captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, as the c.i.a. concludes russia acted to sway the u.s. election in donald trump's favor, we talk with one of the bipartisan group of senators calling for an investigation. then, the future of obamacare: health and human services secretary sylvia burwell on the fate of the president's signature law under a trump administration. >> it's like a game of jenga where you have the puzzle pieces in and if you pull one out the thing will topple. >> woodruff: and... ♪ ♪ the music city feels the pressure: how nashville's booming housing market is threatening its historic culture.

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: there's a split tonight between donald trump and his own republican party. at issue: serious allegations that the russians were playing spy games during the presidential campaign. john yang begins our coverage. >> yang: top congressional republicans put themselves at odds with president-elect trump today, calling for investigations into possible russian attempts to influence

the election. >> obviously any foreign breach of cybersecurity measures are disturbing, and i strongly condemn any such efforts. >> well let me just speak for myself, the russians are not our friends. >> i think it's just another excuse. i don't believe it. >> yang: on sunday, mr. trump dismissed the c.i.a.'s conclusion that the russians were trying to help him win as "ridiculous." he pointed to apparent disagreements between the spy agency and the f.b.i. and i have great respect for them. but if you read the stories, the various stories, they're disputing. and certain groups don't necessarily agree. personally, it could be russia. it-- i don't really think it is. but who knows? i don't know either. they don't know and i don't know. >> yang: this morning, he tweeted that if "the election results were the opposite and we tried to play the russia/c.i.a. card, it would be called conspiracy theory!" russia is also an issue with a potential secretary of state in

the trump administration: exxon mobil c.e.o. rex tillerson. he's done a lot of business there and has close ties to president vladimir putin. that's a reason for concern say some senate republicans, including john mccain. >> maybe those ties are strictly commercial and got to do with his business in the oil business. fine. but we'll give him a fair hearing. but is it a matter of concern? certainly it should be a matter of concern. >> yang: meanwhile, the president-elect's challenge to the longstanding u.s. "one china" policy brought a stern warning from the chinese foreign ministry. >> ( translated ): i want to stress that the taiwan issue involves china's sovereignty and territorial integrity, also if such a foundation is disrupted and undermined, the sound and steady growth of their relations, and bilateral would be impossible. >> yang: today, mr. trump officially named choice for secretary of homeland security: retired marine four-star general john kelly, a veteran of four

decades in the corps. kelly most recently headed u.s. southern command, overseeing military operations in central and south america. in that role, he also worked with homeland security to stop the smuggling of immigrants. he's the third general mr. trump has picked for a major post, but this four-star general he is also a gold star parent. his son, a marine first lieutenant, was killed in afghanistan in 2010. the president-elect also named goldman sachs president gary cohn to head the white house national economic council. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: and, two developments in election recounts today. a federal judge refused to order one in pennsylvania, as green party candidate jill stein wanted. and a new tally ended in wisconsin, with little change. donald trump won both states. among those voicing concern about russia's attempts to influence the presidential election, a bipartisan group of senators called for an investigation into the

cyberattacks that, they say, should alarm every american. jack reed, the ranking member of the senate armed services committee is one of those senators, and says he has no reason to doubt the c.i.a.'s conclusions. >> they definitely intervened in the election. they collected information against both democrats and republicans. and they seemed to only have released information with respect to the democratic candidate. the motivation, that is something that we're going to continue to probe. but it seems that they were interested in disrupting the democratic campaign as much as they could. >> woodruff: you don't have any question about that conclusion because the fbi, as you know, it's reported that they are holding back on ascribing a motive here. >> well, there is a difference between a motive and what happened on the ground, if you will. what seems to be clear is that they had been able to enter into

the computer systems of both the republicans and the democrats. and that they through proxy disseminated information about the democratic candidate. did not in any significant way do so withñi the republicans. could you question motivations but it seems clear that they had a goal or objective to provide information that would be detrimental to the democratic candidate. >> woodruff: and what other explanation could there be other than wanting to help donald trump? >> it, the only other plausible explanation would be just so to so-w general confusion but at some point they clarily seem to suggest a preference in terms of who they were going to attack or provide detrimental information about. and that was the democratic candidate. >> woodruff: what does this represent to you, senator reed, as somebody who has looked at intelligence for as long as you have? >> well, it demonstrates the practice that the russians have of sur rep ti shusly using fiber

