a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! i need to open up a company for the transfer of -- no, no, no, no. >> a cnn exclusive. audio of donald trump and michael cohen, despite past denials it seems the president knew about a possible hush payment to a playboy playmate. $12 billion in emergency aid for farmers caught in the president's trade war. republican lawmakers are lashing out at one calls a soviet type of economy.

and somebody in san jose is $522 million richer this morning, before taxes. one jackpot winner in last night's mega millions drawing, as evidence by the fact i'm here, it's not me. i'm not regretting the $10 i spent on that, my financial analyst. >> all right, if it makes you happy. >> welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. it is july 25th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. michael cohen's flip on donald trump is all but complete this morning. a cnn exclusive breaking overnight. the attorney for cohen, president trump's fixer has presented eye-opening audio to cnn. candidate trump and cohen discuss buying the rights to a playboy model's story of her alleged affair with mr. trump years earlier. >> just before the election, the trump campaign denied any knowledge of a planned payoff to karen mcdougal, but the 2016 recording seems to confirm mr. trump knew at the time about the proposal. listen now as cohen tells trump

about his plans to set up a company to purchase the story rights from american media run by trump ally david pecker. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, you know, so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up -- >> give it to me -- >> and i've spoken to allen wieselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so, what are we going to -- >> -- funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff -- >> thinking about it -- >> all the stuff, because you never know what that company, where he's going to be -- >> who gets it -- >> correct. so, i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> listen, what financing? >> we'll have to pay -- >> don't pay with cash. >> no, no, no. i've got -- no, no, no. >> the audio at the end is muddled and it's unclear whether mr. trump suggests paying with cash or not paying. the president's attorney, rudy

giuliani, has said no payment ever came from his client. giuliani tells the "washington post" it sounds to him like cohen is explaining something to trump that he doesn't understand. and now giuliani disputes that the recording shows mr. trump knew about the mcdougal deal at all. >> i don't think anyone can suggest that this represents anything where the president did anything wrong. i question the strategy of doing this, of trying to make a tape say what it doesn't say, or of putting out a tape in which you're kind of proud of the fact that you're a lawyer taping your client, and then thinking you could cooperate with the government? you know to cooperate with the government, you've got to have credibility. >> cohen's decision to have his lawyer, lanny davis, provide the tape to cnn highlights the breakdown in the relationship that once saw cohen say he would take a bullet for this president. >> this is about honesty versus false disparagement of michael cohen. why is giuliani out falsely disparaging michael cohen?

because they fear him. what do they fear, chris? why am i representing him? they fear that he has the truth about donald trump, he will some day speak the truth about donald trump. >> cnn legal experts say the tapes released indicates cohen's side believes it is time to stop playing nice. >> it's a credibility campaign going on right now, and in a game of he said-he said, he wants to prevail. particularly, although it seems to people that although the idea of did he say cash or did he say check may seem like a very nominal matter, where he's trying to establish is there was some awareness on behalf of donald trump at the time. >> the timing of the recorded conversation provides more evidence cohen was busy squashing embarrassing stories about his client before the election. that effort now a central focus of the investigation by federal prosecutors in manhattan. >> a reporter for "the new york times" says president trump

raged at his staff on air force one after seeing the first lady's television tuned to cnn. according to an e-mail obtained by the "times," the president on a recent overseas trip blasted staffers for violating a rule that the white house entourage should begin each trip with televisions tuned to fox. the report points to how the president appears to be increasingly living in an information bubble and attempting to wrap supporters in that same bubble. all right, president trump plans to help farmers hurt by his trade battles, giving $12 billion in federal aid, but he's facing major pushback from gop lawmakers. agriculture secretary sonny perdue says the government will help the hardest hit products -- soybeans, corn, dairy, pork, likely using funds from a depression-era program to boost farm prices. perdue calls this a short-term solution, but iowa senator chuck grassley says what farmers need in the long term are markets and opportunity, not government handouts.

