interviewed coaches, he interviewed plays. he was known for his colorful wardrobe, but he was known for also for his incredible love of life, for the work he did in the broadcast news field, the sports reporting field and, of course, for a courageous and very public battle with cancer that unfortunately ends in craig sager's passing today at the age of 65. somebody who by sports fans and non-sports fans will be missed dearly. i'm steve kornacki in new york. "mtp daily" starts right now. if it's thursday, president-elect donald trump is accusing intel agencies of playing politics, though this time in the face of nearly incontrovertible evidence. tonight a u.n. intel bombshell ties russian president vladimir putin directly to the hacking.

plus the democratic party's big dilemma. do they have to decide between appealing to aggressives or appealing to democratic party. t this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >> good evening, i'm chuck todd here in new york city. welcome to "mtp daily." if someone tried to interfere in the u.s. election, it would be a big story. but what if they were doing it to try to keep a certain person from winning, and what if they got caught, and what if the incoming president didn't believe a word of it. what would your reaction be?

here's the reaction. crickets, of sorts. the cia has said they now believe with a high level of confidence, and they have hard evidence to prove the following, that russian president vladimir putin was covertly involved to interfere in the presidential election, first as a vendetta against clinton, then as a campaign to destroy american credibility when it comes to american democracy. in 1972, watergate started when a couple burglars opened a file cabinet. now we're talking about an entire arm of democracy by a foreign foe. there is little dispute that it was meant to hurt clinton's candidacy, and there is little dispute that it did to a point. a putin spokesman today told the ap that it is laughable

nonsense. what's interesting there is the russians hit the media, not the government sources behind it. trump's transition did not dispute the story when it first broke. trump tweeted this. if russia or some other entity was hacking, why did the white house wait so long to react? why did they only complain after hillary lost? that's a good question and we'll look into it. it seemed to throw a big caution flag into this congress. it also convinced trump supporters that the story is bogus. we've seen no stories from congressional committees today, no calls from special leaders for a special investigation, and that much reaction from republican leaders like mitch mcconnell or paul ryan today, either. but it has lit a fire under speaker lindsey graham. graham just went public that russia hacked him back in june. today he went right after trump. >> i am 100% certain that the

russians hacked into podesta's e-mails, the dnc and other political organizations. most of the information that was released was unfavorable to clinton, not trump. here is president trump's dilemma. what are you going to do? if you don't believe the russians were involved in interfering with our election, then i'm really troubled by that. the nbc reporting team that broke this story. ken delaney is our national security reporter. big story, cynthia and ken. let me start with this. it's incredible scoop that we have that putin was intimately involved with this. where is congress on this? and have they been briefed on this yet? >> well, we asked today adam schiff, whether congress has been briefed on putin's

involvement and he declined to answer that question. >> the house top democrat in the house intelligence committee. >> correct. and he said he couldn't comment on whether or not they have been briefed. but i think it's pretty clear the leaders know. it's also pretty clear the white house knew. certainly they had drawn that conclusion at least a month before their now famous october 7th statement because the white house did confirm that president obama had directly confronted vladimir putin about this at the g-20 in early september. >> ken, help me with some intel speak here. high confidence. you know, if you're a layman reading this in the report, high confidence, okay, whatever that means. but high confidence has a special place when it comes to a cia report. explain. >> absolutely, chuck. it's about as high -- i mean, it's about as firm as they can get in terms of intelligence assessment. it means, as you said in the introduction, they have more of

a supposition, they have significant evidence that what they know is true. . they must have hard sourcing. it's not just a computer did this and a computer did that. they have something more. is that fair to say? >> and we reported last night that there were -- human intelligence was a part of this, both diplomatic and here's some from our allies. >> actual spies. >> spies. >> physical human beings. >> correct. >> let's address donald trump's question. why didn't president obama say something before the election? >> well, and of course he did, right? the interesting thing is the intelligence committee viewed that october 7 statement as a very dramatic development. all 27 television agencies

endorsing this conclusion. but it sort of didn't break through. it wasn't treated with the significance that maybe it's being treated now. toda you had the white house saying we basically said it was putin, we said the highest levels of the russian government. >> cynthia, i remember vividly when president obama came out and accused them of a sony hack. he actually took a story from the sidelines and he said, no. we need to zero in and put the full camera on this story. he didn't do that. >> what you say, chuck, is so telling. the intelligence community viewed this as rather dramatic. it was a paper statement from intelligence officials. it was not the president of the united states going on television saying, this matters, listen up. nor did the president, for that matter, go on congress and say this is serious, to the american people. serious enough we ought to consider sanctions, some sort of overaction. we don't know entirely, but we intend to find out, what covert

