the veil is lifted on long held secrets about the kennedy assassination. was lee harvey oz wald -- >> an fbi informant can now testify about russian attempts to gain influence in the u.s., but did president trump push that through for political payback on hillary clinton? good morning everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> good morning. i'm sitting in for christine romans. it's 4:00 a.m. in the east. >> plenty of intrigue following

the late night release by the jfk files. was lee harvey oswald acting as an agent of the cia? the white house did release over 2800 records, roughly three hundred others kept classified. >> first highlights like the cia director suddenly cut short just before answering a critical question. in records from a 1975 deposition, richard helms, who was the deputy cia direct ler was ask z whether there was any information that shows that lee harvey oswald was in some way a cia agent or an agent. the document ends suddenly there without the rest of his response. >> so intriguing. also, 1975 record on the cia's

role in foreign assassination. attorney general robert kennedy telling he hired the cia to approach a mobster. one option, poisoning fidel castro. >> there's more mere. an fbi memo from the new orleans field office three months before the jfk assassination. it describes monitoring the fair play and says the group's activities dropped off considerably after the departure of lee harvey oswald. >> also the fbi received a threat on his life. a man talking in a calm voice, saying he was a member of a committee to kill oswald. hoover also on record saying oswald's killer, jack ruby

danned making that call. >> two months before jfa's assassination oswald was interceptedi speak to go a kgb officer. >> the white house did not receive all of the requests until yesterday. that left a scrambling to funnel all the information to the president. >> one official says he was unhappy with the level of redactions and that's why the president has directed the agencies to further review their reasons for keeping some of the recor records secret and report back within 180 days. we could get more information including the potential answer to that cliff happeninger about whether oswald was a cia agent. new ethical questions facing the president and justice department this morning after it

emerging the president personally influenced the decision to lift a gag order on an undercover informant. all of this circling back to who else? but hillary clinton. the informant played a critical role in the fbi's investigation in the russian's effort the to gain influence in the u.s. ure ran yum industry. >> last week chuck grassley publicly called on the justice department to lift the gag order blocking the informant from speaking to congress. the justice department can do so but there are rules, limiting white house involvement in matters like this. >> the informant as lawyer clearing it was cleared. the question now, did president trump improperly exert his influence to punish hillary clinton. cnn's gloria borger has more about that from washington. >>reporter: sources tell cnn

that president president trump made it clear he wanted to lift the gag order against an undercover informant who played a critical role in an fbi investigation into russian efforts to gain influence in the u.s. uranium industry. that was during the obama administration when hillary clinton was secretary of state. the president directed his senior staff, we're told to dwoe if a sill kate the justice department's full cooperation sources are telling us that don mcgann then relayed that message to the justice department. of course the president has been very interested in this story for some time and the other day he called it one the biggest stories since watergate. his staff says it's base he wants to be transparent. there's a political backdrop here. this story has been going around for a long time. the story is the russians paid

what amounted to prescribribes to the hillary clinton administration. clinton of course said she has solutely nothing to do with the decision that she knows nothing aboutthis. but thiss a story the president keeps talking about, and this new testimony from this informant will certainly keep the story going. >> so it continues. thanks. a course tells cnn the president has expressed consistent frustration with the fbi and justice department for dragging their heels on the russian uranium case and other matters. white house referring all questions to the justice department. justice department, of course refusing to comment. >> that has the ranking member of the house intelligence committee democrat adam schiff threatening to launch another investigation. congressman shift tweeting if

president personally intervened with doj to advance case against political opponent it's beyond disturbi disturbing. i intend to pursue a new probe. meanwhile twitter pulling all ads p purchased by russian and sputnik. rt and sputnik will be allowed to continue producing content on twitter but are banned from advertising on the site. twitter facebook and google executives face a public hearing on capitol hill to address the roles they inadvertently played in russian's effort the to meddle in american politics. >> the house narrowly passed a budget yesterday which cleared the way for stactax reform. there is still a lot of division. republicans can now fast track the bill meaning it doesn't need

any democratic vote to pass. it's not just democrats opposing the plan. 20 republicans voted against the budget measure. 11 from the high tax states of new york and new jersey, and those representatives want to keep the state and local tax reduction. it's used mainly by middle class families in their states. so representative kevin brady, who's going to help write the bill hinted a dom promize could be on the way. another sticking point to the tax plan, the fate of the 401(k) tax break. the bill may reduce how much tax free money workers can invest each year but cutting both deductions winds up raising more than $1 trillion in revenue. the plan adds $2.2 trillion to the deficit. gop leaders are going to release the tax bill on november 1, aiming to pass it by thanksgiving. i'd say that's pretty ambitious.

