good evening. the breaking news topping the hour, president obama's call for action over russia for its interference in the election. that and late evidence regarding the kremlin. and trump's concerns that it detracts from his victory. here's a portion of what president obama said to national public radio's steve insky. >> i think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action and we will, at a time and place of our own choosing.

>> that's president obama talking to npr. as we mentioned, we're learning more tonight about the evidence he may be basing his decisions on. jim sciutto joins us now once again. what are his options? >> he has an escalating ladder of options. it really starts with naming and shaming russia in private. and then in public. and we know that's already happened. obama confronted putin in china. this is last summer. then in october, a month before the election, you had the director of national intelligence, the department of homeland security come out in public and say, this is the belief of the u.s. intelligence community, with high confidence. and then you have, other more punitive options, one being economic sanctions. that's the tactic that the obama administration clearly likes. they used it against russia for its military action in ukraine. of course, they used it against iran for a number of years. and you could then escalate above that with real retaliatory cyberaction, everything from similar to what russia did, right, exposing embarrassing information, perhaps the finances of vladimir putin or people close to him, or

something even nor aggressive, which would be going after critical infrastructure in russia or showing russia that you can go after critical infrastructure. the problem with that, we know, i've had intelligence officials tell me that there is concern that russia has breached or has access to our critical infrastructure. if you take that step against russia, what does russia do in response? do you get into a vicious cycle? each of these options, in effect, has risks. >> and you have new reporting tonight that the hacking activity by russia is continuing? >> no question. in fact, it's continued and the way it's been described to us, it's been unabated since the election. attacking a number of political organizations, parties, individuals. there was an unsuccessful attempt to hack the dnc, the democratic party, once again. that one, at least, failed. but the view from the intelligence community is that they somewhat expected this, and that is because, from russia's perspective, whether they just wanted to disrupt the u.s.

election or perhaps help one candidate, donald trump included, whatever their intentions, they would look at it, it's a view of the u.s. ic, as a success. so they would keep doing it. and they didn't just have success here in the u.s. by that argument, they've had it in western europe, they've had it in eastern europe. this is a known tactic of russia and the u.s. expects them to continue down this path. >> jim, thanks very much. jim sciutto. more on how donald trump may see all of this. jim acosta has that side of the story. he joins us from trump tower. has donald trump responded to the russian hacking news? >> he really hasn't, anderson. he was at that rally tonight in hershey, pennsylvania. he didn't mention the russian hacking. he did go after white house press secretary, josh earnest, during his remarks. he said that josh earnest is somebody who can make good news sound bad. he said that if the u.s. were somehow to take out isis and josh earnest was delivering that news, that he wouldn't do a very effective job of doing it.

so it was a shot from the president-elect to the white house press secretary, for the current president. now, we should explain that earlier in the day, josh earnest, at the podium in the white house briefing went after donald trump and said, this is not the time to be going after the intelligence community. obviously, earlier today, donald trump put out that tweet, saying, why didn't the white house release this information back during the election before the election happened, instead of talking about it now, implying that it's all sour the grapes on the part of the white house. but, make no mistake, this is a new development, anderson, that is taking place before the president-elect and the president. and at one point during those remarks in hershey, pennsylvania, earlier this evening, he implied, trump implied that perhaps earnest was getting his marching orders from somebody else in the white house. didn't say president obama, but sort of hinted at it. >> just to be clear, to the point you made before, the current administration did announce its findings one month before the election, right?

