joining me now, barbara starr and jim acosta.ra, tell us more about the president's choice. >> barring the unforeseen, barring any last-minute surprises, several officials are now indicating ash carter will be the president's choice to replace chuck hagel who was pushed out as defense secretary last week, of course. ash a long time pentagon veteran. he served as hagel's deputy until last year. before thaefs tht he was the to acquisitions official. he knows the ins and outs of how billions of dollars of taxpayer money is spent on weapons and defense programs. he knows what can be cut and what still might be considered essential. if there's perhaps one short coming in his resume it would be he doesn't have a lot of experience on the geopolitical world global stage but certainly some. so what are his advantages. he wants the job, there's a lot of people that have bowed out and he can get confirmed by the senate arms services committee, by senator john mccain, a republican, who wants to see much more action by the u.s. in iraq and sy

cnn's jim acosta will be covering it. he joins us live now. ning, carol. that's right. this is an especially important briefing this morning because it will be the first time we're hearing from white house press secretary josh ernest on camera about the release of this torture report. he commented in a gaggle with reporters on air force one yesterday and he was asked, you know, weren't the president stands by his claim that these harsh interrogation tactic which were laid bare in that torture report, whether he believes that that amounted to torture and josh ernest told reporters yes, the president still feels that way. what is going to be interesting to hear i think play out during the course of this brief, carol, and we heard some of this yesterday, this has been part of the conversation since this report was released is whether or not the white house believed in light of what's been released to the public, and keep in mind the public is seeing for the first time details they had not seen before whether or not the obama administration, justic

. >> jim acosta reporting live at the white house and in just a few hours we should hear more from the cia director, john brennan, in a rare public exchange, the head of the nation answer spy agency will also field questions from reporters. cnn will carry the news conference live. it is scheduled for 1:30 eastern time. >>> still to come in "the newsroom," countries with human rights abuses of their own slamming the u.s. over the torture report. so have we lost our moral authority? should we care? we'll talk about that next. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like you're underwater? try zyrtec-d® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms... so you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec-d®. find it at the pharmacy counter. zyrtec-d®. we asked people a question how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to like, pull it a little further got me to 70 years old

jim acosta at the white house, stand by. want to bring back evan perez who has been going through this report which has just been released. evan, in addition to outlining the details of what techniques were used and where they were used, one of the most scathing claims is the cia misrepresented what they were doing to policymakers and the american public. can you give my specifics about what exactly they said and didn't say and the extent of these misrepresentations? >> if you look at this program, it was authorize bid this president. >> i van, i'm sorry, i need to cut you off, senator dianne feinstein, the chair of the senate select committee presenting the report right now. >> the senate intelligence committee's five and a half year review of the cia's detention and interrogation program which was conducted between 2002 and 2009 is being released publicly. the executive summary which is going out today is backed by a 6,700 page classified and unredacted report with 38,000 footnote which is can be released if necessary at a

jim acosta has more on the historic development. jim. >> reporter: john, it is not the lifting of the embargo, but the relationship has thawed with the communist nation that started 18 months ago. most of the discussions took place in canada led by security adviser ben rhodes. that was when castro and obama shook hands at mandela's memorial service last year. the pope stepped in sending letters to obama and castro to resolve the two sides. mr. obama and raul castro hammered out the deal yesterday in the phone call. the first contact since the cuban revolution more than 50 years ago. at the white house hanukkah celebration, the president talked about the phone call with alan gross. >> i spoke to him on his flight. he said he was willing to interrupt his corn beef sandwich to talk to me. i told me he has mustard in his mustache. i couldn't actually see it. needless to say, he was thrilled. he landed at andrews in a plane marked the united states of america. he will get the medical attention he needs. he is back where he belongs, in ame

jim acosta is getting reaction and dana bash is up on capitol hill. evan, it's hundreds and hundreds of pages. people are going to be spending team getting the details. give us a couple of the main highlights. >> wolf, the big question is, did this program stop plots against the united states? did it -- was it effective in preventing terrorism against this country? and the biggest finding from this report, wolf, is that the program was ineffective, that it was more brutal than the cia ever told the americans, ever told the congress, that it was poorly managed. the cia didn't really know what it was doing in managing this program and lost track of detainees for a period and that it misled the congress and white house department and president bush himself did not get briefed fully on this program, wolf, until 2006, according to the senate report, which is a big deal because, as you know, president bush in his biography describes that he was fully knowledgeable about what was going on, that he supports it and thought everything was done properly. >> the

