yorks but some democrats say no replacement for james comey should be confirmed until a special prosecutor is appointed for the russia investigation. an ominous warning, the u.s. from north korea following its latest missile launch. poyongyang says not to provoke them because america is within range of a missile strike. and computer users worldwide bracing for fallout from a cyber attack that some are calling the biggest ever. what it means for you, who could be behind it, and what happens when you logon this morning. good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm dave briggs. it is monday, may 15th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. what you need to do to protect yourself from that virus in just a bit, but we begin with the critical moment in donald trump's presidency. who will he nominate to be the next fbi director? at least eight candidates interviewed this weekend at fbi headquarters by attorney general jeff sessions and his number two at the justice department, rod rosenstein. a white house official says the president will get reports on the interviews and speak to

leading candidates to make a final decision himself. >> so, that could happen as early as this week, as shock turns to anger over the firing of james comey. listen to former director of national intelligence james clapper. he is fearful of a total breakdown of the federal government because of the actions of this president. >> i think in many ways our institutions are under assault, both externally, and that's the big news here is the russian interference in our election system. and i think as well our institutions are under assault internally. >> internally from the president? >> exactly. >> because he's firing the checks and balances? >> well, i think the founding fathers in their genius created a system of three co-equal branches of government and a built-in system of checks and balances. and i feel as though that's under assault and is eroding.

>> boy, is that an ominous warning. democrats, though, threatening to block the nomination of a new fbi director unless a special prosecutor is named for the russia investigation. all this chaos taking the focus off of the president's first foreign trip since taking office. he departs friday for saudi arabia, israel, and the vatican. he also meets today with the crown prince of abu dhabi and tomorrow with turkey's president, reese yip erred war. later today, a federal appeals court will hold a hearing in seattle to decide whether to uphold the president's travel ban. the ninth circuit already put the first ban on hold. will this time be any different? let's go live to washington, d.c., and bring in cnn justice reporter laura jarrett. laura, what do you expect today? >> reporter: hey there, christine. so, for the second time in just a few months, the fate of the travel ban is back up for debate in the ninth circuit. in just a few hours with the trump administration once again trying to get the president's executive order back on track. but the main question the judges have to wrestle with this time

around is whether they can look at trump's campaign statements about muslims to find that the executive order was motivated by some sort of discriminatory intent when the face of the order doesn't say anything about religion at all, christine. >> do we know yet which judges on the ninth circuit will be hearing this appeal and how that could affect the case? >> reporter: yeah, today's panel is made up of three judges, all appointed by former president bill clinton. only adding to the drama in this case, as you can imagine, given that the president hasn't shied away from voicing his displeasure with the ninth circuit, calling last month to break up the court and other courts that have ruled against him in the past. he has had some strong words for them on twitter. >> laura, nice to see you bright and early on a monday morning, where it's still dark in the nation's capital. thank you. nice to see you. >> reporter: thanks, christine. let's talk politics now and bring in cnn political reporter eugene scott. and a lot to get to here this morning, my friend, as we start a brand-new week. >> oh, man! >> good to have you. let me start with an interesting

report from someone called axos, the reports of a staff shake-up that could be possible at the white house. that would include reince priebus, steve bannon, sean spicer. who does donald trump blame for the miscommunication, if you will, the rollout of some of these things the past couple of weeks, and who do you think's most likely to be the casualty of that? >> that's pretty interesting. it's not clear who he would blame. it is clear that he perhaps should blame himself. he has admitted that -- >> that ain't happening. so, who does he blame? >> well, his communications team he would expect to keep up with him, but he has admitted himself that it's hard to keep up with him and his stream of consciousness because it moves so quickly. it will be interesting to see what he can do to help them better understand how quickly he is moving and what he's thinking about, even, i guess, at 5:30 sometimes when he's tweeting things and they don't even know yet what he said until they see it sometimes on air. >> so, sean spicer, is that who you think is in trouble here?

