right? especially today where change can happen, and change is real. >> congrats on the series. >> thank you, man, i appreciate that. another health care push from the republicans. the optimism and skepticism appears about equal. are republicans pushing too hard to give trump a win before the 100-day mark? and they meet again. the same judge who donald trump assailed over his mexican heritage last year will hear a case involving the president's immigration policies. will the white house respond? good morning and welcome to "early start." >> and that judge, of course, from indiana. more on that later. it's friday, april 21st.

have you heard this before, republicans insisting they are nearing a breakthrough on a bill to repeal and replace obamacare. but the devil, as always, in the details. and getting enough republicans on the same page remains the big challenge, especially since most house members haven't seen any reworked bill yet. the leader of the conservative freedom caucus, mark meadows, and tom mcarthur, have been working on a compromise agreement that they believe will deliver 18 to 20 new "yes" votes from republicans. >> but a republican house member, familiar with the talks, tells cnn, he's skeptical the freedom caucus can actually deliver those votes. president trump surrounding hopeful the third time around will be the charm for the health care reform bill. >> the plan gets better and better and better, and it's gotten really, really good. and a lot of people are liking it a lot. we have a good chance of getting it soon. i'd like to say next week, but it will be, i believe we will

get it and whether it's next week or shortly thereafter. >> many are questioning why the gop would attempt to repeal and replace obamacare again just weeks after flaming out on the issu issue. no comment from the white house after it was announced gonzalo curiel will hear the case of a man who was illegally deported to mexico. he's the same judge who was attacked last year by then candidate trump for his handling of the trump university lawsuit case. mr. trump claimed curiel could not be impartial because of his mexican heritage. the lawsuit was ultimately settled. >> curiel, who was chosen randomly, will preside over the case of 23-year-old dreamer juan manuel montes who claims he was protected under daca. montes tried to sneak back into the u.s. on february 19th, and

was caught by border patrol agents. his lawyers claim he was improperly deported one day earlier. homeland security officials dispute that, insisting montes left the country without preauthorization and therefore voided his status. u.s. authorities are seeking the arrest of julian assange. cnn has learned the justice department has already prepared charges after investigating the wikileaks founder for years. but how will u.s. prosecutors pursue their case with assange still holed up overseas? here now is cnn justice correspondent pamela brown. >> good morning, alison and dave. u.s. authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of wikileaks founder julian assange. the justice department probe of assange and wikileaks dates back to at least 2010 when the site first gained attention for posting thousands of files stolen by the former u.s. intelligence army analyst known as chelsea manning.

prosecutors have struggled with whether the first amendment precluded the prosecution of assange. but now they believe they have found a way to move forward. during president obama's administration, attorney general eric holder and officials at the justice department determined that it would be difficult to bring charges against assange because wikileaks wasn't alone in publishing documents stolen by manning. several newspapers, including "the new york times" did as well. but the view began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that wikileaks played an active role in helping edward snowden, the former nsa analyst disclose a massive cache of classified documents. wikileaks has long defended itself as publishing in the public interest and compares itself to media organizations. we know he's sitting in the ecuadorian embassy in london and it's unlikely that the u.s. can get him anytime soon, so it's largely viewed as sending a

political message. back to you. >> thank you, pam. attorney general jeff sessions calls the arrest of assange a priority. u.s. officials were hoping a new regime in ecuador would expel the wikileaks co-founder, but ecuador's new president has promised to continue to harbor assange. meantime, there's pushback about the president's travel ban. he expressed shock that a judge in hawaii could block president trump's executive order. judge watson wanted to block the second version of the ban. listen to what the nation's top prosecutor told conservative talk show host mark levin. >> i really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the united states from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power. >> the justice department says

sessions only meant there's a problem when a flawed opinion by a single judge can block the president, adding, for the record, quote, hawaii is, in fact an island in the pacific. thank you for the clarification. hawaii's democratic senator brian schatz not amused, tweeting, you voted for that judge and that island is called hawaii, it's my home, have some respect. president trump will it will visit the treasury department, and sign orders targeting dodd/frank. he'll direct steve mnuchin to review regulator's authority on banks in trouble. he'll also ask a label insuraso firms as risky and look for regulations that are too complex for taxpayers. deregulation is one of the big hopes for wall street and one of the reason we've seen stocks