that leaving just 22 days. i say good luck with that deadline. we haven't seen rewrite since 1986. there's a reason it's been that long. >> it's similar to what they did with health care. you can't remake one sixth of the economy in a short period of time. it takes a long time. >> it will be amazing if they make that deadline. >> they realize it's political imperative. help is on the way but not as much as some people hoped for battling the opioid addiction, president trump declaring a nationwide emergency. the order will expand access to medicine in rural agencies, instruct agencies 0 to curb bureaucratic delays. >> the president choosing no the to issue a national disaster declaration, which would have triggered more federal funding

to help safe -- combat the crisis. he got really personal in his anti-drug message discussing how his late brother's addiction led him to never drink or smoke. he also linked his planned border wall to efforts to stem the tide of illegal drugs coming from mexico. >> ahead exclusive reporting on the niger ambush. one of the first soldiers on the seen says when he saw the unit the day before they did not have enough protection in h a high risk area. live on the ground in niger next. website with godaddy. building a website in under an hour is easy! 68% of people... ...who have built their website using gocentral, did it in... ...under an hour, and you can too. type in your business or idea. pick your favourite design. personalize it with beautiful images. and...you're done! and now business is booming. harriet, it's a double stitch not a cross stitch!

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we are getting a new first hand account of the deadly ambush that killed four american soldiers this month. a nigerien soldier whose unit was first on the scene after the attack spoke to cnn.

he tells cnn american and nigerien forces were ready to fight until the end. >> he also saw the green beret unit and says it never crossed his mind they were going on a mission. they only had one machine gun and were wearing ball caps and t-shirts. >> reporter: good morning. yes, this soldier was the first on the scene. the rapid response team that went to investigate and potentially help those soldiers in distress. he describes an extraordinary scene as he arrived with american and nigerien soldiers, he said back-to-back. ready to fight to the death. he said he was really amazed by the level of bravery of those surviving soldiers. he said he was surprised having come across the same patrol the day before as they passed by his

area of operations saying he believed they had pretty light cover, were wearing t-shirts and ba baseball caps and they knew they were going into what he believes was a dangerous zone. we shouldn't read too much into that because often the americans have operated in these areas with the assumption they won't kunl across contact. but speaking to nigerians in the capital and that source, we know there have been multiple attacks in that border region against nigerien soldiers just this year. it does lead to questions as to whether they were adequately supplied and prepared for what unfolded, which was in deadly attack that left four american soldiers dead and five nigerien counter parts also deceased. >> still a lot of questions. overnight, u.s. defense

secretary james mattis visiting the demilitarized zone that divides north and south korea. mattis's trip coming ahead of president trump's visit to asia next week. paula, what comes to mind is we're seeing the defense secretary visit south korea today. this is after earlier this week a senior north korean official issued that stern warning saying that the world should take literally north korea's threat to test a nuclear weapon above ground. >>reporter: that's right. certainly, it's interesting timi timing. the timing format tis, the secretary of defense, is because of his annual defense talk they have with the south koreans to cement the alliance.

that happens on saturday. we'll have a press conference there. what happened today is he did go to the heavily fortified border. as he was standing there, he asked the south korean defense minister, looking across into north korea how many artillery units do you think they have there. he was sur rorounded by cameras. he said that in my opinion, defensive operation against this many is unfeasible. saying there had to be new concepts thought of. mattis replied to that understood. very interesting he is asking effectively would military action work and the defense minister is saying there are quite simply too many units pointing towards south korea at this point. he did mention the secretary of state rex tillerson almost quoting him saying the goal is not war. it is the denuclearize of the peninsula, once again siding

with tillerson saying diplomacy is the most important. >> these words coming before president trump visiting the region. thanks very much. what a crucial visit that will be for the president of the united states. ahead a rescue at sea. five months in the making, two women overjoyed after being tracked down. how they were found, how they survived at sea since may. answers, next. ah, dinner.

