good evening again, top of the hour, president obama holiday message for vladimir putin we know you did it. the outgoing u.s. president blaming russian president for a cyber war on the campaign hack it is by no means the only headline. the president offered what

sounded like remarks party shots of the presidency. tell us more about what the president said about russia. vladimir putin and the involvement in the dnc hacks. >> that was clearly the president wanting to have more detail coming on that before the inauguration. but he also didn't want to back away from what he clearly believes that putin himself did play a direct role in this. here's how he put it. >> based on uniform intelligence assessments, the russians were responsible for hacking the dnc, i will confirm that this happened at the highest levels of the russian government and i will let you make that

determination as to whether there are high level you russian officials who go off rogue and decide to tampaper with the u.s. election process without vladimir putin knowing about it. when i saw president putin in china i felt the most effective way to ensure that didn't happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out, there were going to be serious consequences if he didn't. and in fact, we did not see further tampering of the election process. >> so this is what we expect to be the president's last press conference facing all of these questions it lasted an hour and half. some of them touching on legacy. this was his opportunity to get his points across in a thoughtful way. he didn't want to not take the time to give these thorough explanations. he wanted to defend his administration's handling of the

hack among other sunts. he wanted to defend the fbi which has been criticized now by democrats. when asked was this a free and fair election he would only go so far as to say the voting process was not tampatamp process was not tampered with. in fact, his parting point was to say he feels the biggest vulnerability is fierce part is anship and he ended this by calling on americans to not demonize opponents, to look for ways to communicate and as he put it to channel common

decency. john. >> thanks so much. appreciate it. back now with our panel. heck of a way to head off to hawaii. to tell the press vladimir putin did it, in so many words, he said nothing happens in russia without vladimir putin's approval. that's quite a message. >> it's a extraordinary moment, heading into a new presidency, he's at odds with the incoming president donald trump who has refused to accept the word of the intelligence community on this. you know, he's also not quite saying exactly what the clinton campaign is saying. we've seen very forceful words from the clinton campaign about rogue operators in the fbi and the chairman's e-mails that were hacked, it was talked about in a thank you event last night in new york, the president didn't go that far but did make sure this is all front and center. it is very unlikely that the clinton team was not aware that

he was planning on doing this. it puts the ball squarely into donald trump's court. he again refuses to accept that's what happened despite the word of the intelligence community. others are saying this is what happened, others lindsey graham saying there needs to be acknowledgment of this. i'm not sure it can hold for donald trump, keeping it this way will be growing pressure. for now we're seeing him tweeting, he's about to disappear to his resort for the next two beach and at some point will presumably talk to reporters. >> we shall see about that. >> but he has talked to reporters and has been other interactions we haven't had any of that other than kanye west in the lobby of his building. >> give me your assessment of

the president's message, in a way threading the needle, very critical of vladimir putin and russia not the fbi the way hillary clinton's team is right now. >> i think it is tough for him to take given the fact this is the end of his administration. the fbi director told me i think the president very clear. s high level of officials. rogue manner. i think it's notable that donald trump, you said jokingly earlier but said it nonetheless urged russia to hack hillary clinton i think it's notable that frank was asked by the dnc chair to sign a letter urging russia to

stay out of their elections. i think it's notable that at this point we're now in a situation where there are members on both sides of the aisle in the house and senate calling for a inland bipartisan commission to look into the effect russia has had on this election. it's very important. that to me, is something that calls into question if nothing else the legitimacy of donald trump's election as president-elect. >> congressman kingston you just got back from russia and met with american businesses there and i'm sure had a chance to talk to other people there as women. well. what does the president-elect's response need to be to this news that russia, including senior russian officials a coring to the president were involved in hacking into the campaign. >> i think number one saying to the intelligence community. cooperate as is your constitutional duty with members of the house who ask you to come

down and explain it to them. by you not going down and talking to devin nunez this week it's a signal of politics. this is above politics but you're playing politics. second i will say the president did something very, very political that we're not discussing, he changed the subject from aleppo. this week we saw the fall of aleppo, one of the biggest foreign policy failures in u.s. history, 400,000 people dead, millions of refugees, women and children and now reports that the assad regime is going door to door and executing children and not one mention about it. >> he brought up aleppo. >> in passing, but there's a tragedy going on. >> i'm not in anyway defending what the administration has done there and he said he regrets what happened and didn't admit any mistakes, but i do want to stay on the russian hacking because if russia hacked into