joining us senior white house correspondent jim acosta and our justice reporter evan perez. jim, i'll start with you. you've got to know what the white house is saying this morning about the report. >> reporter: so far their posture has not changed. they are still not answering two very basic questions. one is should federal prosecutors go and launch a new criminal investigation into cia officials over these harsh interrogation tactics. the white house is saying that's for the justice department to decide. as evan knows, the justice department has said we'll take a pass on that. the white house is also not saying whether or not those tactics even worked which is sort of a silence is acquiescence situation because, as you point out, the cia director, john brennan who will be answering questions later this afternoon has said on the cia website in a statement he believes those tactics did save lives and prevent attacked. at this point the white house posture has not changed on that. i think a lot of people at the white house will be watching and waiting to see what john brennan

jim acosta at the white house with what the investigators know about the attack. and brian stelter has more on president's response. but we begin can kyung lah live in north korea. and what are you learning? >> this is a very first comment from north korea. it is coming through reuters, a north korean u.n. diplomat telling diktors that north korea is not part of this. basically a blanket denial. it is very much in lock step with the last official statement we did hear from north korea. also denying they were a part of this, in that statement they did say they love it. that they found the movie to be offensive and it is a tate crime to try to insult the leader of north korea. here is the important thing. this is part of a pattern. what north korea has done, blanketwide is they've denied any kricyber attack and on sout korea. and experts here in south korea say the north has been slowly building a cyber army. >> as you've been reporting all week and we've seen special reports on how they train to attack. and jim is at the white house. some are calling this a game-ch

our jim acosta is in the briefing room. he's standing by. jim? >> reporter: wolf, president obama may be hours away from his annual family vacation to hawaii but he's not going to be in the aloha spirit when it comes to dealing with north korea. we'll be listening for his comments that the communist government was behind the hack at sony and what he has to say about the blockbuster deal on cuba. the economy and more is coming up in a few minutes. >> all right. cnn's special coverage of the president's news conference it begins right after this. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ... stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®... ...your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. alwa

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta has latest on the historic development. rter: john, it is not a lifting of the embargo, but the relationship has started to thaw. this is a culmination of the talks that started 18 months ago in june of last year. officials say most of the discussions took place in canada led by security adviser ben rhodes. those wheels were in motion when obama met raul castro in south africa last year. one key sticking point is alan gross. the pope stepped in sending letters to obama and castro urging both sides to resolve the issue of gross' status. then officials were welcome back to rome in october. then mr. obama and castro hammered out the deal in the phone call yesterday, the first presidential contact since the cuban revolution more than 50 years ago. at the white house at the hanukkah celebration, the president talked about his conversation with alan gross. >> i spoke to him on his flight. he said he was willing to interrupt his corn beef sandwich to talk to me. i told him he had mustard in his mustache. i couldn't actually see him

jim acosta, what are they saying about the decision to formally cancel the film? >> reporter: wolf, they are calling it a national security situation and a response is coming. josh earnest declined to say whether north korea is behind the hacking but in the toughest rhetoric to date, earnest described the attack and threats on the movie theaters as, quote, destructive activity with malicious intent and that it merits an appropriate response from the united states. he would not say whether that means sanctions or cyberresponse but a senior administration official wants to make it very clear saying the white house absolutely did not put pressure on sony to pull the interview from theaters, no pressure, josh earnest told reporters earlier today. >> the united states stands squarely on companies that want to express themselves and we believe that artistic expression is worthy of protection. >> reporter: earnest said officials would not be opposed to a presidential screening of the film at the white house leak other films shown here for the white house and call it some