and other techniques to involve themselves in elections, to distort elections. it happened overseas. and now unfortunately it has happened dramically in the united states. and so we have to be aware that that is why senator mccain and i are working to set up a subcommittee to look at this issue. but longer-term to look at the cybercapabilities of russia in many different directions. but the first issue is trying to get all the facts that we can out about their participation in this election cycle because we have to be able to show the american public that in two years or at any time in the future our elections are not determined by suxd rreptitiou s activity of foreigns, it is determined by the voter. >> woodruff: i'm sure you know president-elect trump doesn't believe the russians did the hacking. he said it could have been a man

sitting on a bed somewhere. how do you-- what do you say to his reaction to all this? >> well, it seems quite obvious that this was done by the russians. our intelligence services have indicated it. they've done so very carefully. to disregard the obvious is not a good trait in a leader in any situation. >> woodruff: to disregard the obvious. >> yes. >> woodruff: well, do you want to elaborate on that? >> well, it seems the facts are overwhelming that there was involvement of the russians in the election. the involvement not only in terms of penetrating democratic operatives and organizations, but also the intelligence community concluded the republican national committee. so they were involved. and that seems to be not an issue of contention. and to simply deny that is to deny what is to me appears increasingly to be obviousxd a fact. >> woodruff: senator, what

would be different between the investigation that you and some republican senators are calling for and the investigation the that president obama has called for inside the administration to be done by the inauguration? >> well, the president is able to use the intelligence agencies and other agencies to vet the information, to protect sources and methods, to come up with all that to be released to the public. our investigation i hope will build off of that. i hope to document the-- that is available so we have a common base of facts and knowledge and from there we can ask other questions that i think are relevant going forward. what could we do to prevent this in the future. i think also it raises again the issue that has been so contentious an over the last several months about the president-elect being much more open and candid in his financial dealings so that there is absolutely no he question of any

type of biased toward any institution or individual or country. >> woodruff: well, two other he questions. one what is what should the u.s. do if this is proven that the russians did this hacking and if they did it for the reason that it appears that they did? >> well, first i think fore warned is forearmed. whether the american people will be aware of the ak particulars, the techniques and the motivations, if we can determine them con cluesively of the russians, that will be useful. and second there is the ability to take action against them. right now we have sanctions in place because of their assault on crimea because of their destablizing activities in crimea. if this raises that level we could consider something like that. i think also in terms of international criticism, this is something they have done in the past in other countries. if this is their method of

operation, we have to be able to, i think, enlist the aid and the support of other countries, our european allies and across the globe. that will be something that will sebd a strong message that this will not be tolerated by the united states nor by other countries. >> woodruff: final question, senator reed, that is what is your reaction to president-elect saying in an interview yesterday that he isn't taking all the intelligence briefings that he has been offered because quote i'm like a smart person. i don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. >> i think that is not a sensible way to approach the issues that the president has to deal with. things change almost instantaneously. situation as rise, context is important. it's also critically important that you are so involved in the intelligence cycle as the president that you are able to

be able to jij adequately when someone presents a view point to you. periodic sort of quick study, if you will, is not going to work. it takes that constant exposure. and i think it's not a good leadership, particularly for a president to simply say i know it all, i will just take a refresher course once in a while. >> woodruff: senator jack reed, the ranking democrat on the arms services committee. thank you for talking with us. >> thank, judy. >> woodruff: we'll debate russia's actions with a former director of the c.i.a. and an ambassador in the obama administration after the news summary. and in the day's other news, syrian rebels all but collapsed in aleppo, and the army appeared on the verge of recapturing the city. by day's end, the military said it now controls 99% of eastern aleppo, once a rebel stronghold. non-stop bombing overnight reduced more buildings to

rubble, and heavy shelling continued throughout the day. the rebels were left with a tiny enclave. in turkey, police roundups were in full swing today across turkey after twin bombings killed 44 people in istanbul on saturday. officials detained 235 people, and police said they were linked to the outlawed kurdish separatist party. meanwhile, scores of protesters marched in istanbul to denounce the bombings, and president recep tayyip erdogan visited the soccer stadium where the attack took place. the united nations has a new secretary general. the former prime minister of portugal, antonio guterres, was sworn in today. guterres has also served as u.n. high commissioner of refugees, and he vowed today to streamline operations, to meet humanitarian needs. >> it benefits no one if it takes nine months to deploy a staff member to the field.

