a grown man who was staging a stunt to post on youtube. bought him his own ticket. airline offered to check the bear as luggage. the passenger opted to leave it behind. on that note, see if the. america's news headquarters starts now. this sh a fox news alert for you now. we are awaiting what will likely be president obama's final news conference as president and he will almost certainly face tough questions about what action he plans to take against russia for its alleged election related hacking. hello, everyone. i'm melissa branson. in an interview with npr says he spoke directly to vladimir putin in september about cyber spying and made sure putin knew there would be consequences. american intelligence officials believe putin was directly involved in the effort to the interfere with the u.s. election.

based on the sophisticated tools the hackers used. chief washington correspondent joins us live from the white house with more on this one. wow, there's a lot there to unpack. give it a shot. >> good afternoon from the white house briefing room where i can tell you in 20 years of coming to report here i don't think i've ever seen it this packed. we have not only the regular white house press, but foreign media. very busy scene in here. president obama will face tough questions today on particularly the claims from the white house that there is a cia assessment that russia purposely intervened in 2016 united states presidential election. demanded a briefing on the claims and been rebuffed now a spokesperson for the russian president vladimir putin has come forward and said in essence it's time for obama to put his

money where his mouth is otherwise it lwill look unseemingly. be prepared to put documentation behind these claims. right now, there is no real analytic product at the cia or any of the america's intelligence services documenting these claims. at least where the hack of the clint campaign chairman john podesta is concerned. on other subjects expect the president to face more questioning on syria policy and claims from the russian government that all civilians have left aleppo. the president will be pressed on plans to combat isis h. we can also expect he will tout the economic record he never misses a chance to do that. >> wow, to say there's evidence that putin interfered directly, you got to produce that. once you put that out there in an interview, people are going to want to see it. come back to you when the press conference begins.

president elect trump getting closer to filling out the key positions in his administration h. mr. trump meeting with several people in new york city today. including current homeland security jeh johnson. va and agricultural secretary post. chief white house correspondent is live at trump tower in new york city with more. herbal because they just don't feel like they've settled on the ideal candidate just now. in term terms of va leading candidate pete concerned veterans for america also fox news contributor. also look at beautiful otter governor of idaho for agricultural. looks like the transition team

is getting frustrated at the pace of trying to fill out positions. chiefs of staff from a number of different administrations getting together today including the new chief of staff, incoming chief of staff reince preiebus. bill neely, josh bolten was there. the idea of comradery between the current white house and the incoming president seems to be shaken just a little bit. the other day in wisconsin donald trump talked about how nice president obama and the first lady had been to him. now donald trump in a war of words with president obama's press secretary after josh earnest suggested yesterday that donald trump knew all about the russian hacking. trump responded to that last

night in hershey, pennsylvania. here's the back and forth between the two. listen. >> mr. trump obviously knew that russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity that was helping him and hurting secretary clinton's campaign. >> this foolish guy, josh earnest, i don't know if he's talking to president obama. you know, having the right press secretary is so important because he is so bad the way he delivers the message. he can deliver a positive message and it sounds bad. >> at a get together last night, hillary clinton blames james comey of fbi and russian hackers for her losing the election. kellyanne conway scoffed at that idea saying the big problem for the clinton campaign was that they never, ever stopped to consider the fact they just might lose the election. here's conway from a short time ago.

lack of awareness seeping into an argument about our intelligence. that we don't appreciate. we've likely seen the last of donald trump for a few weeks in new york city. heading to orlando tonight and then off to mobile alabama tomorrow. staying through the holidays where he'll continue the process of interviewing people for positions on his administration and filling out last two important cabinet positions of agricultural and veterans affairs. >> absolutely. thank you so much. retired four star marine general john kelly is preparing to take over as homeland security secretary. some are already calling him a possible force for moderation in mr. trump's cabinet. general kelly highlights diverse experience saying, quote, i've had the honor of serving with

the cia all over the world for my entire career. this includes iraq and latin america. joining me now is ken black. member of the trump transition team and former u.s. ambassador. thank you so much for joining us. let me read you more quote. this was an article that was written about general john kelly saying, quote. i think he will stop some of the more dangerous inclinations of id idealogical white house. >> the mainstream media and many on the left have it all backgrounds. they will in fact carry out the agenda of the president elect. then the president of the united states donald j trump.