our campaign it's a big story and will not go away in the next three weeks. president-elect trump when he becomes president either will or won't try to deal with that situation and i want to know from you because you were close to the president-elect in the transition is this something he will address yes or no? >> i think he will address it. and going forward he would not pull putin aside at a g-20 conference and say by the way, cut it out. he would say what the heck are you thinking -- i just heard the president of the united states say that. it's exactly what he said. you can't have it both ways. if it's a big problem you address it in a big way. he said i pulled him aside and told him to cut it out, how ineffective. >> there's something at stake here. couple things, first of all, the future is important. when you're the president elect you can deal with something like this in three ways, personally,

i'm offended, they're trying to legit mate had he, in a part is an way they're trying to hurt my party or in a patriotic way, they're trying to hurt my country. you're watching the president-elect who will be all of our president, in realtime he certainly knows how to respond when it's personal, when it's partisle a partisan, you have the first attack on our country and he's not responded like a patriot yet. that's very disturbing. you keep wanting to point out obama did this or that, when trump gets here he'll do x, y, and z, reality is he talks all the time. he's speaking tonight. he tweets like my children do and he is not spoken like a patriot. >> is this not an echo of what we heard a month ago, he's not addressing the protesters and rioters we keep hearing his

post-election behavior doesn't suit the standards of the left and that's just too bad. >> it's not a left standard. [ overlapping speakers ] >> look, i don't, listen, i am on the left side of pluto and i'm proud of it. no one can blame me for being conservative. >> i'm on the right side keep bumping into you. >> but this is not left versus right it is right versus wrong. so far we've not seen the right way from this president. >> he's not pretz of the upts yet. i do think we need to give him time to the point he has resources to respond to a russian attack, i think we should give him benefit of the doubt. one thing he said i hope we can get to the point we can disagree civilly based on the same set of facts. republicans it is on us to say this happened, russian cannot commit a cyber attack on the united states but the onus is

also on democrats to say trump won it fair and squarely i think is uncalled for saying the elector should be briefed when we know mugs was not meddling in the voting, every american had their say, i think president trump is caught in the cross hairs of those trying to delegitimize the election nevertheless he should legit mate the space. >> is there a gap between supporters. >> yeah i think there's a huge gap. hillary clinton said yesterday to a group of donors that the reason she lost the election is in part because of russian hacking balls of the e-mail scandal. president obama notably would not say that. he acknowledged russian responsibility but did not tie it at 5u8 to the result ofs of it at all to the results of the election. i think he purposely did that.

we have senior republicans speaking out, john mccain included and donald trump stand towards russia was programs the matter of concern for democrats and republicans alike during this election and to portray him as a passive actor because he's not the president yet i don't think is quite right but going forward will be the story line in the administration. it's not rocket science for him to say i was elected fairly and squarely and as president i will not tolerate russian habitating into or meddling in american campaigns when i assume office on january 20th. it's not that hard. >> no he can say it any time. guys stick around. a lot more to discuss right now. we're going to look closer at the relationship between the president and the president-elect. in donald trump's year long comments about birtherism. and next what we know about

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today president obama said he spoke with russian president vladimir putin about russian habitating the dnc and warned of hacking the dnc and warned of serious consequences if he didn't cut it out, some may be publicly to divulge others may be covert. joining me now in moscow, clarissa, the idea something of this magnitude like this hacking would not have been carried out without a green light of vladimir putin is what the president said today is there any reason to believe putin will

respond to this charge? >> i wouldn't respect, john, to see any direct response from vladimir putin. you might perhaps get some kind of kauftic or biting remark or joke here or there or perhaps something from the russian foreign ministry. the official kremlin line saying they are not part of this hacking and have said that it is indecent to continue making these accusations without proving it and providing substantial, tangible, physical evidence of this hack. they said it is ludicrous nonsense. i think president vladimir putin feels right now he's in a position of power, he's had a great year by his own estimations, while president obama warned him that going into syria would be a quagmire he now