>> well, we don't know. the reality is we've seen more of sarah this past week and some of the criticism that has hit the communications team has actually hit her. >> right. >> we do know that sean spicer has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism, but it will be interesting so see what happens. >> it could be venting, too. and that's clear with the axios report. he could be just venting, talking to his friends, talking to his allies, venting that his team can't keep up with him because he is unpredictable and almost impossible to keep up with, quite frankly. >> yeah, he could be. i think what we saw this past week is that quite a few decisions were made that would have involved, ideally, some strategic communications that just did not happen that would have made things a lot more beneficial, not just for the people receiving this information, but for the white house as a whole. i think some of the wounds we saw were definitely self-inflicted. >> all right, so, a lot of the questions as we begin this week are about tapes. are there actual tapes? and the next battle is over the fbi director and who they

appoint. and there were eight candidates interviewed over the weekend. we put up some of those earlier. here's what lindsey graham said about who he thinks the president should not and who they would allow to get through. >> how about the idea of an fbi agent leading the fbi, promoting within the ranks? there are so many good agents, men and women, out there capable of leading the agency. this is up to the president. he has a duty and obligation to pick somebody beyond reproach outside the political lane. >> outside the political lane. here are the people we've reported that have been interviewed for the job. obviously, mike rogers, not outside the political lane, but people love him from the fbi association. john cornyn, though, is who many would like for this job, and lindsey graham said, no. he's a great man, well respected, very successful, but not in this environment. how politicized will this nomination get over the next five, six days? >> very. i mean, significantly so, considering everything that happened. if it's true that donald trump

made the decision because he wants the russian investigation to end, and he himself admitted that he asked comey to make a pledge of loyalty, it's fair to assume that he's going to ask this next person to make a pledge of loyalty. and the question that arises from all of that is how does that affect people outside the white house? will this person be more loyal to the president than the american people? and now, also to the senator's point, i think it's wise to want someone who has experience with the fbi. why bring someone into this situation who will have a huge learning curve? >> sure. >> some of those people on there have no experience with fbi. >> it's so fascinating. the "washington post" has a piece this morning, the headline "trump tumult benefits moscow." and donald trump trying to put the moscow issue behind him, but it is still the number one thing on his plate here. and it threatens to overshadow his foreign trip later this week, i think. >> absolutely. and i mean, we've seen from polls that voters are still very concerned. the majority of voters would like to see a special prosecutor

in this situation because they do think something may have happened and that if there is not an independent investigation, we may never get to the bottom of this. and the reason why this is of concern is because people have repeatedly said that russia's involvement in the election didn't start with this election and it's not going to end with this election. >> right. >> of course, it depends on your party affiliation, because republicans are not concerned about russia. democrats are very concerned. a wide divide, as usual. see you in about 30 minutes. eugene scott, thank you. all right, north korea says the u.s. is in range of a missile strike. we are live in seoul with why pyongyang's latest missile test is more cause for concern than usual. where are mom and dad? 'saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico! goin' up the country. love mom and dad' i'm takin' a nap. dude, you just woke up! ♪ ♪ i'm goin' up the country, baby don't you wanna go? ♪

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missile test proves it has growing capacity to launch even bigger nuclear weapons. cnn's alexandra field live for us in seoul with the latest. good morning to you, alex. this is the tenth missile launch you've reported since trump took office. how does this one differ? >> reporter: well, look, analysts even in the u.s. are saying that the level of performance of this missile is the highest level of performance that they have seen from a north korean ballistic missile. and the fact that they're able to launch this successfully is being considered significant, not just by the north koreans, who are, of course, celebrating what they consider a victory, but by the international community. they are closely watching. they quickly determined that this could be a new type of missile that was launched. it went higher and it went farther than previous ballistic missiles have recently gone, this one landing off of russia, closer to russia, that is, than to japan. and now analysts who are closely monitoring the trajectory of that missile are saying that this could represent a significant step toward the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

that is, of course, the goal of the north korean regime, to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead all the way to the u.s. officials in the u.s. are saying that it is very clear that this was not the launch of an icbm, there is no indication that this launch was consistent with what an icbm would look like, but north korea certainly touting its success, given the height of the projectile in this case and the distance that it traveled, dave. >> all right, so, we've seen the trump administration vary wildly when it comes to north korean missile launches, but this is the first test for the new south korean president. how are both responding to the latest launch? >> reporter: yeah, president moon jae-in elected to office less than a week ago here in south korea and confronted with this test within just a matter of days, certainly, a test, though, that he was preparing for, as you have seen this barrage of missile tests coming from north korea. this is a president who has advocated a return to a policy of greater engagement with north korea. in the aftermath of this