as a consequence of that, i believe that, one, general kelly is very level headed. his tone is very genuine. he believes in law. he believes protecting our borders frl illegal drugs coming over as well as terrorists. as a consequence he in fact is focused on the safety of the american people, that is donald j trump, president trump, president to be trump's agenda. >> he wants to be tough on illegal immigration, but he sounds a compassionate tone when he's talking about why it's bad. he talks about the terrible things that happened to thousands of undocumented immigrants, especially children on their journey and saying particularly women or young ladies on the way up as they're trying to come into this country. he talks about why we need to stop it, but in a way that's compassionate that has to help. >> absolutely.

look, president elect trump won an election because he listened to the people. he didn't treat the majority of the americans being residents of flyover countries. he connected. one of the things he connected on was the american people not only wanting to get economy growing again and get back to work to meaningful jobs and family incomes that allow them to enjoy the prosperity of our country. they want to be safe in their neighbors. they want borders to matter. i just came back from australia. australia has reasonable immigration policies. they protect their borders. protect their people. they have a worker oriented immigration policy where they are key on growing their economy, but they want to make sure that they don't expand the welfare state. and that's exactly what we're

talking about with the trump agenda. it is getting america growing again. working again, and now growing the welfare state where what we see is more and more debt. >> yes. >> sir, thank you for coming on. we appreciate your insight today's. >> good to be with you. >> defense officials telling fox news that a chinese navy ship has stolen an american underwater drone in the south china sea. the pentagon says the u.s. ship was trying to retrieve two drones. near the philippines when the chinese warship took one of them away. the drone is designed to collect unclassified stein tiy eied sci issued a formal diplomatic complaint asking for the return. we'll stay on top of that one. president obama scheduled to deliver his final year end news

conference just moments from now. we're going to bring that to you live. public fact between the incoming and outgoing administration over russian hacking heats up and a war of words erupt. >> mr. trump was obviously aware of the fact that russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity and that will malicious cyber activity was having a negative impact on his opponents campaign and boosting his. you don't let anything keep you sidelined.

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new details now about a washington state officer shot in the head while on the job. a hospital official says that the 61-year-old mount vernon officer is listed in serious, but stable condition following surgery for a head wound. authorities say he was

responding to a shooting call last night when someone opened fire from inside a house. officers arrested three people following a standoff at that house. rising tensions between the current white house and the incoming administration. president elect trump has dismissed u.s. intelligence reports about russian interference in the election. while president obama has vowed retribution. we are waiting for president obama right now who is expected to come out and address specifically that. that is not the only public feud between the two teams. josh earnest accuses of the president elect of knowing about the entire time. where is all of this heading. the talk show host of the chris plant show. marjorie is a former consultant to the obama campaign and principle of consulting. thanks to both of your for

joining us. which i s talking about the fact that josh earnest has been pretty snarky coming out to the podium and talking about the fact of course trump knew about this. if that's true. we haven't seen the evidence. why do you think all of this has suddenly bubbled up to be so contention when everybody was getting along. >> i thought the trying to get along thing was a little phony in the first place. he's snarkky because he's angling were a job at cnbc or msn. they've been snarkky all oi long. they're pretending they're building -- and donald trump read in the newspaper with the rest of us there was hacking going on. to that extent, what josh said is true, but if we're looking to the explanation why hillary clinton lost and donald trump won, look no further than last night when donald trump was in hershey, pennsylvania with a sea of voters talking to them as though they're human beings and

riling up the crowd and getting laughs and having a good time. hillary clinton simultaneously was holed up behind closed doors and one of the world's most expensive banquet rooms with millionaires and billionaires thanking them for donations. it's a perfect contrast of the two campaigns and it's in a nutshell, it's why she lost and he won. >> marjorie, if you're an american sitting on the shrine watching this. you would have to be concerned about russian hacking wlvr it is. you would want to hear more about it and see the evidence and see an investigation. there's not a lot of time left in this administration. what do you think happens from here? >> i don't think the case isn't being made at this point. this is why she lost the election. did it influence the election, yes. that is not the debate. right now, you have 17 intelligence agencies pointing to clear evidence that there was russian involvement in our electoral process. i think the reason they want trump first to just acknowledge it and say, yes, we know that is