activities have been or are going to be taken regarding this. we did report last night that the u.s. intelligence community has dug very deeply into vladimir putin's finances. >> it's interesting on this, and ken, i want to bring you back into this conversation. i had an interview with vice president joe biden, and i th k think -- it wasn't just will putin know when we act. when we know, and he said i hope not. what does the intelligence community think of that? don't you need to show the world what we're capable of in an instance like this? >> that's a great point. >> hey, this is an espionage matter, this is an intelligence matter between great powers, we should keep this all quiet. there's others saying, no, this crosses a line. this is russia interfering in

american democracy. this is something we should g public with and take public. >> let's remember one thing. the russians did not want to get into a tit for tat game. yet if you don't take any kind of public action -- >> how do you stop them? let me give you a. there's foam. there are people who say you guys are. they can't reveal themselves. they would go to jail for revealing classified information. and that's the way they've been able to say we'll show your work. >> that's the problem, none of us want to do anonymous stories.

there are some stories you can't tell if you just rely on people who will go on the record. so yeah, the american public, and this is part of the issue. part of the issue and the credibility of this issue, i think there has been a problem by linking together what the intelligence community absolutely certainly knew and the speculation of what that impact was. i think what we can say for certain, the intelligence community agrees that the russians were involved in this and that vladimir putin was directing it. now, whether or not they succeeded and what their motives were have been widely debated. when you link these together, it starts to get skeptical and political. >> how would like to prove this negative? >> i think people are absolutely right to be skeptical of anonymous intelligence sources. we go back to iraq, wmd, people were sure of the sources at that time, too. that's why i'm really glad the administration is saying there

will be a public accounting of this, public disclosure of this before obama leaves office. >> and more than a colin powell moment, show your work. >> and donald trump says why so late? >> we'll find the answer to that question tonight, perhaps, on the "nbc nightly news"? >> let's hope. thank you so much, kim delaney. by someone who helped write the book on vladimir putin. not literally or seriously since we have to balance that literal word, fiona hill. she is co-author of "mr. putin, operative in the kremlin" and is now a senior fellow at brookings. fiona, let me start with our repo report. does it surprise you we have sources saying vladimir putin was personally involved with this? i take it from how you wrote your book, it wouldn't surprise you. do you know anything beyond that? >> i said it wouldn't surprise

me, chuck. i do not know anything beyond that, so let me state that at the outset. however, having talked to an awful lot of people myself over the last several weeks and months that this story has played out, i think we can be fairly confident as the intelligence services state that we can, that we have an awful lot of information that has led us to the conclusions that are being stated. one of the questions you've been raising in the discussion with cynthia and ken is why did this take so long? i think this is actually a sign that we can have confidence in this information. in previous instances where there has been a lot of criticism of intelligence and of conclusions, for example, on iraq and weapons of mass destruction which president-elect trump has pointed to very explicitly, there has been a lot of pressure to rush to judgment. there's bayne lot of political pressure on the intelligence agencies to come forward with conclusions they weren't drread to make. in this case they've on yusly

spent a lot of time passing information from all kinds of different sources, from private sources to the kind of human intelligence cynthia and ken have just been talking about, to, frankly, the work of investigative journalists. this is why we've got to this point in december where there's been many months of this unfolding. so i'm not at all surprised by where we are, but i don't have any information personally beyond what we already know and i think it will be very interesting how this plays out. >> explain -- >> sorry, chuck. >> i want to go to what appears to be the motivation for putin. he firmly believes that hillary clinton personally, it's almost more so than the american government, that hillary clinton personally was trying to mess or did mess with the parliamentary elections in russia. is there any evidence of that, number one? and number two, is this truly the driver of this for putin? >> it's a very interesting

thing. president putin made those accusations very openly in response to protests that emerged in 2011 and 2012 against russian parliamentary elections in december 2011 and in the run-up to his own presidential reelection in 2012. he did not provide any evidence at the time but he made a very flat assertion that hillary clinton and the state department had been very much involved in this. ever since that time, we have really seen a very negative reaction on the part of putin personally and the political structures in russia toward hillary clinton. they've made no secret of the fact whatsoever that they did not want to see her as president of the united states. so i certainly think we can be confident that there's something of a vengeance motive behind this. i think more broadly, russia has been very disturbed and putin