the united nations needs to be nimble, efficient and effective. it must focus more on delivery and less on process, more on people and less on bureaucracy. >> woodruff: guterres will officially take office on january 1. he succeeds ban ki-moon, who served 10 years as secretary general. authorities in britain and greece announced today they've broken up a network that moved hundreds of migrants into europe. the gang supplied lost or stolen passports and travel documents. meanwhile, rescuers pulled nearly 1,200 people from the mediterranean yesterday. more than 4,700 have died trying to make the crossing this year. back in this country, an arctic front pushed into the northeast and new england after blowing across the great lakes and upper midwest. the storm made morning commutes treacherous from pennsylvania on up to maine, where two people were killed. meanwhile, parts of michigan got more than 10 inches of snow, forcing hundreds of schools to

close. >> this is a bad snow. it's real wet. it came down soft, but over the night it got warm, so now it's a heavy snow. it's hard to clear off. not too bad with this, but with a snow-blower and stuff it's pretty tough. >> woodruff: later this week, the system is expected to send temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below normal in the midwest and east. former congressman chaka fattah was sentenced to 10 years in prison today in a racketeering scheme. the pennsylvania democrat had been convicted of taking an illegal $1 million dollar loan in a failed bid for mayor of philadelphia. he also used charity funds to pay down his son's college loans. fattah served 20 years in congress before being ousted. and, wall street mostly retreated, while the dow jones industrial average managed another new record. the dow gained 39 points to

close at 19,796. but the nasdaq fell nearly 32 points, and the s&p 500 slipped two. still to come on the newshour: more on trump's strained relationship with the intelligence community. health and human services secretary sylvia burwell discusses the future of obamacare. preserving the music studios that gave us willie nelson and dolly parton, plus much more. >> woodruff: we dig deeper now into the debate over russian hacking and the c.i.a.'s conclusion the goal was to sway the u.s. election in trump's favor. hari sreenivasan has that. >> sreenivasan: and we're joined by two men with extensive experience with intelligence and diplomacy. james woolsey was c.i.a. director during the clinton administration. he's now with booz allen, one of the largest defense and intelligence contractors.

he also serves as a senior advisor to president-elect trump on issues of national security and intelligence. and michael mcfaul was u.s. ambassador to russia during the obama administration. he's now a professor of political science at stanford university. mike mcfaul, your reaction to the news that russia may have played an active role in helping president-elect trump? >> well, for some of us it's not news. some of us have been talking and writing about this for many months now. especially after the hacking of the dnc computers and the data dump from wikileaks. i think the two pieces of news that are new is that the intelligence community is now claiming that they have evidence to show that the russians gave it to wikileaks. that was uncertain, now we know that and the second piece is about the republican, the hacking into the republican side. they now have evidence to show that. what it all means to me, to be clear, my bottomline is we need an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate this.

it's not enough for the obama administration to do their review and frankly it's not enough to have hearings on it, that the u.s. congress-- this is way too big to be handled in those places. we need to he no the facts. >> and here i agree with president-elect trump in the piece you played with him. he said several times, we don't know. well, as an academic i want to know the facts and i think the only way you're going to get it is if you set up that commission. >> sreenivasan: james woolsey, do you agree, is that the right course? >> i don't think there is anything wrong with a commission going into an important issue. i think what needs to be focused on here from the beginning is that we've got a couple of different things going on. and conflating them causes a lot of confusion. one is what the soviets and now the russians call disinformation, otherwise known as lying. and they prop gate disinformation throughout the world on all sorts of subjects. but they particularly focus on organizations and groups that

embed-- embody values that they behind abhorrent such as the catholic church and judaism. they are apparently moving into disseminating disinformation about western political parties. it's not any different in principle from what they have been doing for decades. i think that's one set of things that's going on. another set of things that conceivably could go on is hacking into the records of the voting in order to change those votes. i don't know that there is any indication that we have that this latter is taking place, counting people who are dead as voters and the sort of things that you read about in the american system. so i think in so far as someone says that the russians were not

participating in anything may not be correct. because they may have been participating in disseminating disinformation. but not participating in what most of us think of as voting fraud, namely counting people who vote who are dead and so forth. >> sreenivasan: james woolsey, i hear some hesitation on your part. do you doubt the cred ability of your former agency in coming to this conclusion? >> no i think they're conflating-- they may well be conflating the issues as well. one only needs to separate these out and talk about them separately. i don't know what the cia would decide. i haven't read anything they've written in years on something like disinformation. but i'm sure they are up to speed on that. and if one steals some portion of softed ware or rather of material that has a particular