>> reporter: that's right! back in october, the intelligence community put out its findings to the white house. the white house released that information. and it basically said that this hacking was likely authorized or the conclusion was that the hacking the was authorized by senior-most officials in the russian government. josh earnest was asked about this earlier today, because there was a report that putin knew about all of this, had a hand in all of this. and josh earnest said, well, didn't you guys see this report that we put out? this statement we put out back in october? josh earnest telling reporters in the white house briefing room that he didn't think that characterization that senior-most officials must have known about this was, in his words, particularly subtle. so the white house was really leaning into this very stout defense of the intelligence community's assessment that russia was behind this hack. and it is setting up this very new development, anderson, and i think we're going to have to keep an eye on it over the next several weeks, as we get ready

to see president-elect trump sworn into office. we might see more of a tit for tat shot going back and forth across the current white house and the white house that's coming in january. >> jim acosta, appreciate the reporting. back with the panel, including cnn military analyst, mark hertling, monica langley. you were at trump tower, talking to your sources about donald trump and his reception of the russian hack, and how much attention he's paying to it. >> well, someone within the trump organization, the trump transition, excuse me, believe that he is concerned about it. there are others who were close to him that i spoke with said he has zero interest in it. and this person says that the white house is still trying to point to the fact that the russians are helping trump. and that's hurting their argument. if they just said, the russians were melding in the election, it

wouldn't hurt so bad. >> he believes it's delegitimateizing -- >> correct. exactly. and this senior adviser said to me, look, he has zero interest in this. all his time is picking the personnel for the new administration. and focused ton getting good-paying american jobs. and he said, we're not focused on it at all. >> so, general hertling, you now have president obama saying tonight, to npr, you know, we're going to respond at a time and place of our choosing. you know, jim talked about kind of a ladder of possible responses, but what are capabilities just in general? i mean, i know iran's nuclear program was slowing down through, i think it was a cybervirus that was put out by somebody. i'm not sure if it was the u.s. or some other state players? i mean, how vulnerable is the u.s. electrical grid? what could actually be done to russia or to the united states? how bad can it get?

>> let's break it down into a couple areas, anderson. first of all, russia is executing a cybercampaign. that means they're associating various battles to do a strategic objective. they are doing that. we are not right now. there are two various elements of the cybercommunity. there's computer network defense and computer network attack. cnd, cna. it is either defending our own assets or going after someone else's. there are a variety of things that we can do, and as jim said earlier, it can do a stairstep approach.

and we will, at a time and place of our own choosing. some of it may be explicit and publicized. some of it may not be. but mr. putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because i spoke to him directly about it. >> it's interesting, van. the president is talking as if he has another term. he's got a little bit more than a month left in office. so he can't really say for sure whether there would be a response under a president trump. there is a dictatorship on the european continent. and it is hostile. and it has nuclear weapons. and it is trying to encroach upon the european democracies. and america for generations

thought that was a bad enough thing that we created something called nato to try to hold back this hungry dictatorship. and what has happened is, they know they can't beat us straight up, so they're now using dirty tricks, cybertricks to undermine our country and our commitment to our allies. that's the big story here. and what is shocking is we now have an american president that doesn't seem to -- he didn't get the memo that we're supposed to be protecting our democratic allies against a dictatorship. and i haven't heard him say that and it's frightening to me and our european allies. >> it is interesting, though, to hear it from democrats, though, because with president obama, i know as a republican, one of the frustrating things, he never seemed to grasp that russia is our enemy, as you were saying. he came into office, right to be friendly with them. he underestimated them every step of the way, under the tutelage of secretary of state hillary clinton, we had u.s. uranium going to russia. and we seemed to underestimate him at every step. but where was the outrage at president obama?

>> there was a time when the bigger threat was from iran and the concern that iran was going to get nuclear weapons. so hillary clinton in her brilliance was able to pull together both the chinese, not our friends every day, and the russians, not our friends any day, in an alliance to deal with iran. you have to pick. you have to have sequences. but at no point do i believe that we said, well, geez, we're going to now say that you can attack our country, you can hack our infrastructure, you can mess with our elections, and that's okay, too. and that's a concern i think we have here. >> yeah, i think it's a fair criticism that the president hasn't been tough enough on putin, i do. you do have to remember, putin has always been in charge, but when medvedev was his puppet, there was some progress with the u.s. there was. we got those sanctions that crippled iran and forced them to the bargaining table. we got a very good nuclear weapons reduction treat. the start treaty, so we got a few things done.