let's bring in our chief congressional correspondent dana bash and jim acosta. let me go to you if. can you detail at least what we know ahead of this executive summary being released in terms of the interrogation and detention techniques? >> reporter: i think most of this is known already, poppy. you know, the chief enhanced interrogation technique that's really at issue here is waterboarding, which john mccain, the republican senator from arizona, has called torture. president obama has said we have tortured people, and then earlier this morning, senator angus king, the independent member of that senate intelligence committee, said to cnn "new day," did we torture people? yes. did it help prevent attacks? no. so there are lots of different opinions on this. lot of this is going to center on these waterboarding techniques that were used during the bush administration. president obama, when he came into office, one of his first executive orders was to ban the use of these enhanced int interrogation techniques. i was told by a senior official last night that this

that is happening soon. >> jim acosta for us. if it is true that north korea is the culprit behind the attack on sony, how can the world's poorest countries that bars people contact with the internet pull off a cyber attack of sophistication. kyung lah joins us now. you have met with one who seems to be asking this question. >> reporter: this is a who done it. it is an area or group called bureau 121. think of them as a shadow agency, he says. they are hand picked. they are the best of the best. the best minds in north korea. they are specifically trained, specifically to become hackers to try to infiltrate western companies. these hackers, he estimates 1,800 spread around the world. that's his estimation. when they are placed around the world, they attack western companies like sony. when they attack the messages, the orders come from pyongyang. you talk about a cyber army to dispatch so many from around the world. it is easier to hand pick and train them to fight the war. this, deb, the estimation by the south korea government

. >> cnn's jim acosta at the white house with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. so far the white house is steering clear of the two big questions coming out of the torture report, should cia officials be prosecuted for the harsh interrogation tactics and did those tactics save lives? there is one person who will say dick cheney. with the debate raging over the fallout of the torture report the white house is staying on the sidelines. josh earnest refused to weigh in whether cia officials should be tried for tactics the president described himself as torture. did those details warrant going back and reexamining whether they should be prosecuted? >> decisions about prosecution are made by career federal prosecutors at the department of justice. >> reporter: the justice department says the federal prosecutors who looked into the program won't be launching a new investigation based on the report from the democratic chair dianne feinstein. trial or no trial, the cia has some big names coming to its defense, from former vice president dick cheney who blasted the report

jim acosta is our senior white house correspondent joining us from the white house. you have breaking news on a major review of community policing that the white house is announcing right now? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. the president ordered this review back in august when the unrest in ferguson first broke out and now the review is in. it really calls for, according to senior administration officials, tighter controls on local law enforcement use of military equipment. and wolf, some of the findings in this report are pretty damming and scathing stuff. take a listen to some of these numbers, wolf, over the last several years when the administration reviewed this program. they found that 92,442 small arms, 44,275 night vision goggles, over 5,000 humvees and ambushed protection vehicles were all doled out to these local law enforcement agencies through this excess equipment military program so that is why the obama administration wants tighter controls on that and the president is drafting an executive order. the president is aippointing wht he's calling a task

. >> let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jim acosta.we've seen the president at several different venues, b.e.t., telemundo, the colbert report. what's going on? clearly in this interview he was making an appeal for cooperation, bipartisanship in washington. >> reporter: right, wolf. it's amazing that he's saying we're all in the same team after the government almost shut down last night. they want to go where the viewers are, the listeners are. the president put in a pitch for healthcare.gov. open enrollment is going on right now. the president talked about that and other sports-related politics. he says he doesn't watch politics. he watches sports center. he decompresses. he was on telemundo and talking about his action plan and i was asking a white house official, are you guys just going around us and sort of going to nontraditional media outlets? they said, no, we've been doing a lot with you guys lately but they go beyond us from time to time and that's what they have been doing this week. >> he also spoke about the intersection of

jim acosta has more an a story that took everyone by surprise. here he is. >> reporter: nothing says a thaw in this more than this. the first presidential level engagement the white house says since the cuban revolution more than 50 years ago. >> we will end an updated approach that failed to help our interests. >> reporter: senior administration officials say the secret u.s. cuba talk started in june 2013 with most of the discussions happening in canada and led by deputy national security adviser ben rodeo. those wheels were in motion when the president and raul castro shook hands at nelson mandela's funeral last year. but one key sticking point remained. the imprisonment of alan gross in cuba. >> a major obstacle stood in our way, the wrongful imprisonment of a usaid subcontractor for five years. >> reporter: last march he found a pivotal player to help broker the deal, pope francis. they discussed cuba at the vatican, something mr. obama did not disclose when asked by cnn. >> what were his concerns? >> in terms of the meeting with his holiness