true. and also talk about how he will address it as president. that's the more important point. this metaling in the election is problematic on many, many levels, but this where does it end. if he then takes office, that means that, you know, we're basically not taking a stance on how we're going to deal with our cyber security with hacking and as it pertains to developing policy, how it influences our news and democracy. this is a bigger issue not just for electoral process, but how the government is run. it shows a little bit of disdain and pettiness to just not come out and say yes this is a fact. here's how we're going to deal with it. certainly having all that information from wikileaks come out day after day after day had influence on what people were thinking during the time they were voting. it was only one of the things that had tluns and nobody came

out and disputed the e-mails were real. it was out there that sad some influence over the election. can't we put that aside in the idea that we want to get to the bottom of what actually happened here as americans. >> sure. i think we do all want to get to the bottom of what happened here. i'm o feffended by russian metag also. this is a very tangled web we've got here. the podesta ooems. did that come from russians, no. didn't get any e-mails from russians. i don't know if i believe him or not, but there's a lot of stuff to untangle here. also 17 intelligence agencies have not weighed in independently on anything on this. coast guard negligence, dea, national space agency has not weighed in. the constant repetition of falsehoods have been a real problem during the course of this discussion. >> marjorie, real quick before

we go t president promised retribution now or retaliation on the way out the door. isn't that dangerous when he doesn't have a lot of time left and the next guy is going to be the one stuck with the fallout from that. >> you have a lot of people in office that will stay in their positions that are not guil political. this is a shift in how we operate and whether we're proactive. developing policies in this area is a new thing. this idea of hacking and cyber security is a new industry all in itself. what is going to be u.s. policy, and, you know, frankly it will be harder to dial back once we've gone there. trump already talked about a more aggressive military and basically defensive posture so i don't think it's going todeterr it is new for obama. that's a new thing for him to go out in that manner. >> we have to go. we'll get it next time. i promise you. >> we are awaiting remarks from president obama. the president holding first news conference since announcing the

u.s. would retaliate against russia over hacking claims. we will take you there live just as soon as it gets underway. generosity is its own form of power.

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get your mind out of the gutter. mornings are for coffee and contemplation. that was a really profound observation. you got a mean case of the detox blues. don't start a war you know you're going to lose. finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. on xfinity x1. dozens of protesters crowding the north carolina legislature in raleigh. they are demanding republicans stop all work on legislation that would limit the power of the incoming democratic governor. protesters chanting shame and waving signs. at least 16 people were arrested. now governor elect roy cooper says he's willing to fight those in court.

cooper will take office next month. >> the thin blue line officially nonexistent in one small indiana town after the entire police force resigned. trace gallagher live with more. quite a story, trace. >> reporter: in bunker hill indiana, it was kind of like dominos. first the marshal quit. then the four volunteering deputies quit. then the town had zero police presence. then the building commissioner resigned. one town board member submitted his resignation. acushioned the board of illegal, immoral and unethical actions. namely the board members were requesting confidential information and asking the marshal to conduct criminal background checks on other board members. the marshal did not name names publicly in his allegation, but there is more. not providing proper body armor and says when he was diagnosed with cancer, instead of standing

behind him, the board retaliated. watch. >> they came at me and said it's costing the town way too much money because of my insurance and they said we're going to take you down to part-time. >> former marshal also plans to file a lawsuit against the city. the board acknowledges some police department cutbacks were made because of funding shortage, but issues a statement saying the council denies it has ever asked mr. thomas or any reserve deputies to be involved in any illegal unethical or immoral actions. for now, the county deputies will try to protect the area until a new marshal is hired. of course, you're looking to build something in bunker hill indiana, you can't. there's no building commissioner anymore right now. >> wow, really something to clean up there thank you. president obama is supposed to be at the podium any second to give a news conference.

first time the american public hears directly from him. after the cia report detailing claims of russian hacking attempts in our election. plus powerful weather system causing frigid conditions across the u.s. chief meteorologist tells us when some parts of the country could see a warmup. and humanitarian groups rushing to get thousands of people out of war torn city of aleppo. why evacuations have now been stalled. >> allowing the outside regime, not allowing, the outside regime is allowing and the outside regime is aiding and abetting and the outside regime is actually carrying out nothing short of a massacre.

