captioning sponsored by cbs >> dickerson: today on face nation, it is a new year with a new congress and new administration, but now the hard part, governing, gal hill was the hub of activity this week as republicans started their push to repeal obamacare and quickly confirm president-elect trump's cabinet, high level lobbying to save the health bill and debate on how to replace it is to a quick start and the bleak assessment from the agent's top spy agencies about vladimir putin's actions to help elect mr. trump has chilled relations between the intelligence community and the president-elect. >> there is a difference between skepticism .. and disparagement. >> dickerson: how damaging is the split? we will kick off the new year with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell plus the

incoming chief of staff reince priebus and two top intelligence experts, former cia director ambassador james woolsey and former acting cia director mike morell. >> new jersey senator cory booker will tell us how democrats plan to fight republican efforts. and we will have plenty of political analysis too. it is all ahead on "face the nation". good morning and welcome to "face the nation", i am john dickerson, we are here thon very chilly morning with senator majority leader mitch mcconnell who is making his first appearance on the sunday show since the election, welcome, mr. leader. >> good morning. >> dickerson: let's start with the russian efforts to medal in the u.s. efforts. >> yes. >> dickerson: you strongly condemned those efforts, why do you think donald trump hasn't? >> the way to look at his attitude towards the russians is look at the incoming national security leaders, general mattis, general kelly, congressman pompeo, senator coates, none of these are people who are in any way conflicted

about the view that the russians are not our friends and are a big problem. i don't think it is all that unusual for a new president to want to get along with the russians, i remember george w. bush having the same hope. my suspicion is these hopes will be dashed pretty quickly, the russians are clearly big adversary and they demonstrated it by trying to mess around in our election. >> dickerson: do you think given the findings of the intelligence agency it is most recent briefing on friday to president-elect trump, that he should say sort of i agree now with what you found, is there any damage done by his skepticism of the findings with the intelligence agencies? >> look, i won't critique his performance, what i will tell you is that i accept the, what the intelligence community has unanimously agreed to that they were trying to affect the election, that they knifely in my, naively thought they would

be advantaged if donald trump were to be elected. i think that was a bad bet. and that it really in the end made no difference, there is no evidence whatsoever it changed the outcome of the election. >> dickerson: let me scwhimp to obamacare, why do you think they were naiïve in thinking donald trump. >> look at the security team. these are clear-eyed people that understand fully that the russians are not our friends. >> dickerson: let me switch to obamacare, there is a question of you want to repeal it. you are going to repeal it. when is the replacement part going to -- >> well, soon. you have to both repeal and replace, and i think there ought not to be a great gap between the first step and the second. look, bill clinton said it is the craziest thing he has ever seen, this is bill clinton, on obamacare last year. eight out of ten americans either one replaced entirely or significantly changed. i don't think anybody ought to think that the status quo is acceptable. if hillary clinton had been elected they would be revisiting

obamacare. it is in a full-scale meltdown, so no action is not an option. >> dickerson: so eight of ten want to repeal but only two in ten want it just repealed. in other words, repeal without replace -- >> well, either want it repealed or significantly changed. >> dickerson: right. >> that is eight out of ten. >> dickerson: i guess the gap is where the debate is, and senator rand paul say he spoke to the president-elect and quoting now from rand paul he said he, meaning mr. trump, fully supports my plan to replace obamacare the same day we repeal it. the time to act is now. you talked about a gap, there is the same day. >> well, i haven't heard senator paul's plan to replace it but we replacing it rapidly after repealing it. >> so can you give me a sense of what rapidly means? >> very quickly. >> dickerson: a month, days? >> quickly. >> dickerson: all right. but it is going to be repealed by the end of this week you think? >> the first step will be taken in the senate by the end of this week, yes and then go over to the house. >> dickerson: on replacing it,

if i have, if i am covered as part of obamacare will i be covered by the replacement? >> what you need to understand is that there are 25 million americans who aren't covered now, if the idea behind obamacare twowz get everyone covered that is one of the many failures. in addition to premiums going up, copayments going up, deductibles going up and many americans who actually did get insurance when they did not have it before have really bad insurance that they have to pay for and the deduct sbl so high it is not worth much to them so it is chaotic. the status quo is simply unacceptable and at the risk of being repetitious, if hillary clinton had been elected we would be revisiting obamacare. >> dickerson: let me move on to nominees. office of government ethics asked to slow down the process. i am not aware of any occasion in the four decades since oge was established when the senate held a confirmation hearing