thank you very much, jim acosta. you're in havana. what have people been saying today? >> reporter: there have been celebrations. raul castro took to the air waves an unprecedented speech to the nation talking about the respect he felt to president obama, towards the necessity of a better relationship moving forward. the words his brother, fidel castro, never used, so cubans were taken aback by that and the prisoner swap, the 53 political prisoners that will be released here in cuba at the request of the u.s. and the need to set up an embassy in havana, replacing the u.s. intersection and setting cuban embassy in washington and the need for a closer relationship going forward. during this speech all around us, we heard bells tolling in the section of havana. you really got the sense that we were experiencing something quite historic, anderson. what happens now, there will be ripple effects for months, if not years after today's events. and in a lot of ways, it will put the cuban government more in the hot seat. for 50 something years, they've blamed every economic this

jim acosta is our white house senior correspondent. you have cuba and hacking of north korea.sks the first question? >> reporter: this press conference could go all day, deborah. the president is supposed to take off for his family vacation in hawaii later on this afternoon so we might have to keep the questions tight. you summed it up nicely, deb. the question has a lot of questions to answer and i suspect one question out of the gate will be about the sony hacking and the fbi allegation that the north korean government is behind it. that is a stunning announcement, although not unexpected and i suspect the president will be asked about that and also sony's decision to pull the movie "the interview" from theaters. the white house was saying yesterday, i talked to a senior official who said they absolutely did not pressure sony to pull that movie and that it was sony's decision but there are people inside this administration privately, deb, who are very concerned about the message that this sends to the rest of the world just when these cyberattackers, this administration does

carol. >> jim acosta reporting live from the white house this morning. thank you. >>> a key figure in the cia's interrogation is breaking his silence, but not breaking ranks with the spy agency that paid him millions of dollars. james mitchell now concedes to cnn he is, indeed, one of the so-called architects who designed the program and its often brutal tactics. cnn investigative correspondent chris frates has the one-on-one interview that ultimately led to his admission. >> i think that what they're trying do is get the american public to believe something that's completely unbelievable. i can't even confirm or deny that i have a role. you know, what's happened is the press has decided i have a role, and you guys are hounding me to death! i've said all along that i'm perfectly willing to be responsible for everything that i've done. i don't want to be responsible for anything that i haven't done. and the way the information has been presented so far, rightly or wrongly, it's just the press that's identified me as this person. i'm getting all the blame

. >> let's begin our coverage with senior white house correspondent jim acosta. good morning. >> good morning, carol. the white house has scheduled an early briefing report, reporters at the 10:45, less than two hours from now the administration will be handling some new questions come out of the release of this torture report and as you saw in the last 24 hours president obama is supporting the release of this report from senator dianne feinstein from the intelligence committee but we should also point out former top cia officials are starting to speak out and they are defending their actions. it was stinging criticism for the cia from a sitting president, in an interview with telemundo, president obama said the agency was wrong to use harsh interrogation techniques on terror detainees after the 9/11 attacks that amounted to torture. >> i think in the midst of a national trauma, and uncertainty as to whether these attacks were going to repeat themselves, what's clear is that the cia set up something very fast without a lot of forethought to what the ramification

deb. >> jim acosta for us. if it is true that north korea is the culprit behind the hack on sony, that raises a big question. how can the world's poorest countries pull off such a sophisticated cyber attack? cnn's kyung lah joins us from seoul. kyung, an enemy, never under estimate them. many are now calling this an act of terrorism. they took out an american company. how did they do it? >> they did it because they were very targeted and this is just an expansion of what we have seen in the cyber war between south korea and north korea. last year, south korea banks were frozen. atms did not work for a period of time because of malware that was sent from north korea, according to the south korean government. this is a step off the peninsula. a globalization of a war waged here on the peninsula. by training these foot soldiers, the south korean government says bureau 121 is the heart of the cyber war. they train these soldiers and hand select them. they take orders from pyongyang. they the hackers with one goal.

