good morning, america. explosive allegations, news this morning that the fbi shared unsubstantiated reports that donald trump, he was personally compromised by the russians, claims he was filmed during a visit to moscow. russia denies it this morning and the president-elect lashes out calling it fake news, a political witch-hunt. his senior adviser, kellyanne conway, joins us live as trump faces his first press conference since the election this morning. flooding disaster. a major winter storm slamming the west, forcing high-water rescues and mandatory evacuations overnight as snow piles up. this avalanche spilling into a california home. and cars spinning out on icy roads in the midwest. abc news exclusive. charlie sheen like you've never seen him before. one on one a year after his hiv

diagnosis, how do you feel? how it's changed his life. and what he has to say about that bizarre behavior. >> i'm on a drug. it's called charlie sheen. it's fun to kind of watch sometimes but also a little bit cringeable. >> what he's revealing this morning. >> sorry. >> only on "gma." saying good-bye. president obama delivering his final address to the nation as president, thanking the country for his eight years in office. >> you made me a better president. and you made me a better man. >> warning about the forces that have the potential to drive us apart but hopeful about america's future. >> yes, we can. yes, we did. yes, we can. >> the emotional farewell. and we do say good morning, america, on this wednesday morning and president obama delivering that emotional speech

in his adopted hometown of chicago last night. >> very different kind of farewell address. you saw him in front of that have crowd of 20,000 people. but he did and what came on the national stage, that emotional moment there. that's when he was talking about michelle obama. even got malia to tear up but the theme was hope, that's what first drove him on to the national stage. >> he is leaving the same way he came in, with a lot of grace and a lot of dignity. >> but the transition of power does continue. >> it does. >> president-elect trump preparing for his first press conference as president-elect today. there's the trump tower here in new york expected around 11:00 a.m. this morning. we'll carry that live and talk to kellyanne conway in just a moment. >> she's live right here in our studio. but first, gelet's get to tt breaking news. abc news confirming donald trump was briefed by u.s. intelligence officials about unconfirmed claims he was targeted in a russian effort to personally compromise him. this morning russia and trump are firing back. abc's chief investigative correspondent brian ross is here and has all the details. good morning, brian.

>> reporter: good morning. donald trump and his aides are angrily denouncing the unsubstantiated reports developed by democratic operatives he was personally compromised by the russians in the most salacious way and that his aides were in league with the kremlin to set up the hacking of the democratic party. fake news, he tweeted. a total political witch-hunt. the allegations are supposedly from anonymous sources deep inside the kremlin talking to a former british spy, all contained in a detailed dossier, the democratic operatives gave to the fbi in august. and then later to news organizations, including abc news. >> russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about mr. trump. >> reporter: trump's nominee for attorney general, senator jeff sessions, was asked about the claims on tuesday. >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. >> reporter: among the claims being challenged this morning that trump lawyer michael cohen was part of an ongoing secret

lee ya zon relationship between the new york tycoon's campaign and russian leadership, and met in prague in august 2016. cohen denied the allegations, telling abc news, i've never been in prague in my life. other allegations from the democratic researchers revolve around trump's travel to moscow for a miss universe contest in 2013 and whether the russians filmed him with prostitutes to be able to blackmail him if they so wished. the dossier provides no backup evidence. but the claims are hard to igno ignore. >> this makes some claims that need to be investigated. there's no question. >> reporter: the reports gain currency in intelligence circles as trump continued his unrestrained praise of vladimir putin during the campaign. >> i respect putin. he is a strong leader. >> reporter: and his ongoing defense of russia over the hacking of the democrats. >> i don't think anybody knows it was russia that broke into the dnc. >> reporter: trump was told about the allegations last week

in the classified briefing he received from the heads of american spy agencies and the fbi. senator john mccain handed over a copy of the allegations to fbi director jim comey last month. allegations officials say are just too explosive to ignore. if true, they are a grave national security issue. if false, one of the great political smears of all time, robin. >> russia is already weighing in. >> this morning the kremlin says it's nonsense and called it pulp fiction. of course they also denied hacking the democratic party. >> that's true, thank you. let's talk about it with trump's senior adviser kellyanne conway. welcome back. >> hi, george. >> we just heard brian say that the officials did tell mr. trump about this last week. did he have any questions about it? >> first of all that cannot be verified. it is a classified briefing and we should be concerned we have, quote, intelligence officials divulging information in unsourced, unnamed fashion to the rest of us. and, frankly, i think this is a very big moment for the media. are we actually going to continue to cover fake news and uncorroborated, unsubstantiated

reports as was just said in the event -- >> these were unsubstantiated. >> did an entire segment on it. it's unsubstantiated, uncorroborated. this is a report from the internet. this is not a report from the intelligence community. these 35 pages rife with misspellings. completely unviewerifunverified. >> i take your point but it becomes news if the intelligence officials did, indeed present this information to the president-elect trump and president obama, as well. >> george, they can't -- we don't know that for a very simple reason. nobody is allowed to talk about what occurs in these intelligence briefings. i mean, just to smear the president-elect of the united states we now have intelligence officials divulging information that they are sworn not to divulge. we should all be very concerned about that and i don't even think this is fake news. i think it's just fake. i would take the news word right out of it. >> you say it's fake. is this a categorical denial of everything in the dossier, are you sure that no one associated with mr. trump or your campaign met with russian officials during the campaign? >> i certainly didn't.

i wasn't talking to moscow. i was talking to people in macomb county, michigan. that's how we won. i talked -- i was with michael cohen last night and the president-elect and other advisers. michael cohen has never been to prague. we looked at his passport. he was at usc with his son meeting with the baseball coach there when this, quote, dossier, very weighty, important-sounding word, that i would also push back on as an internet report. there's a lot of crap on the internet as we all know and he was in california not in moscow, not in prague. i mean that alone -- dragging through the mud innocent people as a way to add some flourish to what is already an unsubstantiated record is troubling. >> we did show mr. cohen's denial. i was asking a different question. are you sure no one associated with the campaign met with any russian officials during -- >> that is our understanding. absolutely. there would be no reason to. there would be no reason for us to. it's not how we won this campaign. it had nothing to do with donald trump's historic win and, frankly, has nothing to do with

why hillary clinton lost. vladimir putin didn't discourage her from competing in wisconsin and michigan. her campaign spent more money in georgia and arizona than they did in michigan and wisconsin. >> i bet they are regretting that. >> this nonsense from the internet does not bother us. >> at the hearing senator sessions said he has no reason to doubt the intelligence community's bottom line conclusion that president putin ordered and influenced a campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. so does president-elect trump now accept that conclusion? >> well, you can read his statement from last friday. he made a couple things clear including that. >> lumped in china as well. >> because they've hacked 21 million records of innocent americans who had their information through the federal government at the opm, the office of personnel management, 21 million americans having their personal, private chinese. and i don't remember president obama doing more than slapping them on the wrist. >> but does president-elect trump accept the conclusion russia was behind this? >> he accepts the fact that russia and china and north korea and others have tried to hack but what we want everybody to know and accept there is zero,

i mean zero nexus between any alleged attempt to disrupt our democracy and swing the election results. and succeeded in doing so. there was no smoking gun. mr. clapper -- >> the way you answered, you lumped in china and others again. i'm saying does he accept the conclusion -- >> he accepts the conclusion people are hacking all the time. >> but russia was behind it. >> russia was unsuccessful in their attempt. i think it was also called they aspired and attempted to influence our democracy and they failed. and i'll tell you what, a lot of people in the mainstream media, maybe not here, but a lot of people in the main stream media interfered with the election in trying to help hillary clinton win and they, too, failed. >> what do you mean by that? >> oh, my god, george. there's never been -- unprecedented deluge of criticism and rumors and innuendos against donald trump. there was an active campaign by many in the media against him in his effort to win the presidency. he overcame that and i, frankly, think the media helped us. because it was an anteelitist election. >> you think reporting on donald trump was an activity -- >> yes, i think, yes, i think we