ballistic missile launch, he has, of course, condemned these actions, said that south korea needs to respond from provocations from north korea, but has also said the south needs to make it clear to north korea that there is still the possibility of talks, if north korea can change its attitude. as for the white house, as for washington, you have heard some back and forth from officials in washington over the last few weeks and months. they have wavered between suggesting that there is a military option that always remains on the table and also now suggesting that the possibility of more dialogue, more talks are on the table. but what they went for in terms of the response after this ballistic missile launch was to call on other countries in the region to strictly enforce sanctions against north korea, something you have heard them certainly call for before. the white house also putting out a statement saying that the president imagines that russia can't be too pleased with this launch. dave? >> hoping to get them off the sidelines, indeed. alexandra field live in seoul, 6:15 p.m. there. thank you, alex. all right, it is being called one of the biggest cyber attacks ever. it is rolling out right now. today is pivotal as you logon. we'll tell you what you need to know.

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government agencies have been hit by the so-called ransomware. the software targets a flaw in microsoft windows, and now microsoft has released a security patch. it did back in march, but the virus hit networks that had not updated their systems with that patch, which microsoft stressed the importance of in statements sunday, also said this attack is a wake-up call for governments, kind of a remarkable warning from microsoft to governments, nsa in particular where this came from. >> let's get more on the global impact of this cyber attack. what could be in store today? cnn business and technology correspondent samuel burke live in london. >> good to see you, samuel. >> we report there 150 countries. we know there are new cases today. any yet in the united states and how do our viewers protect themselves this morning? >> reporter: good morning, dave. good morning, christine. the claws of this ransomware are still sinking in. if we want to get a preview of what's going to be happening in the united states, let's go to china, where they've already had their monday morning 40,000

infections there. remember, this news broke on friday. folks were already at home there. now they're going back to the offices and seeing that their computers were infected over the weekend and they're having to pay up. plus, there are new strains of this virus. it could be the same group altered their code because their virus had been stopped from spreading, or maybe new copycat groups have popped up and seen that they can make a lot of money off of this. plus, uk government holding emergency meetings here. remember, technology actually affected lives here in the uk. you had out-patient appointments canceled at the uk hospitals. but i think what's most flummoxing about all of this is really the fact that microsoft is willing to point their finger directly at the government. usually they say, well, one of the governments, there are all these pleasantries between companies, and especially the u.s. government, but take a look how specifically microsoft called out the nsa and the u.s. government in this blog post. they say something very clearly -- "repeatedly exploits in the hands of governments have

leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage. an equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the u.s. military having some of its tomahawk missiles stolen." so, we've heard the tech companies complaining about back doors the government wants or develops, and then they get into the hands of the bad guys, and this is what happens. >> and so, specifically, what microsoft is alleging that the nsa did here is the nsa found this vulnerability, right, in microsoft -- >> reporter: right. >> and then hackers found the information from the nsa and released it to everyone, and then microsoft had to patch that hole, but now it's out there. >> reporter: you've got it. the one thing we're not clear about is whether this information was stolen from the nsa or if somebody leaked it from the nsa. remember, you have people like edward snowden, the former nsa contractor. but just to be clear, this is a hole in microsoft, basically, that they tried to patch back in march. but what happens is the only way

for you to get that patch is to do that little annoying update in the lower right-hand corner that says, restart windows right now and you'll get the update. so, of course, if you guys are about to go on air, you don't have time to do that, you say tomorrow, and suddenly, march turns into may, you haven't been updating, and then you could fall victim to this. so, if you're watching, thinking what can i do, just make sure windows is updated, that's it, and you will be safe 100% from this ransomware. >> it's a pretty simple fix but easy to ignore. are people simply paying up the $300 in bitcoin currency? >> reporter: this is what's so surprising is that people are paying because this group of cyber criminals are getting a good reputation. what happens here is these criminals want to get a good reputation so that people know, if you come to us and you pay us the 300 bucks, you'll actually get your data back. so, sometimes this ransomware, they have chat support online so you can talk to a customer service agent. you can even call them sometimes, again, so they can build up this good reputation so

that they can get more and more money. of course, we don't know who this is, but experts are ruling out a government like russia or china, because china and russia are some of the prime people being attacked here. so, it's people who are after money in all likelihood. >> all right, thanks so much, samuel burke. nice to see you this morning from london. thank you, sir. the former national intelligence chief expressing major concerns about president trump. >> our institutions are under assault internally. >> internally from the president? >> exactly. >> can president trump get back to business with washington still reeling from james comey's firing? ray's always been different. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water. so that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. china.