kant on it hostile to the united states or one of its political parties and then disseminates that, i guess you could say that was trying to work the election or change it in some way through persuading people with lies. but that's not what most people mean by this. what most people mean is fiddling with the outcome, having, for example, no paper trail. so a recount just based on fingers touching screens can be extremely misleading. about a quarter of our voting machines in the united states very stupidly don't have paper trails. >> sreenivasan: mike mcfaul, james woolsey is drawing this disfunction, two different kinds of possible interference, is that too generous? >> no, i think those are good categories. i think both of those categories need to be investigated. i have personal experience with that first category. i had lots of disinformation published about me when i was ambar-- ambassador. but i want to be clear, there is a third category jim is leaving

out which is stealing data from the democratic national committee and from john poddesta the chairman of the hillry clinton campaign, and then disseminating that information through wikileaks. by the way, i want to underscore wikileaks is a foreign organization as well. and that then having an impact on the campaign. most certainly the people that work in the clinton campaign think that the wikileaks data dump was a devastating impact on their electoral candidate's prospect to become president of the united states. if that was provided by russia, and that is what we learned over the weekend, that is something we need to investigate, know the facts as president-elect trump said, and then think about what measures can be taken so that our election in 2020 is free and fair. >> i agree with mike on getting it clear with what is right. i think that's important. but the head of the wiki --

wikileaks operation says it wasn't the russians that gave him the material, so there are all sorts of things going on. >> and the cia over the weekend said it was. we need to know the facts. >> sreenivasan: you used to run the cia and also are advising president-elect trump. have you given them any guidance, the transition team or the president-elect's innercircle on doing anything other than debate-- debasing the credibility of the entire intelligence information other than saying these are the same people that gave us the weapons of mass destruction slam dunk that wasn't. >> have i not talked to anyone in the campaign in the last couple of days so i haven't talked to anybody about this issue. it is just very recently arisen. my old agency was, of course, taken very heavily to task for the weapons of mass destruction issue. the thing that i think is interesting is that two of the three weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical were in the hands of saddam the whole time it was the third kind that everybody was particularly worried about, nuclear that was lied about and so forth.

but two thirds of the types of weapons of mass destruction were, in fact, in iraq. >> sreenivasan: mike mcfaul, are you concerned about the potential shadow that hangs over the information that none of us have seen, meaning it is not just the poddesta emails but rather than the emails that haven't been released from the rnc or somewhere else that perhaps could be used add leverage in the future? >> yes, of course. the russians are very good, they're one of the best in the world, at gathering intelligence. they do it not just through hacking, by the way, but all kinds of different ways. and we should look at-- try to look at what we have. by the way i don't think we'll ever know completely what they have. any person that ever travels to russia or lives in russia like i have knows that they are monitered 24/7 in that country. and we should just try to dig down to the facts. and i want to be clear. you know t doesn't mean that the russians made trump president. i think many people conflate

that too. they say because they tried-- they jump to the conclusion that he is only president because of the russians. i don't want to connect those dots at all until i know the factds. but even if they didn't produce this outcome, right, the fact that they tried, that they did steal this data, that they tried to influence the elections, that's something we need to investigate. and again, it won't happen in a partisan context it won't happen if the white house is the only one responsible. >> sreenivasan: we will have you back when we have more data to work with, mike mcfaul, james woolsey, thank you both. >> sure. >> woodruff: now, the future of obamacare, and the many questions about what will happen to those covered by it now. with less than six weeks left until donald trump is sworn in

as the 45th president of the united states, one of his most common campaign pledges remains constant: killing it. >> we will repeal obamacare. we're going to repeal and replace obamacare so quickly. we will and must repeal and replace obamacare. we have no choice. >> woodruff: the president-elect says the affordable care act, more commonly known as obamacare, will be replaced with more market-driven alternatives. >> this law violates the principles that every american holds dear. >> woodruff: he's tapped one of the law's fiercest critics, congressman tom price of georgia, to oversee those efforts as chief of the department of health and human services. the law, signed in 2010, has led to some big turbulence in recent months, including double-digit rate increases in many states,

and some insurers abandoning marketplaces, and lower than but unwinding the law may be far more difficult than the campaign rhetoric suggests. it's why more than 20 million americans now have insurance, including 11 million covered through an expansion of medicaid. while some parts of the law are unpopular, such as the individual mandate and costs for better benefits, one piece that mr. trump has promised to keep is very popular: insurers are barred from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. yet how to guarantee that while repealing the law is an open question. republicans are divided over a timeframe for replacing it. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke to that today. >> we will move right after the first of the year on an obamacare replacement resolution. then work on a better proposal than the current law.

