and vladimir putin vowing not to real vacation those sanctions, is he buying time? hours left in 2016 and officials from coast to coast are sparing no expense to keep you safe. the measures you will see in place if you are heading out to ring in 2017. the russian sanction, today we have been watching vans appearing at those two compoun s compounds. senator john mccain announcing a full hearing next week of full cyber attack. now, our team got all the angles covered and our hans nicolls is

there and kelly o'donell. and hans, lets start here, what are we seeing in the responses obviously, a lot of discussions over what kind of choreography is coming out of russia. >> well, there is no official response from either the white house or the state department. one u.s. official told me there were some surprised that there was not a retaliation by russia because we had the choreography. the foreign minister is recommending the 35 americans to be expelled and putin does not do that. he sends a holiday invite, inviting children to a party at the kremlin. he spoke to the same officials and he did say that there is an indication that this maybe an acknowledgment that russia knows their cyber interference crossed a line. we'll continue to call our sources and figure out what the u.s. is expecting.

yesterday afternoon, they were expecting retaliations, american diplomats to be expelled from the country. we'll continue to follow up and see what they are expectingnd what putin's next move will be. >> kelly, walk us through that inner play as we see republicans are weighing in on this sunday hill? >> a little bit of a tough territory for the new president, fellow republicans take a much sharper approach towards russia than we have seen from donald trump so far. part of that you see is that avoice like john mccain who has been at the forefront of u.s. policy on the republican side for a long time. we'll see it play out in a hearing schedule next week where top officials will appear at the

service community to talk about cyber threats. that's one piece. another is ongoing feedback whether it is mccain or marco rubio who'll be urging the president-elect trump and when he's in office to do more to deal with the russia issues. i think it is something that once president-elect trump has those additional briefing next week that are scheduled, i think there will be great expectations that he will say more and do more and public statements it is time to move on is not going to suffice even for republicans. you raise a point that's interesting here. >> viewers are familiar with the political fore line donald tr. p donald trump has his own response to it obviously. we see the unity on the idea that more is needed and this is late. kelly, outlining some of the republicans. take a listen to congressman

adam shift talking about this to andrea mitchell. >> we don't have it yet. look, i don't think these sessions are a wink, ultimately, i don't think they're going to be enough, i would like to see congress stepping up and do something broader, halie. so what he's talking about is the bipartisan, i don't want to call it full unity but the idea that even as some top republicans in congress slams the obama administration overal policy in moscow. this puts him politically and kind of a pickle, i think you can say . if he ends up reversing this, it is going to upset some of the congress party that he will be working with so there is kind of a political calculus here for the president-elect trump. vladimir putin is sitting back,

hey, donald trump, the ball is in your court at this point. he has said that and his spokesperson said to us at that point there is no call scheduled between putin and the president-elect trump. they're waiting for the intelligence briefing that the president-elect trump is expected to get next week. a little more of a hawk issue stand from congress towards russia does create some political stickyness for donald trump moving forward. what do you think folks are making if anything of donald trump's previous statements that he wanted a meeiting or briefin and of what he need to learn of declining to get the daily briefs. >> these are intelligence officials, they take themselves very seriously.

it is really the president. so to whatever extent, they have the opportunity to feed that information and clarify some of these situations for the president-elect trump. they'll seize e oortuty to do that. i would not look for criticism either and anyone from the intelligence committee of the next president. what they like to do is provide information and insights and analysis. >> do you think they are hopeful at a professional level taking criticisms out of it. you are talking about something that's almost anyone can we late to in their jobs which is sometimes you need more or bett bett better face time with the boss, do they think they are on the right road here? >> they value that work and they value that work to be received well. whether or not they harbor any frustrati frustration, i don't have the reporting to back it up.

these intelligence professionals and they take great care of proud to their work and like the product they deliver to the president they serve. kelly, any thoughts on that? >> i think it is important and i second what hans says that there is not to be expected of any criticisms from the intelligence community. on another note. there is business happening today, there are four meetings scheduled where the president-elect trump is taking these meetings and it does suggest that there are some potential candidate positions included and susan comb of the agricultural commissioner and director national intelligence, when we are talking about russia and all of this, that's a big spot still to be filled for the new administration of the 15