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threat against the united states, claiming its newest ballistic missile can carry a bigger nuclear weapon. and one of the biggest cyber attacks of all time striking again today. how companies worldwide are bracing for more fallout, who could be behind it. 40,000 new cases today of this virus. it is terrifying. what you can do to protect yourself in a bit. welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> and i'm christine romans. it is 30 minutes past the hour this monday morning. a critical moment for donald trump's presidency. who will he nominate to be the next fbi director? at least eight candidates interviewed this weekend at fbi headquarters by attorney general jeff sessions and his number two at the justice department, rod rosenstein. a white house official says the president will get reports on those interviews and speak to leading candidates himself to make a final decision. >> that could happen as early as this week, as shock turns to anger over the firing of james comey. on sunday, former director of national intelligence, james clapper, warned of the dire

circumstances our democracy now faces. >> i think in many ways our institutions are under assault, both externally -- and that's the big news here is the russian interference in our election system. and i think as well, our institutions are under assault internally. >> internally from the president? >> exactly. >> because he's firing the checks and balances? >> well, i think, you know, the founding fathers in their genius created a system of three co-equal branches of government and a built-in system of checks though that's under assault and is eroding. >> eroding. democrats are threatening to block the nomination of a new fbi director unless a special prosecutor is named for the russia investigation. all this taking the focus off the president's first foreign trip as commander in chief. he departs friday for saudi

arabia, israel, and the vatican. he also meets today with the crown prince of abu dhabi, and tomorrow he meets with turkey's president. all right, later today a federal appeals court will hold a hearing in seattle to decide whether to uphold the president's revised travel ban. the ninth circuit already put the first ban on hold. will this time be any different? let's go live to washington and bring in cnn justice reporter laura jarrett. laura, good morning to you. what do we expect today? >> reporter: hey, good morning, dave. well, for the second time in just the last few months, the fate of the president's travel ban is back up for debate in the ninth circuit. in just a few hours, with the trump administration trying to get the president's executive order back on track, but the main question the judges have to wrestle with this time around is whether they can look at trump's campaign statements about calling for a complete shutdown of muslims entering the u.s. to find that this executive order was motivated by some sort of discriminatory purpose when the face of the order doesn't

actually say anything about religion, dave. >> all right, so, do we know the specific ninth circuit judges that are hearing this appeal? and how might that matter? >> reporter: yes. today's panel is made up of three judges, all appointed by former president bill clinton. only adding to the drama in this case, right, given that the president hasn't shied away from voicing his displeasure with the ninth circuit and other courts that have ruled against him in the past, dave. >> laura jarrett live for us in washington. thank you so much. all right, let's bring in cnn political reporter eugene scott to get us jump-started on the week with all the politics we're talking about. let's start with tapes. >> yeah. >> the president hinted, maybe threatened -- choose your verb -- about having maybe tapes of this comey meeting. this is what lawmakers are saying about these tapes, if they exist. let's listen. >> if there are tapes, will you try to subpoena them? >> absolutely. >> if, in fact, there are such

recordings, i think those recordings will be subpoenaed and i think they'll probably have to turn them over. >> if there are tapes, the president should turn them over immediately. >> if there are any tapes, they have to be turned over. >> so, let's ask the commander in chief himself if there are any tapes. he was asked on fox news. listen. >> what about the idea that, in a tweet you said that there might be tape recordings? >> that i can't talk about. i won't talk about that. all i want is for comey to be honest, and i hope he will be, and i'm sure he will be, i hope. >> he didn't deny. >> no, he didn't. >> didn't confirm nor deny. but people who know him, there is reporting in the newspapers that people who have worked for him over past decades, he's been known to tape in his office before. >> it wouldn't be surprising. this wouldn't be the first time we have seen a president tape. i think one of our analysts, julianne zellezar said there have been presidents to tape, so whether or not that's happened is unclear, but what the