you ever a seen the headlines all across america, all last year about the status quo. >> >> woodruff: health care providers and insurers have warned of potential chaos. last week, two major hospital groups warned repealing the law without a suitable replacement would lead to an "unprecedented public health crisis." >> protect the important moments in your life with an affordable health plan through healthcare.gov. >> woodruff: meanwhile, open enrollment season for the new year continues. health and human services secretary sylvia burwell has been traveling the country, encouraging people to sign up before enrollment is finished on january 31. i sat down with her at h.h.s. headquarters earlier today. secretary sylvia burwell, thank you for talking with us. >> thank you so much for having me today.

>> woodruff: so president-elect trump, congressional republicans are macking it very clear that they plan to repeal and replace the affordable care act. they don't make any bones about it. what do you think the consequences will be? >> the consequences are great and for all americans, not just those that are the 20 million who have received insurance. certainly that could all go away, those who were uninsured and now insured, that's 20 million people, we have the lowest rate of uninsured in our nation in history, those folks would lose their coverage. but i think most people don't realize that there are many other benefits for those without get insurance through their employer. things like children under your plan until 26. things like preexisting conditions. things like preventive coverage without any additional copays. and those are some, just a few of the many things that would go away in a repeal. >> woodruff: mr. trump has said among other things that he would like to keep the provision that allows children, adult children up to age 26 to be covered under their parents plan. he also said he doesn't want

anything to change with regard to preexisting conditions. is it possible to view that and dismantle the rest of it and still take care of people sth. >> you know, that's the thing. it's like a game of jenga where you have the puzzle pieces and if you pull one out the thing will topple. and it's important to understand, when one has people are preexisting conditions in the insurance pool, there are other things that you have to do. you have to make sure everybody is in the pool so you spread that risk, that is what insurance is. it is about spreading risk. and that's why there is a mandate to have everyone in. the other thing is is it does increase costs to have people who are more expensive in, but what you want to do is make sure that you subsidize or help those. that is where the affordable care act subsidies or tax credits are very, very important. so it is a situation where you can't just pick and choose the things you like. everything has to work together. in order to pay and have those with preexisting conditions be in and covered by insurance. >> woodruff: so are you

saying, secretary burwell, it's literally impossible to do what donald trump says he wants to do he said words to the effect people will have other options. he said we're not going to leave people quote dying in the streets. is there a way to do-- to dismantle and still take care of people. >> so judy, i think it is now the point in time where this conversation about health care is going to move from the rhetoric to the reality. and the reality of how you need to put the pieces together, but you really have to focus on what are the real facts of how these pieces interact. >> woodruff: are there any parts of this plan that could be pulled out and still keep an important piece of what is protecting americans? >> i think that's the conversation that we should have about the question of how to go forward are. there improvements that can be made. i thinks that-- the question i think we need to be focused on, three things. access, how many insured or uninsured, affordability wa, does it cost people, and quality, what's covered. and as you know right now among

republicans on the hill, at least it's reported that they are talking about a repeal vote. and then figuring out what to do next with replacement. there's not complete agreement on replacement. >> woodruff: how much difference does it make it if they go ahead and repeal and we see how much of a delay there is before we know what succeeds. >> well, the idea of repeal and delayed replace is really repeal and collapse. because once they have taken those actions to repeal and say oh, we will replace it two, three years from now, you already start to have the negative impact that will occur. and by that i mean insurance companies because of the uncertainty will make decisions to not go into the market place. they will make decisions to raise their prices because of the uncertainty. hospitals across the country who have been benefiting from a reduction in uncompensated care