but the question is, do you answer perceived timidity by backup with rushing into putin's arms by trump? he's not simply hesitant to use american power against putin, he seems to embrace putin. and i think that's a terrible threat. mike morrell, who ran the cia, said that this is an existential threat to our democracy. this is a political 9/11. he's not a political hack. he's a career national security intelligence officer. that's what he is saying. and so i think it will start with the president for the next 34 days, but then president-elect trump, who has put together, by the way, the most pro-putin cabinet outside of moscow. it's really frightening. >> i think the tit for tat that van talked about between trump and josh earnest i think pales in comparison to the developments we've had with the president's interview. i think the fact that he's looking at taking action, some will be explicit and publicized, some will not, i think that says a lot.

it follows up with your previous guest who said, walk softly and carry a big stick. maybe you don't say anything and still carry a big stick. it makes you think that there's something that may be in the works to retaliate. it's good we're being cautious and silent about it. but just because it may be non-contact, does not mean it's non-conflict. i think this may be bubbling up in the next 30 days. we'll see. >> one thing about donald trump, remember during the campaign, he gave good hugs to ted cruz or carson, but when it time to get them off the stage and to win, he had no qualms about hitting back. so i'm not sure everybody can say, oh, he's hugging putin. he may -- if it comes to it, he may decide to cut him off at the knees. >> what would cause that, though? cyberterrorism gets to america? gee, that just happened. >> i don't know -- yeah, with i don't know that, paul. but i've seen him make these decisions like, enough already, i've had it. >> more with our panel.

i want to thank general hertling for stick around late with us. everyone else going to stick around even later. we'll take up the question of president-elect trump's grown kids. more news from monica about their role in the transition and what happens after inauguration day. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ how else do you think he gets around so fast? take the reins this holiday and get the mercedes-benz you've always wanted during the winter event. now lease the 2017 gle350 for $579 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

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as important as it is to know who committed an act of cyberwarfare against the united states and how the incoming president views it, there are other outstanding questions, involving the role of donald

trump's children will or will not play in the transition and the administration. back with the panel, including monica langley, who has some new reporting out of trump tower. monica's with "the wall street journal," also working here now with cnn. so, a really interesting thing you've learned today about how that you've grown men, donald jr., and eric trump, what role they're going to have. and the role they have now. >> well, we know donald trump said in a tweet that his two sons will run the business. which is the billion-dollar something empire of real estate assets. so the problem has been, they continue to influence cabinet choices. specifically, don jr. and the new interior secretary, who's a fellow hunter, like don jr. and they were all three kids, grown kids, were in the meeting with the tech executives yesterday. >> not just in the meeting, but sitting at the table. not in a back row watching -- >> yeah, yeah. but we know that these three adult children are some of his closest advisers. they have a really strong

relationship. so, what i found out is, they understand the moment their father takes office, they can no longer be in any governmental meetings. cold turkey. >> what i don't understand, what is the magic line about once their father is in office? because decisions are being made that are going to, you know, impact what happens afterwards. >> well, they were so integral to the campaign, as you know, they were his main surrogates. because he had nobody in the establishment or in the republican party, really backing him. they were the ones who were on the campaign trail. telling people how great their father was. they were his character witness. so they are so involved in this. and they are involved in the transition. but they do understand that there's got to be a clean line. maybe it is a magic funny date, but that is the date. >> you've also learned that donald trump is not going to be -- there's not going to be a blind trust. donald trump is not going to be -- >> i don't know, there may be some kind of trust, but the fact is -- >> but a true blind trust, where the assets are --