is a pivotal player where he hasn't been in decades, i doubt you will see much reaction of any insinuations that president obama made nor to any of the barbs he made about russian's economy or the fact that russia lacks innovation or the fact that he says he threatened president putin and challenged him about the hacks when he saw him back in september, john. >> with that that you gave that most of the media in russia received, state media at least state-controlled media is there any sense among the russian people, any concern about what the u.s. retaliation might be to these hacks. >> i don't think there's a lot of fear here about what president obama may do in his remaining time as president, he's refusing to draw on any specific retaliatory measures were being taken but certainly

nobody here is talking about those and they are looking forward essentially to a warmer relationship with pler president-elect trump, trump's response is the same as the russians which has been there's absolutely no proof. most people see the hacking allegations as an attempt to poison the well, to poison the thawing of relations they hope to see take place under president-elect trump. john? >> all right thanks so much. joining us now former executive director of the fbi criminal and cyber division ryan anderson and cnn counter terrorism analyst and senior official. so you were in 2015 the entire cyber division was under you at the fbi so explain how u.s. intelligence agencies reached

the conclusion this hack was done by russia when they say the hack had russian finger prints all over it what are these finger prints? >> it's a great question, john. so nowadays it's so technical when comes to cyber hacking and different trade crafts that nation states and criminalists use around the world it's like a cyber footprint or fingerprint if you will so when looking at the forensic data in how those systems were hacked in a lot of cases you can tell close what organization what country that might have launch the at tack. it's much harder to put someone directly behind the keyboards. >> so president obama has suggested there will be retaliation against russia for this. what's the menu of options for the president? >> i think the menu of options is limited. especially for a president that has 30 days left in office. that's why the fighting between the white house and trump camp

is so painful they need to know how to coordinate for him before he comes into office. you don't want to fight with pigs, you're going to get dirty. you can talk about limiting traf travel on the russian's economic sanctions and other diplomatic arenas but one of the challenges when you walk in the oval office or situation room there's not as many options as you expect. soon as you talk about options on cyber you say does it limit our opportunities work together with russia on iran or syria. it's more complicated than it looks. >> there's more than one thing going on. >> yeah. >> it seems the united states has some of the strongest defensive and offensive capabilities when it comes to cyber warfare. is that true at this point? are our defenses as strong as we think? >> i think the united states is

in great shape and i got to tell you the american people need to understand the united states intelligence community is stronger than i've ever seen it, the coalitions and bonds between the fbi and cia and all the other members are very, very strong and getting stronger every day. one thing i will tell you i think is important it's not just the united states intelligence community i think there's a need like the fbi and cia leading this, the ack demmia enterprise needs to be part of the equation. whether hacking dnc or some type of private enterprise the int intelligence that comes from these hacking is very important to keep our defenses cutting edge. the bad guys don't have laws or a constitution and don't have to ask anybody who you to formulate an attack. so that coordinate the int intelligence is a must between private sector and the

government. >> we're talking about podesta and the u.s. campaign. along those lines we get noticed about hacking here at cnn constantly. i know it happens to everyone, is this just a fact of life that people are going to be hacked and it's not just by, you know, people in base mtments but it iy countries. >> i've been hacked there's a difference between us being hacked personally and what we've seen in recent years not only in the united states but in eastern europe, the battlic states about the russians interfering in a democratic process. i don't think we can accept that as a fact of life. the president-elect should be saying how do i protect not myself, not republicans, not democrats, but the american people so they can have a free election in two years and four years. i think it is a problem moving forward. one thing i'd be thinking about

is how do you think early on about giving assurance from the federal government from candidates before they become candidates for either party maybe two years before the campaign to ensure their servers are protected it is a big issue that has to do with 2020 not something restricted to what happens in your basement or mine but about the american electoral process. >> it's an interesting point, should they not get cyber protection as well. bob you've been in the intelligence community up until last year how likely is it that trump has the full faith what the intelligence officials are telling him and that the officials trust that he believes in them. >> yeah it's extremely important. i know phil knows this too and jim kolbi and john clapper and are all great men, i think the

president-elect needs to talk to all these gentlemen and see the capabilities that all those organizations bring. it is crucial to the new presidency that he trusts all of those men working hard to keep it safe. >> and that they believe he has their back as well. thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you. >> next is president-elect trump reaction to the cyber attack putting a crink on the relationship with president obama and putting a chill on this transition. we'll dig deeper into that when 360 continues. is this really ann the one you got last year? if we consolidate suppliers what's the savings there? so should we go with the 467 horsepower? or is a 423 enough? good question. you ask a lot of good questions... i think we should move you into our new fund. ok. sure. but are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed? wealth management, at charles schwab. it has long been called storm of tiny bubbles,

