the relationship with russia. pe, there is nowhere to go but up in this relationship, but we have to do it on the basis of some fundamental principles, based on a unified approach between the united statesa nd unified approach between the united statesand its european allies. the foreign ministry in russia had recommended to vladimir putin that he also eject 35 american diplomats in response to the measures taken by the united states. the prime minister of russia dmitry medvedev, accused the outgoing administration of ending in anti—russian death throes. let's get more from our washington correspondent, laura bicker. i'm sure there hasn't been a response yet about this latest tweet from donald trump, how likely are they to say very much? we're waiting to hear if donald trump's team will say any more. it's certainly a huge contrast, 2a hours ago president 0bama was unveiling sanctions against russia, punishing russia, saying all americans should be alarmed by russia's actions, interfering with us democracy. 2a hours

the u.s. says russia breached u.s. systems. >> reporter: moscow says the hacking allegations against russia are groundless. vladimir putin challenging america to prove them. u.s. officials tell cnn the hacks continue around the clock, fishing attempts targeting private e-mail candidates associated with hillary clinton's campaign as recently as december 6. this man specialized in cyber intelligence with the firm that investigated the russian hacks for the democratic party. he and other experts have new information on operations inside putin's hacking teams which they say are as talented as they come. >> when it comes to espiage they are close to the best in the world. probably right after our own here in the united states. >> reporter: crowd strike discovered that a russian hacking team called cozy bear first penetrated the dnc in the summer of 2015. crowd strike says that team, also known as the dukes or apt 29, for advanced persistent threat, is tied to russian intelligence. in march of this year, crowd strike says, a

the u.s. hacks russia and yes, it's true the u.s. was eavesdropping on foreign allies but it doesn't take the stem that the u.s. intelligence community says russia takes and that your republican colleagues, such as the grahams and mccains of the world and paul ryan and mcconnells of the world say that russia did. is that not a different question? >> jim, the american public, you and i do not know what the american intelligence community has done with information that we may have successfully exfiltrated from the russians and where we may have used that to damage their national interests, whether it's in their homeland, whether it's in syria, or whether it's at some of their relationships with their allies. >> is that the president's job to say we're just as bad as all the other folks? isn't it the president's job to put u.s. and national security including its elections systems at the forefront? >> absolutely, and this is where president obama has absolutely failed. he has not made cybersecurity of our government institution, of the

start of the russia ukraine war in march of 2014. ou mentioned in maryland and new york, it‘s the biggest event of this kind since 2001 when the bush administration expeued 2001 when the bush administration expelled approximately 50 individuals. the last time the obama administration expelled at this many people, it was about a dozen individuals connected to a spy ring in new york in 2010. this is a recurring pattern with either the beginning ofan recurring pattern with either the beginning of an administration or the end of administration. it is not surprising, given the current relations between moscow and washington and moscow and the rest of the world. we mentioned that donald trump has said he will meet leaders of the intelligence community next week to get an update on the facts. it‘s notjust the caa and the fbi who have come to the same conclusions ——c i a its many others. what is to stop donald trump having a rethink when he into power? and president has the authority to rethink the sanctions. congress is delegated the authori

it's about the evidence and the intent of russia. now, the cia believes pretty strongly it looks like that there was hacking. the fbi agrees and that the intent of russia was to try to steer the election towards donald trump. why does the cia believe that? because they believe that russia only released information it got from hacking the democrats. that it did hack some sort of republican entity, if not the rnc itself, but only released democratic data, not republican data. conclusion they wanted to steer the election towards donald trump. the republicans reacting to this rnc communication director sean spicer talking about it over the weekend. >> if the cia is so convinced of this, why won't they go on the record and say it was, as they did with the dnc? i believe that there are people within these agencies that are upset with the outcome of the election and pushing a personal agenda. the facts don't add up. >> president obama, of course, ordering a full investigation into russia and hack before he leaves office and, as jason just me

the facts should come out. it is troubling that russia tried to interfere -- or did interfere in the u.s. election. this is all used as part of a broader narrative to undermine the trump administration before it takes day one in office. that's what this is about. that's why -- >> let me get betsy in here and i'll get back to you, ron. here's how the president-elect put it in this interview this morning with chris wallace. >> they have no idea if it is russia or china. or somebody. it could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace. it could be russia. i don't really think it is, but who knows? i don't know either. they don't know, and i don't know. >> he's saying they don't know. betsy, do you think that that assessment or the trust in the vasty of information -- voracity of information will change once his guy is leading the cia? >> it is a difficult duo answto. it is unprecedented and trump would say the cia doesn't know russia may have been involved in the hacks. broadly speaking, the intelligence community has come to the consensus that