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tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. see me. see me. see me. on my way. find clear skin... and a clearer path forward. for a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. here's a look at headlines we are following. facebook taking new measures to crack down on so-called fake news. announcing partnerships with third party fact checkers to sort legitimate for made up stories. flag anything in question. the man guilty of a mass murder in a south carolina church has told the judge he wants to represent himself. as he faces the federal death sentence, he returns to court in january. self storage units experiencing a building boom. developers have spent more on them this year than ever. economists see it as a sign of healthy consumer spending.

evacuations in aleppo stalling. after the syrian government accused rebels of breaking the latest ceasefire. thousands of people have escaped the battered city so far, but tens of thousands remain trapped. a camp near the syrian border is being set up to shelter evacwees. turkey says it plans to continue to help the sick and wounded. not at this point. everything was suspended and halted earlier today. just as it seemed when the evacuation process and operation was picking up speed, it then came to really a screeching and jolting halt. that is because of renewed violence. syria's government said that rebel forces opened fire on a civilian convoy. the convoy of buses that we've been seeing over the last 24 hours. that was trying to leave aleppo,

but then rebel commanders and turkish officials blamed progovernment forces in particular. aligned wi eed with asads regim the back and forth that threatens to unravel the evacuation operations of tens of thousands of people. so far about 8,000 civilians have been evacuated from eastern aleppo. that according to various aide groups, but at least 50,000 people, men, women, children, many of them sick, many of them wounded, remain trapped in the eastern part of the city, melis melissa. >> is there any talk of a renewed ceasefire? >> well, that's the hope. that's something that secretary of state john kerry talked about yesterday that america, the u.s. wants to save as many lives at possible in aleppo and that includes bringing peace talks and renewing peace talks in

geneva. bringing turkey, russia, and syria back to the table, but he also added that really it's about syria's regime and assad's willingness to have peace as well. that's something that presumably president obama is going to be speaking about shortly when he gives his last news conference. as for ceasefire, as we've seen so often and as history as shown. many have fallen apart. really the question is really is it going to take one more spark to ignite the violence all over again. while the battle for aleppo may be coming to an end or may be at its end, doesn't mean the end of syria's civil war. melissa. >> john, thank you for that report. president obama promising a response to claims of russian hacking during the election. we can hear more about those plans any minute now when the president speaks during his final year end news conference. meanwhile, the kremlin is calling on the u.s. to produce

some proof of its claim. president elect trump saying he's not so sure about the hacking claims. chief intelligence correspondent catherine harris is live in washington with more on this one. a lot of people want to see the evidence at the same time shepard smith was reminding me a short time ago. you don't have to show that evidence. and if you do, you may be compromising what intelligence knows. >> that's right. meantime fox news has independently confirmed russian backed militias were targets as early as the summer of 2015. this operation involved interfere into the u.s. elections. these operations were sanctioned by the highest levels of the russian government. today a second republican chairman who has oversight with the intelligence community is back in washington and was here to meet with the homeland security nominee and told fox that when he asked for a briefing, the cia turned him down. i asked for a briefing are from

the cia this morning. they refused the briefing. i don't know what's up with that. quite honestly, i don't know you can sigh assuassume with a high confidence what any actor's mow ti motivings are. assessments into an already deeply policized election cycle. reviewed the techniques and procedures lempled and made the link to russia. the russian president blames hillary clinton for anti-putin demonstrations during his own elections in 2011. in the last few minutes, "the washington post" is now reporting that the cia has sent what is called a work force memo. this in some ways fujs functions as an unofficial press release. it's often leaked. has been the case here. the workforce memo states the