climb since trump was elected. and the treasury secretary is giving reassurance to investors. mnuchin said this, whether health care gets done or health care doesn't get done, we're gonna get tax reform done. we hope that this won't take until the end of the year, it will be soon, very soon. mnuchin says it will cut taxes for both individuals and businesses. and that is certainly an ambitious goal there. >> that was big news. because steve moore, steve written an op-ed saying, mr. all president, let's get tax reform done, you don't need health care to get it done, get something to spur the economy. >> easier said than done. >> no doubt, very difficult ask. meanwhile, in confrontation with ann coulter, cal berkeley blinked. reversing their decision to cancel a speech by coulter because of protest concerns. they set a new venue and date

for her appearance. coulter rejecting the new invite and blasting the school for putting unreasonable restrictions on the event. she plans to speak at berky on april 27th, whether the university approves it or not. breaking details from paris this morning, on the gunman who left a policeman dead in a terror attack, days before national elections. we are live in france when we come back.

breaking overnight, a second suspect in connection with thursday's deadly shooting in paris, surrendering to belgian authorities and there are new details about the gunman who shot and killed a police officer on the champs-elysee. authorities say the attacker who was killed by police was well known for his radical islamic activities. now isis is claiming him as one of their own as the french prepare to head to the polls for the first round of presidential elections. let's go live to paris and get the very latest from cnn's

good morning, melissa. so it's interesting that isis went ahead and claimed responsibility soon after this attack. >> reporter: remarkably quickly afterwards actually. what we've seen over the course of the last few weeks, when you've had these kinds of attacks, and there have been several where individuals have targeted specifically security forces, be they the soldiers patrolling the streets of france as a result of its state of emergency, or the police men and women, that is what happened here last night. the difference this time is that very quickly, within about three hours of the attack, isis claimed responsibility, speaking specifically of a soldier of the caliphate, which suggests a greater degree of coordination perhaps than we'd seen previously when the suspects had seen more isis-inspired, than isis-controlled. that's one thing. one of the surprising things or questions that surrounded that isis statement is that it had referred to a man as abu yousef,

the belgian. so as this investigation has progressed and sources tell us clearly now the man who was killed here after attacking security forces last night, the attacker himself was a french national, who was known to authorities, who'd already spent time in jail for shooting police officers back in 2001, and who was known to french authorities on their radar screen, known to be increasingly radicalized. what then was the connection with this belgian? we've just had what appears to be the answer to that, since french authorities, france's interior ministry has now confirmed that a second suspect was now being looked for and that man has handed himself in to belgian authorities. >> and french voters will be heading to the polls for the presidential elections. how do you think this event could affect how they vote? and it's a very controversial election. >> reporter: you know, alison, it was already looking incredibly uncertain, full of controversy, as you suggest. there are huge numbers of undecided french voters,

historically high numbers of french undecided voters, even at this late stage. the timing of this attack, just three days before the first round of voting in this very tense, very tight, very unpribl election is almost certain to play into the narrative of one candidate in particular, and that's the far right's marine le pen. she's really made law and order dealing with islamists, one of the central planks of her platform. had this feeds into that and so certainly the emotion this will have given rise to throughout the country is likely to play into her hands. we really have just a couple days to go before voting begins. >> so it's not just economic issues pushing voters to the polls but security issues as well. melissa bell, thanks so much. china's air force on high alert, cruise missile capable bombers preparing to respond to any provocation from north korea. a u.s. defense official telling cnn, an extraordinary number of

chinese military aircraft are now being readied for combat. president trump expressing confidence that china is working very hard to rein in kim jong-un. cnn's david mckenzie tracking the latest developments live for us from beijing. david, good morning to you. these comments from pentagon officials to cnn. any comment from chinese officials? >> reporter: good morning, dave. not surprisingly at all, both the ministry of foreign affairs not having any comment that says that chinese planes, bombsers are on high alert, bombers that can unload cruise missiles in the chinese theater and elsewhere, that's not surprising at all. they very rarely comment on military matters to the press or to anyone else publicly. but you saw the statements from president trump saying that china is applying the pressure on north korea, diplomatically and through trade.