>> these assets will be known. the assets will remain -- >> donald trump remains the ownership -- >> he remains the owner, but maybe not -- he will no longer manage those assets. he will still be the owner of those assets and he know what those assets are. the hotels, the apartment buildings, the commercial real estate. what's going to happen, though, is they will not divest him. a lot of people said, liquidate the assets, that's the only way you can do it. and what they've decided right now, it could still change, hence the kids will do a press conference today. what they've decided is, if they sell them, it will be a fire sale. how can we put these properties on the market. we would lose money. now they could bring lots of money. foreign entities and southern wealth funds would want to buy and curry favor with the trump administration. so as one senior person involved in the trump organization told me, we can't win at this point

if we try to liquidate. >> there would also be big tax deductions, i think, for him, if he did sell. because if you're selling in order to be in government, which is what hank paulison did. but also new reporting on ivanka trump? >> right, well, yesterday there were some people who thought that it might be -- because ivanka trump does want to be involved in washington with her father, as will jared kushner, who became one of his closest advisers and will likely take a formal role. ivanka wants to have an informal role in the white house. so there was some talk yesterday that she may take the first lady's office in the east wing. as that became more official, perhaps, or more discussed, she didn't like that at all. first of all, she doesn't perceive herself and is not at all, a social-type person. she wants to advise on substantiative issues, like paid family leave. she wants to be in the west wing, where the action is, not the east wing. that's the first thing.

she wants to be there, but what she and her husband jared kushner are working at right now are full and complete separation. their lawyers -- >> business separation -- >> of their businesses. jared kushner runs a multi-billion-dollar real estate business himself. >> family business. >> family business. and she has not only a top role in the trump organization, the real estate empire, but she also has her own fashion -- >> she has licensing deals all -- >> of fashion, accessories, shoes, et cetera. so they are working hard right now and she believes, unlike her father, who says, i could run the country and my business, because there's no law, conflicts of interest laws for the president, she believes there would be for her. >> ben jones, from your perspective, is that enough? the adult men are going to be running the company and are not going to go to any meetings once he's president? >> you have two kinds of problems. one is a perception problem and the other is an actual problem.

the perception problem is starting to bake in. if you you are in the room, setting up all your friends to be in positions, if you're advising them or whatever, kind of setting the game up and you leave, that's not the same as saying, you know what, dad, you got this, we're going to stay out of it because we don't want you to look bad. it seems that perception is not something they're managing or feel like they have to manage. it's a choice. you can say, listen, we want to drain the swamp, for instance. we want to make sure there's not even a perception there's any kind of cronyism going on. because the american's confidence in d.c. is so low. he's not taking that tact. what we don't know -- so there is a perception problem going. what we don't know, is there an actual problem? does this actually matter in the actual functioning of government? that we don't know. but we do know the optics are looking worse and worse. >> you could also make the argument, kelly, as a trump supporter, that trump got voted into office with people knowing these issues. knowing the murkiness of the organization, knowing the kids were involved in it, knowing they were advisers, and yet they voted for him anyway. >> and i think that's the

strongest argument that the president-elect can make. he gave no pretense in the campaign that he would be separating his kids from having any sort of advisory role. he didn't make any sort of promise to the american people on this front. and i think that is his strongest argument. and i think we have to give him time on this. and it's very encouraging to hear monica's reporting that the sons will have no roles whatsoever. that's a good place to start. that jared coming in and ivanka coming in means no business at all, putting it in a blind trust, perhaps, that's very encouraging. he's trying to do everything right. and it's almost impossible to manage perception when you have aed $10 billion brand. it's something no president has ever had to deal with before. it's tough, but he's taking the right step. >> the problem's not the kids, it's a conflict of interest. in fact, these conflicts are setting up these kids to get an enormous amount of trouble. they can become collateral damage in political and legal attacks on donald trump. and that ought not happen. it's a very clear path that he