the president-elect is weak on russia. he has been protecting, you know, in his comments, president putin throughout the campaign. he's not criticized putin on syria or crimea, or the putin and russia's allegations or offensive behavior toward the nato allies the baltic states. so we need a president, and i hope president trump can be this president, who stands up to the russians and doesn't in essence look the other way when the russian government may be interfering in our elections. he is the president-elect, he needs to begin to assume that role, and begin to protect the government agencies, build them up and not tear them down. >> thanks so much. for helping us understand this debate better. >> all right so what happens now that president-elect trump is questioning that russia influenced the election? where does it go from here? we're going to get the bottom line with one of the reporters who broke this story. next. treatment no longer works for patients like lynn, advanced genomic testing may lead to other treatment op

the u.s. will retaliate against russia. we'll hear from the president's feeling in a news conference within the hour. and the president says he confronted president vladimir putin about the cyber attacks. >> i think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, that we need to take action, and we will at a time and place of our own choosing. some of it may be explicit and publiciz publicized. some of it may not be, but mr. putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because i spoke to him directly about it. >> on the political front, hillary clinton weighs in on the hacking. she says it was part of vladimir putin's grudge against her. and russia's election interference racreated rift between the imcoming and outgoing president relations. and president-elect trump is skepticing. get more from our reporters. michelle kaczynski, and nic robertson from london and our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is here with us in washington. michelle, president obama v

the u.s. diplomats in russia. the president said in a statement, "these actions follow repeated, private and public warnings that we've issued to the russian government and are a necessary and appropriate response to efforts to harm u.s. interests in violation of established international norms of behavior. he also added the u.s. will take additional actions that will not be publicized. that jim is a reference to possible convert retaliations that we may never know about. >> it's been more than two and a half months since the intelligence community fingered russia are for being behind these attacks. why now? why is president obama taking action now? >> well exactly and as you know this is something that's been debated among folks in the administration for months and even democrats were being critical of the president for not doing more publicly. the president elect has not only been openfully skeptical of the intelligence information that the russians were doing this he's said he wants to turn the page to better re

the company and russia. he architect between exxon's biggest deal there, the two partnered on a big oil development in the black sea, the arctic, in siberia. they signed aventure in 2011 and important for russia. it has plenty of oil but not the technology to develop it all's for that it depends on partners like the united states. now, exxon reported that agreement was for s 64 million acres, theize of oregon to put it in context. the deal should have been profitable for exxon. in 2014, the eu imposed sanctions on russia over the annexation of crimea and exxon ended up taking a huge loss. as much as $1 billion. this is why lawmakers are so concerned about tillerson. as secretary of state, he could push for removal or relief of sanctions in russia, which would be a windfall for exxon. brianna? >> thank you for explainings that. important stuff there. and he's actually been with exxon for decades. how did he rise through the ranks there? >> he actually joined in 1975 as an engineer and then he took a major role

the baltic sea? has he no clue at all about russia trying to undermine nato and do away with the one protection that we've had since world war ii, to protect western europe from an aggressive russia? doesn't he understand what he's playing into here? does he know that his secretary of state wants to do away with the sanctions that have been imposed by the european union as well as the united states against russia for their invasion of crimea, take overof crimea, as well as the actions they have taken in eastern ukraine? this is very serious stuff and our new president can marching out there with naivety or else trying to do away with the american safety in europe for more than 50 years. sit a frightening situation. >> are you concerned that the president-elect is putting the united states' national security at risk? >> absolutely. absolutely true. and the sanctions -- listen, tillerson, exxon's ceo, has been against the sanctions that have been imposed by both europe and the united states against russia. now, just giving putin an open road would be extraordinarily dangerous. and we know for a fact th