before the nominees will you slow down process. >> we are still in the process of getting the papers in. i think at least five of the nominees have all of their papers in, you know, what this is about, john, the democrats are really frustrated that they lost the election. i was in senator schumer's position eight years ago. i know how it feels when you are coming into a new situation that the other guys won the election. what did we do? we confirmed seven cabinet appointments the day president obama was sworn in. we didn't like most of them either. but he won the election. so all of these little procedural complaints are related to their frustration in having not only lost the white house but having lost the senate. i understand that, but we need to sort of grow up here and get past that, we need to have the president's national security team in place on day 1 and papers are still coming in and so i am optimistic that we will be able to get up to seven

nominees on day one just like we did eight years ago. >> dickerson: should it be a rule that the papers come in and then you have the hearing? >> well, on hillary clinton for example we had a hearing before her fbi report was completed. the real sing the vote on the floor, and we want to have all of the records in, all of the papers completed before they are actually confirmed on the senate floor. >> dickerson: so nothing is slowing down? >> nothing is slowing down in terms of -- >> no, i don't think so. we want to treat, they should want to treat president-elect trump just like we treated president-elect obama. >> wouldn't their response be there is a qualitative difference between the obama nominees and trump nominees, you have people who have these big private industry successes but also pa lot of complexity. >> we could have made the same argument eight years ago. >> dickerson: were they as complex -- >> they were wildly liberal people. >> dickerson: well, that is ideology though. >> yes but what is the difference? we found most of his cabinet

appointments just as disturbing as they would find president trump's, and that is what happens when you lose the election. >> dickerson: and guess what, democrats would stay is this, these are ethical questions and they would say, but they would quote you back from your book about the senate, which is that the senate, as you say, there is a value to slow and steady deliberation. >> yes most of the time that is true but you have a brand-new administration, coming into office, you want to have at the very least a national security team in place on day one, and i am hopeful and optimistic that will be the case this time as well. >> dickerson: and what is your relationship like with chuck schumer in working out these -- >> oh, it is fine, i like chuck, we don't have a problem. he has a job to do and i have a job to do, and i think he has a little harder job to do right now in trying to convince people we ought to slow down and impede

the new administration getting up and running. >> dickerson: all right. senator majority leader michelle bachmann, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> dickerson: thank you for being with us. joining us now from the republican national committee headquarters here in washington is the incoming white house chief of staff, reince priebus, you still chairman of the party so mr. chairman, what exactly does incoming president-elect donald trump believe about russian efforts to medal in the election? >> well, i believes many of the things we all believe that russia and other countries have been hacking and attempting to attack american institutions for years, that russia's attack on american elections has been going back for over 50 years, so this is nothing new, and the fact that this particular hack was perpetrated by russian entities is something that no one is disputing but i think one of tissues here, john, and one of the issues that isn't really being covered is that we have one of the two biggest political parties in the world, the dnc,

that sat there like a sitting duck, allowed these entities into their computer systems, by their own admission, they said that they lacked the training, and that they didn't respond to the fbi when they called. >> dickerson: i understand, but he will be president of the united states not the head of the dnc, so on this question of you say is, no one is disputing this but over the last couple of months donald trump resoluting disputed the findings of the intelligence agancies and gone beyond that, not just been skeptical he has compared the findings on this question of russian hack nothing the biggest blunders the intelligence agencies made since iraq and part of a wimp hunt and he has been solid in disputing it so it seems like you are saying he changed his mind. >> i think you are just con nate, conflating two different things, on one thing you have the fact that russia, china, other countries, cyber attacked the united states all the time

but on the other hand you also have a president obama who truly before he leaves office after he knew about these things had been going on since 2015 decides to then put out the biggest sanctions we have ever put out on russia in this regard in the history of america, when the chinese hacked the opm, we didn't hear anything that happened after that, so there is a political angle here. >> dickerson: there is a political angle here john that is clearly politically motivated to discredit the victory of president-elect trump. i think that is absolutely indisputable. the reason why the dnc piece matters is that the reason this particular hack was so large wasn't necessarily because the effort was so great by the russians. it was that it was so easy. i mean, john podesta's a password into his system, you know what his password was? pass worth. the fact that he haddon naah brazil admitting that the dnc

lacked the training which allowed all of this material to be released is incredible. >> dickerson: let me go back to donald trump who will be leader of the free world and will have to work with the intelligence agencies, director clearp said there is a difference between skepticism and disparagement, so he categorized the remarks donald trump the made as disparaging of those intelligence agencies, so when donald trump met with the intelligence briefers on friday did he apologize for that disparagement? >> the first thing that donald trump did when he -- after that meeting in his statement was to commend the men and women of the intelligence community, the very first thing he did, the very first thing in his statement but let me just go back for a second, john. when president obama put out the sanctions against russia a week ago, our first reaction was we need to get a briefing on this issue which created, what created this immediate reaction of president obama? and we went into action to get