position just had a couple left to fillmore positions throughout the government and of course, most of those high profile and a cult of those meetings seem to pertain to the department of agriculture if we can put the tea leaves together from here west palm beach. all right. i hope it is ice tea since you are in florida. >> thank you. proosht it everybody. we turn on the diplomacy for an in-depth look of officer steven. a lot of titles and knowledge. walk us through how it wor diplomatically. for folks who don't follow what's going on between the capitols. we have been reading about past harassment and u.s. officials and how that fell and we got the party invites today and this is putin saying he wants to be

warmer, how does this experience relate to the president? >> putin is trying out his flexible persona. i think he's doing this in part because he knows yesterday his handle got caught in a cookie jar. he's not going to fight the claim that there were some hacking. he's doing donald trump a favor and trying to make it easier for him to stand down. i think we'll judge in the end that barack obama did donald trump a favor. >> how do you make it? >> on january 20th, he's going to be able to say look the president took a serious, action in response to initiative and russian's wrong doing and the

russians did not fight back and now we can move on and you will say echoing what was said by the officials. a lot of it is going to be quiet and unseen. that will be the -- that'll be the story line for the trump administration in talking to congress. they'll say the obama administration did what was necessary and now don't hem us in and we cab take it from here. that's an interesting framework you are providing. it is different from what was said and of another petty action somehow boxed in the future president here, donald trump and you are pointing out it is leaving more strategic room to him.

speak to another weird part of this. there is this transition period and it is natural for any other country to look out for its own interest going forward. and of the same way people are buying stocks and what it is going to happen and not what came before. this entire thing is about action that is were designed to create the reality of this administration coming in. well, that's the awkwardness because what the russians did does create a kind of ligitimacy problem for president trump. that's what's unprecedented and it is familiar for a transition period to involve decisions by an out going administration that they think in coming administration may not want to take. give you one example, dwight howard, broke relations to cuba before kennedy came in so that kennedy did not have to do it.

kennedy actually appreciated that. this is a little different. donald trump is part of the a story and the fact that he's president may in some way be the results what the russians did. that means it is allhe more important that obama had done something that trump would be able to say yeah, that was as good response and now we can move on. >> i think both the obama action and the putin actions together actually create a pretty favorable environment for president trump. he's got an opportunity to say okay, now we handle this in the way we normally do which is covertly. >> this dancing leading some kind of an off ramp from unness escalation which kind of a non partisan point might be a good thing.

we are out of time so briefly. if obama had done nothing, trump would be under pressure to act. >> very interesting stuff. thank you. we want to ask you at home to participate in our question of the year, putin refuses to retaliate after obama expelled 35 russian diplomats. do you think he out fox obama? you can tell us on www.pulse.msnbc.com. we'll have it updated and results later. >> congress on the hill calling for hearings to dig into the controversial hacks. days left in office, why was it so spvital that president obama acted now?

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global diplomacy flock after obama took that big action against russia. 35 russian diplomats within the 48 hours to leave the country. one in maryland and the other are in maryland, new york. u.s. companies at risk of cyber attack, we are told more to defend the network. president obama suggesting there will be covert actions which mens we may never hear about it. the timing and the full scope of

these actions. joining us now from pennsylvania, brendan boyle, i want to hear what he had so say and for our viewers, what does this all mean. where do you put this sanction grade, was it a plus or everything else needs to be done? >> i would give it an a and this is the beginning of a process of responding. i am heartened of the fact and of the response of mccain and lyndsey graham and a number of us in a bipartisan bases recognize that this is an attack and not republicans or democrats but as americs. lets face it, this is essentially the 21st century equivalent of water gate.

one is getting dirt in order to embarrass the democratic party. this was a virtual break in and they succeeded and getting information that damaged the democratic candidate. >> congress, let me push you, this was allegedly criminal conduct, it was certainly bad. when you compare to water gate, the difference there is, the criminal conduct was by the candidate in question of the american in candidate. this is distinct and this is a foreign actor because you are not alleging that the candidate, trump is involving in the crime. people who were doing the break in were not officials of the white house, they were with a foreign power. nonetheless, it does not make the actual effects of the break in is greater or worse, this is apart of a pattern specifically with russia. when he you look at what they

did in 2008 in georgia and this is not just the one off. making sure that we seriously respond to this saof of behavio and we have elections coming up in germany and france and the bre brexit growing in mainland europe. i want to make sure we respond to russians in a way that detours them from doing the same thing. take a look at ambassador mcfaul talking about putin's basic bet that he could have something warmer with the trump administration. he decided he's going to work with president-elect trump and why not. given of the desire of having closer relations with russia.