when people just go to the hospital and don't pay, because he they don't have insurance, they're not going to be able to make decisions. states who have been getting the funds for medicaid expansion will not know in their budgets whether they're going to get the funds. what will happen if there is a repeal and a delayed replacement is actually collapse will started to occur immediately because of the uncertainty. and when you think that it's been six years and there hasn't been an agreed upon replacement. and so that will fuel this uncertainty that anything will really happen. >> woodruff: and what does that mean in human terms. >> in human terms what it manies is we know that right now 20 million folks have insurance through the affordable care act. last week the urban institute came out with a study that said that approach could result in up to 30 million people uninsured and why that is, is because this approach would not only take away what we gained, but would take us back further because it will affect negatively the

individual market. >> woodruff: you're speaking about what will lap to the insurance markets, decisions that they will make and we're already seeing in this president-elect, donald trump, is he somebody who is not afraid to go after individual companies, individual leaders in the private sector. he has done it again today in talking about an aerospace company. who's to say he might not try to personally talk the hospital or insurance industry into doing something different? >> so i think this is one of those situations whereas i said, leading to the substance and for the insurance and providers to be able to provide the kind of care and insurance they need to, there is a certain level of certainty that they need. they need to know one of the most important things in the market place is the subsidies that occur to help people afford health care. >> even fans of the accord-- affordable care act announced there have been issues with it.

and given that, as you look back on how you how the administration has handled it, are there things that could have been, should have been done differently? >> the president actually made a very public pronouncement through the-- a journal even in publishing an article about things we think could improve the affordable care act. there are a number of places where we believe there could be improvements. and they mainly focus on affordability and access and competition. having competition in the market place. and some of the things we think could help and improve our are changes in things like high cost drugs and making sure that hhs has the ability to noasht, to put dun ward pressure or the idea in places where you don't have a lot of competition, in other words a number of insurers offering creative-- create a public option that would fit beside other market options. >> you have had a conversation with the man who the president-elect has chosen to be the next secretary or has appointed to be the next

secretary of healthand human services, congressman tom price from georgia. any advice would you offer him? >> you know, i think the only thing i would say, and i would say this to anyone coming into hhs is it is so porntd to really focus on those we serve. that is who our boss really is. it is the consumer. and whether that's the child in head start, the person getting health care or the person who will benefit from hih research or any of us eating that food that we trust is safe because of the fda. keeping your eye on what this department is about, those people, and how do we achieve and serve the best for them. that's the one thing that i think helps in this jb which has lots of different parts and pieces. >> woodruff: secretary sill veaa burwell, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and we'll be we will discuss the future of obamacare with leading republicans in the coming weeks.

>> woodruff: we take a broader look at the latest twists and turns in the trump transition now with our politics monday team: tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." and welcome to you both. it's monday, it's good to see you, so tamara, we have some, i think, breaking news. we had expected donald trump this week to announce how he's going to handle all of his businesses, and what have you learned? >> yeah, all of the entanglements and po continuation conflicts of there. he was supposed to address that at a news conference on thursday. npr-- has confirmed that that news conference is not happening. and that now there will be an announcement, not necessarily a news conference, sometime in january. so for two weeks donald trump had the benefit of people reporting that he was going to have a news conference to announce his conflicts of interest and how he was going to resolve that, and now that is postponed. >> woodruff: so amy, i wouldn't ask you to speculate about what is going on because

it is just broken. but this is something we have been waiting to learn from donald trump. >> and it is something that he is asked continue allly. he was just asked this weekend in an interview with fox news' chris wallace about how it was going to work. and he seemed to suggest it was going to be pretty easy. his children would run the business, will stay out of it and the children will do it and it means he personally does not have a vested interest in the success. chris wallace pushed him on this saying, well frk your children do well, for your business, that is probably helping you. theyant didn't really clear up all of the potential controversies there. and this comes on top of the fact that you have a number of members now that donald trump has offered up as cabinet a pontments who may have their own conflicts of interest. those are going to be addressed in hearings. >> and donald trump in that same interview talked about wanting his daughter ivanka and son in law to be able to do work with the administration, but also he wants them to have some involvement with the business still. >> woodruff: so we now way for

at least three more weeks. >> january. >> woodruff: we don't have a date. well, the lead story tonight, and amy i will turn to you on this, is this extraordinary situation where we now have the cia saying flat out that the russians interfered, tried to influence the u.s. election. now they're concluding that the russians did it in order to help donald trump. the fbi isn't there yet but now you have a congressional investigation called for. this is-- where are we? >> this is the election that will never end. the 2016 will continue to go on and on and on. look, where we are right now, you have the cia, again, this is a document that was leaked, they haven't come out publicly or made a public statement about this, but was leaked to "the washington post" that they have determined that the russians were involved in not just hacking emails but in trying to insure that done all trump was elected. congressional leaders in the