there's an unusual turn here from the days of president obama that you get such outright praise from a u.s. president of the chinese, and it's definitely a 180-degree turn from what trump was saying weeks past. the chinese have put stricter measures on stopping coal imports from north korea and really pushing those u.n. sanctions. but many here feel that china won't do everything they can to collapse that pyongyang regime, because they feel that could strengthen the u.s. hand in the region. and that's something that china definitely doesn't want. dave? >> david, everything they could -- that presumably means oil. any speculation they would cut off oil from north korea? >> well, there have been hints that might be the next step should there be a nuclear test, which experts say could happen at any time. you know, the chinese and north korea have been allies for sometime, for many years, in fact. and in the past, that relationship was stronger, more

direct, but now you've had kim jong-un really ignoring the pleas from china and chinese leadership to stop the nuclear program. it would be a slap in the face if he were to go ahead with that nuclear test and that could be the next option, to cut off or at least curtail some of the oil going into north korea. and that would really hurt both the military and the government operations in north korea. china will have to see if it wants to take that step. >> good stuff there from david mckenzie live in beijing. thank you. an american charity worker locked up in egypt for three years, is back on u.s. soil, and "the washington post" is reporting the trump administration worked quietly with president abdel fattah assisi to free the 30-year-old, who was cleared on any wrongdoing on sunday. the obama administration had previously pressed for the release, but it wasn't until mr. trump met with president el sisi earlier this month that things turned around.

mr. trump praised el sisi's leadership and offered the u.s. government's backing. "the post" she and her brother will head to the white house to meet with mr. trump. it's going from bad to worse in venezuela. anti-government protests getting increasingly violent, even a maternity hospital coming under attack. we are live from caracas. we danced in a german dance group. i wore lederhosen.man. when i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasn't finding all of these germans in my tree. i decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. the big surprise was we're not german at all. 52% of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. so, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. get started for free at ancestry.com.

it's time for you and your boys to get out of town.

(laughing) left foot. right foot. left foot. stop. twitch your eyes so they think you're crazy. if you walk the walk you talk the talk. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance you switch to geico. hide the eyes. it's what you do. show 'em real slow.

the turmoil in venezuela spiraling out of control this morning. opposition groups to president

nicolas maduro, planning to follow thursday's mass demonstrations with more sit-ins and marches. they blame him for a staggering economic crisis and now the government is blaming the opposition for hiring armed bands to attack a women's and children's hospital. we're joined live from caracas with the latest. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, dave. yes, you're right, the situation here is getting tenser and tenser. really don't have the feeling of anything stopping anytime soon. as you say, dave, the foreign minister rodriguez tweeted and denounc denounced that the opposition hired bands attacked a children's and women's hospital in a very popular neighborhood in caracas. this is yet another sign of a crisis that doesn't want to turn down, doesn't feel like it's going to turn down, and it's now spreading.

t in middle class neighborhoods and more popular areas. so it will be interesting to see how today and tomorrow's marches that have been announced already will play out, and if the situation can get to a breakthrough. >> keep us to date, stefano. dire situation there in caracas, thank you. breaking overnight in germany, prosecutors arresting a suspect in a bomb attack on a soccer team earlier this month. the alleged attacker is said to be a 28-year-old german russian who may have carried out the bombing for gambling reasons. investigators now dismissing a possible islamic terror link to the bomb attack that injured one player. are republicans making a mistake with another health care push just weeks after flaming out on their first try? depends on who you ask. that's next. (male #1) it's a little something i've done every night since i was a kid, empty my pocket change into this old jar. it's never much, just what's left after i break a dollar. and i never thought i could get quality life insurance

with my spare change. neither did i. until i saw a commercial for the colonial penn program. imagine people our age getting life insurance at such an affordable rate. it's true. if you're 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance life insurance through the colonial penn program for less than 35 cents a day, just $9.95 a month. there's no medical exam and no health questions. you know, the average cost of a funeral is over $8,300. now that's a big burden to leave your loved ones. add to that credit card balances and final medical bills, and you've got plenty of reasons to call for free information about this valuable coverage. it's easy and affordable to help cover your final expenses through the colonial penn program. as long as you're 50 to 85 you cannot be turned down because of your health. your premium never goes up and your benefit never goes down due to age.