can evidence that. i'm happy to come up with the evidence that every headline, the race is over, he has no path to victory, he's going to take the house and senate down with him. we were just ignored on great days we were ignored. on most days we were mork cked. and there was an active, active -- really -- an ongoing, active effort by many in the main stream media to help hillary clinton win. and they misled their viewers and their readers by telling them she would. >> we will watch the press conference today. kellyanne conway, thanks for coming. overnight, president obama giving that emotional farewell address as president in front of his family and that huge crowd in chicago and abc's tom llamas was there. good morning, tom. >> reporter: michael, good morning to you. the president breaking tradition not delivering that farewell address in d.c. but right here in chicago, the city where he got his start in politics and, of course, where eight years ago he delivered his victory speech when he became the first arn

americ african-american president. that speech last night, powerful. uplifting and at one point the president getting very emotional. president obama on his home turf in chicago saying good-bye from where it all started for him. >> this is where i learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved and they get engaged and they come together to demand it. >> reporter: the president celebrating his victory. >> if i had told you eight years ago that america would reverse a great recession, take out the mastermind of 9/11, win marriage e wall equality, and secure thet to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens, if i had told you all that, you might have said our sights were set a little too high. >> reporter: the president seeming to take shots at some of president-elect trump's policies and positions. >> if we're unwilling to invest in the children of immigrants just because they don't look like us, we will diminish the prospects of our own children.

that's why i reject discrimination against muslim-americans. who are just as patriotic as we are. >> reporter: rallying his supporters to fight for change. >> if you're tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try talking with one of them in real life. if something needs fixing, then lace up your shoes and do some organizing. >> reporter: the president then moving to the first lady. >> you took on a role you didn't ask for. and you made it your own. with grace and with grit and with style and good humor. >> reporter: wiping away tears while speaking about his family, telling his daughters -- >> you have become two amazing young women. you are smart and you are beautiful but more importantly you are kind and you are thoughtful and you are full of passion. >> reporter: the president ending his remarks with a play on that mantra that helped him get to the white house. >> yes, we can.

yes, we did. yes, we can. thank you, god bless you. >> reporter: and after the speech, as he was flying back to washington on his last official trip aboard air force one at commander in chief, he sent out this tweet. posting thank you for everything. my last ask is the same as my first. i'm asking you to believe. not in my ability to create change, but in yours. a powerful statement. many supporters telling me last night, this is not the last we have heard of the obamas. guys, back to you. >> thank you, tom. and you saw the first lady and you saw malia obama and everybody said where is sasha? he talked about his daughter, as well. mystery solved. we found out she was back at the white house studying for a test that she has this morning. >> priorities, man. come on. >> being first daughter doesn't get you out of a test. >> a lot of people were asking that. we also saw the picture, the family photo michelle obama posted last night.

she tweeted last night talking about how proud she is of all that they had accomplished as a family together, these eight years, and finishing by -- i love you, barack. >> sasha and malia, saying she stayed home and studied for her test. let's talk to jon karl about this. right now there were so many different speeches in one last night for president obama. but one of the things at the heart of it is we remember him coming on the national scene, what values holds all americans together. he was talking last night about what drives them apart. >> this is his obama realist speech. he believes essentially american democracy, something is fundamental as that is under assault right now. he's worried about racial divisions, political divisions. he's worried about so much of what was behind the election. he never directly attacks donald trump, but it was a pretty profound warning and, george, overwhelmingly it was the message i am not going away. he's going to be around here. >> he's been pretty open about the fact that the election results in november have changed his plans going forward about

how involved to be. meanwhile, the news of the day we just talked to kellyanne conway about these allegations about donald trump. you heard what senator sessions said yesterday in his hearing about the russians. and a big, big hearing today. rex tillerson, president-elect trump's nominee for secretary of state. he'll get those exact questions, as well. >> you know, a few weeks ago i would have said rex tillerson is probably the one that will be attacked hardest. this will be a tough hearing. but tillerson has been telling senators privately that he understands that russia is a threat, that he will be tough on russia despite the fact that as the ceo of exxonmobil he had dealings with russia. he was close to putin because he was, in effect, a business partner on a lot of projects. but we have seen excerpts of his speech, of his opening remarks, and he talks about how russia poses a danger. and that our allies are right to be alarmed by the fact that russia is trying to be a resurgent russia in the region. >> boy, so much pent up demand for the president-elect to have

at the press conference today. >> this was supposed to be about his business dealings, originally. we haven't had a full-blown press conference from donald trump since july. a lot of questions. >> we will cover it at 11:00 a.m. eastern. we'll be here later this morning. now we have to move on. yes, we move on from politics to that dangerous weather out west. thousands are being told to evacuate from those floods in california. kayna whitworth is in the middle of it all. good morning, kayna. >> reporter: hey, robin, good morning, the russian river is rising again for a second time this week. already the floodwaters have impacted 500 homes in the area and prompted evacuations and rescues. it was just yesterday an 83-year-old woman had to be rescued from her home right nearby. now, this is already the biggest rain event that this area has had in more than a decade. and we have more rain on the way. now, on top of the rising waters, officials tell me they are very concerned about the high winds in the forecast. they say this ground is saturated and that could be a problem for the big redwoods in

the area. >> oh, sad to hear that. thank you very much. we'll hear from ginger in a moment. first amy with the other top stories starting with that emission scandal at volkswagen. >> that's right, volkswagen is close to agreeing on a major settlement in that emissions cheating scandal plaguing the company. a $4.3 billion settlement could be approved as soon as today. the company is expected to plead guilty to some criminal charges. well, a judge today will formally sentence dylann roof to death for the charleston church massacre. a jury took less than three hours to agree on the sentence. the self-proclaimed white supremacist becomes the first person sentenced to die for a federal hate crime. dozens gathered at a vigil in orlando to remember a police officer killed in the line of duty. the reward for information leading to the suspect in the murder of master sergeant debra clayton is now $100,000. well, another major retailer is announcing layoffs. walmart is expected to cut hundreds of jobs by the end of the month. many of them in human resources.

and finally proof everyone needs a good break these days. there is now a 900-person wait list for what's being called goat yoga classes. this is happening in oregon. that's where you can practice yoga while friendly goats wander around you. not kidding. >> really? >> yeah, not kidding with this one. >> not kidding? really? >> 900 people waiting. whatever floats your goat. >> you wanted to use that pun today. >> i was like "kidding." i love last month in december they called it holiday goat yoga. >> oh. there's name for it. >> something for everybody. >> you see ginger's expression. what is going on out west? >> the goats are cold in portland, oregon. they had more than eight inches of snow. a big deal for them. look at this at mammoth mountain, 15 feet in the last six days. they haven't seen an event like this in more than a decade and, yes, it is helping the drought but certainly not ending it yet. there is the current storm. it's going to move out and the new storm that's going to drop even more rain as kayna was

saying, that russian river still rising. your local weather in 30 seconds. first the snowy cities brought to you by burlington.

coming up that "gma" exclusive, charlie sheen going one on one with michael. a year after his hiv diagnosis. >> i feel like i'm carrying the torch for a lot of folks suffering from the same thing, you know. >> how it changed his life. ming on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo is specifically designed to open up airways to improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid.