cnn's jim acosta is in hawaii with the president. you can't get a mulligan for. the president, that's right, he wanted to play golf at the golf course on the marine corps base here in hawaii just outside of honolulu on sunday and it turns out that round of golf was going to play through the site of a wedding that was supposed to take place for natalie hiemell and ed malou, a military couple that lives in hawaii. they found out, carol, i talked to friends and family of the couple on sunday just after the rehearsal and just before their wedding that they had to change locations. it turned out not to be a big deal. they moved just upside the hill where the wedding was supposed to take place, made room for the president to play golf and they had their spectacular ocean view anyway but the white house caught wind of this. the president was obviously embarrassed decided to make a phone call to the couple here's a bit of what played out after this. >> nobody told us that they were going to have a wedding. if they would have told us we would

let's bring in jim acosta and cnn's patrick oppmann, the only u.s. twork correspondent reporting from havana. jim, let me start with you. president obama actually spoke yesterday with the cuban president, raul castro, for about 45 minutes, president obama was in the oval office. that's the first time an american president has had such a substantive conversation with a cuban leader in, what, more than 50 years? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. and i think it is pa sign that the cold war with cuba is over. that's what president obama announced just a few moments ago here at the white house. the president culminating a deal that's been in the works since june of 2013. senior administration officials held a conference call with reporters earlier today laying out sort of how this all went down. the deputy national security adviser, ben rhodes, along with other administration officials have been working on this for months. apparently throughout this entire process, pope francis was involved. pope francis sending letters to both president obama and cuban lea

. >> let's check jim acosta at the white house in the briefing room where that briefing is set to take place. what are you hearing, jim. what are we expecting to hear here today? >> good morning, john and michaela. the white house press secretary josh ernest, they scheduled an unusually early briefing this morning. but they're saying that purely for logistical reasons but we are going to hear josh ernest take these questions head on about this torture report that was released by the senate intelligence committee chair yesterday dianne feinstein. we shall point out ernest took questions about this on air force one during a press gaggle with reporters but that was off camera. this will be the first time we hear from josh ernest on camera about this torture report and i think this is really the first time that the press is going to have a chance to ask josh about some of the really damning, really revealing allegations that are made in this report. that there was extensive waterboarding way beyond what the american public knew about that. there were other forms of these harsh interrogatio

let's go straight to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he's been following the story all day, jim? >> the cold war with cuba is over and a diplomatic breakthrough for the obama administration. the president announced he is normalizing relations with the island after top-secret talks with the government that went on for more than a year. nothing says a thaw in u.s.-cuban relations more than this, the historic phone call between president obama and raul castro. >> the soviet military buildup on the island of cuba. >> the first presidential level engagement the white house says since the cuban revolution more than 50 years ago. >> we will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries. senior administration officials say the secret u.s.-cuba talks started in june 2013 with most of the decisions happening in canada and led by deputy national security adviser ben rhodes. those wheels were in motion when the president and raul castro shook h

>> jim acosta. thanks so much. we want to bring in the speaker of the new york city council melissa mark vivarito. what was your reaction when you heard the grand jury's decision. >> to be honest, angry and very much frustrated and exasperated. because we were seeing a sense of injustice that is being meted out in communities feeling that somehow justice is elusive. so we have to heal obviously as a city and we have to consistently demand reform, which many of us are doing. but the anger and the frustration is very valid. and we need to be able to express it in productive ways. >> i mean you say a sense of injustice, but this is the justice system. they went before a grand jury with 22 civilian witnesses, 38 interviews were conducted. the officer testified in front of the grand jury and he said, that he was holding on to mr. garner just to regain his balance. that was one thing he said. he said he was trying to make sure mr. garner was not injured by the other officers who were rushing into the situation and he wan

i'm joined by jim acosta. >> reporter: after a long holiday weekend, president obama wading back many in the schedule. it's all about ferguson. first the president will meet with members of his cabinet around noon to talk about this issue and lack of faith and law enforcement and exists in some minority communities. the president will get an update from his administration on this program. he asked for review of this program that supplies law enforcement agencies with excess military equipment. there's been conversation about whether law enforcement agencies are over military xized. then he meets with young civil rights leaders in the oval office. then a meeting with president obama, biden, law enforcement agencies, church leaders, other groups will be in the white house. we may hear from the president as the cameras are in for a portion of that meeting. still no word from the white house as to the big question whether or not the president will travel to ferguson, missouri and pay the city a visit. we know eric holder will be in atlanta later today to start this national dialogue the w

