor steven shepherd. democrats need three or four seats, depending on who wins the white house to take back the senate. and democrats have had their eyes on colorado, probably more than any other state. >> it is certainly the most important data. there is no path to a democrat making jort without winning in could have. without unseating corey gardner. that doesn't even include the election in alabama, you'll recall, a democrat won two years ago. democrats are defending that seat. it could get even more daunting. colorado is, cory gardner is one of two senators running for re-election in states that hillary clinton carried over donald trump. it is essential to their strategy. john hickenlooper has an established brand. he won two elections in colorado. statewide in very difficult democratic years, in 2010 and

2014. clearly, senate democrats believe that he's better equipped to take on cory gardner than the large field of candidates they have in the ring. >> so back in 2016, hillary won, hillary clinton won colorado by about 3 percentage points. another state she won by the same margin. maine is where republican senator susan collins is up for re-election. how is that race looking? >> susan collins has been in the senate. cory gardner -- democrats believe she may have forfeited the good will she had from democratic voters in maine by voting to confirm brett kavanaugh to the supreme court. it is an interesting race to watchful susan collins has always won reelections pretty easily in previous elections. so she would have to lose a lot of people who voted for her in the past for her to be threatened. democrats believe there's a path

because of that kavanaugh vote. gardner in colorado is much lower hanging fruit for the party as it looks to 2020. >> you're in san francisco for the dnc summer meeting and i'm wondering if there is much buzz there about the departures from the 2020 field or the decision by hickenlooper to run. what are you hearing there? what's the talk? >> reporter: i think for a long time, democrats here and elsewhere have been wondering when the field will begin thinning out. the theory was once you get into the september debates where the threshold to qualify was higher, candidates will have to face political realities. you saw that last night on the rachel maddow show. he was discussing yes didn't want to continue running for president and instead, he's running for a third term as governor for washington state. candidates are figuring out this is the time when things get tough. if you're not on the debate stage, to make your pitch to a national audience, it become more difficult to be one of the

louder voices. as you get deeper, it matters that you're on the ground. it also matters that you're appearing on television, on those debate stages so voters can see you and weigh you against other folks out there. so i think with jay inslee, he saw an opening in washington state. he took it with john hickenlooper. he is someone who does have an established brand. and he is someone who, yes, jumped from a crowded field in 2020 presidentials to a crowded field of democrats vying to take on cory gardner. he remains with a strong brand in the state. so it is not necessarily a hard pivot for him to go from running in the presidential to running back in his home state of colorado. where frankly, the moderate message he was pitching as a presidential candidate may be better received for a home crowd state that knows the things that he did on a bipartisan basis and may want see the more of that if he goes to the senate. >> let's go back to where you are. a dnc meeting. we keep talking about, we've

heard from both jill and joe biden that the whole electability issue. it is certainly top of mind for a lot of democrats. i wonder if people there are talking about it. is that what is foremost on their minds? >> this presidential race is so interesting. i feel like the week they've started leaning in directly and bluntly into the fact voters are considering this idea of quote/unquote electability. and it is such a nebulous material. voters mean such a variety of things when they talk about it. voters in l.a. gave as you pretty big spectrum of what the word electability means to them. >> i think we're still early in the primary process to be making a definitive statement on who is electable and not electable. >> they said barack obama was not electable and we know what happened there. electability, yeah. i'm not sure what they really

mean by that. >> if you're going with the electability argument, you're going to get rid of every woman candidate. >> let's see if he's electable. joe biden has run for president two other times and hasn't been able to come out of primary field. >> wow, that is interesting. >> and they say let's see if he's electable when they're talking about biden? i hear every candidate having to make this pitch of why they are the best person to go up against donald trump. and there are so many ways you can do that. because they know at the end of the day, that's most voters' top concerns. you have to do a lot between being the person to go up against trump and being the person to go in the primary. >> thank you. up next, the most consistently inconsistent president to grace the oval office. sometimes means doing nothing at all. holiday inn. we're there. so you can be too.

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nearly three weeks now after back to back shootings, president trump is expected to release a years us of gun proposals. though not exactly sure when or what he's going to say. according to politico, the president and his aides would only say the president would offer ways to close loopholes in

the background check system. yesterday simultaneously saying he's working on background checks but then again pivoting to mental health as the real issue. >> people that are insane, people sick up here, i don't want them to be able to get a gun. i think i said it very loudly and plainly. and i don't think i've changed positions at all. we're working on background checks. there are things we can do but we already have very serious background checks. we have strong background checks. we can do things that frankly gun owners want to have gun but we want to remember, the gun doesn't pull the trigger. a person does. and we have great mental illness. >> joining me, the political correspondent, back with me, consultant michael singleton and sirius xm. you've been reporting on all