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it's fun to kind of watch sometimes but also a little bit cringeable. it's like, dude, what the hell was that? >> have you ever looked back and said what was i thinking? >> oh, hell, yeah. >> i imagine. charlie sheen speaking out about his past, exclusive one on one with you, michael. we'll have much more on that in a moment. how is he doing? >> he said he's feeling good. he looks good and he's open and he's honest as you can tell from those comments right there and that's just a piece of it. >> he's creating words, cringeable. >> cringeable. >> made me cringe a little. >> yeah. also right now. let's take a live look at trump tower. that is where the president-elect is set to give his first formal press conference since the election, since actually july and comes amid those bombshell allegations that the fbi shared unsubstantiated reports with donald trump that he was

personally compromised by the russians. russia firing back this morning. they're denying it calling it nonsense and trump tweeted moments ago that the report is, quote, very unfair. >> we'll be carrying that press conference. >> 11:00. >> and you know we've all been on flights that have gotten delayed. >> sure. >> you sat there for awhile but imagine waiting seven hours to take off. >> imagine how you'd be feeling in those seven hours. well, we could ask new york senator al d'amato how he was feeling. we know he wasn't too happy. his frustration caught on camera. he actually got kicked off the plane. we'll talk to him all about it live coming up. >> he wasn't going to take it anymore. >> power to the people. >> that's true. he was rallying the plane. we'll talk to him about that. we got to begin with this. michael, you and charlie sheen. >> yes, george, he did not hold back on anything. he's known for speaking his mind and his new movie "mad families" it is just like he is. pushing the envelope on what people expect from a hollywood star and being extremely open and honest about the diagnosis that changed his life.

tiger blood. >> okay. >> adonis dna. >> okay. >> does that guy still exist? not too long ago, these were the words that personified charlie sheen. for decades he's remained a hollywood fixture on screen and in the party scene. but it was the announcement of his hiv diagnosis about a year ago that would change his life forever. how do you feel? >> i feel really good. i feel really good. i am so grateful. for eight months now, i've been enrolled in an fda study for a medication for a drug called pro 140 that's in the late stages of its trial run. we are very close to being approved. and it is not this hideous cocktail that leads to so many side effects, emotionally and physically, it's one shot a week. it's going well and i feel like i'm carrying the torch for a lot of folks out there that are suffering from the same thing, you know. >> and all of in that happened,

has there been a silver lining? >> yeah, yeah, yeah, the day i was diagnosed, i immediately wanted to eat a bullet. but my mom was there. i wouldn't do that in front of her. or have her find me to clean up that mess. but then something else came over me. and they gave me a handful of pills and said, you can go home now and you're going to live. if i was there with brain cancer or some stomach thing or meningitis, we might not be sitting here right now so i'm so grateful for what was available when it happened and even more grateful for what's available right now and i'm in the middle of it, you know. >> so you kind of put everything into perspective. >> yeah, it did. i can feel the future with this thing. and it's much bigger and more important than i am, you know. >> yeah. how has your life changed now? >> uh, yeah. >> are you happy where you are? >> like all of us, some days are better than others. but most days are pretty frickin' cool. >> yeah. >> just i walk out in the world

and it's just warm hugs and compliments and there's nothing but love out there right now. >> love is good. >> nothing but love out there. >> everybody needs love. love gets you through a lot of stuff. >> yeah, it does. i'm on a drug. it's called charlie sheen. >> whether or not that old tiger blood charlie still exists -- >> i'm a high priest vatican assassin warlock. he has to because i think ultimately in our blueprint, in our dna i believe that we are the sum total of all of our experiences, good and bad, you know. but they don't lead the charge. it's fun to kind of watch sometimes but also just a little bit cringeable. man, i was banging seven gram rocks and finishing them because that's how i roll, one speed, i have one gear. go. it's like, dude, what the hell was that? >> have you ever looked back and said what was i thinking? >> oh, hell, yeah. and i was doing way too much

testosterone cream. >> ah. >> yeah, trying to keep the libido up. it metabolizes into a basically a 'roid rage. that whole odyssey was basically an -- a accidental roid but there's some good quotes that came out of it. >> there's some great quotes that came out. >> great moments. >> some of the most quoted moments. >> so bizarre. so bizarre. so bizarre. >> where do you see yourself in ten years? >> here's what i do know, i'll still be here and that just might upset a few folks. >> hmm. >> always open, always charlie. he does not change for anybody. you can see more of my interview with charlie sheen in our next hour. we have more. and he's opening up about his family. the house is full of pictures of his kids, his mother, and everyone. and we'll talk about his new movie as well. >> he still has that edgy energy but he looks so different. >> looks so different. >> i think he looks better. >> yeah. >> his family really helped him get through that difficult time. >> absolutely. >> okay, more coming up. coming up on our big board

our legal team is here for two big stories. look at them. sunny, yes. yes, dan, a best buy bombshell has the fbi been using members of the geek squad as paid informants? and a bank robbery live streamed on facebook. should there be a social media crackdown? we're back in two minutes. come on back. minutes. come on back. t him on a coffee . alright. i've got your latte... large coffee with cream... and your favorite, mocha. oh, where do you guys get your coffee? you gave me way too much money. he's good. make a mccafé run instead. for a limited time get any size coffee, freshly brewed every 30 minutes, for one dollar. or a delicious small mocha, latte or hot chocolate for two dollars. wake up and win the day.

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we're already talking about it, back now with our big board and we've got our legal eagles. dan abrams and sunny hostin here at the table with us. let's start, okay, with that best buy bombshell. are there ties between the geek squad and the fbi? a new probe is under way after court filings allege the feds were using some technicians as paid informants. this is some big stuff here. a lot of people hand over their computers. and this all stems from a probe in california, a doctor there, about child pornography. >> yep. >> he put in a plea of not guilty. tell people more. >> basically the doctor goes in, wants his computer fixed.

goes to best buy, best buy takes it, says we need to take it, send it to kentucky to fix it. the doctor signs document that says if there is child pornography on here, it's going to be reported to the authorities. okay. so, in kentucky, they then look at the computer and lo and behold, what do they find? child pornography. the doctor is charged with the crime. two issues, number one, was the geek squad effectively working with the fbi? meaning, were they an arm of the fbi at that point? and, number two, where it was found on the computer. it was found on what's called unallocated space, meaning it's the place where people put deleted items. it could have been something where he had gotten the computer from someone else, there's no control over it at that point. so those are the two key legal questions in the case. now but the most interesting one is this question of whether the geek squad is effectively working as arms of the fbi. >> that and i think it raises a lot of questions about privacy issues when you hand over your

computer, how does it protect you from unreasonable searches? which would be the argument. >> the fourth amendment protects us from the government coming into our homes and going through our effects and cars but we've all said, all three of you, handing over the computer. right. not only did he hand over the computer, he signed a document waiving his rights under the fourth amendment. i was a prosecutor that prosecuted child sex crimes, internet trafficking, and law enforcement officers need help. and there are mandatory reporters all the time. cops, teachers, why not the geek squad. the geek squad in my view are heroes in this case and there's just no question about it. you got child pornography on your computer. why are you handing it over? >> there are some that feel there has to be a line drawn. >> the question becomes were they just good citizens, meaning did they see it and then report it? or were they intentionally searching for it and that becomes the key legal question because if they were

intentionally searching for it -- >> heroes. >> i'm kind of leaning towards sunny. child pornography. >> defending a broad legal principle against child pornography is going to be a tough fight to win. but it's not as easy as it may seem. >> a whole different look at a geek squad. >> yeah. >> kind of cool actually. and, you know, we have another story we want to talk to you about, the bizarre bank robbery live-streamed on face book. a man claimed to be armed with a bomb reportedly taking his uber driver hostage, forcing the driver the record the robbery. and now that video is part of a police investigation. and i just have a question for you, sunny. disturbing video of a young man being tortured on facebook live, and now you have this. do these social media platforms, do they have any responsibility to crack down on what's being put out? >> look, i think it's really difficult to police the internet, to -- you know, it's sort of the wild, wild west and takes the law a long time to catch up with technology. so, no, third party host, if

they don't have responsibility for what's being posted because that would be too much. but once they're put on notice that this stuff is happening then i think we want good corporate citizens and want them to do something and seen that all the time. i did a report for "nightline" airbnb. there was discrimination. once they found it was happening they put systems in place to make hour it didn't happen. match.com, other websites now have child -- there were predators on it but what did they do? they put in systems in place, so background checks now for people that are on dating websites is what we want. we don't want to shut down these companies. >> when it comes to live, when it comes to something going out live, i don't know what you want to do. i mean, basically then you're going to say, look, we can't let individuals do anything live. >> that's true. >> so it becomes a question. that's a separate issue. you could puppish someone after the fact. you can say, look, that person won't be allowed to use our platform again. >> maybe cut the feed. maybe cut the feed. >> by the way, good for law enforcement. hey, you guys want to videotape

your crimes, terrific. we can catch you now and you know we've got evidence. i mean -- >> when you think of the billions and billions and billions, it's hard to police all of that. >> it's a constant. >> i mean -- >> you can't. you can't and that's why you're not going to see, i don't think, policing particularly of live. you may see people say this person will be banned, et cetera, but the whole live thing is a totally new game. totally new game. >> agree on that. >> it's amazing what people post. it really is. >> it is amazing. i'm sure people are going to post this. can we get a shoe cam? this is important stuff. come on. those shoes are giving me life. sunny's shoes are giving me life. >> cute. >> just had to do it. >> is it that simple? always. coming up in two minutes, that flight frustration. that former senator kicked off a plane. now he's joining us live with his side of the story. yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila!