i want to begin in washington, d.c., senior white house correspondent jim acosta and also justice report evan perez in atlanta. jim, is the meeting -- the meeting president obama is having, is this an attempt at bridge buildings, information gathering? what is the president's agenda? >> reporter: it really is staab starting a national dialogue. he said last week it's a conversation long overdue. they do believe, here at the white house, that there has been dissinigration and the president said this last week, burning cop cars is not a peaceful way to protest. so you're going to hear the president later on talk about this and to sort of walk you through the steps that we're going to be seeing today, the president is meeting with his cabinet to talk about restoring faith in local communities and police departments, he's getting a review of the law enforcement program where agencies can get excess military equipment from the pentagon and it's supervised by the justice department and there have been problems with that. you've seen a lot of conversations going on about these humvees that you'

let's get to senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. how did it go, jim?ite house is going beyond the mainstream press to get its message out on some of the biggest issues facing this president. from immigration to ferguson. [ cheers and applause ] >> with the white house scrambling to contain crises at home and overseas, president obama sought some comic relief on the "colbert report" and the punchlines came with a public. >> are you still president after the mid-terms? because the republicans are quite surprised that you're doing anything at all. >> look, the election didn't go as it, i would have liked. you know i made a little correction there. i had a little thought bubble. but -- as president, the only office where you're elected by people all across the country, you still got a lot of responsibilities. >> making the case that he's no lame duck, the president fielded questions on the economy. an area where he'd like more credit. >> why didn't you fix the economy before the mid-term elections? you win and then maybe you don't have to come on the "colb

senior white house correspondent jim acosta joins us. it's tricky, how you balance the perceptions of what happened and what justice means today. >> it is a tricky balancing act. but as you said, president obama vowing to get results in the aftermath of the unrest in ferguson. the president unveiled his plans for the steps forward. he wants to tighten controls on police department use of military equipment, a new 21st century policing task force and a proposal for $75 million to purchase those body-worn cameras for police officers. they could go a long way in establishing when officers use appropriate force. after sitting down with law enforcement leaders and civil rights leaders and church leaders, the president said he understood why so many young americans are calling for changes in police tactics in minority communities. >> it violates my belief in what america can be. to hear young people feeling marginalized and distrustful, even after they've done everything right. >> that's not who we are. and i don't think that's who the overwhe

jim acosta thanks so much.e report federal officials are warning law enforcement agencies nationwide to be on alert for a terrorist report. pamela brown is live for us in washington, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, alisyn. the fbi and dhs sent out a joint bulletin warning agencies across the country terrorists may want to exploit the findings in this torture memo as propaganda, use it as a recruiting tool. the bull fin warns it could spark online reaction and eventually influence homegrown violent extremists. the big concern talking to law enforcement sources even though the memo is unlike to lead to violence in the near term, it could eventually enflame extremists as it circulates on social media and picks up steam. james comey met with reporters in a roundtable session and echoed the concern in the fbi is whether or not this memo will generate any activity overseas or homegrown violent extremists. important to point out so far, according to sources, there's no new intelligence indicating any t

jim acosta is at the white house. jim, tell white house will be in attendance. >> the president is wading back into the politics of ferguson after taking a long holiday weekend break. he will be meeting with members of his cabinet at around noon in just about an hour from now. and he's going to be talking about not only this issue of this lack of trust in minority communities in police departments but he also wants to get an update of a review he ordered of pentagon excess military equipment being sent to law enforcement agencies around the country. there's been a lot of talks, as you know, guys, about this issue of whether police departments are overmilitarized so the president will get an update. later on this afternoon he'll meet with young civil rights leaders and following that there will be a much larger meeting in the eisenhower executive office building, that the's the large federal building where the president, vice president, law enforcement groups, church leaders, faith leaders and also civil rights groups w

we've got all of these angles covered this morning beginning with senior white house correspondent jim acostai.a. director john brennan conceded the agency made mistakes in using the harsh interrogation techniques, but he defended the methods, saying they provided useful intelligence, a view the president does not share. the only thing more rare than a news conference held inside the c.i.a. was the admission from the agency's director, john brennan, that terror detainees swept up after 9/11 were abused. >> in a