the u.s. retaliation, russia promised a response. a statement, frankly speaking we are tired of life without russian hackers that spread in the united states in the top. we can only add if washington takes new hostile steps it will receive an answer. the white house is ready to respond whatever actions russia takes. >> we can anticipate a response of some kind but the truth is we enjoy the greatest capability of any country on earth. that's offensive and defensive. that applies to cyberspace, diplomatic resources, intelligence resources and tools we have in our tool box to hold countries accountable. >> the russian response is coming soon. russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on facebook russia will announce retaliation measures on friday. saying "tomorrow will be the official statement countermeasures and a lot of other things." back to you. >> let's talk about this. joining me from thousand oaks, california, is richard anderson jr., professor of political science at ucla. president obama had announced he would carry out sanctio

the u.s. sanctions imposed on russia? here is what homeland security secretary said to jake tapper. >> a reversal of sanctions would be highly unusual. indeed the sanctions usually remain in place until the activity and the reasons for them imposed in the first place has been removed. >> meanwhile, a senior obama administration official tells cnn if a future president decided he wanted to allow in a large tranche of russian intel tense agents, presumably a future president would do that. >> the sanctions are met with a mixed response. most lawmakers are happy to see action, but republicans say it doesn't go far enough. john mccain and lindsey graham overseas on a trip to the baltic nations. the retaliatory measures by the obama administration are long overdue, but they are a small price to pay. we intend to lead the efforts in the new consciogress. house speaker paul ryan says russia does not share america's interests. it has consistently sought to undermine then. today's action by the administration is overdue, it is appr

he is acting like the russia is not our friends. when he had a chance to do something bipartisan, he shut it down and the obama administration went along with it. >> we talked about what the mandate is that donald trump earned in the election and moral authority that is difficult to measure statistically. if we go down the road of having these investigations and it is put out there as a matter of public record that the russians did intervene and were behind these leaks and they can be conclusively demonstrated, what would that mean? would it mean anything for donald trump in terms of legitimacy and moral authority as president? >> no. what the left is trying to do and jo is good at it is delegitimize donald trump's presidency. he won and fake news doesn't change it. >> he lost by almost three million votes. >> and the popular vote doesn't matter. the constitutional majority is the electoral college. that makes him president for final and for good. what matters is the attempt to slow down the courts of appeal. 90 others. harry reid ga

he has been pushed back on the defensive on the russia issue specifically. if you're vladimir putin and looking to have a better relationship with the u.s. president, maybe you're intervening to get that to happen you have just actually worsened your situation instead of improving it. i ask myself, what might they have been thinking during the campaign before they knew the outcome. one possibility is they expected hillary was going to win. they have been watching news broadcasts showing she was ahead and most likely. what they wanted to do was knock her down a few pegs. they wanted to do whatever damage they could do, and they did that during the campaign. here's another possibility. irrespective of what candidate won, they wanted to put cyber on the agenda, as something scary americans would have to take seriously. it was rejected. that's negotiate a treaty about cyber warfare. >> a lot of people are wrestling with a few questions. including the current administration. president obama will talk about the russian hack on the daily show later tonight, i have a

the u.s. retaliation russia promised a response. a spokes woman saying, we are tired about lice of russian hackers that continue to be spread in the united states from the very top. and we can only add that, if washington takes new hostile steps, it will receive an answer. >> we can anticipate a response of some kind. but the truth is that we enjoy the greatest capabilities of any country on earth. that's offensive and defensive. that applies to cyber space but it also applies to diplomatic resources, intelligence resources, and tools we have in our tool box to hold countries accountable, like sanctions. >> reporter: now, the president has ordered a full review of the hacks with the results expected before trump takes office next month. and as for those sanctions, asked how easy it would be for a trump administration to reverse them, a senior administration official said, hypothetically you could reverse, but i don't think it would make a lot of sense. jim. >> athena jones in hawaii with the president. thanks very much. >>> also toni

just hours after the u.s. hit russiah some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed, russia did what few anticipated -- nothing. america forcing russian diplomats suspected spies out of this country, shuttering two russian compounds, one in maryland, the other in new york, and hitting russia's chief intelligence agencies with tough sanctions. russia deciding not

more aggressively thichl had the information that russiaeddling in the election allegedly for months. why do you think they didn't act more aggressively sooner? >> i wish they had. i think they didn't want to seem like the current president was engaged in the politics of it. we just don't know. could it throw the results of the election out? this was a close election, as you know, a few votes could make a difference. all of those e-mails through wikileaks which seem almost certainly to have russian sources to thel just dig it out. i don't think we can say the answer to that. i hate when trump folks act like we don't want to know. >> that's not what they are acting like. >> it is kind of. >> the point is of course we want to know what capabilities the forn governments have to infiltrate high level leaders e-mail. but nobody is wanting to skip wisconsin and michigan and pull out their ads and not do rally and speak to working class voters. no one told her to run a poor campaign. that is not russia's part that. is hillary's fault. >> wish we h