house, in the senate, on the r epublican side, taking a look at. this basically what they're saying is they're not going as far as donald trump saying that this is absolutely riddick luses, i don't believe this is possible. they do say this is something we need to look into. but what we're not going to do is set up a special investigation. just going to go through normal procedure. we're not going to set up something like a 9/11 commission, something like that to look at this. and so what you have are the president being much more direct in pushingback. republicans saying it is wort looking at but also saying we don't want to polit size this and we certainly don't want to and i think that it was paul ryan who said specifically, that it shouldn't-- we should make a clear and decisive outcome. we shouldn't cast doubted on a clear and decisive outcome of this election. noardz, let's try to look at this without polit sizing this. >> woodruff: but tamara, should that be a question now? does this potential undermine the legitimacy of donald trump's win here? >> so it depends 3n how you talk about undermining and legitimacy. ot bama administration is also calling for a broad review of

the election hacking and hacking in past elections. but the white house is saying they don't believe that there was election day vote tampering. they believe that the vote is, the voted is the vote. donald trump will be sworn in on january 209 am but i think that the way that the trump team has reacted to this give gets at the legitimacy question. they've been in some ways defensive, saying that this is just-- this is just the latest in a long line of things that the recount or people pointing to the popular vote as a way of delegitimizing an elected president-elect. >> saying the democrats are show involved in this. but it also, it points back to, i mean amy you said there are now several nominees are going to be questions about their qualifications, their potential conflicts of trvment i do want to come back to that news

conference, the interview that donald trump did. we're still waiting for a done all trump news conference. >> since july. >> woodruff: but the interview he did with chris wallace on fox news, some interesting comebts there about he doesn't believe in taking regular intelligence briefings, comments about china. we did learn a little bit more about him from that. >> i think we did although judy, my big takeaway from that interview was the donald trump we awe son the campaign trail is the donald trump that we're going to see in the oval office. he still believes fumentdly that he does not need to do things in the traditional way. he yes, there is a tradition for doing security briefings one way. i'm going to do them a different way. he yes, people said to me don't take this phone call from tie want, i understand the one-china policy but i'm also not going to let china dictate to me what i am going to do as president of the united states. so this posture, this at teud we saw on the campaign trail will absolutely follow him into the oval office wses he really is

saying i'm going do it my own way. >> if you look at many of his domestic cabinet a pontments are nominees, they are people in his own image. they are outsiders that are executives. or successful in business and wealthy. they are people who have said thadr they oppose the very work of the agencies that they have now been nominated to lead. and so. >> woodruff: as we look at this amy, and in less than a minute now, the confirmation process coming up, there could be some. >> contentious. >> woodruff: fireworks. >> yeah, we know that because of the way the rules are structured it will be difficult for democrats alone to get to oust one of his picks. but all it takes is three or so republicans to go against one of these nominees, and there will not be able to be confirmeded. >> woodruff: and john mccain and some of the other senators have raised some questions, republicans i mean. >> there ri handful 6 republican, rand paul has raised some concerns with some names that are floated.

the potential exists age even if none of them are blocked, these hearings are going to be fascinating and they could-- they could raise a lot of concerns that could dog these nominees once they go nier their cabinet positions. >> woodruff: hearings, where have we heard about those before. we'll be watching a lot of that. amy walter, tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> welcome, judy. >> woodruff: nashville often likes to refer to itself as "music city," and given its history and heritage, that seems just right. but as real estate development explodes in one of the nation's fastest-growing cities, some of the very studios, locations and neighborhoods that were so important to country music, and the industry as a whole, are now threatened. jeffrey brown reports, part of his ongoing series on "culture at risk."