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president obama spoke today

talking about strained relation between russians calling the cyber attack the last straw. at the news conference he was asked how he and the president-elect were getting along. >> when donald trump is sworn into office he has a different set of responsibility and considerations is. and i've said this before, i think there's a sobering process when you walk into the oval office. and i haven't shared previously private conversations i've had the president-elect, i will say that they have been cordial and in some cases have involved me making some pretty specific suggestions about how to ensure that regardless of our obvious deep disagreements about policy maybe i can transmit some thoughts about maintaining the

eesktsi effectiveness, integrity, cohesion of the office and various democratic institutions and he has listened. i can't say that he will end up implementing, but the conversations themselves have been cordial as on poepposed to defensive in anyway. >> that's the president's delicate assessment of thousand things stantd. stand. >> for months it was bear-knuckle brawling. >> barack obama has been the worst president ever. >> i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. >> with you look at them now, ever since the election and their first meeting afterward, the sitting president and next one have seemed decidedly

warmer. >> i really like him. we have a really good chemistry together. we talk, we loves the country, he wants to do right by the country and for the country. >> i think ultimately is he's pragmatic in that way. and that can serve him well. as long as he's got good people around him and he has a clear sense of direction. >> how much of are they speaking? it's not precisely clear. >> they've been talking regularly on a number of issues. they talked just yesterday. >> neither the president-elect team nor the white house will confirm which subjects have been brought up. >> in the same way i protected the ability of president obama to consult confidentially with other senior officials including former presidents i'm not going to read out or confirm every reported meeting or phone call or conversation. >> certainly both men have vested interest in health care reform, immigration law, national security and the economy. and the president-elect has

vowed to dramatically change directions on many of those fronts. >> of course i have concerns, he and i differ on a bunch of issues. >> they disagree on many things, that's not going to change. >> in a broader sense they have found common ground in recognizing how divided the country is and how hard uniting it may be. >> i will always make myself available to him as previous presidents have made themselves available to me. >> that may not sound like much but considering the fehr ossity and lingering bitterness of the campaign, the tone between mr. trump and mr. obama seem good and those looking for a truce in the washington wars perhaps that's not a bad start. john? >> thanks so much. everyone was looking to see today if that truce was strained by the reports, allegations or facts depending how you look at it. of russian hacking. back with our panel now. i think in this year of

remarkable events and milestones one of the most surprising things has been how cordial this transition has been between president and president-elect and how both have been doing back flips and all sorts of contorco contortions to be amicable toward open each other. >> for a couple reasons, i don't think it is in president obama's interest to go guns blazing no matter what he thinks of this. in the meeting they held in the oval office, the firps onst onee 90 minutes, trump learned he was overwhelmed that the job was bigger than anticipated and most people realize that ahead of time but trump has run a different candidacy and a lot of this was generally new to him.

president obama walked away stunned how little president-elect trump appeared to know about certain aspects of the job. i think president obama has come to realize donald trump is easily influenced by the last person he spoke with. i think he believes he can try to preserve portions of his, if not his legacy but portions of programs he cares about by not having a contentious relationship with president-elect. whether it's sustainable i don't know but it's a massive 180 from what we saw through the campaign and frankly through the last five years. >> it was steven from lpr that sat with the president and he said what struck him as different about this interview was that president obama seemed to be playing the long game with donald trump here, particularly often the issue of the russian hacking, playing the long game and that's striking because he's got four weeks left in office. you time is running out.