must take. he must sell everything, out it in a blind trust, or in treasury bills. you can easily avoid the problem we raised by doing what we do with eminent domain. come in, somebody figures out the fair market value, and that's what you get. trump's going to know -- >> you're saying must do this. not legally -- >> he's going to be my president, too. >> but also you're saying, if he wants to be free and clear of the morass that could derail him -- >> there's a guy named david brock who couldn't not write a better playbook for donald trump than what donald trump is doing right now. he's a tough democratic operative and he's just laying it out -- >> at media matters. >> there will be lawsuit after lawsuit, investigation after investigation, because all of this stuff creates a target-rich

environment around the first family. and that's irresponsible. weeks before donald trump takes the oath of office, he's going to give testimony in a sworn deposition. the lawsuit is one of dozens trump is involved in, including two he's filed against celebrity chefs. more on that ahead. these are obviously busy

these are obviously busy days for donald trump and his transition team, just 36 days until the inauguration between now and then, trump's schedule includes a deposition in the $10 million breach of contract lawsuit he filed against chef jose andreas. it's expected to take place the first week in january, and it's not the only lawsuit that will be making demands on his time. joe johns tonight has the latest. >> reporter: the latest dustup started when the famous chef, jose andreas, who's from spain, decided to pull the plug on a restaurant he was planning for trump's new d.c. hotel after trump slammed mexicans in his campaign kickoff speech. >> they're bringing drugs, they're bricking crime, they're rapists. >> reporter: the chef's lawyer said trump's comments made it difficult to hire hispanic employees to work in what had

been planned as a spanish restaurant. the conflict between the two picked up speed on the campaign trail when andreas stumped for hillary clinton. >> we are not supposed to message him until he doesn't apologize to every latino, to every mexican, to every woman, to every veteran and to any person that he has insulted! >> reporter: his remarks coming the very same day that donald trump was in washington, d.c., opening his new hotel. >> i'm also honored to have a chance to thank the incredible team of people who brought our vision to washington's historic old post office to life. >> trump was deposed in june in a similar lawsuit with andreas's business partner, jeffrey zacarian. >> we got a lot of bad publicity because of the way they handled it. i think we were hurt by the way they did it. >> reporter: trump's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to limit trump's questioning to two hours, arguing that he is the president-elect. it is not an overstatement that he is extremely busy handling

matters of very significant public importance. but judge jennifer detorro ruled that a limit on trump's deposition could be unfair to the chef's legal team, as it prepares for trial. andreas, for his part, has suggested that he would like to settle the fight out of court, tweeting this week, mr. @realdonaldtrump, can we end our lawsuits and we donate money to a veterans ngo to celebrate? why keep litigating. let's both of us win. >> i don't like to settle cases when you're right. you know what happens when you start settling cases? everybody sues you. >> reporter: besides the andreas case, there are dozens of others pending lawsuits, including one involving a republican consultant saying that tweets from trump calling her a real dummy ruined her reputation. and another from a security team saying that trump assaulted them. but the most discussed, trump university. >> the school had 98% approval rating, but you had an attorney that felt, maybe i can sue trump and get something.

>> reporter: last month, trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle a series of lawsuits out of court against his now-defunct real estate training program. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> a lot to talk about tonight with our favorite legal scholar, former federal prosecutor, jeffrey toobin. jeff, how significant is this? a president-elect now required to go through what could be an hours-long deposition and a sworn deposition. >> it's going to happen and it's going to happen often during the trump presidency. you know, he has multiple lawsuits pending against him. and the supreme court said in 1997. in the famous case of clinton v. jones, just because you're president you can't get out of testifying in a case where you're a party. he's going to be testifying a lot. >> so a president doesn't have any special dispensation or, i mean, he gets treated the same as everybody else? >> not exactly the same.