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we'll hear from him after gio benitez brings us the details. good morning, gio. >> reporter: george, good morning to you. imagine the kind of frustration you feel after being delayed and delayed again at an airport. that's what happened to the former senator and when he spoke up, he was kicked off. this morning, video of a former senator trying to lead a rebellion on a plane. >> stand up for what's right and walk out with me. >> reporter: frustrated after a seven-hour delay. >> we can still speak in this country. >> reporter: alfonse d'amato, a u.s. senator from new york for 18 years, forced off a plane by authorities after yelling at the captain and trying to stage a walk-out. here's what happened, the captain asked nine people to move from the front of the plane to the back saying the plane was too front-loaded to take off. a few minutes later the pilot announced again from the cockpit that he needed four more people to move. and if they didn't he would personally come out and re-seat the passengers in the back himself. but the pilot never shows. the plane continues to sit on the tarmac as the delay moves

into that seventh hour. so al decides enough is enough. >> stand up for what's right and walk out with me. >> reporter: at least one passenger agrees to join him. >> here's a gentleman who is doing it. stand up and walk out. >> reporter: but he doesn't stop there. he marches to the cockpit and yells that the pilot is a poor excuse for a leader. within moments, authorities removed d'amato from the plane. his fellow passengers are not happy. >> boo. >> come on. >> that's not right. >> reporter: jetblue saying in a statement that if a customer is causing a conflict on the aircraft it is standard procedure to ask the customer to deplane. especially if the crew feels the situation runs a risk of escalation in flight. but a spokesman for d'amato says jetblue has apologized to the 79-year-old. he was in florida to visit an ailing friend. d'amato also apologized for speaking his mind. >> well, let's talk to him right now. senator al d'amato joins us by phone. former senator, i know you're

multitasking this morning, senator, driving your kids to school at the same time. but what happened? >> well, let me say this to you, the captain totally overreacted. i said to him, you said you were going to do something. why don't you do it? and that's when he said, you're out of here. soy went back to my seat. sat down until they came in to take me off. and that's when i said what i did. so i did not confront him. it was a total overreaction. >> anything you would have done differently? >> probably on both parts pardon me? >> anything you would have done differently? >> well, what would i have done differently? you know, what can you do? you're seven hours late. he's talking about asking the passengers to move. about 45 minutes go by. still hasn't done it. still requesting. and, by the way there were other people who when i finally said, well, they took me off, i said let's stand up, about four or

five other people did, but then they quickly said, oh, this plane is taking off, please sit down and, of course, you're waiting seven hours. people want to go home. they don't want to -- they should be tolerant of people. treat people not like cattle but like human beings and customers. and it's unfortunate. i think it was an overreaction on their part when i said to -- i chastised the captain by saying, what are you doing? you announced that you were going to move these people and you haven't done it. and so one thing led to another. i think people are tense. they're all -- they overreacted certainly and i spoke my mind after they overreacted. >> and you accept jetblue's apology? >> pardon me? >> you accept jetblue's apology? >> yeah, sure. look, i think everybody was rather anxious. they overreacted. i accept their apology. they did some other things i

won't talk about, but that were not quite right and, you know, it's unfortunate. a seven-hour delay. and i have to tell you they did not handle the situation correctly. >> get your kids to school safe. thanks for joining us this morning, senator. >> thank you. >> and coming up in our next hour we'll have much more of michael's exclusive with charlie sheen. coming up, "gma's" "be a vet for your pet" brought to you by iams pet food. good for life. food. good for life. uppy barks) you can do it duck. hurry up duck! you can do it duck. iams. helps keep your dog healthy at every stage. so you can always look forward to what's next.

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the next hour or so, but the flooding, potential there at 2:35 in the creek until 9:30, we have a light storm tonight, and a little more flooding is possible, but no wind damage. >> okay. and plenty delays on the roads as you would imagine. we have a full closure of highway 37, so that is between

101 for a short time, we thought the eastbound side was open, but that's not the case. closed in both directions due to flooding. >> thank you. we are awaiting the plek's first news conference since elected. it's expected to start in a few afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine.

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good morning. president-elect donald trump is about to hold his first formal press conference since his victory. actually, the first press conference since july. intelligence officials presented president-elect trump and president obama with unsubstantiated claims that they have information on mr. trump. that is the scene in trump tower. he's taken to twitter, vehement denils. echoing nazi germany.

we're expecting opening statements from mr. trump. some explanation to how he'll deal with potential conflicts of interest created by his business empire. this summary of the allegations sent to mr. trump last friday afternoon. >> in a classified briefing. apparently, mr. trump didn't read the entire report and was unaware of some allegations until yesterday. >> what is the scene there, jon? >> reporter: it's packed. the first press conference since july. so many questions to ask the president-elect. just now, we have seen some of his staffers bring in piles of folders. i have no idea what that is all about. obviously, george topic number one is going to be the intelligence reports surrounding the russians. the allegations that that report

included unsubstantiated reports of an attempt by the russians to gather material to blackmail the president-elect. i'm sure that will be topic number one, two, and three here at this press conference. >> as we keep an eye on the podium, i'm joined by rebecca jarvis. those piles of papers may have soog to do with how mr. trump is going explain how he'll disentangle himself from his business or create some kind of wall to prevent conflicts. >> they could, george. we know that the trump organization is composed of more than 500 companies. 250 buildings bearing trump's names. many of them here in the united states. a number of them international. these are big questions going forward. earlier we have heard from the president-elect that he would be turning this company over to his two adult sons. but there were still questions, especially from ethics experts about how exactly he as president could truly

disentangle himself from those con frikts of interests. >> the only real solution is for him to divest from the businesses. this is happening as his nominee for secretary of state, rex tillerson, facing some tough questions about russia. >> a lot of tough questions, especially from senator marco rubio, pressing tillerson on whether he believed vladimir putin should be tried for war crimes. or the action taken in syria, in aleppo, should constitute war crimes. rex tillerson said he needed more information. marco rubio continued to press him. we have seen the video. we have seen reporting. unclassified reports. but rex tillerson would not go there. he said he would have to have more information. if he were selected as secretary

of state, if he was, in fact, cleared through the committee, and on capitol hill, he would get that information. and then make a determination. he did also say, george, that we must be clear-eyed about our relationship with russia. russia today poses a danger. but it's not unpredictable in advancing its own interests. he said our nato allies are right to be alarmd at a strengthening russia. >> anything from senators mccain and graham? >> i don't think he has convinced senator rubio. i'm sure he'll get more tough questions throughout the day. the answer to the war crimes caused many, many more questions from the members. >> and brian ross, as we continue to wait for the president-elect, he did receive, as we said, the briefing on russian interference. the consensus conclusion of the intelligence officials was that vladimir putin directed the

interference. he doesn't seem to have accepted that. >> they reportedly gave him the compromising information to show him that the russians had the information and didn't use it against him to bolster their argument that the russian goal was to defeat hillary clinton. >> cecilia vega, mr. trump often derided secretary clinton for not holding press conferences. this is his first since july. >> 168 days, 165 since election day. one of the longest, the longest a president-elect has gone past election day without giving a press conference. i don't know if you can hear me. we're expecting donald trump any minute now. as jon karl said, these folders that appeared, everybody speculating as to what these might be. he said he wasn't going to release his tax returns until the audit was complete.