cia director tells employees the director and director of national intelligence oversight for the 17 agencies are on the same page. the russians sought to interfere in an effort to help one party in this case, donald trump. >> the current homeland security has weighed in? >> we heard from last night in washington secretary jeh johnson. he was very clear the hacking did not change the vote count, but when it came to the impact on public opinion. he said that was something that was simply not known to him. we see no evidence that hacking by any actor altered the ballot count or any cyber actions that deprived people of voting. whether the disclosures that were made that we pointed out in

our october 7 statement altered public opinion is not -- that's beyond my level of expertise. >> today the republican chairman of the senate intelligence committee released this statement that his committee will follow the investigation wherever the information leads. senator richard burr said his committee which is the most senior with oversight on the hill will review all the intelligence that was the basis of the october 7 statement that blamed russia. he'll also review the cyber activity during the election period and also more broadly and interview outgoing and incoming administration officials about their experience and their knowledge of the cyber threat from russia and he also indicated that he will issue subpoenas if individuals are unwilling to come up and testify, melissa. >> wow, the president talked about responding. sorry. catherine hang on there. we hear that the president is -- sorry go ahead.

this is fox news coverage of what is likely to be president obama's final news conference before leaving office. a live look at the white house briefing room where the president is set to take the podium at any moment. it's been an annual tradition for him to speak to reporters before jetting off with the first family to spend christmas in hawaii. this year is quite difference for a number of reasons. the president is leaving office in a little more than a month. his party's candidate lost to washington outsider donald trump in one of the biggest upsets in political history. president obama's proxy war with russia we expect syria national

public radio news this morning his administration will retaliate against russia. after all 17 american intelligence agency reports and the fbi now agrees fox fluz chief russian government and multiple news organizations report vladimir putin himself was personally involved. this is the most wonderful press conference of the year. i've got a list of whose been naughty and nice to call on, but let me first make a couple of quick points then i'll take your questions. typically i use this year end

press conference to review how far we've come over the course of the year. today, understandably i'm going to talk a little bit about how far we've come over the past eight years. as i was preparing to take office, the unemployment rate was on the way to 10%. today it's at 4.6%. the lowest in nearly a decade. we've seen the longest streak of job growth on record. and wages have grown faster over the past few years than at any time in the past 40. when i came into office 44 million people were uninsured. today we have covered more than 20 million of them. for the first time in our history, more than 90% of americans are insured. in fact, yesterday was the biggest day ever for health care more are signing up by the day. we've cut or deposition on foreign oil by more than half.

doubled production of renewable energy. enacted the most sweeping reform to protect consumers to prevent a crisis on wall street ever again. none of these actions stifled growth. critics predicts. instead the stock market has nearly tripled. since i signed obamacare into law, our business has batted more than 15 million new jobs. the economy is undoubtedly more durable than it was the days we relied on oil from unstable nations and banks took risky bets with your money. add it all up, and last year the poverty rate fell as the fastest rate in almost 50 years. while the median household income grew at the fastest rate on record. invest, income gains were actually larger for households at the bottom and the middle than for those at the top. we have done all this while cutting our deficits by nearly two-thirds and protecting

violate investments that grow the middle class. in foreign policy, when i came into office, we were in the midst of two wars. now, nearly 180,000 troops are down to 15,000. bin laden, rather than being at large, has been taken off the battlefield along with thousands of other terrorists. over the past eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed an attack on our homeland that was directed from overseas. threw diplomacy we without going to war with iran. we opened up a new chapter with the people of cuba. and we brought nearly 200 nations together around the climate agreement that could very well save this planet for our kids. and almost every country on

earth sees america as stronger and more respected today tha ei in other words, by so many measures our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started. the situation i'm proud to leave for my successor. and it's thanks to the american people. for the hard work that you put in, the sacrifices you made for your families and the communities, and the businesses you started on in invested in, the way you looked out for one another and i could not be prouder to be your president. of course this progress doesn't mean we're not mindful of how much more there is too do. in the season in particular, we're reminded that there are people who are still hungry. people who are still homeless. people who have trouble paying bills or finding work at being laid off. there are communities that are still mourning those who have been stolen from us by senseless