the briefing as quickly as possible on tuesday that we thought the president had that created the reaction that took place a few days earlier. so when president-elect trump moved forward through the weekend and on tuesday and we attempted to get that briefing, we since learned that the actual report wouldn't be done until wednesday. hang on, i am getting to your point. so it turned out that the report wasn't completed until wednesday and we with respect going to get the briefing until friday. that tweet you are referring to and mr. clapper responded to was the intelligence briefing in quotes was a frustrating situation in that we couldn't even get a briefing on what caused the reaction of obama because the report wasn't done until wednesday. in fact, the disparagement it is a matter of hey can i get the information -- >> dickerson: mr. chairment it is disparagement when you compare the findings to their worst blunder in modern history,

when you compare it to -- >> there was no, hang on, john. you are wrong, there was no -- >> dickerson: compared it to the iraq war. did the trump transition compare them to the iraq war blunder? >> i didn't compare them to -- >> dickerson: the transition did. >> but we are not talking a about that, john, we are talking about what created -- >> dickerson: you did do that -- the transition did that. >> you can say that all day long,. >> dickerson: it is the truth, mr. chairman. >> is that president obama, president obama put out sanctions on the thursday or the wednesday, whatever it was -- >> dickerson: let me ask you -- >> we attempted to get -- we attempted to get the briefing on that particular issue on that tuesday and we found out that the report wasn't even completed until wednesday. a so the intelligence briefing in quotes was in response to that situation. >> dickerson: let me move on to obamacare which is coming up, donald trump would like to see repeal and replace happen at the

same time; is that right? you know, look, i am not going to get into exactly where this is going to go but i will tell you that it would be ideal if we could do it all in one big action, but it may take too many time too get paul of the elements of the replace in place, reconciliation for part of it which is a 50 vote majority, there are other parts of the replacement such as allowing people and companies to cross state lines, allowing for open pricing, allowing for healthcare pooling that may take 60 votes. so the full replacement may take more time than an instantaneous action, but our intent is to make it happen as quickly as possible, repeal and replace as fast as we can. >> dickerson: senator rand paul said something like donald trump would not support what you just said which is more like a repeal and delay. so it sounds like there is some wiggle room there now from the president-elect in terms of the

pacing. >> no. i don't think so at all. i mean if he can get 60 votes within a few weeks and get all of those elements of rand paul's bill into place that would be great but i think we all understand that things sometimes do take some time and the full repeal and replace may take a little bit more time, but it is going to happen as quickly as possible. >> dickerson: quick question on replace, donald trump campaign on the idea of not touching medicare, that will be his position still? >> yeah, i mean, i don't think president-elect trump wants to meddle with medicare or social security, he made a promise in the campaign that was something he didn't want to do but what he wants to do is grow the economy, help shore up medicare and social security for future generations and if we can get create, five, six percent growth we will do that and explode the economy and bring jobs back and make trade more fair across the world, lower rates for everyone and i think hopefully get

businesses going again so people can put more money in their pocket. >> dickerson: all right, the chairman reince priebus, incoming chief of staff, thank you very much and we will be back with senate democrat cory booker, stay with us. with the help of at&t, red bull racing can share critical information about every inch of the car from virtually anywhere. brakes are getting warm. confirmed, daniel you need to cool your brakes. understood, brake bias back 2 clicks.

giving them the agility to have speed & precision. because no one knows & like at&t. >> dickerson: and we are back with the key to the democrat cory booker, welcome senator, i want to start with this question of confirmation, it does not sound like the senate majority leader is going to slow in the pace of the confirmation. >> it is frustrating to me, because i have known him for three years but people forget when you face something, it doesn't disappear, just in 2009, mitch mcconnell was the person that was saying, may we need to get all of the ethics information before we do the hearings. i was just reviewing his letter this morning and the problem is, as i think you pointed out is these people that donald trump has put up as appointments to his cabinet are not like president obama's people. these are people, who are billionaires and have vast holdings, vast wealth and the american people

have a right to know if they are going to be entering into those offices with conflicts of interest. and so i don't want to see a secretary of state who is not just doing america's business buzz also has holdings or out comes in chinese companies or in russian companies. so this is, to me, astounding we would actually have hearings and not know the fullness of people's potential conflicts of interest and be able to ask them about them. >> dickerson: what about senator mcconnell's point you want to get the national security team up and running and get them in there because it is a dangerous world and the new president has to have his team in place? >> again, this business, it is not a lot to ask that people give transparency, it is frustrating enough to me we have a president of the united states who is the chief executive officer and the commander in chief who could potentially have conflicts with russia and others that won't release their tax returns for us to see them but it is another thing when we have a tradition in this country, we nearly have a law of he anybodies in government act that puts specific requirements on