himself that the united states might interfere in their elections. putin has to go for reelection again sometime in 2018. there is a lot of speculation if he plans to go for yet another presidential term of six years, whether he might hand the baton to someone else or what might happen with the system. you can be sure they want to preempt the idea of any kind of external influence in their election, so there could an element that they primped or that they think we might do something. >> final question for you. what would sting? what kind of response from the united states that's within reason that would sting putin? >> there are a whole variety of things. one of the things we have to bear in mind, however, they've had quite a significant advantage of the united states at the moment, ever since edward snowden appearedn moscow. they've been able to reveal a lot of information on the united

states intelligence capabilities. >> you are implying snowden is being helpful to them. are you? >> i think he's become helpful by his employment there, and the impact his revelations made on the intelligence surfaces. it got them on the defensive in the united states, and it also created a rift between the u.s. intelligence services and the loss of the allied intelligence services, especially in europe. might be an indication that the united states is spying on their friends. it also has given the russians pretty much of an idea of what the united states might be capable of. so i think, you know, it's going to be very difficult for the united states to share something retaliatory. that may be one of the reasons the white house is being reticent, but there are certain

capabilities. russia is clearly worried about interference in its own political system. it's clearly worried about the kinds of other attacks we've talked about that might have been denial of service, or attacks within the infrastructure. you might remember recently they've come down hard on microsoft, even going so far as to potentially ban bill gates from visiting russia. they're very concerned about this kind of activity, so they were very worried there might be an escalating response. this might give them an opportunity to have a very firm discussion with russia saying, look, you know what we're capable of, is this really what you want to have happen? and then externally, perhaps not internally, the questions about the personal financial holdings of vladimir putin and people around him which clearly is a soft spot, certainly in a larger international arena where there is also scrutiny about dealings and having business dealings with russia at this particular

juncture. >> and who knows how the people of russia would react to finding out just how wealthy he is. >> exactly. >> fi oona hill, i could go on t i have to leave it there. we're going to have much more on this bombshell story just ahead. what did our government know about russia's interference and when did they know it? we'll dig deeper into the timeline. stay tuned. see ya next year. this season, start a new tradition. experience the power of infiniti now, with leases starting at $319 a month. infiniti. empower the drive. so why are you still puttingy. up with

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secretary of state john kerry is calling on aleppo to end the war for good. >> the outside regime is actually carrying out nothing short of a massacre. >> the first time it's been said but not the first time it's been said by john kerry.

he said they have stopped in some areas, and a cease fire may have taken hold. thousands of people are stuck there. buses have taken 2,000 people out of the affected areas. a full scale evacuation could still take days. still pretty dire, and it's unclare whether the bombing has fully actually stopped. we'll have more from "mtp daily" right after this. but then i re. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas

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>> considering it was about meddling in the election. let me bring in the panel. you know, this timeline, and it was interesting, beth. they talked about the 17 intelligence agencies. i think jeh johnson did some tv the day they put out the statement. his primary goal that day, if i'm not mistaken, was don't worry, the election systems are fine. >> we were told repeatedly the election systems were fine, that the machines were not compromised, that people weren't going to hack into them. >> that wasn't the issue, though. >> clearly not. just what you were saying before, the administration was so bent on not appearing to be meddling in the election. it allowed this meddling to

happen. from last summer, donald trump started talking about a rigged election. he started saying it was going to be rigged. who knew it was rigged against the democrat? but he raised that issue, and obama being the kind of person he is, the kind of leader he is, he's very rational, and he decided rather than to act in a way that would make a dramatic inclusion in the election, he stepped back and played that rational role, and he can perhaps be wondering why he did that now. >> cornell, adam schiff said it on my show on sunday when he said he thought president obama should have said something sooner, but more importantly, done something already. >> i think the calculation from the white house was probably, one, i think hillary is going to win the election, right? >> so no sense of urgency. >> so no sense of urgency there. i guess we were wrong. and two, he has been someone who

has tried to step back and not politicize this. imagine for a moment if he had jumped in the fray and said that, he would have been attacked immediately for doing that. armchair quarterback. i wish he had jumped in and taken the attack and gotten the information out there now. >> look where president obama's approval rating was at that time versus trump's. he was incredibly credible. i just feel he went so out of his way not to overpositive particul -- overpoliticize this. he did overpoliticize the afghanistan war. that didn't go well for him. he got pulled into a war when he didn't want to. looking at these conflicts, yes, he did going into iran, and then syria, we're left with what we're left with today by a small half measure.