tonight donald trump is ramping up a showdown over the alleged role russia may have played in the race for president. every major u.s. intelligence agency concluding that russia did in fact interfere with the election. >> i think it's ridiculous. i think it's just another excuse. i don't believe it. >> reporter: on sunday trump flatly told fox news that he does not believe the reports that the cia believes russia actively attempted to intervene. this morning he doubled down in a series of tweets, writing, quote, can you imagine if the election results were opposite and we tried to play the russia/cia card? it would be called conspiracy theory. trump also claiming that the accusations of russian interference never came up during the election, which it did, and that hackers weren't caught in the act, which they were. this comes as bipartisan senators are calling for a deeper probe. >> it's clear the russians interfered. >> reporter: trump is incorrectly suggesting it is democrats, not the intelligence community, placing the blame on russia. >> i'm not sure they put it out. i think the de

and the united states is not russia. the u.s. government certainly is not russia. there's no putin here. there's not just one man in charge. even if you've got a president who can't bring himself to stop trying to cash in on his office for himself and his family, right, even if you got that craziness going on at the top, could be a source of comfort that, you know, in our system, the u.s. government's a big thing. maybe the professionalism, the experience, the subject matter skill of the people working around the president, i mean, we're in uncharted territory here, but maybe that, the people around him, that could be a kind of mitigating force for professionalism and civic responsibility and just experience and gravitas and heft for the new government. in addition to the new cabinet secretary who was reportedly chosen by donald jr. today the transition announced that another fox news commentator will be a deputy national security adviser, that's her on the left, it was reported that another fox news commentator is the leader to be the white house press secretary.

the intelligence community's assessment that russia was responsible for hacking intended to impact the u.s. presidential race. >> mr. trump obviously knew that russia was engaged in malicious cyber activity that was helping him and hurting secretary clinton's campaign. it might be time to not attack the intelligence community but actually be supportive. >> however, trump himself, who sources tell cnn is seeing the intelligence behind that assessment in his classified briefings, continues to express doubts that russia is responsible. tweeting this morning, quote, if russia or some other entity was hacking, why did the white house wait so long to act? why did they only complain after hillary lost? his transition team is now accusing the white house of trying to undermine his presidency. >> the continued efforts to try to delegitimize the election at a certain point have to realize that the election from last month is going to stand, whether it's the recount or continued questions along this line. >> analysis of the digital footprint and intelligence including from human sources has led t

they did that, he shrugged and handed the problem to russia. threats with the grain of salt. other problem is we've not hardened our electric grid the way the russians and some other countries have theirs. it is -- could be quite vulnerable to hacking, especially against the control systems which run over the internet. and internet is very welcoming to outsiders. it was designed to everybody could share, share, share. and so getting into it, and hacking in it and causing trouble is not as hard as we wish it was. we have a very good system, out at nsa and able people and american hackers. but you can't harden the electric grid overnight. and it takes some work and commitment and we've seen none of that from the obama administration. >> i want to talk more about this but gotten the audio so let's play that and then continue. >> i think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integry of our elections, that we need to take action. and we will. at a time and place of our own choosing. >> so when you were saying that rus

for more on the u.s. and russiaationship going forward let me bring in foreign affairs reporter for politico welcome nance, nbc terrorism analyst. good afternoon to both of you. naha, tillerson we've been talking about the fact he is very close to putin professionally and lobbied against sanctions on russia. does that present a problem for the u.s. especially think about the timing as it investigates russia for hacking the election. >> the relations are probably at the lowest point since the cold war and hacking the election possibly to help donald trump coming just as mr. trump is apparently leaning toward mr. tillerson as secretary of state. i think it will raise red flags in congress including among republicans who happen to be some of the hawkish lawmakers out there when it comes to russia. >> malcolm, talk about what conflicts of interests this might present. >> a myriad of conflicts of interest. he represented exxon mobil in russia and their development. to we want a secretary of state who is going to be worki