these flip-flops. do we have any idea what these proposals are? he says closing loopholes and background checks which is a statement big enough to drive a truck through. what does that mean? >> i think one of the reasons we cannot understand exactly what is happening is because he hasn't been specific at all of and neither have his aides. what they have. is, and some frustration from the aides at the white house. that they say that he has been consistent about one thing. going on deal with background checks. you're right. it can be what members of congress call universal background checks. a house version, a senate version. does it relate to every transaction, even among family members. so we just don't know the specifics. i think it is clear to say at this point that the white house is releasing something. they're going to wait for congress to get back. they are still soliciting ideas from gun rights groups and from

members of congress? their aides. so they are still working on that. the other thing is that the president did get a briefing from his legislative staff this week to sort of talk about those proposals. if we believe what they're saying, and they've said the last couple days, there will be some changes to background checks. my sense is it will be less. it won't be as strong as a lot of people would want. >> even background checks, even the bill in the house, it won't exactly cure what's going on. i thought something he said was really interesting. some things that even gun owners can get behind. if you look at the polls, gun owners in general are behind a lot of the changes that have been proposed. that's not the criteria here, clearly. what is? >> i think the president is talking to the nra. despite the nra's internal and financial turmoil, i believe they still have a significant amount of sway on the president.

and by that i mean, individuals in leadership. i'm not talking about nra members at large. i think the president is looking at that. as we discussed earlier, his room for maneuvering on this issue and many other issues is not very expansive. he cannot risk jeopardizing some of his most ardent supporters. so i think whatever legislative proposal that we get out of the senate, i think it will be extremely watered down and i'm very doubtful that democrats will get behind it. >> in spite of what he said, in spite of what you would say, the president said yesterday, this isn't about the nra telling me what to do. here's what he said. >> we had a great talk with wayne yesterday. did not say anything about that. we just talked about could not cemen, concepts. >> we have a lot of background

checks now. there are certain weaknesses. we want to fix the weaknesses. >> we didn't talk about background checks. we talked about could not cements. >> he tries to say that the nra doesn't have any influence. >> the question is whether we should as opponents to the positions of the nra, cower in this moment when they're clearly, as he alluded to, in a moment of turmoil. they do not have the political power they once had. i think it is an illusion at this point. because that's the status quo. >> donald trump knows they gave millions to his campaign. they are jumping ship at various times. they stayed with him. >> yes.

that's why donald trump as president is not necessarily going to come out with anything serious or specific about gun safety reforms. policy that doesn't really relate to immigration and the border. and i think that's where it becomes a problem. when you're trying to tackle problems and govern and fix things in real-time like the propensity of mass shootings. additionally, when he's talking about mental health, one of the things we never focus on is one of the largest problems in terms of gun violence is suicide. we don't talk -- we talk about mental health as it relates to people committing crimes against other people. we don't talk about mental health in the context of people who use the gun on themselves. which is, a horrific problem and issue in this country. and we need to be focusing on that when we're talking about mental health. and not scapegoating people who are more likely to be theville

of violent crime. i'm talking about people diagnosed with mental health illnesses. they're more likely to be the victim of violent crime. like i said, people dealing with mental health issues are more likely to kill themselves than to harm another person. >> so one of the things you mentioned is that the white house is soliciting opinions, and that's the way a normal white house works. they solicit all these opinions, they put them together, make presentation to the president. however, peter alexander, one of our white house correspondents said something interesting. donald trump is the white house. this is not a white house where you say what is the chief of staff saying, the acting chief of staff. what is the point person on gun safety? it really comes down to sort of what is the feeling? the mood? the last person to talk to the president? whenever this all comes together. >> yeah. you're exactly right about that. the reality is he did go out and

say to his staff, come one some proposals and tell me about them. it is aides talking to other people. you're right. it will come down to what the president wants to do and what he's feeling about this. and we know that he is getting pressured from both sides, right? and there is a lot of politics involved here. so he knows, and people that are trying to prevent him from pushing gun legislation are saying to him, you're going to lose your base. they're not going to like. this you're going to lose support in this 2020 election. we also know that there are a number of people, republicans, who are saying to him, you can push some proposals out there try to get congress to go i know what. this you could be one of the people to solve, maybe not solve but work on this problem and you might appeal to voters that you wouldn't have appealed to before people really carrying about

this gun legislation. people in certain areas that would be very key to him. so he's getting that from both sides. he's trying to sort of weigh those two things. >> thanks to all of you. if you've been watching this, the amazon forest, the biggest rain forest in the world, is on fire. smoke so thick it has blocked entire cities from seeing the sun. instead of doing whatever it takes to contain it, the man described as the brazilian donald trump says it is all a conspiracy to make him look bad. that's next. woman: my reputation was trashed online. i felt completely helpless. my entire career and business were in jeopardy. i called reputation defender. they were able to restore my good name. if you are under attack, i recommend calling reputation defender. vo: there's more negativity online than ever. reputation defender ensures that when people check you out, they'll find more of the truth, not trash. if you have search results that are wrong or unfair,