>> it's fascinating today to read trump. there are a couple things that tooklace over the last 12 hours. one, i believe you did have a trump spokesperson of sorts. in fact, i want to play it -- it was from brian williams' show last night. let me play a clip of what he said. it's the first time you've seen an acknowledgment that this stuff did happen. >> tell me why we're wrong. >> i don't think anybody thinks that you're wrong, i think our position right now is that we're waiting for a little bit more information. i don't think there is anybody on the 14th floor of trump tower or the 26th floor where the president-elect sits that thinks that this is a sanction thing to do. in fact, we find it reprehensible. we reject the notion that people will cyber attack our institutions, our democratic institutions, the dnc or other places. >> and then, of course, donald trump treated the day, essentially, why didn't you do it sooner? it seems as if he's trying to get on the side of, oh, yes, this is bad, maybe i will do

something about it. he's not there yet, but you can see they're moving that way. >> just this morning, every day the transition team has a phone call for reporters, and our team called it when he said continued efforts to try to delegitimize the election. the sound bite notwithstanding -- >> which is actually opposite of what you're seeing, or doing e the. >> and in so doing, it's allowing one grown-up to open the door to a potential investigation. let's face it, trump is so thin skinned about the fact he lost the powerful vote to hillary clinton. just this morning he was weeting out to vanity fair because they wrote a scathing review of his

restaurant. >> he has to stay firm as possible in order to become president and say there is no way anything is going to change. >> every incremental development in this has inspired lindsey graham to talk more. that's fascinating. >> that's fascinating to me, because as long as i can remember, part of the republicans' brand has been the strong party. >> the evil empire, his famous ad, the bear in the woods. now this ideal that the republican standard barrier is in bed with the russians and it can't be helpful long term for the republican government. >> it's important that americans treat this as a national security matter. democrats also shouldn't politicize it. and i think john pedesto's moves

saying it could mess with the electoral college. that i don't believe. >> i'm gog pauing to pause here. you guys have sticking around. north carolinans already making it tough for the new democratic governor before he even takes an oath of office. has this part of politics gone too far? stay tuned. that really entertains us. i'm gonna use this picture on sketchbook, and i'm going to draw mustaches on you all. using the pen instead of fingers, it just feels more comfortable for me. be like, boop! it's gone. i like that only i can get into it and that it recognizes my fingerprint. our old tablet couldn't do that. it kind of makes you feel like you're your own person, which is a rare opportunity in my family. (laughter) why pause a spontaneous moment? cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. tell your doctor about your medicines,

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up next, protesters are crowding the state capitol in north carolina as republican lawmakers try to strip powers from the new democratic governor elect. that governor elect will be here to respond, but first hampton pearson. >> we had stocks gain some ground after wednesday's sellout. the dow rising 59 points, the s&p by 8, the nasdaq by 20. revenue of oracle came in light. the stock is down by about 2%. yahoo shares slipped about 6% today after disclosing a massive 2013 hack, a fear of verizon backing out of that deal of acquiring the company. you're watching cnbc, first in business worldwide. i'm not contagious.

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welcome back to "mtp daily."

we're all used to partisan power plays but there's something brewing in north carolina that's taki taking power grabbing to a whole new level. they're trying to strip power from the new governor before he's sworn in. they had to actually empty the gallery this afternoon because of the protests. just moments ago, some demonstrators were reportedly being arrested. here's what's happening. republican lawmakers called a surprise session this week amid protest and confusion among democrats. then they filed 20 new bills. most of these bills would make the democratic governor a lot less powerful and hand more power to the republican controlled state legislature. now those bills are being rushed through before the republican, pat mcrory, the current governor, leaves office. one requires the governor's cabinet to be approved by state senate. another one limits the governor's staff from 1500 to

300. they want to take the board of lex aw-- elections away from th governor. one of those bills was passed in the state senate this afternoon. that bill now goes to the house. folks, it's one thing to lose a close race and is be bitter about it. it's quite a different one to try to jam through changes to set political powers. then again, this has happened in north carolina before. joining me now in his first national interview is the governor elect of north carolina, governor larry cooper. he is still the state's governor. welcome to the show, sir. >> thank you, chuck. >> let me ask you this. do you have any of the bills that they've introduced? are there any of them that you would actually be willing to sign if they would wait to do this after you took office? >> one of the problems is that