plus, your coverage builds cash value over time, money you can borrow against. so don't wait, call now for free information and a free gift. all i did was make a phone call and all of my questions about the colonial penn program were answered. it couldn't have been any easier and we both got the coverage we should have had for years now. mm-hm, with change to spare. (laughing) (colonial penn jingle)

can republicans actually get

a health care deal done in the next week? there is optimism, and there's skepticism in the party. are they trying to satisfy their base or are they actually bridging their internal gap? >> time will tell. and in one of the crazier coincidences you'll ever see, a federal judge attacked by donald trump over his mexican heritage will now hear a case involving the president's policy on mexico. will the white house weigh in? welcome back to "early start," i'm dave briggs. >> i'm alison kosik. and yes we've heard this before, republicans insisting they're getting close to a breakthrough on a bill to repeal and replace obamacare. but the devil, always in the details. getting enough republicans on the same page remains the big challenge, especially since most house members haven't even seen the reworked bill. the leader of the conservative freedom caucus, mark meadows, and the head of the more moderate tuesday group, tom mcarthur, have been working on a

compromise agreement that they believe will deliver 18 to 20 new "yes" votes from republicans. >> but a republican house member familiar with the talks tells cnn they are skeptical the freedom caucus can deliver those votes. president trump sounding hopeful the third time around will be the charm for health care reform. >> the plan gets better and better and better and it's gotten really, really good. and a lot of people are liking it a lot. we have a good chance of getting it soon. i'd like to say next week, but it will be -- i believe we will get it, and whether it's next week soor shortly thereafter. >> many questioning why the gop would attempt to repolice and replace obamacare just weeks after the flaming out on the issue, much of the disagreement centered on whether to gut protections for those with pre-existing conditions. no comment from the white house after it found out judge curiel will hear a case

regarding mexico. if his name sounds familiar, it's the same judge that trump attacked for his handling of the trump university case. mr. trump claimed he could not be impartial because of his mexican heritage. mind you, he's from indiana. the lawsuit was settled. now, curiel, who was chosen randomly will preside over the case of juan manuel montes, despite claiming he was protected under daca. montes tried to sneak back into the u.s. on february 19th and he was caught by border patrol agents. his lawyers claim he was improperly deported one day earlier, but homeland security officials dispute that, insisting montes left the country without pre-authorization, therefore voiding his status. u.s. authorities are seeking the arrest of julian assange.

the justice department has already prepared charges after investigating the wikileaks founder for years, but how will u.s. prosecutors pursue their case with assange still holed up overseas. here's cnn justice correspondent pamela brown. >> well, good morning, alison and dave. we have learned from u.s. authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of wikileaks founder julian assange. the justice department probe of assange and wikileaks, dates back to 2010 when they first published thousands of files stolen by the former intelligence analyst known as chelsea manning. prosecutors have struggled with whether the first amendment precluded the prosecution of assange, but now they believe they have found a way to move forward. during president obama's administration, attorney general eric holder and officials at the justice department determined it would be difficult to bring charges against assange because wikileaks wasn't alone in publishing documents stolen by

manning. several newspapers did as well. the u.s. view of wikileaks and assange began to change after investigators found what they believe was proof that wikileaks played a role in helping edward snowden, the former nsa analyst, disclose a massive cache of classified documents. wikileaks compares itself to media organization. assange is sitting in the ecuadorian embassy in london and it's unlikely that the u.s. can get him anytime soon. so this is viewed largely within the department of justice as sending a political message. back to you, david and alison. >> pamela brown, thanks so much. attorney general jeff sessions calls the arrest of assange a priority. u.s. officials were hoping a new regime in ecuador would expel the wikileaks founder, so he could be prosecuted, but ecuador's new president has promised to continue harboring assange. meantime, officials in hawaii are pushing back on the attorney general for a comment

about one of the judges who put a hold on the president's travel ban. earlier this week, mr. sessions expressed shock that a judge in hawaii could block president trump's executive order. judge derek watson was one of several judges to block the second version of the ban. listen to what he told conservative talk show host mark levin. >> i really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the united states from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power. >> now, the justice department says sessions only meant there was a problem when a flawed opinion by a single judge can block the president, adding, for the record, quote, hawaii is, in fact, an island in the pacific. hawaii's democratic senator, not amused. tweeting, mr. attorney general, you voted for that judge and that island is called oahu, it's