♪ ♪ >> brown: inside an unassuming house on 16th avenue south, guitarist philip shouse is laying down a track at the recording studio "house of david." ♪ ♪ meanwhile while just up the road, the punk rock group paramore is recording percussion in rca-studio a for the group's forthcoming album. ♪ ♪ it's just another day on music row, the collection of recording studios, publishing houses and offices two miles southwest of downtown nashville and its famous honky tonks, and the place collectively responsible for an important part of the nation's music industry. >> from like the early days even to present there's been such an amazing group of people that have recorded here. you know, and when you walk into a room, you really can feel an energy and inspiration. >> brown: it all began in the 1950s with owen and harold

bradley, brothers who opened a recording studio in a converted home in this part of town. other studios like capitol, decca and rca victor followed, and in 1957 rca victor's nashville division, headed by chet atkins, opened studio b, where elvis presley would record many of his most famous hits. ♪ ♪ a few years later, in 1963, studio a was built next door and between the two, the likes of willie nelson, waylon jennings, ♪ ♪ dolly parton, and many more ♪ ♪ recorded hit records.

with the studios came the musicians, the publishers, the lawyers and others, a clustering that created a music industry. >> brown: carolyn brackett is a nashvillian with the national trust for historic preservation. >> so a lot of the work that we've done in the last couple of years has been to document the history of music row all the way up to the present. what's happening here today. >> brown: what's happening here today is that this history is being threatened by the rising demand for housing and office space in what is one of the nation's fastest growing cities and hottest markets in the country. >> we're being squeezed because >> brown: sharon corbitt-house,

known as "music row mama" up and down these streets, has been managing talent and producers at rca studio-a for years. ♪ ♪ two years ago, one of her clients, ben folds, learned the building was being sold and that he was being evicted. he wrote an open letter to nashville that went viral. and at the 11th hour, as the building was about to be sold to a new developer who would tear it down, developer and philanthropist aubrey preston stepped in to save it. >> i believe in music city, it would be the equivalent of, in egypt, them allowing one of their three pyramids or something to be torn down. i, i believe it would just, it's just an impossibility that this building would be torn down on music row. >> brown: the new producer in residence at studio a is dave cobb, responsible for albums from jason isbell... ♪ ♪ and chris stapleton, who took home last year's grammy for best country album, "traveler,"

recorded at studio a. >> you feel the walls. i mean, you kind of know what was recorded there, and when you're actually in the space and you realize that, you know, that's where waylon jennings recorded "daddy walk the line" and that's where dolly parton did "jolene" and you're actually in the same space, it takes on a whole new, you know, emotion, and, and those records i adore and i feel like when i make records, i chase those sounds a >> brown: this studio has been saved, but many others are gone. carolyn brackett took us to a new development called "crescent music row," the former site of sound shop studio, where paul mccartney recorded with wings in the 1970s. >> most of them are high rises. and what's happening is they push further into music row is that we're losing a lot of the historic buildings that were studios, were music offices, publishers were located. >> brown: also compounding the studios' problems-- the music business isn't what it used to

be, and many recording studios don't earn what they used to-- because of the rise of more affordable software and equipment. >> i've been offered, you know, a million seven for any building i have every week. david briggs is the owner of t"" house of david" studios. >> brown: and you say? >> no. >> brown: because? >> i'd like to see music row be >> brown: briggs himself is a nashville institution-- a session player, producer and music publisher who's worked with elvis and a host of other stars. >> there used to be 80 studios here within three or four blocks. now, i doubt if there's 20. >> brown: the house of david was just added to the national register of historic places, joining three other studios on music row. they're among 200 buildings documented by the national trust that are connected to the rise of country music, as well as the

music industry as a whole. the city's metropolitan planning commission and stakeholders are now working to finalize a plan to recognize historic buildings, with backing from the national park service. >> now, i think it's really important that we're leaving it better than we found it. we've got to make sure that we're taking care of the creative community, people that came here to be creatives, and do it the way we've always done it, which is support one another, help one another. >> brown: it's a difficult balancing act between celebrating the past, and making room for the future. from music row in nashville, i'm jeffrey brown with the pbs newshour. ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in iraq and the afghanistan conflict. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available.

here, in silence, is one more. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, the weather report calls for clouds and wind, on an exoplanet located 1,040 light years from earth. that's according to the first report with persuasive evidence of weather on a planet outside of our solar system. also on our facebook page, think you have what it takes to be on the front lines for the u.s. marine corps? the marines recently opened up all combat positions to female recruits. but to qualify for these combat jobs, all recruits have to pass this test.

watch a video at facebook.com/newshour. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. tune in later tonight on charlie rose: former i.b.m. c.e.o. sam palisano and former national secuity advisor tom donilon, co chairs of the presidential commission on cyber security, discuss the hacking of the u.s. elections. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan

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>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation. newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good. kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the