meddled in the election to help him win. >> they have no idea if it's russia or china. could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. >> reporter: claiming without offering specifics the analysis is politically motivated. >> i think the democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country. >> reporter: but it's not just democrats. a group of bipartisan senators are joining forces calling for congress to launch an in-depth probe into russia's tampering. saying the reports should alarm every american and urging cyberattacks cannot become a partisan issue. >> i think they did interfere with our elections and i want putin personally to pay a price. >> reporter: this as speculation continues over trump's nomination for secretary of state. multiple sources familiar with the transition telling cnn exxon mobil chairman and ceo rex tillerson has emerged as the frontrunner. >> he is much more than a business executive. he is world-class player. >> reporter: the possible nomination already sparking sharp

but today, russia announced a breakthrough. in theia's defence minister handed vladimir putin a list of syrian opposition groups which had signed up to a ceasefire with president assad. 60,000 rebels, he said, would stop fighting. this is how president putin summarised the deal. translation: three documents have been signed. the first document between the syrian government and the armed opposition is about a ceasefire on the territory of the syrian arab republic. the second document is a set of measures for monitoring the ceasefire. and the third document is a statement about readiness to start peace talks on ending the syrian conflict. the syrian government was persuaded by russia to sign today's agreement. it's with an assortment of seven syrian rebel groups. turkey's role was crucial in convincing them. not part of the deal are so—called islamic state, or the main kurdish rebel group who are fighting them, the ypg. and there's confusion tonight over whether the agreement covers a key rebel group, widely seen as linked to al-qaeda.

and the threats from beyond russia that you have to be ever vigilant for and they use this, the ceremonies remembering their greatest generation in a way that's much more powerful, much more immediate that it is in the united states. host: is vladimir putin president for life? guest: you know, i don't think so, to be honest. but, he is president for a long time. he stands for reelection in 2018. he will run again, i'm pretty sure unless something unforeseen happens. he will win because that's the way the system is created. they call it managed democracy there. there are no real free and fair elections and no opponents i would be allowed to challenge him, no real opponent. about communists will put someone up and went 13% again as they always do and then at that point you will have another six year term, so that will take us 22024 and we could be talking about the end of the trump administration or the beginning of the next administration before he leaves office. it was interesting when he stepped aside for four years, you know, he was following the letter of the constitution, no

the us must make sure russia pays the price. ia asks the un security council to consider a new resolution to endorse the ceasefire in syria that came into force last night. a post—mortem examination into the cause of george michael's death has proved "inconclusive" — further tests will now be carried out. drivers are told to take care in fog and freezing conditions, as a coach overturns on the mao in oxfordshire injuring seventeen people. good evening and welcome to bbc news. us president—elect donald trump has described president vladimir putin as "very smart" after russia said it would not yet be expelling any american diplomats in a row over cyber espionage. the obama administration has ordered 35 russian diplomats to leave, accusing moscow of interfering in the us presidential election by hacking into democratic party emails. the kremlin has denied any involvement and mr putin said he looked forward to rebuilding links with america when donald trump takes office next month. our moscow correspondent steve rozenberg has more. n

the former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul. s have on the election? it was the most discussed issue on twitter during the cycle. and wikileaks spiked the football on twitter. we'll explain all of that, ahead. thope to see you again soon.. whoa, whoa, i got this. just gotta get the check. almost there. i can't reach it. if you have alligator arms, you avoid picking up the check. what? it's what you do. i got this. thanks, dennis! if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. growwwlph. it's what you do. oh that is good crispy duck. this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box... it's what's inside the person who opens it. give your loved ones ancestrydna, the simple dna test that can tell them where they came from -by revealing their ethnic mix. it's a gift as original as they are. order now at ancestrydna.com. >>> welcome back to "morning joe." just two days away from wrapping up 2016, so what's in store for the new year? our digital team here at "morning joe" asked some of the reg

it is in the interest of russia to get rid of those sanctions. it is in the interest of exxonmobil to get rid of those sanctions. now, whether rex tillerson would exercise power as the head of the state department the way he exercised power as the ceo of exxonmobil remains to be seen. probably, go ahead, i'm sorry. >> does it remain to be seen? here's a 65-year-old who's worked the majority of his career with exxon. he opposed the sanctions on russia. seeing it as the single greatest obstacle in this country. this is his life. this is part of his dna for lack of a better description. there's more evidence that he would continue the path he's followed than evidence that he would not. i get we want to be objective and open that people can transition, but this was the near past that he lobbied. >> okay. let's bottle your question and hand it over to the senate foreign relations committee because that is exactly the question that he will be asked. and rex tillerson will have to say i acted one way as the head of my company. i will act a different way