my home, have some respect. president trump will visit the treasury department later today and there he will sign executive orders aimed at targeting the dodd/frank financial reform law. he'll redirect steve mnuchin to review regulator's authority on banks in trouble and also ask him to label some financial companies as risky. and he will direct man uch ipin to review tax regulations from last year. ahead of that meeting, the treasury secretary is giving reassurance about tax reform. at an event thursday, mnuchin said this. whether health care gets done or health care doesn't get done, we're gonna get tax reform done. we hope this won't take until the end of the year. it will be soon, very soon. oh, yes, wall street was happy to hear those words. the dow zoomed 174 points higher right after the comments. and holding on to the gains through the closing bell. the average is now positive for the week, recovering from two

days of 100-point losses. futures, we are seeing them in the green this morning. that was music to wall street ears. >> you're right, sometimes we're in a bubble in the new york area, but all i hear from business leaders and those on wall street is just give us tax reform, that's what we're optimistic for, that's why we support supported you. >> that's why we saw the market go up. and cal-berkeley blinked first, reversing its decision to cancel a speech by ann coulter because of protest concerns. they set a new venue and date for her appearance, coulter is rejecting the invite and blasting the school. she plans to speak at berkeley on the originally planned date, april 27th, whether the university approves it or not. breaking news from paris this morning. new details about the gunman who opened fire on police just days before the french go to the polls in a critical election, and this may have some impact on

that election. we're live in paris. pain used to shut me down during pick-up games. but with odor free blue-emu continuous pain relief spray, i can box out any muscle or joint pain immediately. blue-emu continuous pain relief spray, it works fast and you won't stink.

breaking rover night, a second suspect in connection with the deadly shooting in paris, surrendering to belgian authorities. there are new details about the gunman who shot and killed the policeman on the champs-elysee. authorities say he was well known for his radical islamist activities, all this as the french prepare to head to the polls for the first round of presidential elections. one of the candidates with some stunning comments this morning. let's go live to paris and get the very latest from cnn's melissa bell. good morning to you, melissa. what are we learning this morning? >> reporter: much clearer picture has been emerging over the last couple of hours as a result of what we've been hearing from france's interior

ministry. first of all, the fact that the man who was killed here last night after attacking -- [ inaudible ] >> clearly some difficulties with our live shot there. we'll check back with melissa bell on the very latest. we do have melissa bell, our connection is back. melissa, continue, please, on what you have learned new today. >> reporter: this man, who was killed here last night, who had taken on the police, we know from sources he was a french national, that he was known for his radicalization and that before that, he'd spent time in jail, specifically for attacking the police as well. he'd already tried to shoot police officers back in 2001. so he was a known quantity. we're going to learn more about him over the course of the day, but one of the big questions overnight has been, what is the link with belgium? because one of the surprising things about this attack was the speed with which isis came out with a claim of responsibility. a claim of responsibility that within a couple of hours of the attack taking place here at

about 9:00 p.m. local time, a couple of hours later, that very clear statement, saying that a soldier of the caliphate had been responsible, and naming him as abu yousef, the belgian. what was the link of the man killed here, and to be a french national with belgium. the interior ministry confirms they were warned to look for a second suspect and a search warrant was transmitted and that a belgian national has handed himself into belgian authorities. so a clearer idea of the fact that there were possibly two people involved in this attack and a clearer idea as well of the link that may have existed with the attacker himself and the man mentioned in that isis claim of responsibility, as having links with belgium. >> so this, melissa, just days before they head to the elections, head to the polls for the presidential election. any impact on those elections?