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of race relations coming two days after the naapc issued an advisor. ceo douglas parker says american prides itself on inclusiveness. saying unconscious bias are enormous bias. we would never suggest we have it all figured out either. he hopes to meet with members of the naacp. >> here's an amazing story. two women rescued after being stranded at sea for five months. the you can see the coast guard rushing towards them. one of the women sees the rescue boat. she's blowing kisses, stretching out her arms. how excited would you be? i would be so excited, give me a shower. fortunately they were both saved

along with their dog. the women set sale this spring but the boat's engine died in may and on tuesday a taiwan fishing vessel found them and the crew immediately alerted officials. luckily the women prepared for a long trip with more than a year's worth of food on board. >> what a remarkable story they have to tell. okay. getting his team to one game of the world series apparently not enough for yankees skipper joe girardi to keep his job. revealing with a heavy party that the yankees decided no the to bring him back. in his ten years as yankees manager he won more than 900 frames including the 2009 world series. he won't be out of work long unless he wants to be. meantime, the 2017 world series resumes tonight with game 3 in houston. dodgers and astros tied a game a

piece and jj watt expected to throw out the ceremonial pitch. he's raised over $30 million for hurricane relief. he's out for the rest of the football season. >> you obviously follow sports. did you see girardi's departure coming? zplo no i thought they'd keep him around. the if he wants a job. he'll get a job. maybe he wants time off. >> did president trump help clear the way for an fbi informant to testify as payback against hillary clinton? >> and thousands of documents with long-held secrets about the kennedy assassination. did lee harvey oswald have a cia connection? wild cliff-hanger. next. ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too.

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. the veil is lifted on long held secrets about the jfk assassination. mob hits on castro, amazing cliff-hanger. >> an fbi informant can now testify about russian attempts to gain influence in the u.s. but did president trump push that through for political payback on hillary clinton? welcome back and good morning. i'm alice s. >> i'm dave briggs. what an intriguing story. >> it reads like a movie script. plenty of intrigue following the release of the files. was lee harvey oswald acting as an agent of the cia. that remaining unanswered this morning. the white house did release over 2800 records roughly 300 others were kept classified because of

national security concerns. >> first the cia director suddenly cut short just before answering a critical question and records from a 1975 deposition, richard helms was asked whether there was information involved with the ass nation of president kennedy which in any way shows that lee harvey oswald was in some way an agent? the document ends suddenly without the rest of the response. >> also in the documents, a 1975 report on the cia's role in foreign assassination. robert kennedy telling the fbi that he learned -- the mobster was offered $150,000 to go into cuba and kill if tid dfidel cas. >> there's an fbi memo from the

new orleans field office three months before the jfk assassination. it describes monitoring the fair play for cuba committee and says the group's activities dropped off considerably after the departure of member lee harvey oswald. >> also the fbi received a telephone threat on oswald as life the day before he was murdered. fbi director j edgar hoover confirming the call was from a man talking in a calm voice saying he was a member of a committee to kill oswald. hoover also on record saying oswald's killer, jack ruby denied making that call. >> also a cuban officer claiming to know oswald. he was intercepted speaking to a kgb officer in broken russian. >> a senior administration official say last minute request resulted in what they call a

messy process leading up to the release of the kennedy files. the white house did not receive all of the requests until yesterday that left aides scrambli scrambling. >> one official says he was unhappy with the level of redactions. so we could get more information in h six months. including the potential answer to that cliff-hanger about whether oswald was in fact a cia agent. elsewhere, some serious new ethical questions facing the president and justice department this morning after it emerged the president personally influenced the decision to lift the gag order on an under cover informant. all this circling back to who else? hillary clinton. the informant played a critical role in the uranium industry while clinton was secretary of state. >> last week, senate judiciary

chairman called on them to lift the gag order. so that justice department can do so. but there are rules limiting white house involvement in criminal law enforcement matters like this one. >> the informant's lawyer confirming the fbi cleared her client to speak about moscow's effort to gain influence with the clintons. the question now did president trump improperly exert his influence to punish hillary clinton and change the subject. >>reporter: allison and dave, sources tell cnn that president trump made it clear he wanted to lift the gag order against an undercover informant who played a critical role in h an fbi investigation into russian efforts to gain influence in the u.s. uranium industry. that was during the obama administration when hillary clinton was secretary of state. the president directed his senior staff, we're told, to