, the other russia, and ukraine, meant to scrap the ussr. gorbachev announced his resignation, and the soviet flag was lowered for the final time. today, the man who helped to end the cold war believes the west is plotting against vladimir putin. sure thechev: i am western press, including you, has been given special instructions to discredit putin. as a result, his approval rating here is 86%. soon, it will be 120%. steve: but does vladimir putin ever ask for his advice? mr. gorbachev: he knows everything already. everyone wants to do things their own way. c'est la vie. steve: away from russia, many people see you as a hero, as the man who ended the cold war, who gave freedom to eastern europe, who allowed the reunification of germany. many people in your own country see you as the man who lost the country. mr. gorbachev: what upsets me is that in russia, people don't sufficiently understand what i set out to achieve and what i didn't, for the country and the world. perestroika opened the way to cooperation and peace. i am only sorry i was

in the past, russia barred import as a way of striking back. whatever the obama administration decides to do with regarding to punishing russia, as you mention, this is amount to the latest round. now, obama in the european union trying to focus the sanctions on putin's closest confidantes. that brings in quite a bit of russia revenues. it sounds like most of the same and bank accounts prohibiting american and european and businesses making deals and placing travel bans and people are thought to be closed to putin. now, since then, gross domestic product hav products have fallen to 10%. so the u.s. sanctions heard. maybe not as much as drop price in 2014. that pulled it out from the economy and it sent it plummeting about 20%. he still pulls very high, something around 70%. the muslim population has becoming increasingly poor. why? putin enjoys strong control over the media and television news and he spends to convey his circles as part of the his populous fight against western nomination. he's very likely to pull the same sort of propaganda tri

the obama called the us and russia. e obama called the tough measures and appropriate response to efforts to harm us interests. 35 russian diplomats will be expelled, or suspected of being intelligence operatives. with their families, they will have 72 hours to leave america. two russian compounds, the white house believes we re compounds, the white house believes were used for intelligence gathering in maryland and new york, will be closed. sanctions are also being levied against russia's two leading intelligence services, the gr eu and fsb. four top russian officers will be targeted for allegedly ordering the attacks. mr obama has said washington will also produce evidence linking the cyber attacks to computer systems used by russian intelligence. and he warned that more unspecified actions will follow. 0ur correspondent in washington gave me the reaction to the sanctions. this is the strongest action yet by america against a cyber attack on american soil. president obama says he will release the report by the fbi and

the moscow over the past decade, 'dedication to the proletariat have given way to the modern russia. popular capitalist towers that poked through the clouds. the heart of this is where i met , one of only a few people in east of helsinki who can drive me to the office in his own tesla. ashlee: dimitri sits atop a russian empire and runs a domestic fund for robotics and silicon valley. that does not make you want to move? you have so much going on. >> maybe one day. never say never. do you consider the russian tech scene competitive? do you consider the russian tech scene competitive? ashlee: why are russian engineers so good? ashlee: ok, so everybody knows when you are in the office. he has tried to copy silicon valley culture here in moscow. two instant messaging networks, a search engine, a price comparison website, and a time of online games. they also control the three largest russian social networking sites. the biggest one is vk, a facebook knockoff. the company took over in 2014 after its founder refused to reveal information about ukrainian activists to the kremlin. he left th

the does massive deals in russia, for the company. not for himself. >> reporter: but it's possible that tillerson could run into head winds in congress because even republicans are said to be very concerned about just how close his ties are to vladimir putin. the head of exxonmobil he has a lot of deals going in the oil patch there in russia,s' some members of congress, including senator john mccain want to know just how deep the ties really run. >> another of the president-elect's formers a sir varies visited trump tower today. >> this one was really interesting because you will remember the nasty comments between donald trump and carly fiorina, remember the "rolling stone" article where trump said, quote, look at that face. would anyone vote for that? can you imagine that as the face of the next president. carly fiorina said the statement speaks for himself and then called hi a serial philanders and she would by horrified at the possibility of a trump presidency. listen to how the tune changes after she came back down the golden ele