>> reporter: that is the big question. this was already an incredibly unpredictable campaign with the specter of the far right clearly looming over it. the mar right's marine le pen has wasted no time in seizing on this issue and in particular on the fact that that man was known to authorities for his radicalization. she has been saying for several days now that she believes that all those who on the official list of surveillance, some 10,500 people who are being actively watched by authorities, she wouldn't simply round them up and put them in jail, she would actually throw them out of the country. she's repeated that this morning, and she's just been speaking live on french television, using, even by her own standard, very inflammatory language. this attack plays into her view that law and order and fighting terrorism needs to be more effective than previous governments. and what she's saying, this was

the champs-elysee, highly symbolic, we are being attacked in our own homes by the terrorists and we need to take the fight to them and be much stronger in our response against radical islam. clearly it's something we're also going to hear addressed by the other candidates in this race, in particular, the man who is the main challenger to her, according to the polls, the centrist, emmanuel macron. how is this all going to play out? we'll get a sense that 8:00 p.m. local time here in paris on sunday night. >> a lot of uncertainty. melissa bell, great reporting, thank you. china's air force on high alert. cruise missile-capable bombers preparing to respond to any provocation from north korea. a u.s. defense official telling cnn an extraordinary number of chinese military aircraft are now being readied for combat. president trump expressing confidence that china is working

very hard to rein in kim jong-un. cnn's david mckenzie tracking the latest developments live from beijing. good evening to you. obviously the rhetoric from north korea, the rhetoric from the u.s., very bold. but anything specific that you're hearing causing the chinese to have this escalation? >> reporter: well, very little. good morning. the chinese don't usually talk about military matters to the press or anyone else frankly publicly. and they haven't today. they've not commented from the foreign ministry, they haven't commented from the defense ministry. though this reporting is intriguing of the u.s. official saying these chinese bombers are on high alert. now, it being be that they're readying for exercises that could have nothing to do with the increased tension on the north korean peninsula, on the korean peninsula. but that official is saying, it could be to be ready should the situation quickly escalate. we saw extraordinary comments from president trump, a real

departure from past relationships with xi jinping, the president of china, really saying that china is doing a good job at this stage, pressuring north korea to halt its nuclear program. at least one expert i spoke to here in china said that that might not last, should they pull the trigger on a nuclear test. they say that president trump might be setting china up for a fall so that he could blame china if they don't make any progress in ending this nuclear program. china's in a tough spot here, it wants to pressurize north korea in stopping the nuclear program. they don't want a north korea with nukes. but they don't want to push too hard, because if the regime collapses, that's a really bad deal for china, because it could put u.s. troops right on their doorstep. >> very difficult situation. cnn's david mckenzie live for us from beijing. thank you very much. >> see what the chinese can do about that north korea oil. meanwhile, an american

charity worker locked up in egypt for three years is back on u.s. soil. the trump administration worked quietly to free the 30-year-old. the obama administration had previously pressed for the release but it wasn't until mr. trump met with president el sisi earlier this month that things turned around. mr. trump praised el sisi's leadership and offered the u.s. government. she and her brother will head to the white house to meet with mr. trump today. you can expect a victory lap for the president on that one. >> that's an issue that's been hanging around for a while, absolutely. verizon experiencing a drop in customers for the first time ever? and part of the reason is what this guy is doing over at t-mobile. we're going to show you his reaction to verizon's results, when we get a check on cnn money stream, next.

♪ approaching medicare eligibility? you may think you can put off checking out your medicare options until you're sixty-five, but now is a good time to get the ball rolling. keep in mind, medicare only covers about eighty percent of part b medical costs. the rest is up to you. that's where aarp medicare supplement insurance plans insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company come in. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans,

they could help pay some of what medicare doesn't, saving you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you've learned that taking informed steps along the way really makes a difference later. that's what it means to go long™. call now and request this free decision guide. it's full of information on medicare and the range of aarp medicare supplement plans to choose from based on your needs and budget. all plans like these let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients, and there are no network restrictions. unitedhealthcare insurance company has over thirty years experience and the commitment to roll along with you, keeping you on course. so call now and discover how an aarp medicare supplement plan could go long™ for you. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an organization serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. plus, nine out of ten plan members surveyed

say they would recommend their plan to a friend. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. the rest is up to you. call now, request your free decision guide and start gathering the information you need to help you keep rolling with confidence. go long™. ♪

the turmoil in venezuela spiraling out of control as opposition groups to president nicolas maduro planning to follow thursday's mass demonstrations with more sit-ins and marches. they blame him for a staggering economic crisis and now the government is blaming the opposition for hiring armed bands to attack a women's and children's hospital. we're joined live from caracas with the very latest. good morning. >> good morning, dave, yes, you're right, the tension here doesn't seem like it's going to end anytime soon. as you say, dave, the foreign minister rodriguez tweeted and denounced that the opposition hired bands attacked a children's and women's hospital