quote, facilitate the justice department's full cooperation in lifting the order. and sources are telling us that the white house counsel don mcgahn then relayed that message to the justice department. of course the president has been interested in this story for some time, and the other day he called it one the biggest stories since watergate. his staff says he wanted to lift the gag order because he wants to be transparent. but there's a political backdrop here. this story has been going around for a long time. the story is that the russians paid what amounted to bribes in h the eyes of some to the clinton foundation to garner good will from secretary clinton to get this uranium deal done. clinton, of course, has said she had absolutely nothing to do with the decision. that she knows nothing about this. but this is a story the president keeps talking about. and this new testimony from this informant will certainly keep

the story going. okay. thanks very much. a source tells cnn the president has expressed consistent frustration with the fbi and justice department for dragging their heels on the russian uranium case and other matters. the white house lreferring all questions about that to the justice department. the justice department refusing to comment. has the ranking member of the house intelligence committee threatening to launch yet another investigation. congressman schiff tweeting if president personally intervened, it's beyond disturbing. the i intend to pursue a new probe. after a long delay and growing bipartisan scrutiny, the state department has finally issued a guidance on a new round of sanctions against russian. it was due almost four weeks ago. lawmakers from both parties have been questioning why the trump administration missed the

deadline and whether the delay reflected reluctance by the white house to implement the sanctions. >> democratic senator of million and arizona issuing a statement calling the move a step in the right direction toward holding russia accountable. but there are questions around concerns about the state departments -- shutting down the agency's ability to implement any sanctions. big news. cbs may by aetna for $66 million. both companies declining to comment. but if this merger, if it's approved, it would literally reshape the health care industry. cvs owns -- cvs was likely spurred to do this because of amazon.

a lot of talk getting licenses across the country. and it broke reports yesterday that amazon received pharmacy licenses in several states with aetna and cvs gained a huge number for its business. the merger would be a boon nor aetna as well. critical for insurers. aetna lost $900 million since 2014. it will exit the exchanges completely next year, one reason we're seeing obamacare rating spiking. another reason, there's got to be this offset of president trump cutting off these cost sharing subsidies. consumers can check out next year's prices and silver premiums rising an average of 34%. you see because it's all because

of amazon having this world takeover. >> i'd like to figure out what in means for the consumer. not a question we can answer right now. but the bargaining power this new conglomerate will have, what does that mean for prices for the consumer? >> that's a big question, and amazon's really in the mix doing that because right now you're seeing amazon getting in there and getting those prices down. >> getting them down. you wonder if this, though, will counter act that. we can talk about this for the next couple of hours. exclusive cnn reporting ahead on the niger ambush, one of the first soldiers on the seen says when he saw the unit the day before it didn't have enough protection in a high risk area. live on the ground in niger next on "early start." pain used to shut me down during pick-up games.

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we're getting new first hand accounts of the deadly ambush that killed four american soldiers in niger earlier this month. nigerien soldier spoke exclusively to cnn. >> the soldier says they were ready to fight until the end. that same soldier also saw the green beret unit the day before, and was surprised by what he saw. let's get more now to niger and bring in cnn's david mckenzie. we're getting some answers but a lot of questions as well. >>reporter: that's right. good morning. this is coming from a nigerien soldier who wanted to remain anonymous and giving striking details of what happened in the after math of the ambush. he was sent to the scene to try and support what was going on. and he said on the scene, he found american and nigerien soldiers back-to-back ready to fight to the death.

really lauding their bravery and given what the soldiers told them about the scale of in a attack, it's incredible in a way that there weren't more casualties. he said there were several trucks on the scene, suv's by these isis-linked militants that were supported by multiple mete motorcycle riders attacking. i did say the day before he came across the same patrol and remarked it was surprising, he said, that they seemed lightly supported and without major air cover. also mentioning they were just beari wearing baseball caps and t-shirts. we shouldn't read too much into that detail but does raise questions of preparedness. there had been multiple attacks against the soldiers in that

zone just this year. >> it is amazing to get those details from someone on the ground. there are still so many questions open. thank you. over night. u.s. defense secretary james mattis visiting the demilitarize the zone that divides north and south korea saying the goal is a complete deknnuclearize not war >>reporter: good morning. standing at the dmz he did once again say the u.s. does not want war. he was effectively quoting the u.s. secretary of the state saying the goal is not war. it's the complete ir reversible of denuclearize. one interesting thing that happened there, as he was

