you know, the fact that we've got folks like billie jean king or brian boitano, who themselves have been world-class athletes that everybody acknowledges for their excellence, but also for their character, who also happen to be members of the lgbt community, you should take that for what it's worth, that when it comes to the olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they and m, both on the court off the court, on the field and off the field. and that's a value that i think is at the heart of not just america, but american sports. >> watch all of president obama's end of the year press conference today at 10:35 a.m. eastern here on c-span. now the senate intelligence committee hears testimony and questions about nominees for positions in the c.i.a. and state department. witnesses include caroline dianne krass, nominee for general counsel, who currently serves in the justice department, and daniel bennett smith, nominee to lead the state department's into rowe of intelligence and research this. uns about two hou

and the fact that we have got folks like billie jean king or brian boitano, world class athletes everyone acknowledges for their excellence and their character, who also happen to be members of the lgbt community -- you should take that for what it is worth. when it comes to the olympics and athletic performers, we do not make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they perform, both on the court and off the court, on the field and off the field. and that is a value that i think is at the heart of not just america, but american sports. i am going to just roll down these last few real quickly. ari shapiro, last day at the white house. he deserves a question. >> senator max baucus was widely seen as the best hope for a large-scale deal to overhaul the tax code. what does your decision to nominate him as ambassador for china say to your hopes for a major tax overhaul? >> it says max baucus will be an outstanding ambassador to china, and i would like a swift confirmation. the expectation and hope is that if both senate democrats, or if democrats and republican

and you know, the fact that we've got folks like billy jean king or brian boitano, that every acknowledges for excellence but also for their character, who also happen to be americans the lgbt community, you should take that for what it's worth, that when it comes to olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation, we judge people on how they perform and both on the court and off the court. on the field and off the field. that's a value that i think is the heart of not just america but american sports. i'm going to just roll down these last few real quickly. shapiro, last day of the white house, he deserves a question. >> thank you. senator max baucus was seen as a last hope for the tax code. what about the hopes for tax code -- >> it is said he's going to be an outstanding ambassador to china and i'd like a swift confirmation and my expectation and hope is that if both senate democrats or if democrats and republicans in the house and senate are serious about tax reform, it's not going to depend on one guy but all of us working together. my

and the fact that we have got folks like billie jean king or brian boitano, world class athletes everyone acknowledges for their excellence and their character, who also happen to be members of the lgbt community -- you should take that for what it is worth. when it comes to the olympics and athletic performers, we do not make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they perform, both on the court and off the court, on the field and off the field. and that is a value that i think is at the heart of not just america, but american sports. i am going to just roll down these last few real quickly. ari shapiro, last day at the white house. he deserves a question. >> senator max baucus was widely seen as the best hope for a large-scale deal to overhaul the tax code. what does your decision to nominate him as ambassador for china say to your hopes for a major tax overhaul? >> it says max baucus will be an outstanding ambassador to china, and i would like a swift confirmation. the expectation and hope is that if both senate democrats, or if democrats and republican

. >> billy jean king or brian boitano who themselves have been world class athletes that everybody acknowledgesheir excellence but also for their character, who also happen to be members of the lgbt community. you should take that for what it's worth, that when it comes to the olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they perform. >> a clear sense of irritation that the u.s., president has with russia's anti-gay laws that clearly have come to the fo in recent nt. >> tse laws are appalling and shocng and the campaign of oppression, larger campaign of oppression around them is disturbing both in its own right but also because it is another signal of how badly wrong this are going in russia. when a society singles out a group like this, in this way, that tells you something is sick in that society. we have lots of other business with putin's russia. the pressure on ukraine to defect from their deal with the soviet union and turn into a very corrupt fashion back into the russian space, and the massive amount of stealing

and, you know, the fact that we've got folks like billie jean king or brian boitano, who themselves have been world-class athletes that everybody acknowledges for their excellence and also for their character, who also happen to be members of the lgbt community, you should take that for what it's worth. that when it comes to the olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they perform, both on the court and off the court. on the field and off the field. and that's a value that i think is at the heart of not just america but american sports. i'm going to just roll down these last few real quickly. ari shapiro. last day at the white house, he deserves a question. >> thank you very much. senator max baucus was widely seen as the best hope for a large-scale deal to overhaul the tax code. what does your decision to nominate him as ambassador to china say about your hopes for a major tax code in the second term? >> it says max baucus is going to be an outstanding ambassador to china, and i would like a swift confirmat