senator ben sasse even more critical, calling the aid gold crutches, and said that tariffs and bailouts is going to make america 1929 again. they aren't alone. gop lawmakers with few exceptions expressed concern about the plan. senators john thune, bob corker, jeff flake, they say farmers need trade deals, not welfare. >> this $12 billion announced today suggests that this is going to be a longer-term problem than the president said, you know. trade wars are easy to win, not so much. >> an admission that the president's trade policies will hurt american farmers. the aid to farmers kicks in in september. many notice that's just in time for elections. but the "wall street journal" editorial board says that fixing a problem of his own making won't fool voters. trump may think that his farm tariff bailout will get republicans past the november election, but sooner or later, bad economic policy becomes bad politics.

president trump drawing comparisons to george orwell after turning his appearance at a vfw convention in kansas city into a campaign rally. the president used the event to defend his tariffs on u.s. trading partners, telling his supporters, we don't apologize for america anymore. then he took a page straight from orwell's classic "1984." >> what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening. just stick with us. don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. [ audience reacts ] >> that is the vfw. afterward, the vfw released a statement, saying it was disappointed in its members who booed the media and that it was happy to have all the networks attend as invited guests. >> don't believe what you see. don't believe what you read. don't believe what you hear with your own ears. >> gaslighting. >> gaslighting in america, all

right. seven minutes after the hour. cnn has learned the white house is no longer releasing summaries of the president's phone calls with world leaders, ending a longstanding practice by republican and democratic administrations, raising concerns that the only narrative on the president's calls will come from foreign governments. president trump has had at least two calls with world leaders in the last two weeks with the white house confirming the calls took place after they were reported by foreign media. the administration will not say whether the suspension of presidential phone call summaries is temporary or permanent. certainly not transparent. this afternoon, the senate foreign relations committee will publicly grill secretary of state mike pompeo about president trump's closed-door meeting in helsinki with vladimir putin. now, details about that face-to-face encounter are still unknown nine days later. president trump now insisting he is very concerned the russians will be fighting hard to interfere in the upcoming election. here's the twist. see there, the president claims russia will be pushing for the

democrats because they definitely don't want trump. that's not what putin said in helsinki. >> president putin, did you want president trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? >> translator: yes, i did. yes, i did. >> the russians have now accepted the president's invitation for a meeting in washington at the end of this year. in a just-released quinnipiac poll, voters called the helsinki summit a failure by a nearly 2-1 margin over those who felt it was a success. and when asked if the president was acting in the best interests of the united states, voters said no by a 54%-41% margin. a federal judge says he expects the government will meet tomorrow's deadline to reunify eligible immigrant families. judge dana sabraw commended the government for its remarkable progress reuniting families but

also says the original policy that led to separations at the border was found deeply troubling. the justice department lawyer said just over 1,000 parents have been reunited with their children out of more than 1,600 eligible. judge sabraw said 1,900 parents who were found ineligible or status is undetermined likely won't be reunited on time. a pizza man turned over to immigration officials after trying to drop off food at a military base has been released from detention. legal aid society lawyer who helped win pablo villavicencio's release says they are proud to have him reunited with his girls. georgia's secretary of state brian kemp has won the republican nomination for governor, marking another victory for president trump. he backed kemp over lieutenant governor casey kagel in the final week of a heated primary runoff. kemp now faces democratic nominee stacy abrams in the general election this fall, abe raps bidding to become the

nation's first black female governor. both parties are looking at the race to determine whether georgia could be in play in 2020. all right, singer demi lovato awake and breathing this morning after an apparent drug overdose sent her to the hospital. this is not a bed. it's a high-tech sleep revolution. the sleep number 360 smart bed intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts. so you wake up ready to run the world. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999.

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the georgia lawmaker who was pranked by sacha baron cohen, we're told, is resigning. jason spencer yelled the "n" word, dropped his pants on "who is america," which is that program, a showtime program. spencer came under fire for his appearance on that show, where he repeatedly yelled the "n" word. cohen in character as an anti-israeli terrorism expert told spencer those were effective ways to deter a terrorist attack. spencer claims the show took advantage of him for profit and anoint rite. officials say singer demi lovato is in stable condition in