we're all scratching our heads. >> we'll be watching. president-elect trump expected to have an opening statement. we don't know how long he'll stay out here and answer questions. as you can see, it's standing room only. kellyanne conway told me this morning, they had to turn away reporters seeking to get into this room. 300 in the room today. in the past, brian ross, we have seen donald trump vary in length on the press conferences. famously, back in june, i believe it was, he had the press conference where he appeared to be inviting the russians to release all of these e-mails on the dnc. >> he almost encounseled them to hack in and find twhat he calle the missing e-mails from hillary clinton's private server. it was the continued praise of putin and the defense of russia in terms of the hacking of the democratic party that gave kurp si to the reports that the russians had something on him. those are unsubstantiated

claims. the u.s. has take. them seriously. though they were delivered and developed by democratic opposition researchers, one of their key resources is a former british spy that the u.s. has relied on in criminal cases with russian gangsters. >> the bottom line conclusion that they agree on with high confidence is that president putin directed the effort. in tend, it evolved into a preference for president-elect trump. >> exactly, george. we saw them at a congressional hearing yesterday for the first time since their report was released on friday. and they were resolute in saying that vladimir putin tried to undermine the democracy of the united states. he wanted to specifically hurt the chances of hillary clinton to become president and to damage her if she became president. a clear message for donald trump. in terms of the presentation of the information about these

unsubstantiated allegations, it's really interesting when you have the intelligence community now digging in to these allegations and they're going to have to resolve, according to sources, whether they're true or not. because they involved the national security interests of the united states. >> martha, one of the other twists is that senator john mccain, who will be questioning several of mr. trump's nominees for defense and secretary of state actually turned over this dossier to fbi director james comey in december. he's been calling for an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the claim. >> i think you'll get a lot of calls from that from the hill. you already are. mccain turning that over added credibility for the fbi. not certainly to the facts that are alleged in the dossier. there is no confirmation of that whatsoever. having mccain and the fbi involved now as pierre says, puts a whole new light on this. >> pierre, back to you.

james comey got tough questioning yesterday. now facing questions from supporters of hillary clinton. he came out several days before the election saying he was investigating the e-mail server yet the fbi was investigating these claims and said not a word about it. >> he was asked repeatedly about what he could say about ties with the trump associate tansd russian government. he declined the say so because of an ongoing investigation. he wouldn't even describe it as such. the irony of that given what took place are senator clinton and former secretary of state was not lost on him. >> on another subject, rebecca, the possibility that he discusses this conflicts of sbes is also front and center. yesterday, we saw his son-in-law is going to take a formal but unpaid role. he is subject to the conflict of interests laws.

he's taken steps to wall himself off. >> they're stronger for the nominees than the president himself. ethics experts are saying their number one choice is that donald trump sells off everything. that would be the only way to truly create a blind trust. as we have heard multiple times from donald trump, he anticipates orred a had said previously his sons would take over the companies. >> there's no legislation, no law, civil law that prevents, forces a president to devest from business holdings, there's the possibility he could run afoul of the part of the constitution that's called the emoluments clause. >> that's the component that may come into play here. some of these other policies, some of tore measures that donald trump as president-elect has discussed could still run

afoul of that course. in particular, especially if there's something that is signed by his sons suggesting that there will be no conversations around this issue. it's still very difficult to police. but that portion of the constitution is the one that ethics experts will pay attention to. >> we see steve bannen. jared kushner in the wings, as well. have strange situation set up with the trump hotel. the new trump hotel in washington, where the president once he becomes president will be landlord and tenant. >> and there's a clause inside of this owned by the gsa, leased to the trump organization. there's a clause that says this is not possible. this cannot be the case. so, we'll likely have to hear something about this. we heard from sean spicer back in december this is something he would address in the press conference. >> his aides say he's been eager to have this press conference that was first scheduled for

december. put off for several weeks. now he's ready to talk. it will come as so much other news is developing around the trump -- incoming trump administration. just nine days before the inauguration. row have rex tillerson, his secretary of state nominee up on capitol hill today. his attorney general nominee, jeff sessions, faced questions yesterday from the senate judiciary committee. jon karl, other key members have not yet completed the background information and turned in all the proper documents to ethics officials. >> yeah, this is not a traditional cabinet, george. you have people with vast business interests. several billionaires. complicated disclosure forms. the hearings have been deplapd they intend to have the disclosure forms done before the hearings started. a big issue for the democrats. we expect president-elect troump be arriving any moment now.

over here to the side, you see several of his top aides. jared kushner, kellyanne conway. >> you mentioned, he's going to have something of a hybrid on staff organization up at the top of his white house. he's got kellyanne conway. steve bannon. reince priebus. no clear lines of authority. no clear hierarchy. >> and they all have offices right outside the oval office. the elevator has opened. i'm told here he is. i can see president-elect trump. there's vice president-elect mike pence. here he is. >> all right. let's watch him come in. we expect an opening statement. then questions. there's donald trump jr.

the president's son. his daughter, ivanka, his son, eric. >> good morning. thank you for being here. we're now nine days away from the inauguration of the next president and vice president of the united states. it's an opportunity to be here today to allow the president-elect to take your questions. after the president-elect makes some remarks, he'll introduce miss sherry dylan, a prompt innocent attorney in washington, d.c. with the firm of morgan lewis who structured the agreements pursuant to the president's business arrangements. i want to bring your attention to a few points on the report published in buzz feed last night. it's outrageous and highly irresponsible for a left wing blog -- >> this is sean spicer, the incoming press secretary. >> flat-out false information on the internet just days before he takes the oath of office. according to buzzfeed's own ed dor, there are serious reasons to doubt the allegations in the report.

the executive editor of "the new york times" also dismissed the report saying it was quote totally unsubstantiated, echoing the concerns other reporters expressed on the internet. the fact that buzzfeed and cnn made the decision to run with this claim is a sad and pathetic attempt to get clicks. the report is not an intelligence report. plain and simple. one issue that the report talked about was the relationship of three individuals associated with the campaign. these three individuals, paul manafort, michael cohen, and carter page. the president doesn't know carter page. paul manafort has denied the involvement. michael cohen did not leave or enter the united states in the time he was said to have been in prague. we asked him to produce his

passport to confirm his whereabouts. there is no doubt he was not if prague. he has never been in prague. a new report suggests that he was at the university of southern california with his son at a baseball game. one report now suggested apparently, it's another michael cohen. for all the talk lately about fake news, this political witch whunt by some in the media is based on some of the most flimsy reporting and isful and disgraceful. with that, it's my honor to introduce the next vice president of the united states, mike pence. >> we are nine days away from the inauguration of the 45th president of the united states of america. [ applause ]

i'm profoundly honored and humbled that i h take the oath of office that serve as vice president of the united states nine days from today. but i'm more honored to stand shoulder to shoulder with the new president who will make america great again. [ light applause ] now, the president-elect's leadership and his energy during the campaign was impressive. as the chairman of the transition effort, i can assure the american people that his energy and his vision during the course of this transition has been even more inspiring. to see the way he's brought together men and women of extraordinary capability at a historic pace in this cabinet. 19 of the 21 cabinet officials have been announced. nine exit tee hearings already scheduled. seven more soon to go on the books in the next several days. and it is a compilation of men

and women with an unprecedented caliber of leadership and background. to help this administration move our nation forward. perhaps that's why there's been such a concerted effort by some in the main stream media to delegitimize this election and demean our incoming administration. i have long been a supporter of a free and independent press and i always will be. but with freedom comes responsibility. and the irresponsible decision of a few news organizations to run with a false and unsubstantiated report when most news organizations resisted the temptation to propagate this fake news can only be attributed to media bias and an attempt to demean the president-elect and the incoming administration. and the american people are sick and tired of it. [ light applause ] but today, we'll get back to real news.