president seems to imply was that maybe comey was doing the taping, and that's why he said i hope there are no tapes. but whether or not they exist, we see these lawmakers definitely want to see them, if they do. >> but it sure is interesting, the president not letting on if he recorded them. >> right. >> sean spicer refused to answer the same question. >> i won't talk about that. >> but the next battle is over the fbi director and who they appoint. lindsey graham made clear who they do want to see the next appointee. >> right. >> how about the idea of an fbi agent leading the fbi, promoting within the ranks? there are so many good agents, men and women, out there capable of leading the agency. this is up to the president. he has a duty, an obligation to pick somebody beyond reproach outside the political lane. >> lindsey graham was also clear that john cornyn, though, well respected, highly successful senator, would not be the guy that he would suggest in this political environment. mike rogers, i guess, would fit that category as well, because never, eugene, have we had a

former or current congressman appointed as fbi director. if the president wants someone political, like john cornyn, can he get them through a republican-controlled senate? >> i don't think so, because i think people are really concerned about the integrity of the investigation on both sides right now, right? they want someone who is involved with the fbi. despite the conversation, this russia investigation is just one of many things the fbi is focused on, and the learning curve would just be too significant. i think it's also important to note that one of the things that the president has been most %-pt he asked him to pledge his loyalty to him. the republicans and the democrats want someone that's going to pledge their loyalty to the american people and the constitution more than the president himself. and if you get someone who's going to focus on the president, that wreaks of political motivations more than anything else. >> this remark from clapper yesterday to jake tapper -- i'm sorry, clapper to tapper

rhymes -- but the eroding of u.s. democratic institutions, how concerned he is about that from the outside -- >> and internally. >> -- and internally. that's a remarkable statement. >> it is. >> do you think that resonates this week politically? >> i certainly think it does, and i don't think he's the only person who thinks that way. i think we saw from even about the first week that the president came into office some of the people who thought were the biggest threat to intelligence agencies were from the white house. they think this is a team that needs to work together to address these issues, and some of the challenges they face they feel like are not coming from abroad, are not coming from political opponents or outsiders, but this team that they're supposed to be reporting to. >> all right, so, ahead of this big first foreign trip that starts friday, the rumors of a staff shake-up. axios, mike allen reporting that there could be, reince priebus, sean spicer, steve bannon. someone could be fired this week, but most is centered around communication. >> right. >> what does that tell you about the president? >> well, he has to be aware that this didn't go off as well as he thought it does.

he doesn't seem like he may be aware that it may be because of him. so, if he looks at someone, i think it would be the communications team. now, granted, sean spicer's head of communications. last week, some of the biggest stumbles actually came from sarah huckabee sanders, not sean spicer. but i think it's fair to say -- >> because of naval reserve duty, to be clear. >> yeah. >> we're told. >> fair enough. the biggest miscommunication came last week, though, from president donald trump. and so, he would have to look at himself first. >> and i think if they did a big reboot this week, it would overshadow their foreign trip. i think a big reboot this week would just bring, you know, the palace intrigue back to the headlines. so, it's unclear whether he's just venting to friends or -- >> it's just monday. >> right, it's just monday. nice to see you. north korea's ambassador to china says missile tests will continue anytime and anywhere kim jong-un wants. pyongyang's latest test reaching a performance level never seen before. we're live in seoul.

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growing concerns this morning over north korea's rapidly developing nuclear program after a successful ballistic missile test over the weekend. the kim jong-un regime now claims it is capable of striking the mainland united states. pyongyang also warns, its latest missile test proves it has growing capacity to launch bigger nuclear weapons. cnn's alexandra field live in seoul with the latest developments. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, christine. certainly, this is a significant launch that is being celebrated in pyongyang, celebrated by north korea as a victory after some failed ballistic missile launches earlier this year, but it's also putting the world on notice, and analysts have closely looked at the trajectory of this missile, and they consider it significant. they say it went higher, it landed farther than some of the recent previous missile launches you have seen. it actually landed closer to russia this time than to japan. you've got analysts in the u.s. who are saying that this