a los angeles hospital this morning after an apparent drug overdose. a rep for lovato says in a statement, she is awake and her family thanks everyone for their love, prayers, and support. the 25-year-old singer has struggled with substance abuse and just weeks ago she revealed in a new song that she had suffered a relapse. lovato has spoken candidly about her use of cocaine addiction and an addiction to alcohol as well as mental health issues and an eating disorder. a trader joe's assistant manager who died during a shoot-out on saturday was killed by a police officer's bullet. suspect jean evan atkins crashed his car outside the los angeles store, fired at officers while running inside. police returned the fire, accidentally hitting employee melyda corado as she was leaving the grocery store. flooding concerns from the mid-atlantic -- >> i know that it is every officer's worst nightmare to harm an innocent bystander during a violent engagement. i spoke with both these officers

this morning. they're devastated. >> the district attorney's office is charging atkins with the murder of melyda corado. flooding concerns from the mid-atlantic up to the northeast. let's get the latest forecast from meteorologist pedram javaheri. >> good morning, dave and christine. yes, the soggy situation really going to remain firmly in place across the northeast here as we've had the constant bout of moisture streaming in from the south. and of course, you look at how things have played out in the past 48 hours, we're talking about portions of western areas just west of philly into eastern p.a. talking about places such as harrisburg, york, out towards lancaster, upwards of 6 to 8 inches of rainfall have come down. baltimore, certainly in and around washington as well, tremendous rainfall has been coming down in the last couple of days. in fact, the national weather service still watching some 30 million people across this region underneath the flood concern, and notice the areas indicated in that maroon color. that is right across that region of eastern pennsylvania where we have the flood warnings in place, meaning flooding is either imminent or occurring.

and unfortunately, the rainfall still looks pretty high over those regions over the next several days. in fact, look at rainfall totals. really, the good news for new york city is they stay out of the vast majority of the heavy rainfall, but again, just west of town into eastern p.a., some heavy rains in store. boston could see heavy rainfall as well. and temperatures as a result of all this little bit cooler again. 76 in new york, only 82 in washington. >> all right, p.j., thank you. he may be leaving the senate, but utah's orrin hatch wants the world to know he's not dead yet, despite what the internet says. hatch on monday posted a screen shot of his own google search result that said he died on september 11st, 2017. the 84-year-old had some fun with the fatal error, telling google, we might need to talk. and with a nod perhaps to conspiracy theorists, the longtime republican produced proof of life, exhibit "a," hatch in his office reading the news. google apologized, fixing the

result telling the senator "you are very much alive and sporting a great sense of humor," touche. >> a reminder that there is a lot of garbage on the internet and a lot of dumb people who fall for it. we're here this morning, so you know what that means, right? it means we did not hit the mega millions jackpot. one person did, though. one winning ticket was sold in san jose, california. officials say it was purchased at ernie's liquorors on south white road in san jose. jackpot $522 million. those winning numbers, if you're still checking or you're just crying, 1, 2, 4, 19, 29, and the mega ball 20. >> congratulations to one very wealthy californian. all right, ahead, the death toll rising in greece as wildfires engulf the seaside area. residents and tourists forced to run into the sea to avoid the flames. we're live in greece with the latest. ame is jeff sheldon, and i'm the founder of ugmonk. before shipstation it was crazy. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize

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gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go online today. at least 79 people have died, more than 150 others injured in the worst wildfires to engulf greece in more than a decade. cnn's melissa bell is live there for us in greece reporting from the hard-hit seaside resort area. we're hearing stories from survivors of dashing into the sea to escape the flames. what can you tell us? >> reporter: it was simply, christine, the only way out of this seaside town on that dreadful night. the death toll now up to 79. it keeps on rising with so many people still missing. and here in this field, which was really the site of one of the greatest tragedies, christine, 26 people were found

still holding on to one another, exactly what you would do with your loved ones if you felt that the flames were getting too close and you were finally surrounded. their bodies have now been removed, but still, this field, 24 hours after they were found, smolders in places, the earth is still hot, and it is strewn with objects that belonged to them -- mobile phones that were not picked up, keys, charred shoes, the remains of dogs that would have run around this field. and at the very end of it, christine, that door that they never reached and that might have saved their lives. it gives you an idea of how intensely and how quickly these flames came, that they never managed to make it to the door that might have led them to the sea, the escape route for so many people that night, but not sadly for the 26 people who lost their lives here, christine. >> melissa bell, thank you so much for that. just a tragic story there. >> it is indeed.