to real facts. and the real progress our incoming president has already made in reviving the american economy and assembling a team that will make america great again. so -- and we'll hear from the president-elect about issues that are of paramount importance to the american people today. sit my honor to introduce to all of you, my friend, and the president-elect of the united states of america, donald trump. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. we probably maybe won the nomination because of news conferences. we used to give them on an almost daily basis. we stopped giving them because we're getting quite a bit of

inaccurate news. must say i want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today. because -- they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies. who knows? but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they, in fact, did that. a tremendous blot. because a thing like that should have never been written. it should never have been had. and it should certainly never have been released. but i want to thank a lot of the news organizations for some of whom have not treated me very well over the years. a couple in particular, and they came out so strongly against that fake news. and the fact that it was written about by primarily one group and one television station. so, i just want to compliment many of the people in the room.

i have great respect for the news. and great respect for freedom of the press and all of that. but i will tell you there were some news organizations with all that was just said that were so professional, so incredibly professional that i have just gone up a notch as to what i think of you, okay? all right. we have had some great news over the last couple of weeks. i have been quite active, i guess you could say in an economic way for the country. a lot of car companies are going to be moving in. we have other companies. big news will be announced over the next couple of weeks about companies building in the midwest. you saw yesterday, fiat chrysler, big, big factory going to be built in this country, as opposed to another country. ford just announced they stopped plans for a billion-dollar plant in mexico. they'll be moving into michigan. expanding an existing plant.

i appreciate that from ford. i appreciate it very much from fiat chrysler. i hope that general motors will be following. and, i think they will be. i think a lot of people will be following. i think a loft industries will be coming back. we have to get our drug industry coming back. it's been disastrous. they're leaving left and right t. they supply our drugs but don't make them here to a large extent. they're getting away with murder. we need to create bidding. pharma has a lot of lobbies. we're going start bidding. we're going save billions of dollars over a period of time. we're going to do that with a lot of other industries. i'm very much involved with the generals and admirals on the

airplane. the f-35. you have been reading about it. it's way, way behind schedule. many many billions of dollars overbudget. i don't like that. and the admirals have been fantastic. the generals have been fantastic. i have gotten to know them well. we're going to do big things on the f-35 program and perhaps the f-18 program. and we're going to get those costs way down. and we're going to get plane to be even better. and we're going have some competition. it will be a beautiful thing. so we have been very, very much involved. and other things. we had -- jack ma, so many incredible people coming here. mr. arnault. they'll do tremendous things. tremendous things in this country. and they're very excited. i will say if the election didn't turn out the way it turned out, they would not be here, not in my office, not in anybody else's office.

they would be building and doing things in other countries. there's a great spirit going on right now. aspirit that many people have told me they have never seen before. ever. we're going create jobs. i said that i will be the greatest jobs producer that god ever created. and i mean that. i really -- i'm going work very hard on that. we need certain amounts of other thing, including a little bit of luck. but i think we're going to do a real job and i'm very proud of what we have done. we haven't got therein yet. i look very much forward to the inauguration. it's going to be a beautiful event. we have great talent. tremendous talent. and, we have the all of the bands, most of the bands from the different -- from the different segments of the military. and i've heard some of these bands over the years. they're incredible. we'll have a very, very elegant day. the 20th is going to be something that will be very, very special. very beautiful. and i think we're going to have

massive crowds. we have a movement. it's a movement like the world has never seen before. it's a movement that a lot of people didn't expect. and even the polls, though some of them did get it right. but many of them didn't. and that was a beautiful scene on november 8th. as those states started to pour in. and we focused very hard on those states. and they really reciprocated. and those states will have a lot of jobs. they'll have a lot of security. they'll have a lot of good news for their veterans. by the way, speaking of veterans, i appointed today the head secretary of the veterans administration, david shellkin. we'll do a news release. he's fantastic. he'll do a truly great job. one of the commitments i made is we're going straighten out the whole situation for our

veterans. they're waiting in line for 15, 16, 17 days. cases where they go in and they have a minor early stage form of cancer and they can't see a doctor. by the time they get to the doctor, they're terminal. it's not going to happen. it's not going to happen. so david is going to do a fantastic job. we're going to be talking to a few people also to help david. and we have some of the great hospitals of the world going to align themselves with us on the veterans administration. like the cleveland clinic. the mayo clinic. a few more that we have. we're going set up a group. these are hospitals that have been the top of the line. the absolute top of the line. and they're going to get together with their great doctors, dr. toby cosgrove.

ike pearlmutter. one of the great men of business. we're going straighten out the v.a. for our veterans. it's something i feel strongly. you'll get the information on david and i think you'll be very impressed with the job he does. we looked long and hard. interviewed at least 100 people. some good, not so good. we had a lot of talent. we think this selection will be something that will, with time, with time, straighten it out and straighten it out for good. because our veterans have been treated very unfairly. okay, questions, gentlemen, jon? >> thank you. >> a couple of aspects of the intelligence briefing you received on friday. we're looking for clarification. did the heads of the intelligence agencies provide you with a two-page summary of the unsubstantiated allegations? and secondly, do you accept

their opinion that vladimir putin ordered the hack of the dnc and the attempted hack of the rnc? and if you do, how will that color your attempts to build a relationship with a leader who has been accused of committing an act of espionage? >> the meetings are classified, confidential. i'm not allowed to talk about what went on in a meeting. we had many witnesses in the meeting. many of them with us. and i will say, again, i think it's a disgrace that information would be let out. i saw the information. i read the information outside of that meeting. it's all fake news. it's phony stuff. it didn't happen. and it was gotten by opponents of ours as you know, baz you reported it and so did many of the other people, it was a group of opponents that got together, sick people, and they put that crap together. so, i will tell you that not within the meeting, but outside of the meeting, somebody

released it. it should never have -- number one, shouldn't have entered paper. it should never have been released. i read what was released and i think it's a disgrace. i think it's an absolute disgrass. as far as hacking, i think it was russia. i think we also got hacked by other countries. and other people. and i can say that, you know, when -- when we lost 22 million names and everything else that was hacked recently, they didn't make a big deal out of that. that was extraordinary. it was probably china. we had -- we have much hacking going on. one of the things we're going to do. we have some of the greatest computer minds anywhere in the world that we have assembled. you saw an example of it a few weeks ago. we had the six top people in the world, nevthey were never in th same room together. we're going put those minds

together and form a defense. i have to say this also, the democratic national committee was totally open to be hacked. they did a very poor job. they could have had hacking defense, which we had. and i will give reince priebus credit. because when reince saw what was happening in the world and with this country, he went out, and went to various firms. and ordered a very, very strong hacking defense. and they tried to hack the republican national committee. and they were unable to break through. we have to do that for our country. it's very important. >> to the last part of that question. how could all of this potentially color your attempts to build a better relationship with president putin? >> well, you know, president putin and russia put out a statement today that the fake news is, indeed, fake news. they say it didn't happen. i respected the fact that he

said that. if he did have something, they would have released it. they would have been glad to release it. if hay had broken into the republican national committee, i think they would have released it. just like all the things about hillary and the things people said about her. if somebody said about me what podesta said about hillary, i would have fired him immediately. what he said about her was horrible. remember this, we talk about the hacking. hacking is bad. and it shouldn't be done. but look at the things that were hacked. look at what was learned from that hacking. that hillary clinton got the questions to the debate. and didn't report it. that's a horrible thing. that's a horrible thing. can you imagine that if donald trump got the questions to the debate, it would have been the biggest story in the history of stories. and they would have said, immediately, you have to get out of the race.