looking across, looking into north korea, he did ask his south korean counterpart, how many artillery units do you thinking are over there. to that he said that in my opinion, a defensive operation against this many is unfeasible. saying, that it's just not possible to defend completely against the sheer number of artillery units that are facing south korea. so once again, pointing out that a military option would be catastrophic to south korea. mattis talking to the troops saying the diplomatic is most important but needs to be backed up by a strong military. >> all ahead of a pivotal trip to the region by president trump. thanks so much. a moment of levity. courtesy. rex tillerson. secretary of state in geneva when he spotted a sul p tour of two people huddled in the shape of a ball while touring a local

park. rex seemed to relate. >> it's some days i feel like i need to do that. curl up in a ball. >> oh, twitter remarked, we all all rex tillerson. secretary wrapping up a trip that included stops in -- defeating terrorism. rex some days just wants to curl up in h a ball. >> see, he is human. >> it's nice to see a little relatable moment. >> absolutely. wal-mart is bringing something new to its stores. robots. what does it mean for workers? details on cnn "money" stream next. (male #1) it's a little something

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. political journalist facing career fallout in a new sexual allegations. penguin press suspending publication. show time has re-evaluating its relationship with hall perin. until questions about his past conduct are kboet fully understood. >> cnn has reported five women claim he sexually harassed them while he was political director at abc news. another woman has now gone on record describing an incident in his office in the 1990's. a spokesman for him has declined further comments. he has issued a statement

apologizing for his quote inappropriate behavior. two women stranded at sea back on land this morning. you can see the koes guard rushing towards jennifer appel and tasha feiava. fortunately they were both saved along with their dog. turns out they set sail this spring from honolulu to tahiti. an tuesday a fishing vessel found them and immediately alerted officials. luckily they prepared to are a long trip with more than a year as worth of food. >> i like how the cameras are. >> the feeling with no engine and darkness for miles. >> winter storm warnings for the midwest and a nor east erin the

forecast. >> good morning. our first accumulating snowfall in the midwest. it's not even halloween yet. talking winter storm warnings across northern minnesota. how much snowfall? anywhere from four to as much as half a foot. the snow is already falling. part of the storm system that will continue pushing east. on the backside, as you can imagine, big time cold. solde . a wet system for the northeast, it's going to be a wet one. not talking snow for the northeast, just looking at rainfall and a lot of it. continuing sunday into the early part of next week. accompanied with some gusty winds anywhere from 30 to 40 miles per hour.

that snow flying now for the first time significantly across the midwest. >> okay. thanks very much. let's get a check on cnn "money" stream this morning. look right there global markets' higher after tech giants. alphabet, microsoft and amazon reporting strong results. u.s. stocks ended the day mostly higher off of some good corporate report cards. today is the last day of the busiest week of the earning system. uper uber adding multiple stops. it lets users add up to three stops per trip. before they had to change their destination mid trip costing more overall. only the latest version of the app will have the new feature. make sure you download it. this holiday season could be the best for retailers in years, that's according to a new poll.

americans plan to spend an extra $906 on gifts this year. more than a third planning to spend at lest $1,000. more and more of that money is going on line. it's causing problems for brick and mortar stores across the board. in fact 2017 just set the all-time record for store closing. wal-mart is doing well, adding robots. shelf scanning robots. they move up and down the aisles looking for out of stock items and mislabelled items. they flag the issues. the company has been testing them for the past three years. it will now expand that test to 50 stores. still, the company has been careful to pitch them as helping staff, not replacing them. hmm. but many stores are cutting jobs as we see amazon cutting into

the foot traffic. automation could bring further job loss. i still like the contact with the sails perslesperson. >> its eamazing every business store seems to have an amazon element. "early start" continues right now with the intriguing revelations about the jfk assassination. what we've learned an what we have not. every bit as intriguing. -- captions by vitac -- >> the veil lifted on long secrets. lee harvey oswald an agent of the cia. >> an fbi informant can now tef about russian attempts to gain influence in the u.s. but it president trump push that through for political payback on hillary clinton? good morning and welcome to "early start." i'm aldisson sitting in for christine romans.

>> dave briggs. still trying to get through the dongs.s. blen plenty of intrigue lee harvey oswald acting as an agent of the cia? that remains unanswered. the white house did release over 2800 records, roughly 300 others kept classified because of national security concerns. more on that in a moment. first some high lights like the cia director suddenly cut soft before answering a critical question. in records from a 1974 deposition. richard helms was asked whether there was any information involved with the assassination of president kennedy which in any way shows that lee harvey oswald was no some way a cia agent or an agent. the document ends suddenly there

with t