in a very popular neighborhood in caracas. what we are seeing here, the protest is spreading out, not only just the small sectors of caracas, it's popular neighborhoods in the outskirts and other cities in venezuela as well. victims that we had in caracas and another one in a small city on the west end border. so it seems like the whole of venezuela is getting ready for three more days of actions, today, tomorrow and then of course monday. >> still too early to tell what friday will bring. we'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning. thank you. breaking overnight in germany, prosecutors arresting a suspect in the bomb attack on a soccer team that happened ear

earlier this month. the alleged attacker is said to be a 28-year-old german russian who may have carried out the bombing for gambling reasons. investigators now dismissing a possible islamic terror link to the bomb attack that injured one player. a tennessee teacher has been captured in a remote area of cecilville california. officers rescued a student, 15-year-old elizabeth thomas. cummins faces state and federal charges, including aggravated kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of having sex. it could be several weeks before he's extradited to tennessee. switching gears to weather, drought conditions in florida are getting worse. 80% of the state is now affected and no help for crews battling wildfires. let's get to derek van dam. good evening. >> good morning alison and dave. still nine fires burning across parts of florida. over 200 firefighters battling these blazes. of course we have an ongoing

drought taking place across the state. the central part of the state hit hardest, this is the national drought monitor, indicating about 34% of the state under severe drought conditions. unfortunately, no rain in sight today or tomorrow. maybe by the end of the weekend we'll get a passing shower as a weak frontal boundary starts to settle south. that same system is bringing the chance of severe weather today. this time we focus on oklahoma city, little rock, and into dallas, perhaps memphis. large hail, damaging winds and can't rule out the potential of an isolated tornado as well. in terms of temperatures, we have quite the roller coaster over the next seven days. check this out. we have daytime highs starting to cool down from what has been a rather warm period across the mid atlantic. so get out the sweaters, be prepared for a cold snap, and then we start to warm up by the mid next week. the seven-day forecast for new york city, temperatures really not staying much different than what we experienced today, although we do have a brief cooldown as we head into the day

on saturday. back to you. >> okay, derek, thank you very much. let's get a check on cnn money stream. dow futures ticking higher this morning. the s&p 500 is set to go higher as well. stock markets in europe are mixed, but there's a drop in paris ahead of the country's first round of elections this weekend. shares in asia closing mostly higher overnight. so it's been a wild past few days for the dow jones. last thursday, down 138 points. closed for good friday. after that, two straight losses and a big gain on thursday. before that, there were only 12 of those moves this year. verizon, losing wireless customers for the first time ever. a whopping 307,000 people left the carrier in the first quarter. and investors, they followed along. we watched the stock plunge at the open, but then claw back, finishing down 1%. that was happening as the broader market was posting solid

gains, though. the company's earnings, also missing estimates, thanks in part to lower oranverage fees. a big reason for the disappointing results, competition from sprint and especially t-mobile. they both appear to be taking their toll on verizon. in fact, t-mobile's ceo had a field day with this. he took the opportunity to bash verizon on twitter, something he does frequently, but he tweeted a direct message from the ceo about overage fees, saying this, stop gouging your customers and start doing more for them. get it? >> very funny. >> and what was the date? >> 4-20. >> i think that could have been it as well. >> well played, sir. "early start" continues right now. another health care push from the republicans, the optimism and skepticism appears about equal.

are republicans pushing too hard to give president trump a win before the 100 day mark? and they meet again, the same judge who donald trump assailed over his mexican heritage last year will hear a case involving the president's immigration policies. will the white house respond? good morning and thanks for getting an early start with us. >> good morning. it's 5:00 in the east. welcome to "early start." >> you're still alison kosik? >> i am. where have you heard this before? republicans insisting they're nearing a breakthrough on the bill to repeal and replace obamacare. but getting enough republicans on the same page, that's the big challenge. most house members haven't seen the reworked bill. mark meadows and the head of the more moderate tuesday group, tom mcarthur, have been working on a compromise agreement that they believe