transparency that are not being supported by mitch mcconnell right now. this is not a republican or democrat thing, this is about national security and knowing the conflicts of pep that are going to have to deal with other people and negotiate with them .. >> dickerson: what are democrats going to do about this? >> again we are trying to create a substantive process that creates complete transparency, we have an independent ethics office saying this violates 40 years of tradition. so we are going to continue to push and what we have already seen, the republican party over reached, the house gop trying to gut the independent ethics oversight and enough people spoke out they finally backed up. this has got to be one of those case wes don't put a billionaire in a place who has financial interest in other countries who could really undermine what is best for this country. >> dickerson: you are on the senate foreign relations committee, rex tillerson, former exxon head is going to be appearing before the committee next week, what do you want to hear from him? >> he has a lot to talk about.

reviewed a lot of areas, he was with exxon mobil. climate change is real and the science of climate change is real, it was nice to hear him address that and i think he addressed that in a public forum, his relationship with putin is very important, especially given the kind of things that donald trump has been saying. there are other issues on hotspots in our country, around global issues, human rights issues and more. so we should have a thorough vetting of the secretary of state candidate and looking forward to doing that a. >> dickerson: what do you make of donald trump's argument that rex tillerson has a relationship with vladimir putin and that is great, you need to have a relationship with your add very scars? >> that's a version of what barack obama said when he was criticized i will sit down with any adversary because that is the thing to do, not shut them off? >> well, first of all, again, it goes to number one, the transparency of his business relationships in russia and we want to make sure we get to the bottom of that. but, again, this is is an adversary we want to know that

he is going to be able to represent the united states of america in, and our interests and not be compromised with his relationship especially right now we have serious hotspots in places like syria and places like the ukraine. >> dickerson: is there anything in his character that makes you think that he would be -- >> no, again, i agree with some of the things that mitch mcconnell said, the president should have his theme but the american public must make sure there are no serious conflicts of interest that will undermine this. >> dickerson: let me ask you about the affordable care act, the republicans will repeal it it looks like in some form, democrats i talked to seemed pretty happy about the fix that the republicans are in a fix they will get a penalty for repealing without replacing. do you think the democrats will help them with the replacement. a lot of democrats have criticisms of the affordable care act. >> this is a mutual frustration and in a position in the way of politics, the effort to repeal obamacare right now without a

plan to replace it, this is not about politics but about real people in america who will be hurt immediately. you have the american medical association who is against obamacare saying don't repeal this without having a replacement plan. you have doctors associations, nurse associations, hospital associations all screaming, even some fellow republicans, what are you trying to do? you are going to repeal this law which will plunge many americans into health crisis. this is an intent of shoving someone offer the cliff and say don't worry we will figure it out before you get to the bottom stocht my plan is very simple and i think my fellow democrats agree with me and hopefully some republicans who have been speaking out against not doing it this way, we are going to do everything we can to stop them, if they have a plan, put up your plan, show the american people, donald trump says we are going to have healthcare and it is going to be terrific. well, show me what that is. >> dickerson: john boehner was can criticized once for saying the, measure numbers by what they keep barack obama from doing. is that the new way of measuring

democrats, what they stop donald trump from doing? >> i go to any home state of new jersey, people don't care about politics and want to make their liefts better, what mitch mcconnell has done when i was mayor of the city when he came into a position when america was in a financial free fall and crisis all over the country, he announced to america the number one priority he had is keeping president obama from getting a second term. that is irresponsible, and that is dangerous, my number one responsibility is finding ways to make a difference in the lives of ordinary americans and what the republicans are doing, the first days of congress by repealing planned parenthood by putting the healthcare system in crisis, that is reckless and dangerous and i am going to fight that. >> dickerson: we have run out overtime, thank you, senator and we will be back in a moment. increasing the risk for me, the shingles virus. i've been lurking inside you since you had chickenpox. i could surface anytime as a painful, blistering rash. one in three people get me in their lifetime, linda. will it be you?

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so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even mer-mutts. (1940s aqua music) (burke) and we covered it, february third, twenty-sixteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ >> dickerson: if you can't watch us live "face the nation" is now available on cbs all access as well as our website facethenation.com plus we are available on video on demand on your cable system.

>> dickerson: some our stations are leaving us now, but for most of you we will be right back with a lot more "face the nation". >> ,,,,,,,,

>> champions of the world, denver broncos. >> touchdown, alabama! >> villanova, phenomenal! [captioning funded by cbs sports division] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] james: it's wild card sunday. bill: antonio brown, 50 career touchdowns but in six playoff games, zero touchdowns. >> and there is matt moore who is going to have to be more. he's going to have to dare to be great. boomer: some things defy logic. ryan shazier is going to get a call from his mom. does he not know that it's cold and it's flu