i, too, were to do the same thing if i were vladimir putin. >> do you agree with that? >> i have the same view of ambassador mcfaul. moving forward, i am concern of what president trump would do in regards to you craukraine and w have with partners. those are more serious. if donald trump ends up as president, true to are what he said during the campaign, we'll have a different policy with respect to nato and ukraine and other countries. let me play briefly of what i mentioned here. >> i don't think they're weak, i don't think it will be enough, i would like to see congress to step up and really gets the rush russians' tension is not the expulsion of diplomats but

rather the economic sanctions like those imposed over ukraine. that's the only thing that puts putin in jeopardy and that's the only thing putin cares about. >> that's a democratic who wants more. i give it an a for now. at the beginning of the process, imd like to see congressional sanctions which is important for two reasons. first, to go a step further and second, if we were able to pass congressional sanctions by a large veto proof of majority, then it becomes irrelevant of whatever president trump may do, it also sends the right message to the world that you are not going to be able to interfere in our democracy and divide us on a party bases. we'll respond as americans first. >> congressman, that's a lot of series to evaluate. the last time i saw you was at the convention in philly and you

had about five jumbo pretzels with you. i am sorry we are not there. >> i believe that you took them all around and were generous in sharing them. next time in person, i will bring you some. >> it got eaten real quick. >> happy new year to you, thanks for your time. >> happy new year. >> we'll switch gear and tell you what you need to know going into the new year's holiday. this is noreaster, hundreds of thousands are stuck in the dark and millions are digging out from two feet of snow. we have the latest. my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on

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million people are under a weather advisory right now. this is of the powerful nor' easter dropping two feet of snow. >> reporter: ari, last night we saw about 17 and a half inches of snow in some parts of new hampshire and parts of maine up to two inches of snow. this is hitting parts of western massachusetts and vermont and here in new hampshire where some people say this wintry mix what i say they need. people want to come and enjoy this white gold on this smokee . this year of last night's big snow dump, they're hoping this will boost to economy. people are being extra careful on the road because the wind gusts are still high and that could kick up a lot of snow.

>> nbc's morgan radford, thank you for that report. folks celebrating new year's eve tomorrow night. if you are heading to times square new york, bundle up, bonnie schneider is tracking the forecast. bonnie. >> we have lake effects snow coming in and a second clipper, that'll move through over the weekend bringing light additional snow. unfortunately, more snow on top of that. plenty of rain coming through los angeles today causing airport delays so we are watching that in southern california. we are looking for more rain in southern arizona as well. some mountain snow as well going forward. the road parades looks good in pasadena. how about times square ? what can we expect when the ball drops?

>> 40 degrees and mostly cloudy. a good looking forecast to start out the new year and temperatures looking pretty good for today. we'll be watching cooler air coming through across the northern tier and the country is working its way through the east. not a bad looking forecast for the new year. >> meteorologist bonnie schneider. >> thank you, what do we know of the people of the intel community, what is the proof? that's straight ahead.

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thank you for stick with us, i am ari melber in new york. >> john makiewiccain is calling sociobiolo meeting for the cyber hacking. president obama is heading to the hill, he wants to hold a special meeting with democrats how to preserve obamacare. congressional republicans say they'll repeal affordable care act when they get back to washington. >> we are learned that a joint funerals will be held for carrie fisher and debbie reynolds. fisher passed away after suffering from a heart attack

and debbie reynolds passed away the next day. in addition to expelling 35 russian diplomats, the u.s. authorities searching for two suspected hackers for interfering in the u.s. election. editor cal perry has been all over the latest developments in this story and looking good in our newsroom there. what do we know of the suspect and how is the fbi figuring into this? we get a better idea of what the fbi is looking for? you can see here 29-year-old and kplurt network engineer. he hacked into three ecommerce companies and arizona and he dolled that consumer information and he put it on his own ser veer and he stole that

information. financial crime bank fraud. he was part of a financial support network for the computer hacking. that's why we have this huge number here, $3 million reward. this is the individual who's now becoming infamous for the alias, lucky, 12345. these are the two guys that really carried out the hacking. >> what do you got from the compound that we keep on hearing about? >> the first one is in maryland. this is at a compound, 45 acres, it was bought three decades ago. it was used for parties. it was used to allow diplomats to sort of rub elbows with other diplomats who were about dozens of cottages and four apartments and accommodating four families and swimming pool and a soccer