demonstrates that north korea could be capable of carrying out a strike on the u.s. base in the pacific. that's guam. but the most significant part of this launch for the world is the fact that many analysts believe that this is a significant step forward toward north korea's efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile. and christine, you know it is the goal of the regime to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear war head all the way to the u.s. so, this launch is not the launch of an icbm, officials in the u.s. being very clear the trajectory was not consistent with that, but still a significant stride forward for a regime that has accelerated its missile testing and that's put a lot into its nuclear efforts and nuclear ambitions. this comes just as south korea's newly elected president takes office. he is a president who had advocated for a policy of more engagement with north korea, standing in stark contrast to the harder-line policies of his predecessors. president moon jae-in has come now to condemn the latest

launch, but he says there is still the possibility of talks with north korea. however, he insists that the south must send a message to the north that the north needs to change its attitude. the white house is also weighing in on the latest ballistic missile launch, calling north korea a menace, calling on all countries to strictly enforce sanctions against north korea in an effort to further isolate the regime and attempt to force cooperation from kim jong-un. and the white house also putting out a statement saying that president trump imagines that russia will not be very happy with the latest launch. christine? >> all right, pulling it all together for us from seoul this morning, thank you. thanks a lot. let's talk sports next. no lead is safe. the golden state warriors rallying for an epic comeback against the spurs in game one of the western conference finals. >> hines ward has more in this morning's "bleacher report." hey, there! >> good morning, guys. listen, i thought this game was over. the spurs, they're up as many as 25 points. it looked like they were going to steal a road win in golden state, but the tide shifted in

the third quarter. now, watch kawhi leonard's ankle as he lands awkwardly on zaza pachulia's foot. a lot of people are questioning this, whether this is an accident or not, but either way, leonard was done, and this is where the game changed. it was steph curry and kevin durant catching fire late in the epic comeback. the warriors win, 113-111. all eyes will be on leonard's ankle going into game two tomorrow. here he is, derek jeter! >> that's right. one of the greatest yankees of all time, derek jeter, was back in the bronx yesterday. the yankees honored their former captain by retiring his number 2 and putting a plaque with his likeness in monument park. now, the crowd, they loved it, chanting his name, "let's go jeter," like they did when he led the yankees to five world series. now, during the ceremony, jeter

took the mike to show his appreciation to the fans. >> you know, you played here in new york for 20 years. you know, i learned that time flies, memories fade, but family is forever. and i'll be eternally grateful to be a part of the yankee family. so, i can't thank you guys enough. thank you very much. and some positive news from nascar. eric almirola has been released from a kansas hospital after a crash in saturday night's race. the driver of the 43 car fractured a vertebrae after not being able to avoid the wreck in front of him. now, almirola's team says he's mobile now and is heading back to north dakota, where he'll follow up with his doctor. some great news for aric. i mean, get this, they had to cut him out of the car. so, hearing that he's out of the hospital is a huge relief, guys. >> yeah that was a terrifying wreck saturday night.

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do it in seconds. because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. go to xfinity.com/myaccount all right, wake up, logon, ouch! companies around the world bracing for more fallout from that huge cyber attack, maybe the biggest ever, 200,000 users in 150 countries hit by attacks that started late friday. law enforcement warns there will be more victims this morning as the workweek begins. already attacks being reported overnight in china, japan, south korea. the virus locks users out of their computers, then demands hundreds of dollars to regain control. global companies like fedex and nissan as well as hospitals, universities, even government agencies have been hit by the so-called ransomware. the software targets a flaw in microsoft windows. the company released a security

patch in march, but the virus hit networks that had not updated their systems, which microsoft stressed the importance of in a statement sunday but also said this attack is a wake-up call for governments. all right, folks, so, what do you do this morning to keep yourself safe? let's bring in samuel burke live in london for us. samuel, we know more cases already this morning. how do americans protect right ? >> reporter: well, if you want to know what's going to happen in america this morning, look at china, which has already had their monday morning 40,000 infections there. remember, this story broke on friday in the u.s., and china already at home enjoying their weekend. now they're going back to work and seeing all these infections. plus, we're seeing new strands of this virus, maybe the group of cyber criminals that did this has altered the code, maybe there are copycats now wanting to cash in. but at the end of the day, all you need to do to update your computer to keep safe from this is just make sure you have that latest windows update, that annoying pop-up in the right-hand corner that says restart your computer. if you've done that since march,