i mean, certainly, judges are expected to accommodate, you know, how long the depositions are. where they take place. you know, reasonable limits on time. all of that, you know, it makes him different from an ordinary party to a case. but, bottom line, he will have to testify in these cases, if he doesn't settle. >> and in terms of what lawyers can ask him during a deposition, how wide a berth do they have? >> you know, the rule usually is very broad. i mean, here in this case, it involves these restauranteur's claims that trump's statements about immigrants make it impossible for them to hire his hispanics, who are, of course, very important in the restaurant industry. so, i would imagine very broad range of questions about his attitudes towards immigration, towards hispanics, and the judge has allowed seven hours of time

for this sort of -- for this deposition. that's a long time. i wouldn't be surprised if that got shortened a little. >> donald trump has often says, he doesn't like to settle. but the truth is, he's settled many times, including recently, obviously, in the trump university case. he brought this case against the chef. do you think he'll take up the chef's offer to settle? >> you know, it certainly seems like it would be a smart decision for him to settle. i don't know what advantage he gets out of pursuing this. but remember, you know, one thing we know about donald trump is he can get very angry and he can be fixated on revenge. he's not, as you point out, the defendant in this case. he's the plaintiff. so he's angry, he wants vindication. so, i could see him driving a hard bargain here, even though it makes all the sense in the world. >> and is the deposition automatically sealed, or is that

just up to the judge? >> that's up to the judge. it varies by case. whether -- i mean, there can be a number of issues to be resolved. you know, is it videotape? if it's videotape, is the transcript public or the video too? all of that will wind up in front of the judge, and obviously those of us in the press are going to want to see as much as of it as we can. >> jeff toobin. thanks. >> up ahead, van jones take uses to a deep blue corner of ohio that turned deep red this year. hear what trump voters told him, next. ♪ hey dad! ♪ wishes do come true. the lincoln wish list sales event is on. get exceptional offers on the lincoln family of luxury vehicles. sign and drive off in a new 2017 lincoln mkc with zero down and a complimentary first month's payment.

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tonight we return to the industrial heartland to hear from voters who helped push donald trump across the finish line. van jones has been out in the field talking and listening to trump voters, including longtime democrats who crossed party lines in this election. one of his stops, a corner of ohio, until election day last month has been reliably blue. here's what he found. >> reporter: for the first election in more than 40 years, trumball county, ohio, has turned republican red. union democrats ruled this blue collar hub of millions and manufacturing wealth, they did, until donald trump ran for president. so, how did it happen? how did hillary clinton, my candidate, lose these people. there's only one way to find out? >> oh, lord! >> reporter: first stop is the mocha house, where local

political rivals often hash out their disagreements over breakfast. >> hey, hey, how are you? >> my name is van. >> i'm marcy. >> good to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: it's where i meet up with two young trump voters, larencia is the president of her college conservatives group and marcy does outreach work for children's charity. so you're both young women. there was a lot of controversy about that tape that came out. a lot of controversy about things that he said. that didn't impact you guys? >> no. >> no. >> i guess for me, it's easy to portray that you're this perfect person and you've never had sex or sent a nude picture or said the p-word before, but more people than people think do those things on a daily basis. and for me, i look at it like a lot of those things wouldn't have come out if he wasn't running for president. that's how i feel. >> i said that part of what was going on with the trump

phenomenon, was a whitelash. there's an element of the trump phenomenon that seems to be animated by racial resentments against mexicans and muslims and black people, et cetera. have you seen any of that? >> i can't say i personally have. i think it just boiled down to, we've had a failed presidency for the last eight years. and, yes, some things good came out of it. but at the end of the day, jobs were taken away, manufacturing was gutted. and i think, especially in this county, you see that these people lose jobs, and i think a lot of people, you know, looked at that, and, you know, fell that emotion and trump happened to speak about it. and that's where they connected at. >> reporter: job loss, especially manufacturing jobs,