you don't play long game when time is running out on the clock. >> i think that's absolutely true. we've talked about donald trump and hillary clinton and what did hillary clinton do wrong how did she miscalculate. i think president obama was the third player in this campaign. in many ways trump's election was a reaction to the obama presidency and the relationship between the two of them and obama is playing the long game in terms of the pro grams he's implemented, the proposals he cares about. i think he's a smart guy and knows he can shape trump's thinking in many ways an influence his decisions he did on obamacare after their discussion in the oval oval office, trump came away the provisions i'm certainly going to keep are to allow kids to stay on their parents healthy until 2026. so obama was key certainly on that one aspect in terms of

obamacare. and i think they may not be talking about it publicly he's play ag huge role in preserving other aspects of his legacy merely by weighing in on trump. it was in obama's interest and incumbent on him to calm, to play a soothe role in democrat ranks when people were so shocked and painiced at trump's victory i and i think he's done it very effectively. >> i think it's not quite right to say he can't play the long game one thing that's true about democratic post presidencies is they tent to be very robust and extraordinary. jimmy cart he is still a force on the world stage, building houses, brokering peace deals, trying to rescue hostages, 30, 40 years later. the clinton's were punished for being robust players on the world stage. they handle some of the ethical

issues, they were out there, raising money, influencing stuff. if you think that the obamas are going to somehow disappear from the world stage, disappear from the conversation, you're not paying attention. this is going to be like a nelson mandela figure. after he left he was more powerful out of office. this guy's got another 20 or 30 years. the obama's have a longer game to play i think that what you're going to see is he is going to be very smart in the short-term. he has no reason to an tag niez aaa. he says listen if you go after american muslims i'm going to speak out. if you start dragging dreamers out of college campuses because they don't have papers i'm going to speak out. he's laying a case when he will or won't be a force but obama is not done by a long shot. >> i'm surprised how critical and accurate how obama was. i disagree with his accusation

of media bias. i agree with voters not being heard. when he talked about how he won in illinois, how i went to fish fries, listened to the local people and i heard their hurt and expressed their hurt and 20 spoke to those pains, when i heard that i thought that's exactly right and if president obama takes that and tries to reform the democratic part any that is a formidable opponent in 2020. >> i agree. >> all right we should just wrap up. >> i think the president has always been good at self-critiquing. that's not a weakness. >> it's just a little bit more weak nls of hillary clinton it's actually the opposite of self critique he is saying i actually did it, she should have. >> i think the point is he's never shied away from controversial positions, the position of him sitting with donald trump in the oval office when donald trump won the

election is one that in democrats and people who are not part is an at all had it major issues with it. this is someone who sat opposite of him, they didn't have a relationship. he said in that meeting, that was the first time he met president obama yet he had the right to question his harvard transcript, whether or not he was born here, he never apologized for that. on the campaign he stood in front of an audience at a press conference and said the president was born here period. never apologized for it but took everyone on a tour of triple toe. >> in terms of the long game i think it's really important it remember that a lot of people that i'm talking to who are trying to figure out the term presidency on both sides are asking what can get him to respond to something.

one main thing he will be responsive to is his poll numbers. then was saying obama being a voice out there, if there are controversial things obama will be able, he's very popular right now to speak out and that could impact trump's poll numbers. >> all right guys we want to shift gear it's and talk about a proteflt over an alleged power grab by republican lawmakers taking power away from the next governor of that state.

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the trump transition has been dominating this news cycle but we want to bring you up to speed on republican governor who signed a new law stripping executive powers from his suckesor rory cooper removes state and election boards from their control. they maintain there's constitutional checks and balances. to democrats it's a braisen power grab. >> the latest session closing with outrage with growing crowds in the nation's capitol.

>> it is very disruptive the noise outside of the chamber. >> it was a hastily called special legislative session where lawmakers in the republican controlled legislation your want to limit incoming coop ear's powers. >> what's happening now is unprecedented. what's happening now is going to effect the issues that make a difference to everyday working families. >> among the restrictions requiring the republican control senate to approve all of governor elect cooper appointees and decreasing the number of appointments allowed by the administration from 1500 to 300. additionally would be blocked from appointing members from the state board of education and all members of the board of trustees for the university of north carolina system. cooper beat out incumbent mccroriy by only 10,000 votes.