a cnn exclusive. despite denials, new audio shows the president appeared to know about efforts to pay a mistress for her silence at a critical point in the campaign. ahh... summer is coming. and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audible. with the largest selection of audiobooks. audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. or discover magic when you hit the open road. with the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. and for just $14.95 a month you get a credit,

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i need to open up a company for the transfer of payments -- >> don't pay with cash. >> no, no, no, no. >> a cnn exclusive, audio of donald trump and michael cohen. despite past denials, it seems the president knew about a possible hush payment to a playboy playmate. $12 billion in emergency aid for farmers caught in the trade war. republican lawmakers are lashing out at what one calls a soviet

type of economy. and someone in san jose is $522 million richer this morning, before taxes. one jackpot winner of last night's mega million drawing. you know my advice as always, don't plan on how you're going to spend the money, plan on how you're going to grow the money. because 500 million bucks, that's a lot of money. >> don't buy my boat? my giant yacht? >> you can buy a little boat. >> okay. little boat, san jose resident. >> welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. buy a company, don't buy a boat. >> i'm dave briggs, 4:30 eastern time. the top trending story on twitter, #cohentapes. why? michael cohen's flip on donald trump is all but complete. a cnn exclusive breaking overnight. the attorney for cohen, president trump's former lawyer has provided eye-opening audio to cnn. during a discussion about the campaign, candidate trump and cohen discussed buying the rights to a playboy model's story of her alleged affair with mr. trump years earlier. >> just before the election, the trump campaign denied any

knowledge of a planned payoff to karen mcdougal, but the september 2016 reporting seems to confirm mr. trump knew at the time about the proposal. listen as cohen tells trump about his plans to set up a company to purchase the story rights from american media run by trump ally david pecker. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, you know, so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up -- >> give it to me -- >> and i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so, what are we going to pay -- >> -- funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff, all the stuff. because you know, you never know where that company -- you never know where he's going to be -- >> where he gets it -- >> correct, so i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> listen, what financing? >> we'll have to pay -- >> don't pay with cash? >> no, no, no, no.

i've got -- no, no, no. >> the audio at the end is muddled and unclear whether mr. trump suggests paying with cash or not paying. the president's attorney, rudy giuliani, has said no payment ever came from his client. giuliani tells the "washington post" it sounds like cohen is explaining something to trump that he doesn't understand, and now giuliani disputes that the recording shows mr. trump knew about the mcdougal deal at all. >> i don't think anyone can suggest that this represents anything where the president did anything wrong. i question the strategy of doing this, of trying to make a tape say what it doesn't say or of putting out a tape in which you're kind of proud of the fact that you're a lawyer taping your client. and then thinking you could cooperate with the government? you know, to cooperate with the government, you've got to have credibility. >> cohen's decision to have his lawyer, lanny davis, provide the tape to cnn highlights the breakdown in a relationship that once saw cohen say he would take a bullet for the president.

>> this is about honesty versus false disparagement of michael cohen. why is giuliani out falsely disparaging michael cohen? because they fear him. what do they fear, chris? why am i representing him? they fear that he has the truth about donald trump, he will some day speak the truth about donald trump. >> cnn legal experts say the tape's release suggests cohen's side believes it's time to stop playing nice. >> it's a credibility campaign going on right now, and in a game of he said-he said, he wants to prevail. particularly, although it seems to people that the idea whether he said cash or did he say check may seem like a very nominal matter, what he's trying to establish is that there was some awareness on behalf of donald trump at the time. >> the timing of the recorded conversation provides more evidence cohen was busy quashing embarrassing stories about his client before the election. that effort now a central focus of the investigation by federal prosecutors in manhattan.

all right, president trump offering $12 billion in aid to farmers hurt by his trade battles. it's like a band-aid on a broken leg. that's how one farmer and trump supporter from minnesota described it. and in washington, major pushback from gop lawmakers. farm exports have been the prime target of retaliation from u.s. trading partners. agriculture secretary sonny perdue says the government will help the hardest hit products -- soybeans, corn, dairy, pork -- partly using funds from a depression-era program to boost farm prices. perdue calls this a short-term solution, but iowa senator chuck grassley says what farmers need in the long term are markets and opportunity, not government handouts. senator ben sasse is more critical, calling the aid gold crutches. he says tariffs and bailouts won't make america great. it's going to make it 1929 again. gop lawmakers, with few exceptions, expressed concern about the plan.