field. this was a well known compound and especially to locals who lived there and in the 90s when the soviet union fell apart. and speculating the government would sell it. and the people who vacationed there liked it. we are talkingut the second compound and this was in upper brooke will again, the same idea and these are big compounds and dozens of bedrooms and not only were they used for diplomatic reasons but for espionage. snoost clear that those two estimates, the party is over, cal. >> thank you very much. happy new year to you. appreciate your reporting. i want to turn to our ted cruz campaign and with us, our

democratic strategist, i want to start and in school, whhow do w know what we know? we know a lot of why russia were behind it. donald trump however said we don't know, ron, we just don't know. >> well, these two hacking organizations within russians known as apt, 28 and 29 advance persistent threats. when they engage in this type of a pattern, it is obvious of the trade craft that's been used and these hacking groups are using and all the signs were reflected of the successful attempt of the dnc as well as clinton

campaign's share, john podesta. there were thousands of u.s. government officials and political leaders targeted. it just happens to be that people of these two ins institutions of the dnc responded and opened up the door for these two groups and one connected with the gru and the other to do the dirty work. >> the fbi came out and referred to the point you were making but did not answer whether there were materials gathered that was not released. julian, take a listen of my point about what's known to donald trump sort of repeated aking of less known than there is. trump has this strategic ignorant about it. take a listen. >> if you take a look at the story and what they acsaid, the is great confusion, nobody really knows and they have no idea of russia or china, it

could be somebody sit ting in a bed some place. >> what do you think of that? >> you got 17 intelligence agencies including national director of intelligence and the fbi and cia all agreed and the forensics did discover the origins of the url who were doing the hacking. it is not too difficult to restras the the steps. >> it is donald trump playing master illusion. the problem that he has right now to bring it down to an understandable level for viewers. the problem is not only the 17 intelligence agencies agreed with the illusion but most of repuicans and congress. he's on a direct collision course with republicans and congress who are not only going to want to maintain the sanctions that president obama

has put in place but strengthen that. why is that? they agree from the strength of the evidence of the hacking. and syria and other areas across the blow. mr. putin is a quasi dictator in most people's point of view. he expressed his expression for co communism. donald trump is the only president in history that expresses sympathies for him. >> lets be clear, ron. >> presidents have the power to change former relations. a lot of people had negative views of iran.

it is not just different approach for potential regime, it is that this moment in time we have a president-e lek says he needs a meeting next week deciding he needs to get closer to those facts. lets rb it was barack obama who campaigned on having a recess with russia and doing so and those actions and trying to get warm and fuzzy withmir putin. it is clear and beholden the russian government to do the type of things they did and fell that they could not get caught or suffering for it. >> i am glad the president took the steps they took thus far and there are more steps need to be taken. he took a variety of diplomatic steps for russian military back incursion into american's systems in order to affect the american elections or creating the type of chaos that they

tried to create in ukraine and eastern europe. i think there is a lot more work that's going to come out here on this. i don't think it is going to prevent republicans from focusing on the main thing that republicans campaigned on. we have to be able to do more than one thing at a time. every foreign intelligence is watching how we respond to this and deal with the politics later and we have to make clear that these types of things are not tolerated. >> we are out of time. now, we'll take a look at what you all are saying at home. putin refusing to retaliation after obama expelled those diplomats and inviting diplomat kids to a kremlin party. d did he out fox obama is the question? >> 19% say yes. most of you say no way jose. or no way vladimir.

81% say nu-uh. >> there is still time for you to weigh in on www.pulse.msnbc.com. back to the news of hours left of 2016. people from all over the world are coming right there to times square to ring in the new year's. are authorities beefing up security to keep rebels out of harm's way. we got the news for you, straight up.

vladimir putin made his move saying he will delay any counter

measures to the new sanctions on russia yesterday with president obama. now, moments ago donald trump makes his move where he makes many of his announcement. this is brand new. great move on delay by vladimir putin. i always knew he was very smart. quote, this is another chapter that we have seen in this transition period as the president, making those new sanctions announcement yesterday and vladimir putin is responding and president-elect trump making his response known. we'll have more on that story as it develops. we want to tell you of this hour after following the terror attack in nice, france in berlin last week of extra measures trying to make sure everyone out there celebrating new year's eve is safe. joining us live from rome. what are police doing there?