gun violence and parents who still are wondering how to protect their kids. and after i leave office, i intend to continue to work with organizations and citizens doing good across the country on these and other pressing, to build on the progress that we have made. around the world as well. hot spots where disputes have been conflicts have flared up and people, innocent people are suffering as a result. nowhere is this more tesh o t h tesh. for years we've worked to stop the world as we peek is united in horror at the savage assaults by the syrian regime and russia and iranian allies on the city of aleppo. we have seen a deliberate strategy of surrounding

besieging and starving innocent civilians. we have seen relentless targeting of humanitarian workers and preston wilson personnel. entire neighbors reduced to rubble and dust. there are continuing reports of civilians being executed. knees are all horrific violations of international law. responsibility for this brutality lies in one place alone. with the assad regime and allies russia and iran. this blood and these atrocities are on their hands. there needs to be an impartial international observe reports in aleppo. they can help coordinate an orderly evacuation through safe corrid corridors. there has to be full access for humanitarian aid. even as the united states continues to be the world's largest donor of humanitarian aid to syrian people and beyond that there needs to be a broader ceasefire that can serve as the basis for a political rather than a military solution.

that's what the united states is going to continue to push for both with our partners and through multilateral institutions like the u.n. regretfully, but unsfriezingly. we're going to keep pressing the security counsel to help improve the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in such separate need and ensure accountability continuing to monitor potential use of chemical weapons in syria. we're going to work in the u.n. general assembly as well, both on accountability and to advance a political settlement. because it should be clear that although you may achieve a tactical victories over the long-term, the assad regime cannot slaulgter its way to legitimacy. that's why i will continue to press for a transition to a more representative government. and that's why the world must not avert our eyes to the

terrible events that are unfolding. the syrian regime and its russian and iran than allies are trying to of ifskate the truth. the world shall no be fooled and the world will not forget. so the season where the incredible blessings we know as americans are all around us. even as we enjoy family and friends and a are reminded of how lucky we are. to be an american involves bearing burdens and meeting obligations to others. american values and american ideals are what will lead the way. to a safer and more prosperous 2017. both here and abroad. if you embody the ideals like our brave men and women in uniform and their families.

i just want to close by wishing all of them a very merry christmas and a happy new year. with that, i will take some questions and i'm going to start with josh letterman of ap. >> thank you mr. president. there's a concession you're letting vladimir putin get away with interfering with the election. the response that we know about or look back review are you prepared to call out president putin by name for ordering the tactic and do you agree with what hillary clinton now said that the hacking was actually partially responsible for her loss? if you're open for trump and his team with these issues tarnishing the smooth transition of power that you have promised. >> first of all with respect to the transition, i think they would be the first to acknowledge that we had done everything we can to make sure

that they are successful. that will continue. and it's just been a few days since i last talked to the president elect about a whole range of transition issues. that cooperation is going continue. there hasn't been a lot of squabbling. we have said is the facts, which are that based on uniform intelligence assessments, the russians were responsible for hacking the dnc, and that as a consequence, it is important for us to review all elements of that and make sure that we are preventing that kind of interference through cyber attackness the future. that should be a bipartisan issue. shouldn't be a partisan issue. and my hope is that the president-elect is going to

similarly be concerned with making sure that we don't have potential foreign influence in our election process. don't think any american wants that. and that shouldn't be a source of argument. i think that part of the challenge is it gets caught up in the carryover from election season, and i think it is very important for us to distinguish between the politics of the election and the need for us as a country, both from a national security perspective but also in terms of the integrity of our election system and democracy, to make sure that we don't create a political football here. now, with respect to how this thing unfolded last year, heat go through the facts quickly.