senators john thune, bob corker, jeff flake, they say farmers need trade deals, not welfare. >> this $12 billion announced today suggests that this is going to be a longer-term problem than the president said. you know, this trade wars are easy to win, you know, not so much. >> the aid starts in september, just in time for elections. but the "wall street journal" editorial board says that the president fixing a problem of his own making won't fool voters. trump may think his farm tariff bailout will get republicans past the november election, but sooner or later, bad economic policy becomes bad politics. a band-aid on a broken leg. >> wow. okay, president trump drawing comparisons to george orwell after turning his appearance at a vfw convention in kansas city into a campaign rally. the president used the event to defend his tariffs on u.s. trading partners, telling his supporters, we don't apologize

for america anymore. then he took a page straight from orwell's classic "1984." >> what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening. just stick with us. don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. [ audience reacts ] >> afterward, the vfw released a statement saying it was, quote, disappointed in its members who booed the media, and that it is happy to have all of the networks attend as invited guests. cnn has learned the white house no longer releasing summaries of president trump's phone calls with world leaders. that ends a longstanding practice by both republican and democratic administrations. the move raising concerns that the only narrative on the president's calls will come from foreign governments. president trump has had at least two calls with world leaders in the last couple of weeks with the white house confirming the calls took place after they were reported by foreign media. the administration will not say

whether the suspension of presidential phone call summaries is temporary or permanent. this afternoon, the senate foreign relations committee will publicly grill secretary of state mike pompeo about president trump's closed-door meeting in helsinki with vladimir putin. details about that face-to-face encounter are still unknown nine days later. president trump now insisting he is very concerned the russians will be fighting hard to interfere in the upcoming election. here's the twist -- the president claims russia will be pushing for the democrats this time because they definitely don't want trump. that, indeed, would be a dramatic reversal from 2016. >> president putin, did you want president trump to win the election? and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? >> translator: yes, i did. yes, i did. >> the russians have now accepted the president's invitation for that meeting in washington at the end of this year. in a just-released quinnipiac poll, voters called the helsinki

summit a failure by nearly a 2-1 margin over those who felt it was a success. and when asked if the president was acting in the best interests of the united states, voters said no by a 54%-41% margin. ivanka trump is shutting down her namesake fashion brand with plans to focus on public policy instead. ivanka retains limited ownership of her clothing and accessory business. that reduced potential ethics violations while she serves as a senior adviser, but sources say that given those restrictions, ivanka decided it didn't make sense to keep the company running. she tells cnn in a statement that she doesn't know when or if i will ever return to the business, but will focus on her work in washington "for the foreseeable future." >> interesting. ivanka's brand has been a target for critics of her father's policy since the election. and while profits saw a bump in early 2017, they have since declined. multiple retailers have dropped her brand in the past 18 months, citing poor sales, including nordstroms, hudson bay, and t.j.

maxx. can't help but wonder about a future political run there, though. a federal judge says he expects the government will meet tomorrow's deadline to ruinify eligible immigrant families. judge dana sabraw commended the government for its remarkable progress reuniting families but says he also finds the original policy that led to separations at the border deeply troubling. the justice department lawyer said just over 1,000 parents have been reunited with their children out of more than 1,600 eligible. judge sabraw said 914 parents found ineligible or whose status is undetermined likely cannot be reunited on time. meantime, a new york pizza delivery man who was turned over to immigration officials after he showed up to drop off food at a military base has been released from detention. a legal aid society lawyer who helped win pablo villavicencio's release say they are ecstatic to see him reunited with his girls.

singer demi lovato awake and breathing this morning after an apparent drug overdose sent her to the hospital. the latest ahead on "early start." are you a christian author with