former president jimmy carter with his take on what happened today and later, we look closer at what jim acosta touched on. the behind the scenes role fidel pope francis played in communist cuba. so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app. and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho seal. oh what fun it is to ride. get the mercedes-benz on your wish list at the winter event going on now - but hurry,

senior white house correspondent jim acosta was there covering it. >> hello, everybody. >> reporter:ssing issue before he leaves washington, president obama said there will be a response for the hack attack that prompted sony to pull "the interview" from theaters. >> they caused a lot of damage and we will respond. we will respond proportionately and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. >> reporter: the president declined to specify whether it would come in the form of sanctions or a u.s. cyber counter attack. he echoed the complaints that sony set a bad precedence by caving to a dictator. >> they made a mistake. i wish they would have spoken to me, first. i would have told them, do not get into a pattern in which you are intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks. >> reporter: still, the president mocked north korea's behavior as a joke in the comedy. >> i love seth and i love james. but, the notion that was a threat to them i think gives you a sense of the kind of regime we are talking about here. >> reporter: for the president, the confrontation with no

let's get right to senior white house correspondent jim acosta with all the latest developments. reporter: good morning, alisyn and chris. cia director john brennan was trying to sort of have it both ways yesterday at that unprecedented news conference at cia headquarters. he conceded the agency made mistakes in using those harsh interrogation techniques, but he said in some cases, it's possible those methods provided some useful intelligence, in particular, he said, in the hunt for osama bin laden. but as you mentioned, chris, he did not use the word torture in a quote that will be long remembered after he's gone from the cia. here's what he had to say. >> they went outside of the bounds in terms of their actions as part of that interrogation process. and they were harsh. as i said, in some instances, i consider them abhorrent and i will leave to others how they might want to label those activities. >> reporter: now, as for senator dianne feinstein, the chair of the senate intelligence committee that produced that controversial torture report, she listened to what john brennan h

it is an incredible story and jim acosta is "outfront." >> nothing sees a thaw in u.s.an relations more than pope francis. >> the soviet military build-up on the island of cuba. >> the first presidential level engagement the white house said since the cuban revolution, more than 50 years ago. >> we will end an out dated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we'll begin to normalize relations between our two countries. >> reporter: senior administration officials say the secret u.s.-cuba talks started in june 2013 with most of the discussions happening in canada and led by ben rhodes. those wheels were in motion when the president and raul castro shook hands at nelson mandela's memorial service last december. but one key sticking point remained. the imprisonment of alan gross in cuba. >> a major obstacle stood in our way. the wrongful imprisonment in cuba of a u.s. citizen and u.s. aid subcontractor alan gross for five years. >> reporter: last march the president found a pivotal player to help broker the deal, pope francis. they discus

jim acosta thanks so much. reporting live from hawaii. lucky man. thank you for joining me today, i'm carol costello. "@this hour with berman and michaela" starts now. >>> good morning to you, i'm michaela pereira. john berman is off. we begin with this. bodies have been located along with debris floating in the java sea. the worst has been confirmed. airasia says it has been told by indonesian serge and rescue agency that the debris is indeed, from that missing flight 8501. search planes located the wreckage floating about six miles from the plane's last-known location. the pentagon says the u.s. navy destroyer u.s. u.s. "sampson" has arrived in the search area and is aiding in the search effort. another, the uss "fort worth" is preparing to deploy from nearby singapore. that jetliner carrying 162 souls vanished early sunday during stormy stormy weather. it was flying from the indonesian city of surabaya to singapore. distraught family members have gathered now at that airport in surabaya where the flight originated. that's where we find david molk

let's get to senior white house correspondent jim acosta. >> president obama is standing by the release but former top c.i.a. officials are only beginning to speak out and defend their actions. it was stinging criticism for the c.i.a. from a sitting president. in an

let's go to our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta, who's been watching what's going on.s been very, very carefully choreographed. obviously kept under tight wraps for a long time. but it looks like this was something that was in the works for at least weeks, if not months. >> reporter: wolf, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on a background call within the last hour, this has been going on since june of 2013. and to put all this in perspective, you'll recall when the president went to nelson mandela's memorial service last september and he had that handshake with raul castro, they were shaking hands as the u.s. and cuba were involved in these talks -- >> jim, i need to interrupt you for a moment. senator marco rubio, very unhappy about this announcement. i want to listen in and hear what he's saying. >> the white house has conceded everything an gained little. they gained no commitment on the part of the cuban regime to freedom of press or freedom of speech or elections, no binding commitment was made to truly open up the internet. no co