is definitely an emotional topic in trumball. >> a large number of folks here feel very disenfranchised from both parties. >> reporter: randy law is the gop chairman in trumball county. >> this is rg steel. the former rg steel plant. >> but it's just a big vacant lot? >> yes, they raised this between a year and 18 months ago. >> it must have been heartbreaking to see? >> it has been. >> he shows me mills or factories that have shut down or scaled way back in just the last few years. >> this is a hundred-plus-year-old motor company. and they shut down in the last six months or so. this is delphi electric. they used to employ 18,000 people in our community. they will be lucky to have 600 and we're going to have to fight to hold on to those jobs. and this ge plant, well over a hundred years. >> now gone? >> six months ago. >> so what you're saying is that while the democrats were running

ads showing donald trump saying offensive things to women, arguably offensive things about women, people are looking out their window and they're seeing factories shut down in the middle of the campaign season? >> oh, yeah. >> this is copperweld steel. this was just a vital facility to us here for years employing tens of thousands of people. i believe they poured steel here last about 18 months ago. they are in the process of gutting this plant out and tearing some of it down. >> do you feel like people here feel abandoned? >> yes. i think that was a big factor in this entire election. people feel disenfranchised, abandoned, a little bit of everything. and it's a lot of disaffected democrats who came into the primary headquarters and said, we're switching over. this is the first guy i've ever heard that speaks what i'm thinking. at the end of the day, it's

economics, it's jobs, it's trade. we voted big for hope and change with president obama. it didn't get delivered here. and people we're willing to look for that other change. give another guy a chance. and i think a lot of votes were driven that way. >> i think these reports are so important and just so valuable, just to listen to people and not, you know, demonize people, not make them into caricatures, just listen to them. and i think there was such a play by the clinton campaign to make it about character. to make it about donald trump's character. the idea being, some of the things he said were going to be so abhorrent to people, that's going to overwhelm everything. >> people in the liberal blue bubbles were fanning themselves and fainting over everything they said. but other people, they've heard tough speech before. it's interesting, manufacturing jobs have actually gone up under obama. you had the big auto bailout, et cetera. that didn't translate, though, for the people who were in these patchworks of counties, where the devastation was still

happening. and there was not a strong response that they heard from the democrats. what they heard was trump somehow had a radar for their spain showed up, he went to that county, trumball county, and they changed the sign to say trumpball county. blue union democrats, trumpball county, and nobody in the democratic party got that or responded. >> and i mean, you've talked about this before. it's very easy to demonize and say, well, you know, racial dog whistles and things. and while you said, there was certainly an element of that, for the people that you met, i mean, it was about -- >> they didn't like that stuff. but they didn't like it -- but they didn't hate it enough to vote against for jobs. >> van jones, thanks so much. great reporting. just ahead, some rare welcome news for the people of aleppo, syria. evacuations begin with a cease-fire in effect. i'll talk to the syrian activist who's been in and out of the country with much-needed supplies. an activist we've had on this program for years, who's risked his own life for years to speak

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a new cease fire seems to be holding in syria. that's respects way out. buses moved people out aleppo. they are trapped in the city begging the government to help them, begging them to stapp the civil war and the bloodshed. joining me a man who has been in and out of syria. he has also been on this program dozens of times. you have been in and out of aleppo. you are in contact with a of the will people there. overall when you see what has happened to ahelpa. when you see what the city has

become, what has happened to the people there, when you see the people evacuating, what do you think? >> yes, the city is destroyed such as our dreams, of course. but what matters right now is that people are alive. nothing like today. we are all happy we could see these people again. we thought we had lost them. now we have them. not everyone is expecting to be reinstated. what matters is that these people are alive now. just see their faces, terrified like coming out of -- but this is just like people being reborn. they faced death and now they are alive. >> and it in terms of these evacuations, i mean, they are --

there is a lot of people. there are tens of thousands of people. it seems like it's going take a long time. >> this is ninth time. now we've got them. finally. however, tens of thousands are still left inside. and we are getting some information that we have only top and tomorrow. this is impossible. we need more time. we need four or five days before we evacuate them all or they will lose their lives again. we hope we can evacuate all of these people. these people have nothing to do with this ugly war. they are just civilians, children or women. they just need to be rescued. they deserve to live. they are -- they made no mistake. they -- they, they don't have anything to to with this war. they just want to live. civilians, for god's sake. children i. i saw the first child to be evacuated, anderson. i looked at his face. i mean, he was just like -- he