there's not enough time to read them all, chuck. this is partisan power grab that goes far beyond political power. it's about public schools, it's about medicaid expansion, it's about tax relief for the middle class. they know my priorities, and what they are trying to do with these process changes is to limit my ability to work to raise teacher pay, to expand medicaid, to protect our air and water, and it's not time for this. they go into session in a few weeks after the new year, after i'm sworn in. i'll roll up my sleeves and work with them, but this is why people are mad, and this is why people don't like government, because of these kinds of shenanigans. >> you guys have a unique system in north carolina. the legislature is awfully powerful. there is a veto-proof majority

that the republicans have. there are many republicans quietly who believe that handkufd governor mccrory on the whole h2 bill because he knew there was nothing he could have done about it. he couldn't veto it because it was going to get overwritten. how tied are your hands on this? >> well, i have a vision for where we're going to go in north carolina. i have a history of being able to work with republicans. when i was the senate majority democratic leader, our house was republican. we raised our teacher salaries to the national average, we were able to cut taxes for the middle class. i'm willing to work with them and i believe i can cut things like renewable energy, and i plan to do that. but if republican leaders are trying to grab this power early and are going to thwart my ability to do that, that will make it much more difficult for

us to work together cooperatively. our supermajorities, chuck, are the product of partisan, gerrymanderi. north carolina has been in the courts about this issue and ours are some of the most extreme in the country. we are a very purple state. we vote pretty evenly in democratic and republican races. but to have supermajorities in our state legislature, to have 10 to 3 in our republican delegation, it shows you the trauma of that kind of redistricting, and it's not right. >> governor elect, you indicated you thought this was unconstitutional. what makes it unconstitutional? they have the ability to call their own special session. the governor did not call the special session, they did it on their own because they have this supermajority. >> what i've said is, chuck, if i believe any legislation they

pass hurts working families, and if i believe it is unconstitutional, then i will challenge it in court. >> right now you don't know of anything that's unconstitutional yet. >> we're still looking at it all. the whole process of how they called themselves into this second special session is questionable. so potentially everything that they do at this point is unconstitutional. we don't know yet. we're examining it. this has all happened in the last 24 hours. these bills were being filed last night. this is exactly how north carolina got into trouble with house bill 2, and i disagree with something you said earlier. governor mccrory signed house bill 2 which discriminated that night and gave no time for input or input from the business community or anyone else, and i believe that if he had vetoed that lenls lagislation and wait would have been just like georgia and other states who turned down this type of skr

discriminatory law. >> some say you're crying over what they did to a republican governor in the late '80s named jim martin. you were pretty active in politics then. do you believe there are some similarities here, that democrats acted this way when they were in assembly in the early '80s and '90s, and maybe that's a mistake, too. >> that's just not true. there have been power struggles just like there is in the united states. this is unprecedented. you're talking about governor-made appointments. you're talking about massive changes in our election laws and all within a day or so. this is what frustrates people.

this is what we need to stop. i'm going to be working for better education, for clean air and water, for fair taxes for the middle class, we need tax cuts. what they're trying to do, one of the reasons they want control of my appointments to revenue and commerce is that they want to continue these big tax cuts for corporations at the expense of the middle class. and i'll work with them on issues, but i've got principles, t -- principals, too, and when it's time to fight, we'll fight. i believe we'll be able to make some forward progress. they need to stop these shenanigans and let's get sworn in. >> have you had any conversations with the outgoing governor, with governor mccrory, on this very issue? >> no. not on this issue. we've talked a couple times about transition and issues within the departments, but this

is brand new. this has just happened. we've not had any discussions. i would hope, because he also had his struggles with this legislature and gubernatorial authority, i would hope that he would veto this legislation because it's wrong in and of itself. >> we may find out soon enough. the governor elect, rory cooper in north carolina. there's more in the lid of president obama's conflicts of interests. stay tuned. ♪

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like this rose embellished blazer he wore at the espys earlier this year when he gave an emotional speech while battling cancer. it's a look even vice president

biden seemed to enjoy, which you can see there. then there was this blue and orange sport coat with a handkerchief that sager wore, an instant classic. how about this two-toned look, the bright orange sport coat with the handkerchief there. one thing is sure. there will never be another craig sager and we think that is a description that suits him nicely. craig sager was 65.