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! 4:44 eastern time. the georgia state lawmakers who was punk'd by sacha baron cohen is resigning. republican rep jason spencer will leave office by the end of the month. he came under fire after his appearance on "who is america?" where he repeatedly yelled the "n" word and dropped his pants. cohen in character as an israeli antiterrorism expert, told spencer those were effective ways to deter a terror attack. spencer claims the show took advantage of him for profit and notoriety. officials say singer demi lovato is in stable condition in a los angeles hospital this morning after an apparent drug overdose. a representative for lovato says in a statement she is awake and that her family thanks everyone

for their love, prayers, and support. the 25-year-old singer has struggled with substance abuse. just weeks ago, she revealed in a new song that she had suffered a relapse. lovato has spoken candidly about her use of cocaine and her addiction to alcohol as well as mental health issues and an eating disorder. wish her well. a trader joe's assistant manager who died during a shoot-out on saturday was killed by a police officer's bullet. suspect gene evin atkins crashed his car outside of the los angeles store and fired at officers while running inside. police returned fire, accidentally hitting employee melyda corado as she was leaving the grocery store. >> i know that it is every officer's worst nightmare to harm an innocent bystander during a violent engagement. i spoke to both these officers this morning. they're devastated. >> district attorney's office is charging atkins with the murder of melyda corado.

flooding worries today from the mid-atlantic up into the northeast. numerous flash flooding watches and warnings. the national weather service calling it a dangerous, even life-threatening situation. the latest now from meteorologist pedram javaheri. >> good morning, dave and christine. yes, we're watching this area, really concerned because of the amount of rainfall that's already come down and notice the picture shows additional strong thunderstorms possible in similar spots, across eastern portions of pennsylvania, certainly into parts of the delmarva as well as the flooding threat remaining very high. upwards of 30 million impacted with this. again, in the last 48 hours, the rainfall totals in places such as baltimore, work your way towards say lancaster, around york, on into areas into eastern p.a. there have been as high as 8 or so inches in spots. so, certainly, the flooding concern with the saturated soil remains extremely high, and that's where the flood warnings are in place across eastern pennsylvania, parts of southern new york as well as you go up into the higher elevations. but here's what we're looking at as far as what is left over the next couple days. notice new york city maybe gets

about half an inch to an inch out of this the next couple days, but working out towards boston, greater amounts possible. and once again, eastern pennsylvania, an area of concern there with heavy rainfall, but with all that said, notice some of the coolest temperatures on the eastern half of the country are situated there because of all the rainfall into the upper 70s around the northeast. guys? >> pedram, thank you. he may be leaving the senate, but utah's orrin hatch wants the world to know he's not dead, despite what the internet says. hatch on monday posted a screen shot of his own google search result that said he died on september 11st, 2017. the 84-year-old had some fun with the fatal error, telling google, "we might need to talk." the longtime republican also posted proof of life, hatch in his office reading salt lake's "deseret news." google got the message, apologizing and fixing the result, telling the senator "you are very much alive and sporting a great sense of humor." all right, we're still here. we have a great sense of humor about you know what, the mega

millions jackpot. one person hit the jackpot. one winning ticket was sold in san jose, california. lottery officials say the golden ticket was purchased at ernie's liquors on south white road in san jose. the jackpot $522 mill. those winning numbers, if you're still checking or you're just crying about it, 1, 2, 4, 19, 29, and the mega ball, 20. >> if the winner took the lump sum, $308 million, do you recommend the lump sum? >> i do, actually. >> you do? >> i do. >> you don't recommend playing, but -- >> i know. i don't recommend playing, but if you do play, and i do recommend, think of how you're going to grow that money, not spend the money. that's what i would say. "hamilton" may head to the big screen, and studios could pay big for the hit broadway show. next. h-tech sleep revolution. the sleep number 360 smart bed intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts. so you wake up ready to run the world. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999.