nobody even talked about it. it's terrible. >> thank you, mr. president-elect. on that intelligence report, the second part of their conclusion was that vladimir putin ordered it because he aspired to help you in the election. do you accept that part of the finding? will you undo what president obama did to punish the russians? >> if putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset, not a liability. we have a horrible relationship with russia. russia can help us fight isis. which is, number one, tricky. if you look, this administration created isis by leaving at the wrong time. the void was created. ey isis was formed. if putin likes donald trump, guess what, folk, that's called an asset, not a liability. i don't know that i'll get along with him. i hope i do. but there's a good chance i won't. and if i don't, do you hontsly believe that hillary would be

tougher on putin than me? does anybody in this room really believe that? give me a break. okay. >> whether during your visit to moscow or st. petersburg you engaged in conduct that you now regret? people say you are potential vulnerable to blackmail by russia or the intelligence age sis? >> when i leave our country, i'm a very high-profile person, wouldn't you say? i am extremely careful. i'm surrounded by body guards. i'm surrounded by people. and i always tell them, anywhere, but i always item them if i'm leaving this country, be very careful. because if your hotel rooms, and no matter where you go, you're probably going to have cameras. i'm not refers just to russia. i would put them in that category. and number one, i hope you're going to be good any way. but in those rooms, you cameras

in the strangest places. cameras that are so small, with modern technology, you can't see them. and you won't know. you bet ber careful. or you'll be watching yourself on nightly television. i tell this to people all the time. i was in russia years ago. with the miss universe contest. did very, very well. i told many people, be careful. because you don't want to see yourself on television. cameras all over the place. and again, not just russia. all over. does anyone really believe that story? i'm also very much of a germopho germophobe, by the way. believe me. >> how you plan to disentangle yourself on the business. first, based on your comments here today, do you believe the hacking was justify snd does russia have any leverage of

eover you, financial or otherwise? if not, will you release your tax returns to prove it? >> tweeted out i have no dealings with russia. no deals in russia. i have no deals that could happen in russia. because we have stayed away. and i have no loans with russia. i have very little debt. as a real estate developer. i have no deals. i have no loans. i have no dealings. we could make deals in russia very easily if we wanted to. i just don't want to. i think that would be a conflict. i have no loans. no dealings. no current pending deals. i have to say one other thing. over the weekend, i was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai with a very, very, very amazing

man. great, great develop eer from t middle east. husse hussein. da mack. a great guy. was offered $2 billion to do a deal, a number of deals. and i turned it down. i didn't have to. i have a no conflict situation because i'm president. didn't know about that until about three months ago. it's a nice thing to have. but i want to take advantage of something. i have something that others don't have. vice president pence also has it. i don't think he'll need it. i have a feeling he's not going to need it. but i have a no conflict of interest provision as president. they don't want presidents getting, i understand. they don't want presidents getting tangled up in minutia.

i could run my business and run government at the same time. i don't like the way it looks. but i would be able to do it if i wanted to. i would be the only one able to do that. as a president, i could run the trump organization, great, great company. and i could run the country. i would do a very good job. but i don't want to do that. all of these papers that you see here, yes, go ahead. sure. >> -- tax returns to prove what you're seaing about now deals in russia opinion. >> i'm not releasing the tax returns because they're under audit. >> every president since the '70s have -- >> gee, i have never heard that before. the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters. they're the only ones. i don't think so. i won. i mean, i became president. no, i don't think they care at all. [ applause ] i think you care. i think you care.

first of all, you learn lit frl a tax return. what you should do is go to federal elections and take a look at the numbers. and people have learned a lot about my company. now they realize, my company is much bigger, much more powerful than they ever thought. we're in many, many countries. i'm very proud of it. what ai'm going to be doing, my two sons, who are right here. don and eric, are going to be running the company. they are going to be running it in a very professional manner. they're not going to discuss it with me. again, i don't have to do this. they're not going discuss it with me. and with that, i'm going to bring up sherry. these papers are some of the many documents i have signed turning over complete and total control to my sons. >> can we ask another question on russia, sir? >> good morning. it's my honor and privilege to

be here today at president-elect trump's request. he's asked me to speak about the conflicts of interest and the steps he's taking. as you know, the business empire built by president-elect trump over the years is massive. not dissimilar to the fortunes of nelson rockefeller when he became vice president. but at that time, no one was so concerned. president-elect trump wants the american public to rest assured that his efforts are directed to pursuing the people's business, not his own. to that end, he directed me and my colleagues at the law firm morgan lieu kis and bacchias to design a structure for his business empire that will completely isolate him from the management of the company. he further instructed that we build in protections that will assure the american people the decision he makes and the actions he takes as president will for their benefit and not

to support his financial interests. as he said, he's voluntarily taking this on. the conflicts of interest laws simply do not apply to the president or the vice president. and they are not required to separate themselves from their financial assets. primary conflicts of interest statute is section 18, usc-208. it's inapplicable. congress made it clear in 1989 when it amended section 18 usc 202 to state that the terms office and employee in section 208 shall not include the president. even so, president-elect trump want there is to be no doubt in the minds of the american public that he is completely isolating

himself from business interests. he wants to make it clear he's not exploiting the office of the presidency. he sought the guidance of individuals nar are and have worked extensively in the fields of government ethics and constitutional law. critical to the morgan lewis team is fred fielding. many of you have known him. he's served several presidents over the years, including serving as counsel to presidents ronald reagan and george w. bush as well as sitting on the forum of law reform. mr. fielding has been extesively involved with and approved this plan. he's here today to support the plan and he will continue to provide guidance as the plan is implemented and as eric, don, along with others take over management of the trump organization. i'll detail some of the extraordinary steps now that the

president-elect is taking. first, president-elect trump's investments and business assets, commonly known as the trump organization, comprising hundreds of entities, which again, if you all go and take a look at his financial disclosure statement, the pages and pages and pages of entities have all been or will be conveyed to a trust prior to january 20th. here is just some of the paperwork that's taking care of those actions. second, through the trust agreement, he has relinquished leadership and management of the trump organizations to his sons don and eric and a long time trump executive, allen. together, don, eric, and allen will have the authority to run the trump or anization. and will make decisions without involvement by president-elect trump. further, at the president-elect's direction, the trust agreement poids that to ensure the trump organization

continues to operate in accordance with the highest in legal ethics standards an ethics adviser will be appointed to the management team. the written aproouchl of the ethics adviser will be required for new deals, actions, and transaction that could potentially raise concerns. president-elect trump as well as don, eric, and allen, are committed to ensure thagt the activities of the trump organization are beyond reproach and could not be perceived to be exploitive of the office of the presidency. president-elect trump will resign from all officer and other positions he holds with the trump organization eptties. further, in addition, his daughter, ivanka, will have no further involvement with or management authority whatsoever with the trump organization. as she and jared move their family on d.c., she'll focus on settling their children this their new homes and schools. the president-elect has already

disposed of his investments in publicly traded or easily liquidated investments. the trust will have two types of assets. lit hold liquid assets. cash, cash equivalents and treasuries. perhaps positions in a dwochlt-approved diversified portfolio. second, the trust is going to hold his pre-existing ill liquid but valuable business assets. trump owned, operated, branded golf clubs, commercial rental property, resorts, hotels. rights to royalties from pre-existing products. things like trump tower, mare lar mare-alar-go. all pending deals be temple nated.

this impacted more than 30 deals many of which were set to close by the end of 2016. as you can well imagine, that caused an immediate financial loss of millions of dollars. not just for president-elect trump but for don, ivanka, and eric. the trust agreement imposes severe restrictions on new deals. no new foreign deals will be made whatsoever during the duration of president trump's prezdy si. new domestic deals will be aloud. they'll go through a rigorous vetting process. the president-elect will have no role in deciding whether the trump organization engages in any new deal. he'll only know of a deal if he reads it in the paper or sees it on tv. any did you deal could, and i emphasize could, be perceived as causing a conflict. new deals must be vetted with the ethics adviser.