the panel is back. i know i said i want to go to the north carolina story here. i want to paint a scenario for you guys. president obama signs an executive order that says the sitting president and vice president has to abide by all the conflict of interest laws that the rest of the executive branch does. if he did that today, beth,

there would be, you know, screams from republicans and all this stuff. you could argue that's happening in north carolina now. >> i guess you could argue that. >> basically someone is trying to basically make life uncomfortable for the successor. in this case, this is the super majority republicans in the legislature who are already going to cause problems for incoming democratic governor, anyway. for them to step out and do this on behalf, you know, of the 10,000 vote differential between mccrory and cooper it's extraordinary. they have the power to do it. governor cooper was clear they can get away it. he wants to talk about good education and clean water and jobs. but clearly they're pulling the legs out from under him. at some point we have to pull back and it's an elapse of the

people. it's against american values. >> it's not illegal. >> it should be. >> but it isn't. >> it's fundamentally wrong. right. if you're democrat or republican you shouldn't be playing these games. frankly, it undermines our values and democracy. >> i think that's so much of what this past year's election was about. frustration that washington couldn't get anything done because they're divided. when republicans would actually go to the middle ground they would get blown up by their base who didn't want any comprise on the budget. they didn't want any comprise period. what we see happening in north carolina is just more of the same. >> thank you. it's em blamatic. we have apocalyptic mentality now with the basis of both parties. it's like i don't know how we get out of this. >> stop the gerry mannedering. >> bring back swing voters. >> take politics out of this. both sides have played this game. take politics out of the drawing of our maps.

>> in all 50 states. >> yeah. >> and let people -- we believe in free markets. let them compete in a more free market. >> we lost the point where any decision can be made not in a partisan way. we're saying we shouldn't be democrats we should be americans. perhaps. >> the republican in power will say that's a partisan statement because you're not in power. >> right. >> and looking a the first hundred days. i'm curious what they're going to do about obamacare because there has to be a replacement and it has to be up and running immediately so the 22 million people. >> not just coverage. now the rhetoric has taken us to this crucial boiling point and are they going to be able to deliver? i don't think you can immediately deliver. i think with time you can put in a replacement. it hasn't been the language the past, you know, eight years. >> and i just -- and obviously, look, north carolina the power of their legislature is. it is extraordinary, just in general, that branch. congress jokes that article i,

you know, they should be more powerful than the president but they're not. but in this case they are. that legislature runs rough shod over governors. >> yeah. if they're to be successful, what is stopping them from thwarting everything he's going to do? there's no reason. >> you don't have retribution too much in the ballot box. >> it goes to the primaries. >> yeah. but leaders matter. if you're the governor especially on the way out. do the right thing. >> i'll be curious what mccrory does. >> i think he's going to try to do the right thing. i think he's been fed up with the legislature -- >> the legislature is the reason why he's going to be there. >> exactly. you say the right thing the middle finger. on that note, i'll leave you out of it. after the break the wake forest spice scandal reminding people of the russian spy scandal. in other words, it's wikileaks!

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with slow internet from the phone company, you can't keep up. you're stuck, watching spinning wheels and progress bars until someone else scoops your story. switch to comcast business. with high-speed internet up to 10 gigabits per second. you wouldn't pick a slow race car. then why settle for slow internet? comcast business. built for speed. built for business. finally, in case you missed it. we've seen another example of the intersection of politics and sports. i'm looking for it. in this case russian spying. here is the story. last month louisville beat lake forest 44-12 in a college football game. nothing unusual about that. now we learned that louisville was given, quote, a few plays in the -- from wake forest's play book by none other than wake forest's radio analyst. why would he be feeding his

team's plays to one of the assistant coaches? it turn outs the announcer and coach once worked together at wake forest. what is louisville's reaction to the news? they admit it's true. they're holding their hands in the air going saying nothing to see here. whatever we were told. we knew already. even if we didn't know it, we didn't need to use it. what a shame this is distracting attention from the upcoming bowl game. hey, look at the time. anyway. it's hard to hear that and not hear echoes of the controversy surrounding russia meddling in the election. in that case it's the trump transition team saying nothing to see here. could be russians, chinese, some 400-pound guy in his basement. the fact is both responses have an element of truth. louisville would have beaten wake forest no matter what. it's possible that donald trump would have beaten hillary clinton no matter what. couldn't he admit that someone was interfering with what should be a fair process and trying to tip the balance for one side

over the other? would that be so hard? by the way, my next fear is pair noid college football coaches you are paparanoid enough. anyway. that's all for tonight. ari melber picks up our coverage now. >> 6:00 p.m. on the east coast. donald trump pushing back on the reporting of putin overseeing the russian hack of the u.s. election. why is trump attacking the current president of the united states? also, protests against trump's conflict of interest and how democrats want to force him to separate his business from his administration. and late-breaking story. the guilty verdict in the dylann roof murder trial moving forward to the first federal death penalty case since the boston bombing. our big story tonight, though. it was nearly 24 hours ago that nbc news