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in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. north korea appears ready to hand over what it says are the remains of u.s. soldiers from the korean war, but a source tells cnn it's still not clear exactly when that will happen. the source also says north koreans who collected the remains are said to be unhappy because there is no reward for their hard work. u.s. officials are expecting the first group of service member remains to be returned from the korean war on armistice day, july 27th. at least 79 people have died and more than 150 others have

been injured in the worst wildfires to engulf greece in more than a decade. cnn's melissa bell is live for us in greece reporting from the hard-hit seaside resort area of mati. good morning, melissa. what's the latest? >> reporter: good morning, dave. well, we await the investigation that's begun to try and work out how these fires that spread so quickly and so intensely over such a wide area, causing so many deaths, could have started. after all, they began in three different fronts around athens, so an investigation is under way to work out whether arson may have been involved. but whether or not it was, the big story here, really, dave, is climate change. we are talking about the record temperatures that left the earth here as parched as it was and that allowed those fires to spread as wildly as they did. we've had it throughout europe throughout the summer, these extraordinarily high temperatures, wildfires as far north as scandinavia.

and here in greece, a country, after all, used to wildfires -- they've had them back in 2007, back in 2009 -- but this devastating, this deadly, is something quite new. so, an investigation on one hand to work out why it began, and a lot of soul-searching to work out how precisely we could have gotten to this point. 79 people are now known to have lost their lives, but that, i'm afraid, is a death toll that is only likely to rise with so many people missing and the search-and-rescue operations still very much under way here in mati, dave. >> all right, melissa bell live for us in greece this morning. thanks very much. british investigators looking into the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter. they're checking a theory that multiple containers of the soviet-era poison may have been left around the city of salisbury. sources tell cnn authorities are now looking into the possibility a drop team planted the novichok and a second team carried out the attack on the ex-spy. a third victim says he found a box wrapped in cellophane, which

he opened, exposing him and his daughter to the novichok. she died several days later. uk public health officials have urged the public to be wary of picking up any foreign objects you have not dropped yourself. all right, let's get a check on "cnn money." global stocks mixed today, but wall street closed higher thanks to big corporate profits. shares of google parent alphabet hit a record high. it reported big ad sales, offsetting that $5 billion fine from the eu. europe claims google unfairly pushed its app on smartphone users, locking out competition. it's day three for a busy week in corporate earnings. more than a third of s&p 500 companies are set to report. today we'll hear from some big car companies as well as boeing, coca-cola, and facebook. president trump's trade actions are hurting harley-davidson's bottom line. tariffs will cost harley $55 million this year alone. that's due to both u.s. tariffs on imported steel and those steep retaliatory tariffs from the eu on motorcycles. europe is a huge market for harleys, so those eu markets

caused it to shift production overseas. the white house tweeted the president was surprised harley was the first to wave the white flag. hamilton" could head to the big screen and studios could pay more than $50 million for the rights. ♪ not throwing away my shot >> the "wall street journal" reports there's a bidding war for the hit broadway show, but the movie, it won't be a film adaptation. instead, it will be a 2016 recording with the amazing original cast, and that's unusual for a broadway show, but studios think "hamilton" is a special case. the show is a huge hit. it has earned nearly $400 million in new york since 2015. >> and we have paid dearly for it as well. it will be fantastic. but look, i thought it'd be an adaptation. >> i think an adaptation would be amazing, but i think the show stands so solidly on its own -- >> you get no arguments here.

>> why mess with perfection? >> it's an incredible show. "early start" continues now with the latest on a recording of donald trump talking about a possible payoff to a playmate. i need to open up a company for the transfer of payments -- >> don't pay with cash? >> no, no, no, no. >> a cnn exclusive -- audio of donald trump and michael cohen. despite past denials, it appears the president knew about a possible hush payment to a playboy playmate. $12 billion in emergency aid for farmers caught in the trade war. republican lawmakers are lashing out at what one calls a soviet type of economy. someone in san jose is $522 million richer this morning before taxes. one jackpot winner in last night's mega millions drawing. good morning. welcome to ear"early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs.

it is wednesday, july 25th, 5:00 a.m. in the east. the "washington post" calls it "paymate," michael cohen's flip on adopt is all but complete. a cnn exclusive breaking overnight. the attorney for cohen, president trump's former lawyer, and fixer, has provided some eye-opening audio to cnn. during a discussion about the campaign, candidate trump and cohen discussed buying the rights to a playboy model's story of her alleged affair with mr. trump years earlier. >> just before the election, the trump campaign denied any knowledge of a planned payoff to karen mcdougal, but the september 2016 recording seems to confirm mr. trump knew at the time about the proposal. listen as cohen tells trump about his plans to set up a company to purchase the story rights from american media run by trump friend david pecker. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, you know, so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up and i've