alina machado, jim sciutto, evan perez and our white house correspondent, jim acosta. let's go to havana first. patrick is on the scene, the only u.s. television correspondent in havana. tell us, patrick, what's going on right now because clearly this is such a dramatic development and we have learned for the first time in about 50 years there was a major phone conversation between president obama and raul castro, the president of cuba. >> reporter: yes, that's absolutely unprecedented. the two leaders would not only speak but talk for 45 minutes and hammer out the last details of this exchange of prisoners. we're told this morning that alan gross was picked up by u.s. government plane carrying u.s. congressmen, his wife, judy, his attorney, scott gilbert. alan gross was only told yesterday that he was going to be freed. after his attorney told him by phone the news that he was going to be freed, alan gross was speechless. he couldn't believe it. he left havana this afternoon around 8:a.m. when he was told they had cleared cuban airspace. he rose from his seat and was

jim acosta, what do we know? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. big questions coming out of the torture report, should cia officials be prosecuted for the harsh interrogation techniques and did they work? there's one person willing to answer those questions, dick cheney. with the debate raging over the fallout of the torture report, the white house is staying on the sidelines. josh earnest refused to weigh in whether cia officials should be tried for tactics the president described himself as torture. >> did those details warrant going back and reexamining whether they should be prosecuted? >> they are made by career federal prosecutors at the department of justice. >> the prosecutors who looked into the program won't be looking into a new investigation. trial or no trial, the cia has some big names coming to its defense, from former vice president dick cheney who blasted the report on fox news. >> i think it's a terrible piece of work. we did exactly what needed to be done in order to catch those who were guilty on 9/11 and to prevent a further a

we begin with our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. what else did the president say about this fast-changing story? >> reporter: wolf, it's been a tough year at times for president obama. but he had a spring in his step as he delivered a stern warning to north korea saying the communist nation's leaders will pay a big price for the cyber attack on sony. >> hello, everybody. >> reporter: on the most pressing issue facing him before he leaves washington, president obama said there will be a response for the hack attack that prompted sony to pull its movie "the interview" from theaters. >> they caused a lot of damage. and we will respond. we will respond proportionally and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. >> reporter: the president declined to specify whether that response would come in the form of sanctions or even a u.s. cyber counterattack. but he echoed the complaints from hollywood to washington that sony created a bad precedent by caving to a dictator. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. i wish they'd sp

jim acosta is at the white house. jim, what did the president say?r: president obama delivered a stern warning to north korea, suggesting the communist nation leaders will pay a big price for the sieber attack on sony. >> hello, everybody. >> reporter: on the most pressing issue facing him before he leaves walk, president obama said there will be a response for the hack attack that prompted sony to pull its movie "the interview" from theaters. >> they caused a lot of damage and we will respond. we will respond proportionally and we will respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. >> reporter: the president declined to specify whether that response would come in the form of sanctions or a u.s. cyber counterattack. but he echoed the complaints from hollywood to washington that sony created a bad precedent by caving to a dictator. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. i wish they had spoken to me first. i would have told them, do not get into a president tern in which you are intimidated by these kind of criminal attacks. >> reporter: still, t

jim acosta joins us live with more.ood morning. >> reporter: good morning, after a long holiday weekend, president obama weighs back into the politics of ferguson later toda today. the white house schedule, the president will meet with members of his cabinet, this lack of faith in law enforcement that exists in so many communities, later on in the afternoon, he will be meeting with young civil rights leaders. after that, a larger meeting between the president, vice president, church groups and community groups around the country and that meeting partially will be opened to the press. so we may hear from the president just briefly make some remarks during that meeting, but still no word on the lingering question of whether or not the president will travel to ferguson, the white house is not saying whether he will make that trip. attorney general eric holder will be in atlanta later on to meet with church leaders, meet with civil rights leaders about this issue of law enforcement and race. we should point out the white ho