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growing global concern as fires continue to rage in the amazon rain forest which has been called the lungs of the planet because it produces 20% of the earth's oxygen. whether you look at it from space as in these heart breaking images, courtesy of nasa, or from the grounds where the smoke was so thick in sao paulo, brazil, the day looks like nighttime. the scene as dramatic as devastating. it was the number one trending topic globally on twitter yesterday. today, brazil's president, who has rejected scientific evidence of massive deforestation agency lies, now claims falsely that his critics are behind the fires. there are usually wildfires in brazil in the dry season but

this year there have been almost 73,000 fires since january. 83% more than the same period from 2018. give us a big picture perspective. how bad is it? >> it's really bad. incredible damage to an ecosystem that we all depend. on not just brazil. not just the other nine countries that expand but all of us require this forest. scientists are saying this is not a function of a change of precipitation even though climate change obviously fans the flames of many wildfires. it seems to have to do with the man on the ground who has openly during the campaign said that opening the amazon to deforestation, to commercial uses, would be a big part of his administration. and on august 10th, saturday the 10th, a dave fire, according to the newspaper in sao paulo was declared by local farmers who seem to have intentionally set fire to big swaths of the amazon

in order to please the president, maybe get in line with his economic policies. not clear. but certainly this is a manmade wildfire in a expense we haven't seen before in the amazon. >> this is seeing day turn into night. i'm going to read from your piece in nbc news. it is not often you can pinpoint one person as the culprit for something on this scale, but the midday darkness is the direct result of the presidency. he is accused of being too affectionate to the amazon. he compared to rain forest to a virgin that others should get to. he said people should go to the bathroom every other day to offset the environmental damage. he fired the head of an agency collecting satellite images of deforestation and is now baselessly claiming that ngos are burning down the rain for to hurt his career. i don't know what else there is

to say. what can you tell us about him and how it relates to the pictures we're seeing right now? >> well, the pictures are horrible. what is happening is horrible. for the last 30 years, the brazilians have done a better job than people expected at guarding it. the rates of deforestation slowed dramatically. it took strong enforcement to make that happen. nothing like this. this is arson is what's happening here. the president of a country is burning down a large portion of that country. the most immediate victims the indigenous people who live in those areas and he has targeted them again and again. the ultimate victims are all of us. if there's good news, is that people in bras little angry about this. my colleagues in brazil tell me the polling shows 90% of brazilians want more protection, not less for the amazon. and the people around the world

are beginning to notice, too. the environment minister of brazil was booed yesterday as he tried to speak to a u.n. meeting. we just a few minutes ago heard from the wonderful person on a sailboat in the middle of the atlantic saying even there she's gotten news of what's happening in the amazon. so around the world people are rallying. but look. it's not like we have some plan for regrowing the amazon once it's down. those are thin soils. when they've been logged or burned, they're basically gone forever as forest on a human plan scale. so there could not be a greater ill pair i have the. if only we had someone in the white house right now who was able to be effective here. but obviously since the president doesn't believe in climate change, that's unlikely to happen. >> when bill said that 90% of the people are worried about this, and it makes you think, wouldn't it be great if they did something, i thought to the 90% number we have here in the

united states that people wanted action on guns and nothing happened. what are the chances given that the president of brazil is the president of brazil, that something can happen? >> well, i think the closest lever that anyone has to pull has to do with the relationship between europe and brazil. europe is in delicate trade negotiations with bras and i will other nations of the region over a big free trade agreement. as of last friday, norway which has over the past ten years given a billion dollars, a billion with a "b" dollars, to try to incentivize against deforestation. they cut off the funds. they said you're no longer supporting it. we look to indonesia which has received huge amounts of money from norway to protect its big rain forests. the other big rain forest in the world. there is a long way to go. so maybe if we're talking about

a guy here, who has run on the idea that he can make more money from brazil by cutting down big swaths of the amazon, maybe if there is some pressure on him political which i when suddenly they can't get a 47 trade deal with europe. when there is money obviously going out of those communities and out of those regions because of his actions, maybe that's the kind of political pressure that can fall on him and cause some sort of change before his re-election campaign presumably begins ahead of october 2022. >> the piece can be seen on nbc news.com. i recommend it. thank you both. i appreciate it. coming up, american cities targeted by hackers. using tools from the dark web. how is this happening? how can it be stopped?