you are safe. and the reason that folks are so upset over at microsoft is they're saying that this is really all the nsa's fault. the nsa either found this hole in microsoft or they developed something that could get into this vulnerability. but take a look just how clearly microsoft is placing the blame on the nsa. i'm really shocked, because usually there are all these pleasantries. this time, microsoft saying "repeatedly exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage. an equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the u.s. military having some of its tomahawk missiles stolen. we've got to hope the nsa uses these tools to keep us safe, but when the tools get into the hands of the bad guys, this is what happens. >> it seems like the wild west out there sometimes with your information. so, people, your screen is locked up and you can talk to the ransomer? you can pay them $300 and they'll just let you go? >> reporter: imagine a guy steals a tv from your house and

then knocks at your door and says, all right, you want to negotiate? but that's exactly what's happening. some of these ransomware groups actually want to have good customer service. now, i can't recommend that you pay $300 to a criminal. you have to decide what your data is worth. do you have it backed up somewhere? is there something compromising on that data on your computer that you don't want people seeing that you want to get back? but at the end of the day, these groups want to have a good reputation so that people have an incentive to pay. so, we even see sometimes with ransomware, they have a chat service so you can talk to a customer support agent, a criminal who is also a customer support agent, or you can even make phone calls sometimes. so, these are the types of situations that especially businesses are having to deal with this morning because so many of these groups hit our businesses because these criminals want money, and it's businesses that are going to have to pay. >> and samuel, the usually suspects are china and russia, but they were hit as well, right? >> reporter: we think of china, oftentimes we hear from experts, as corporate espionage, stealing secrets from american companies.

russia so often the finger's pointed at them for government spying. in this case, china and russia, some of the biggest victims of this ransomware. every expert with whom i have spoken has said this is in all likelihood not a state actor, not a government, this is probably a small group of cyber criminals using this exploit to really take advantage of thousands just going after the money. >> all right, update your windows. make sure you click on your windows update this morning. >> reporter: that easy. >> do it. thank you, samuel burke in london. let's check on "cnn money stream," more business news. u.s. the first weekly loss in three weeks. wall street dragged down by retail stocks. earnings have been bad i. investors focusing on gap, target annud walmart. the gap expanded digital

offerings. in fact, its online skaels grew at a faster pace than amazon. two of the biggest players are teaming up for a self driving car. lyft and alphabet will team up on a pilot car. lyft has a network of drivers. this is bad for uber. homeowners are moving less. the length people own homes rose in 2016. ten years ago, people were moving every four years. if the housing market is improving, why are people staying put? as rates rise, homeowners worry about higher payments. economists say people feel locked in. >> we are due for a few more

rate hikes. >> we will watch that. interest rates are historically pretty low. still good time to refinance if you are 5% or higher. have you refinanced? >> no. does it depend on growth? we need to see higher growth. we are not seeing. thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. a lot to get to on "new day." james comey. are there tapes? busy day for alisyn camerota and chris cuomo. see you tomorrow. >> i thought that this would be a popular thing i did when i terminated comey. >> a built in system of checks and balances is under assault. >> the president is the ceo of the country. he can hire and fire whomever he wants. >> republicans should step up to the plate and ask for a special prosecutor. >> if there are tapes of the conversation, they need to

turned over. >> that is not a threat. >> we have a lot of choice. >> i would strongly urge the administration to pick someone completely apolitical. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> welcome viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day." it is monday, may 15th. 6:00 in new york. trump white house looking to put a political firestorm behind them. we begin the week with the stories on the starting line. first, nation's former intel chief says american democracy is quote under assault by president trump. after the firing of fbi director james comey. republicans and democrats calling on the president to turnover any conversations that he may have taped with comey. >> and some potential game changers. rod rosenstein will testify this week before the senate on the controversial firing. will he be asked about a special

counsel? and president trump is embarking on the first overseas trip of the presidency in saudi arabia. this as north korea escalates tensions. another launch. another missile. longer this time. we have it all covered. let's start with cnn's joe johns at the white house. >> reporter: good morning, chris. first foreign trip by president trump occurring in an atmosphere of chaos both here and in the united states and abroad. we do begin with the remarkable assertion by the former national security chief that the american system of government is essentially under assault by the president of the united states. the fallout over president trump's firing of fbi director james comey isn't going away. >> i think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally. that is the big news here. russian interference in the