at the beginning of the summer, we were alerted to the possibility that the dnc has been hacked, and i immediately order law enforcement as well as our intelligence teams to find out everything about it, investigate it thoroughly, to brief the potential victims of this hacking, to brief on a bipartisan basis the leaders of both the house and senate, and the relevant intelligence committees, and once we had clarity and certainty around what in fact had happened, we publicly announced that in fact russia had hack into the dnc. and at that time we did not attribute motives or any

interpretations of why they had done so. we didn't discussion what the effects of it might be. we simply let people know, the public know, just as we let members of congress know, this happened. and as a consequence all of you wrote a lot of stories about both what had happened and then you interpreted why that might have happened and what effect it was going to have on the election outcomes. we did not, and the reason we did not was because in the type of partisan atmosphere, at a time when my primary concern was making sure that the integrity of election process was not in any way damaged, at a time when anything that was said by me or anybody in the white house would immediately be seen through a

partisan lens. i wanted to make sure that everybody understood we were praying this straight, not trying to advantage one side or the other, but let people know this had taken place and so if you started seeing effects on the election, if you were trying to measure why this was happening and how you should consume the information being leaked, that you might want to take this into account. and that's exactly how we should have handled it. imagine if we had done the opposite? it would become immediately just one more political scrum, and part of the goal here was to make sure that we did not do the work of the leakers for them by raising more and more questions about the integrity of the election, right before the election was taking place, as a time, by the way, when the president-elect himself was raising questions about the

integrity of the election, and finally, i think it's worth pointing out that the information was already out. it was in the hands of kick -- wikileaks, so that was going to come out no matter what. what i was concerned about in particular was making sure that wasn't compounded by potential hacking that could hamper both -- affect the actual election process itself, and so in early september, when i saw president putin in china, felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didn't happen was to talk to him direct live. and tell him to cut it out there. would be serious consequences if he didn't. in fact, we did not see further tampering of the election process, but the leak through wikileaks already occurred.

so, when i look back in terms of how we handled it, i think we handled it the way it should have been handled. we allowed law enforcement and the intelligence community to do its job, without political influence. we briefed all relevant parties involved in terms of what was taking place. when we had a consensus around what happened we announced it, not through the white house, not through me bit rather through the intelligence communities that cared out the investigations and then we allowed you and the american public to make an assessment as to how to weigh that going into the election. and the truth is, there was nobody here who didn't have some sense of what kind of effect it might have. i'm finding it a little curious everybody is acting surprise that this looked like it was

disadvantaging hillary clinton because you guys wrote about it every e every day. every single leak. about every little juicy tidbit of political gossip. including john podesta -- this was an obsession that dominated the news coverage. so, i do think it's worth us reflecting how it is that a presidential election of such importance, of such moment, with so many big issues at stake, and such a contrast between the candidates, came to be dominated by a bunch of these leaks. what is it about our political system that made is vulnerable to these kinds of potential manipulations, which as i said publicly before were not

sophisticated. this was not some elaborate, complicated espionage scheme. they hacked into some democratic party e-mails that contained pretty routine stuff, some of it embarrassing or uncomfortable because i suspect if any of us got our e-mails hacked into there might be some things we wouldn't want suddenly appearing ton the front page of a newspaper or tell -- telecast, even if there weren't anything illegal or comfort below it. then -- controversial about it. and then it just took off and that concerns me and should concern all of us. but the truth of the matter is that everybody had the information. it was out there and we happened it the way we should have.

now, moving forward, i think there are a couple issues that this raises. number one is just the constant challenge we are going to have with cyber security. we'll a digitalized culture and i there is hacking going on every single day. not a company or major organization, not a financial institution, not a branch of our government, where somebody is not going to be' fishing for something or try to put in a virus or malware. this is why for the last eight years i have been obsessed how to continually upgrade our cyber security systems, and this particular concern around russian hacking is part of a broader set of concerns about how to deal with cyber issues

being used in ways that can affect our infrastructure, affect the stability of our financial systems, and affect the integrity of our institutions like our election process. i just received a couple weeks back -- wasn't widely reported on -- a report from our cyber security commission that outlines a whole range of strategies to do a better job on this. but it's difficult because it's not all housed -- the target of cyber attacks is not one entity but it's widely disbursed and a lot of private like the dnc. we can't tell people what to do. we can inform them, get best practices. what we can also do is to, on a bilateral basis, warn other