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thanks, lady. taxi! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ national security concerns are growing after a "new york times" investigation revealed more than 40 u.s. municipalities were victims of cyber attacks this year. in texas alone, the times reports 22 cities were, quote, simultaneously being held hostage for millions of dollars this summer. experts warn that because they're so lucrative, the attacks are not expected to go away any time soon. joining me is the "new york times" reporter and houston bureau chief who wrote that article. and the ceo of cyber security for the firm rob johnston. you reported on the effects one of these attacks had on small

towns. you wrote at the public library, books were checked out not with beeps of bar code readers but with the scratches of pen on notebook paper. out on the street, police we problem. and you're right. you know kind of up close it seems like really small scale kind of stuff. but then when you stop to think that other cities, dozens of other cities are going through some of the same thing, you realize how big of a deal it is. in this case in particular, hackers on friday morning simultaneously used a communications channel that was used by law enforcement. and they got into one system, and then from there they went to other town systems and they sort of spread it that way.

>> one of the examples you give is georgia, for example. in georgia alone they hit the state's department of public safety, state and local court systems, a major hospital, a county government, a police department for a city of 30,000 people. when you start talking about police departments and hospitals, we're talking about the possibility of really serious problems here, maybe even people losing their lives? >> the threat is there. i mean, probably the best way to look at this is through dollars and cents. these attacks are costing money, a lot of money. atlanta was look at around $17 million to recover. baltimore was looking at around 18 million to recover. allentown, pennsylvania, spent about 1 million. and, again, these are cash-strapped cities that need every dollar they can get. >> and robert rivera beach paid hackers almost $600 in bit koun.

so some of these places have said no. they aren't going to spend 50, 60, $70,000, but they will then spend 15, 15, 18 million to improve their systems if they can even pull that off. on the other hand you have people who have insurance, and then the hackers get paid. i mean, what's the answer here? it doesn't sound like any of these are particularly ideal. >> no, definitely not. i mean, what you really have to weigh is is it even possible to remediate some kind of ran someware attack cheaper than it is to pay the criminals? i think in today's world it would cost an organization more money to hire security consultants, bring them in to attempt to remediate a breach which frankly is not even really possible. these ransomware attacks are pretty concluded. once they run, you have almost

no hope of getting your data back. and so for many companies, many organizations or even public sector works, the answer is really i have no other choice if i have to operate like a 9-1-1 center or hospital, i'm serving patients or i'm saving lives out in the field and supporting first responders. in many cases there is no other choice but to pay the ransome. it's the cheapest route out of the situation that you're in, and it's also the way that gets you back up and running as fast as posh. it's just not possible to remediate these kinds of breaches. >> there was a report that there was a tie between the nsa and ransomware attacks in baltimore. is there any way to know in that's what happened in texas or elsewhere? >> sure. an analysis of the malware and the software that was used would provide a link. i think the most famous link to date as an nsa exploit called eternal blue that actually came out in some previous ransomware

attacks in the past. once these tools are dropped on the open web and anyone can download them, the barriers to entry to create ransomware are really low. it's fairly simple to be able to pull down a code base, repurpose that exploit and then use it to support something like ransomware. it's a relatively trivial process for a developer that's even at a med oakier level or halfway seasoned it might take him an hour or an nohour and a half. >> robert johnston, manny fernandez, thank you both. from the press room to the dance floor, the uproar surrounding sean spicer's to plan to cha cha cha on national television, next. wayfair's got your perfect mattress.

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with the stars" would be a jofrpful respite from our exhausting political climate. but as they say in hollywood, show producers went in a different direction. in an op ed, former breitbart calls him a slap in the face to american spicer lied to, writing the popular dancing competition has long been a popular place for washed-up celebrities looking to rehabilitate or rump up their image. but spicer shouldn't get that dance and he certainly doesn't deserve it. including three to 5 million people voty illegally in 2016, that the president's inauguration was the biggest in history, period. misleading the press about the firings of national security adviser mike flynn and james comey. he sum it's up by saying inviting spicer to be a part of the new season, abc and dancing

with the stars is helping to undermine our democracy. what's next sarah huckabee boasting family feud? that wraps up things this hour. ali velshi who i think would be great on dancing with the stars. >> i am the most uncoordinated person there is. >> no, i'm worse. >> i can't even walk down the stairs without there being some danger involved. >> have a great afternoon. it's thursday, august 22nd. make no mistake, we will not be resting on our laurels. that's from washington governor jay inslee after he formally. he was the only candidate who ran on a similar issue focusing on climate change and advancing that subject to the forefront of the 2020 competition. this weekend several 2020 candidates head to san francisco to speak with hundreds of members of the democratic national committee for the