was just like coming out of grave. he was almost dead. he was so horrified. so scared, angry, tired. what can i say? it's too much. >> for those who are still there, i mean, what is -- what is the greatest challenge facing them right now? obviously supplies are low. food is scarce, is difficult to come by. and there is no telling how long exactly this will take. as i said, there are thousands of people and they can't -- they can't just do in in a day or two, as you said. >> this is the ninth time we have prepared for evacuation. and now, no one was able to think, is it true this time happening or not? however, we were all ready for that. we need every support from everyone in this world. this is a huge, huge disaster. no one can imagine what they are

facing. we don't have the capacity to do to face such a disaster. thou up with has this capacity. we need every help from everybody from every organization, from every individual. >> i appreciate you talking to us. thank you very much. up next i'm going to make you smile. we'll be right back. ack scratch. if only it came in a luffa. it does! oh, a raisin re-hydrator. it turns them back into grapes. wow, what an exhausting journey. that's a good wedding present. good call. thank you... and thank you, lady blue. with the blue cash everyday card from american express, you get cash back on purchases with no annual fee. oh, look at this. disposable microphone for my uncle bob's 75th! a one and done. yes. find your voice and then dispose of it. it's more than cash back. it's backed by the service and security of american express. tit's what's inside the person insidwho opens it. give ancestrydna, the simple dna test that can reveal their ethnic origins.

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time for the ridiculous. it is the most wonderful time of the year but it can also be stressful for the holidays. all the running around and shopping can make people do things they might otherwise not. in maryland, the police got a call about property destruction in a store. i think we have of the suspect. it is a beaver. he got into the store and checked out the christmas res but let's be real what's he going to do with an artificial christmas tree? he didn't see anything he liked there, then he checked out the christmas themed placements. he has his paws on them. there is a santa on the shelf but he cannot reach that shelf which may be why he started trashing the place. he whipped his tail around to knock the dam san de down.

he wants the dam santa. i kept saying he but it could be a she beaver. i'm sorry. there is a joke in there somewhere. but i don't know what it is. no -- yeah. no one accused me of being an expert on that animal. what i do know is that it is a magical time of the year, there is joy in the air. it's the only time of the year that the abombinible snow monster starts walking his poodle. this is a time honored tradition in wisconsin. the snow monster and the poodle spread cheer to all who encounter them. >> bring joy, happiness, love all, care about all, beyond holidays. >> all right. >> okay. that is tar phiing.

was that person trying to be terrifying or was that -- was there some problem with the costume? some people are more into christmas than others. this is one of many yuletide lessons we've learned from "snl." >> is santa coming soon. >> tell you what, bud, i'll going to go up there in a couple of minutes and see if he is ready to come down and talk to the kids. >> what? he's upstairs. >> he's here. >> i don't know what you think is going on here tonight but you are not going to meet the real santa. >> no. >> no. >> huh-uh. >> can do that, david, i'm sorry. >> i want to meet rudolph. >> rudolph isn't here, gina. >> then how the [ bleep ] did santa get her, david. >> all right, just relax. >> it can all be a little overwhelming but when christmas starts to seem like a contest

you can do what these people in pennsylvania did. knowing they couldn't compete with their neighbor's display, they threw up a ditto. nicely done, people. to all creatures great and small to each poodle and snow monster and beaver, we thank you for watching on the rediculist. cnn tonight begins now with don lemon. break news, president obama vows the u.s. will respond to russia's election hacking. the commander in chief tells npr this country will take action. >> i think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections that we need to take action. and we will, at a time and a place of our own choosing. >> that as intelligence aly