>> reporter: you may want to ask what are the soldiers doing behind me? they are 7,000 soldiers deployed across italy. let me step away so you can see what's going on here. they have been patrolling the streets. so there are additional measures that's put in place during the christmas holidays and now for new year's eve. now, trucks, for instance, are going to be banned from entering the city center here and snipers are deployed and be positioned around roofs and coliseum and a lot of people are expected. you will have bags and backpacks and it is going to be forbidden.

you will have people to be walked through the metal detectors and so forth. and as we have seen elsewhere in europe. and as we are in italy, we are trying to make it prettier. this is a flower pot and this is not strong enough to stop a vehicle from going through these main roads. those heavily armored vehicles will. back to you ari. >> thank you, and stay safe. we look at the unfolding draw between the u.s. and russia and vladimir of getting his first public response from donald trump and what are the new sanctions after the inauguration day. that's straight ahead.

welcome back, you are watching msnbc live. first response of donald trump here posted on twitter that he will not retaliate on those sanctions c sanctions, great move on delay, i always knew he was very smart here. >> what do y'all think? >> well, very smart it is. i mean if donald trump says he's

smart, he's very smart. >> this is an interesting situation where donald trump is basically kuking foreign affairs and foreign relations with this other country and he's not president yet. >> no, he's not. >> it seems like there is sort of different story lines in this whole, you know what's the u.s. relation with russia because you have barack obama and russia, their relationship and you have donald trump and the current president obama going back and forth of what they're going to do of different administrations and you have congress and what donald trump is going do with congress. it is interesting. >> yeah, caylin, what do you think? this is a weak mark by left over by christmas and people are taking a moment downtown, if you are taking a news, it is better week of a real intense jocelyn

between the current president and the president-elect trump breaks all precedents and donald trump ran on being different in history so you can say something there. this brand new statement is a weird phrasing at a personal level of an adversary under sanctions under a 48-window of some of the expulsions by the president. you heard from mitch mcconnell and others in washington praising the idea of them posing some kinds of penalties on russia and arguing that the president should have done it sooner. you have this interesting dynamic of this bipartisan support for penalizing russia and the president-elect trump on the other side of it. something that's going to play out in the confirmation hearings of trump's secretary of state,

rex tillerson. what's interesting of what trump is doing and how he's handling this russia hacking issue is that he's not acknowledging rushes were behind any kind of hacking in the first place. >> we have been talking about that all day and you keep on using the word "interesting." that maybe accurate and they provoke interests, they seem to be counter productive where the president-elect trump does not speak for the united states for the global stage under kuicutti this new stage of the act carried out by the u.n. government. >> this idea that others are trying tode-legitimatize his

presidency. and these are two different things, of course, maybe that distinction is something that donald trump has not done and something that his colleagues on the hill have. >> well, it is interesting because if -- using the word again "unusual." >> donald trump after the republican convention once he became the republican nominee, the democrats are holding their convention and he held this "unusual" press conference down in florida where he looked at the camera and said hey, russia, if you are listening, can you please go and find those 30,000 deleted e-mails from hillary clinton. this is me wondering maybe the reason why he's not saying anything about the e-mail and russia hacked into the u.s. into our system because of what he said back in july. at the time, the press and republicans and democrats

accused of insighting cyber espionage and i heard hi him -- hey, russia, you are responsible for hacking into the e-mails. >> it is not a great reason to be in. >> caylin, he does not need to respond this way. we are headed into new year's ooe eve. he's the president-elect. these are fight he's picking. this kind of thing is not smooth and interfering of the messaging of the adversary. >> something consistent with what trump had been talking about and had been talking about on the campaign trag and trying to reestablish some kind of relationships. it is at odds with his par phi

and it will be interesting to see how his party navigates this kind of terrain and whether donald trump is having a new briefing next week with intelligence officials and whether if this will change any of his thoughts but if this tweets and other behavior is any indication, i don't think it will appears that he will change his mind on this. i want to thank you both and our final update on our microsoft pulse question on putin's refusal to retaliate. lets look at oyour answers, did he out fox obama? >> 19% say yes. >> and 81% say no. >> that wraps up our coverage. you can go old school and send me an e-mail. you can hear the laughter which is sort of a tease.

it is melvin laughing. it is real. >> of course, you would put your e-mail address. >> i like getting e-mails and when you let people e-mail you, they tell you all kinds of they thinks, positive and negative about our foremprogramming. >> that's exactly, that's why i don't give out my e-mail address. i am craig melvin here on msnbc. the bromance is still strong as trump is tweeting out. trump is giving vladimir putin kudos for not retaliating on the sanctions. the inauguration is three weeks away and the clock is ticking. president obama will be heading to the hill next week to meet with lawmakers to brainstorm a plan to save his signature piece