mccrory didn't concede until four weeks later. despite rep rech an majorities leader says they are going to continue to be relevant in the state. but democrats call it a power grab. makes for what will be an even turbulencent transition to the successor. >> we did check it a few moments ago and that piece of legislation still has not been signed by governor pat mccrory meanwhile another piece was signed to require governor and lawmakers to share the appointments of members of the election board, john, so again that one already a law the question is what can roy cooper do, well, he's suggesting he will likely to have to take some of these lawmakers to court. >> thanks so much we appreciate it. back with our panel now. you also served in the

legislature i believe in the state of goernl. state of georgia. there's sour grapes how is this not sour grapes democrats won the election and now republicans trying to change the rules after the fact. >> i think had is what majorities do. i served in the state legislature one of 26 republicans out of 180 members. the democratic party dropped the word republican or democratic by your name to insert incumbent. >> is it right? >> it passed -- i would say just because you agree doesn't make it unconstitutional or right or wrong i would say it was right when they say we will have half republicans and half democrats. how is that wrong. when one of the laws said judges would be partisan.

it is important to know if someone's democratic, republican, conservative, there's nothing wrong with that. reducing the number of appointees from 1500 to 400 nothing wrong with that. might be a disagreement. >> when you say there's nothing wrong i think couple things are wrong. first this session was not called for all that. it was for a narrow purpose and they expanded way beyond that to include the kitchen sink. stripping your successor of the powers yu enjoy at the last hour, that's called abuse of power. you're smiling. you know i'm right. both political parties hate this stuff. you hate this stuff. go ahead say it. >> in the late 1980s north carolina got its first lieutenant governor who was republican and the democrats immediately stripped his powers.

this is unfortunately bare knuckle politics and right now. >> all right, thanks, everybody. we michelle obama gets candid in her interview with oprah winfrey. stay with us. so, what are we supposed to think? switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance. excellent point. case dismissed. geico. because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance woo! because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer. enjoy your phone! you too. all right, be cool. you got the amazing new iphone 7 on the house by switching to at&t... what??.... aand you got unlimited data because you have directv?? (laughs to self in disbelief) okay, just a few more steps...

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we've been talking a lot about president obama's final news conference of the year, the weeks between now and inauguration day will be full of final moments for the first family. first lady michelle obama has given her final one on one interview inside the white house. she sat down with oprah winfrey and spoke frankly about the outcome of the election. joe johns reports. >> reporter: first lady michelle obama candid in an interview with oprah winfrey, giving voice to what many democrats may be feeling after the election. >> now we're feeling what not having hope feels like. >> reporter: reflecting on the catch word that helped propel her husband into office and whether his administration gave the country the hope he promised. >> he and i and so many believe, what else do you have if your don't have hope? what do you give your kids if you can't give them hope? i feel barack has been that for the nation in ways that people

will come to appreciate. having a grownup in the white house who can say to you in times of crisis and turmoil, hey, it's going to be okay. let's remember the good things that we have. let's look at the future. let's look at all the things we're building. >> reporter: once a reluctant campaigner, what she's saying today a far cry from 2008. >> hope is making a comeback. it's making a comeback and let me tell you something. for the first time in my adult lifetime, i'm really proud of my country and not just because barack has done well, but because i think people are hungry for change. >> reporter: eight years later, she was perhaps the most popular surrogate for hillary clinton. >> our motto is when nay go low we go high. >> reporter: powerful speeches, but not enough to put the democrat over the top. >> here's where i want to get real. if hillary doesn't win this election, that will be on us.

>> t>> reporter: the first ladys interview -- >> what do we do if we don't have hope? >> reporter: coming at a time when she's been out of the spotlight, making few public comments since the election. >> we are ready to work with the next administration and make sure that they are as successful as they can be because that's what's best for this country. >> reporter: and with just over a month left in the white house, the first lady tells "vogue" "i'm going to miss waking up to this, having access to this any time i want, but on the flip side it's time." joe johns, cnn, washington. >> we'll be right back. you're making money now, are you investing? well, i've been doing some research. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? s

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s. that does it for us, cnn tonight with don lemon starts now. breaking news, a warning from president obama and a thank you for from the president-elect. this is cnn tonight, i'm don lemon. trump telling those at his thank you rally in florida that they stood up to global special interests. >> with your votes, the great citizens of this country declared to the world that from now on it's going to be america first. america first. >> meanwhile, president obama for the first time publicly blaming russian president vladimir putin for russia's hacking of the election. >> not much happens in russia without