and, you know the fact that we've got folks like billie jean king or brian boitano who themselves have been world class athletes that everyone acknowledges for their excellence but also for their character, who also happen to be members of the lbgt community, yeah you should take that for what it's worth. that when it comes to the olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they perform, both on the court and off the court. on the field and off the field. that's a value that i think is at the heart of not just america but american sports. just roll down these last few real quickly. shapiro, last day of the white house, he deserves a question. >> reporter: senator max baucus was widely seen as the best to overhaul the tax code. what is you nominating him as ambassador to china say about tax code? >> it says he'll be outstanding ambassador to china. i would like a swift confirmation. my expectation and hope is that if both the senate democrats -- or if democrats and republicans in the house and senate are seriou

and the fact that we've got folks like billie jean king, or brian bow tan no -- boitano who are well-northern thoughts, and also happen to be members of the lgbt community, should take that for what it's worth, that when it comes to the olympics and athletic performance, we don't make distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation. we judge people on how they perform, both on the court and off the court. on the field and off the field. and that's a value that i think is at the heart of not just america but american sports. just going to roll down these last few real quickly. ari shapiro, last day at the white house. he deserves a question. >> thank you very much, mr. president. senator max bachus was widely seen as the best hope for a change to the tax code. what was your decision to nominate him to be ambassador to china -- >> it says that max bachus will be an outstanding ambassador to china, and i'd like a swift confirmation, and my expectation and hope is that if both senate democrats -- or if democrats and republicans in the house and senate are serious about tax reform, it's not going

delegation will not include a member of the first family or former president, but will include three formerly gay athletes. billy jean king and brian boitano. they are quiet about what's going on on russia's border. they have more and more influence. president victor caught between russia and the west refused to sign the free trade agreements. thousands of protesters occupied the independent square and several government buildings and the crack down and protesters on a violent assault. last second the senators traveled to the ukraine to show support for the protesters. >> we are here to tell you that the american people and the u.s. stands with the people of ukraine. in america we stand in the fact that despite the violence on this square, you have remained peaceful in support of change. >> on tuesday, ukraine chose to go east. putin announced a $15 billion loan package and a discount on natural gas prices in the middle of a bitter season that saves the country about $2 billion a year. as one piece put it, vladimir putin just bought a country, should the u.s. care. in a four-hour press conference, he called it our brotherly love and called

or do you think it is in the passive aggressive zone? >> well, i think it is the right thing to do. and with billy jean king and brian boitano and the other delegates he is sending there, hopefully they can get a message out. you never know with how they're going to treat any of the interviews with their own propaganda in russia. so hopefully they'll be able to make a difference and even just their presence there as openly gay people. i think that's a step in the right direction. >> nick, this is obviously something of a big statement to make to the russians with whom the u.s. has not enjoyed the warmest relations in the last few years. is it possible that this would make a bad situation even worse? >> i don't think so. i think the president did the right thing. he is sending two messages. president obama to president putin. message number one, the united states is going to uphold the rights of gay and lesbian athletes. i think message number two, we're just not getting along with putin right now. he is harboring edward snowden. he has been against us on syria, has blocked all the u.n. resolutions there. he has made life ver

billie jean king and brian boitano and caitlin cahow. the international olympic committee says gay athletes can't officially protest because that's against olympic rules. but christiane amanpour asked king, should they do something symbolic like kiss or out publicly? >> well, maybe it would be appropriate, but why not? i think it's okay to say what you feel and think. but if you look back at the '68 olympics, if there is something they want -- maybe we should wave rainbow flags or something. i don't know. no reason as long as we're not being malicious, but we can show our feelings, i think that's fine. i think it's okay. but by even being present and not boycotting sends a very positive message. >> another openly gay athlete diver, greg louganis very outspoken against the russian laws. he's joining me live from los angeles. greg, good to see you, again. >> good to see you. >> what did you think about what billie jean king said? athletes if they feel the moment, if they want to show their feelings, have some sort of display that they should and it should be encouraged, do you agree with that? >> i'm in total support of that. i mean, i was taking kind of of abeasier route because being an athlete and also being an olympic team you have