whose role will be to an laze any potential transactions. it will be a recognized expert in that role. he'll scrutinize the new deals and actions. to further reinforce the wall we're building between president-elect trump and the trump organization, he ordered to sharply limit his informs rights. reports only available and represident-elect profit and loss on the company as a whole. are this will be no separate business by business accounting. another step that president-elect trump has taken is he created a new position at the trump organization. position of chief compliance counsel. whose responsibility will be to ensure that the trump businesses, again, are operating at the highest levels of integrity. not taking actions that could be

perceived as exploeting the office of the presidency. he's directed no communications of the trump organization, including social media accounts will reference or be tied to president-elect trump's role as president of the united states. or the office of the presidency. in sum, all of these actions complete relinquishment of management, no foreign deals, sharply limited information rights will sever president-elect trump's pr presidency from the trump or anization. why not divest? sell everything? form a blind trust. i would like to address those. selling, first and foremost, would not eliminate possibilities of conflicts of interest. in fact, it would exacerbate them. the trump brand is key to the value of the trump organization's assets. if he sold his brand, he would

be entitled to royalties for the use of it. it would result in the trust retaining an interest in the brand without the ability to ensure it doesn't exploit the office of the presidency. whatever price was paid would be subject to criticism and scrutiny. sit too high? too much paid to curry favor? and selling his assets without the rights to the brand would greatly diminish the value of the assets and create a fire sale. president-elect trump should not be expected to destroy the company he built. this plan offers a suitable alternative to address the concerns of the american people. and selling the entire trump organization is not feasible. some people have cuttinged that the president-elect sell the business to his adult children. this would require massive third party debt, sourced with multiple lenders whose motives and willingness to participate would be questioned and

undoubtedly investigated. if the president-elect were to finance the sale himself, he would retain the financial interests in what he owns now. some people have suggested he bundle the assets and turn the trump organization into a public company. anyone who has every gone through this extraordinarily couple bumbersome and complicat process knows it's a nonstarter. some people have suggested a blind trust. but you cannot have a totally blind trust with operating businesses. president trump can't unknow he owns trump tower. the press will make sure that any new developments are well publicized. it would be impossible to find an institutional trustee that would be comp toeetent to run t organization.

this approach is best from a conflicts and ethics perspective. it creates a complete separation from president-elect trump and prevents him from participating in the business, imposes strict limit on what the trustees can do, and requires thes a sent of the ethics adviser for a new deal. one last topic today. emolumen emoluments. a word we're familiar with now that perhaps we had not heard before. we'll describe other actions president-elect trump is taking to avoid the appearance of a conflict. emoluments comes from the constitution. officials may not accept gift, titles of nobility, or emoluments from foreign governments with respect to their office. no benefit should be derived by holding an office.

the so-called emoluments clause has not been applied to fair market exchanges. no one would have thought that playing your hotel bill was an emolument. it would have been seen as a value for value exchange. not a gift, not a title. not an emolument. some people want to define emoluments to cover routine business actions like paying for a hotel room. they suggest the constitution prohibits businesses from arm's length transitions that the president-elect doesn't have anything to do with and is not aware of. these people are wrong. this is not what the constitution says. pay farg hotel room is not a gift or a present. it has nothing to do with an office. it's not an emolument. the constitution does not require president-elect trump to do anything here. but, just like with conflicts of

interests, he wants to do more than what the constitution requires. president-elect trump has decided and we're announcing today he is going to voluntarily donate all profits from fompb government payments made to his toe tells to the united states treasury. this way, sit the american people who will profit. in sum, i, and president-elect's other advisers as morgan lewis has determined the approach we have outlined to today will avoid potential conflicts of interest or concerns. without imposing unnecessary and unreasonable losses on the president-elect and his family. we believe these will serve to accomplish the president-elect's desire to be isolated from his business interests and give the american people confidence that his sole business and interest is in making america great again. bringing back jobs to the country. secures or borders.

rebuilding our infrastructure. the american people were well aware of president-elect trump's business interests when they voted. many people voted for him precisely because of his business success. he wants to bring this success so all americans. thank you. [ applause ] >> there's your notes. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> -- is filled with conflicts of interest? to you plan to set an example in the future to make sure your cabinet and everyone throughout your administration -- >> i really think that when you watch what is going on with what's happening -- i was just watching as an example, rex tillerson, i think it's

brilliant what he's doing and saying. i watched yesterday, as you know, our great senator who is going to be a great attorney general. he was brilliant. what people don't know is he was a great prosecutor. and attorney general in alabama. and he was brilliant yesterday. so, i really think that they are -- i think we have one of the great cabinets ever put together. and -- we have been hearing that from so many people. people are so happy. in the case of rex, he ran incredibly exxonmobil. when there was a fine, he would get it. when they need something, he would be there. a friend of mine, harold hamm. a big supporter. he said there is nobody in the business like rex tillerson. i want to bring the greatest

people into government. we're way behind. we don't make good deals anymore. i say it all the time. we make bad deal. our trade deals are a disaster. we have hundreds of billions of dollars of losses on a yearly basis. hundreds of billions. with china. on trade and trade imbalance. with japan. with mexico. with just about everybody. we don't make good deals anymore. we need people that are smart. that are successful. they got successful because generally speaking, they're smart. and that's what i put, i'm very proud of the cabinet. think they're koing ve i think they're doing very, very well. it's interesting how things are going. >> i wanted to ask a few questions on obamacare. can you be specific on what guidance you're giving congressional republicans on the timeline for repeal and replace?

>> finally, obamacare. i thought it was never going to be asked. >> i wanted to ask you if you haveout lined a plan for what you want the replace package to look like. would it guarantee health care for -- >> you're going to be very, very proud, as not only the media and reporters. you're going to be very proud of what we put forth, having to do with health care. obamacare is a complete and total disaster. they can say what they want. they can guide you any way they want to guide you. in some cases, they fwid you incorrectly. it's imploding. some states have over 100% increase. and 17, i said this two years ago. '17 is going to be the bad year. it's going to be catastrophic. frankly, we could sit back and it was a thought, from a

political standpoint. it wouldn't be fair to the people. we could sit back and wait and watch and criticize. and we could be a chuck schumer and sit back and criticize it. and people would come, they would come, begging to us, please, we have to do something about oobamacare. we don't want to own it. we don't want to own it politically. they own it right now. the easiest thing would be to let it implode in '17. we would get pretty much whatever we wanted. it would take a long time. we're going the to be submitting as soon as our secretary is approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan. it will be repeal and replace. it will be essentially simultaneously. it will be various segments. most likely the same day, same

week. could be same hour. we're going do repeal and replace. complicated stuff. and we're going get a health bill passed. we're going get health care taken care of in this country. you have deductibles that have so high, that after people go broke, paying their premiums chrks are going through the roof, the health care can't be used by them because the deductibles are so high. obamacare is the democrats' problem. we're going take the problem off the shelves for them. we're doing them a tremendous service by doing it. we could sit back and let them hang with it. we are doing the democrats a great service. so as soon as our secretary is approved, and gets into the office, we'll be filing a plan and it was actually pretty accurately reported today. "the new york times" and the

plan will be repeal and replace obamacare. we're going to have a health care that is far less expensive. and far better. okay. >> can we ask you -- >> well, i was going with -- okay, then cbs. >> when you look at meetings you had with carry, soft bank, do you concede of making this a program? my foul-up question is, how soon will we see the program on capital repateriation and tax cuts? >> i want to thank united technologies who owns carrier. they were gone. mike pence and his staff helped us a lot. that was a tough one. they announced a year and half before, they announced they were leaving. when they're building a plant,

it's tougher than before they start. i want to thank united technologies. but we have been meeting with with a lot of companies. what is happening, the word is now out. that when you want to move your plant to mexico or some other place. you want to fire all of your workers from michigan and ohio and all these places that i won, for good reason, not going happen that way anymore. you want to move your plant and you think, as an example, you're going build the plant in mexico. make your air conditioners or cars or whatever you're making, you're going to sell them through what will be a very, very strong border, not a weak border. we don't have a border. it's an open sieve. not going to happen. you're going to pay a very large border tax. if you want to move to another country and fire all our great american workers, you can move from