there's obviously the intelligence community that's out there. russia right now, least gotten a slightly warmer relationship with vladimir putin than the outgoing president. hoe is he feeling the most pressure from and do you see him changing his positions at all? >> i'm hopeful he will change his position. in recent days, senior republican senators, mccain and graham joined senator klobuchar in a trip to a number of our allies, estonia, baltic state, nato member, as well as germany and ukraine. i led a trip back in august and many democrats and republicans have visited these countries in order to assure them that the irresponsible statements by donald trump when he was a candidate suggesting that he might walk back our support for nato, suggesting that he might sell ukraine down the river in some deal with putin after being installed as president in january, i don't think you're going to see a lot of bipartisan support for some of the more outrageous suggestions made by donald trump in the campaign. and it my hope that he will hear statements made by a

the news is russia allegedly hacked. the obama administration is looking to under mine russia, the incoming trump administration and that it's blaming russia for domestic pros. to give you a sense of the tone from the high ranking russian officials the foreign ministry spokeswoman called the entire obama administration a group of foreign policy failures. the obama administration, it is sad that the obama administration that began its life by restoring u.s.-russian cooperation is ending it on anti-russian agony. then you have putin coming in essentially declining to retaliate. looking domestically it is a bold move playing well here. it makes putin look above the fray like he's not suck coming to the back and forth. as hans said earlier, what the kremlin and putin are doing and what russians on the streets are doing is waiting for president-elect donald trump to take office on january 20. the kremlin believes trump wants better relations and they are not willing to antagonize that administration by retaliating at this stag

russia. for months the president-elect has denied the u.s. intelligence community's conclusions on russia's meddling in the elections. trump now says he will meet with intelligence officials next week to get the facts. and those facts keep changing. we go to cnn's jessica schneider for that with an update on the story. they do keep changing. >> they do keep changing, don. and donald trump continues to express that skepticism that he has repeatedly expressed about the alleged russian attacks. he continued the doubt when he spoke outside mar-a-lago saying we should, quote, get on with our lives. and then donald trump issued this statement saying it's time for our country to move on to bigger and better things. nevertheless, in the interest of our country and its great people, i will meet with the leaders of the intelligence community next week in order to be updated on the facts of the situation. top transition adviser kellyanne conway say the sanctions seem largely symbolic and continue to cast doubt on the intelligence. itself. and conway also

turns to the hacking. russia denies it interferes. rump has pushed back against the hacking claims. a question raised to the ranking member of the house intelligence committee was a simple one. where is the proof? >> i totally understand you don't want to have sources and methods out there. but can't you give the public something more substantial than what we have seen? >> well, yes. i think the administration will. i think they should. i have been urging them to do that. the principal reason why they haven't is exactly the one you mention. that is, we have good sources of information. we don't want to disclose those. i'm sure the russians would love to know the source of information so they can take countermeasures to prevent us from being able to attribute other russian malignant cyber activity in the future. >> joining me is tara mallor. she's a former cia military analyst. thank you for being with me. we heard from adam schiff and his answer. why haven't we heard about any evidence in this? >> sure. we have heard a bit of evidence.

the end game moving forward? >> in terms of israel -- >> let's focus on russia for the sake of this conversation. >> okay. for russia, i think the president has put president trump in a box because he only has two choices. he can lift the sanctions because they were put in essentially by executive order. he can go to the congressman and ask him to make it permanent. i don't think this contractor will do that. >> if the russians show they were hacking, does this maybe lay the road map for donald trump in a way that he let president obama do what had to be done. >> look what he's doing in syria and aleppo. that is the fear that you have with a donald trump, not understanding that, yes, you know what? there was a hacking. our democracy was put into kind of a frizzy because of what russia did and putin led that effort. i think this is why president obama had to do what he did now before he left. >> here's the picture of it. you can see it is a picture of a lame duck that basically mocks president obama for the actions of this day. where does this relationship stand at this moment? is this an easy cleanup under

and the united states. and russia has been a key backer of the syrian government since this conflict began. it will have a closer relationship, it would help solve many problem in the world specifically, specifically the syrian crisis. this comes as there are peace talks set to get under way. peace talks brokered without the united states involvement but those peace talks will take place in kazakhstan with iran, syria, turkey and russia on board. russia today almost offering an olive branch not, mind you, to president obama, but to incoming president-elect trump saying that they're hopeful that president-elect trump might want a seat at that table to help establish some sort of peace in syria. so we're clearly starting to see a positioning of russia and syria more hopeful than under a trump presidency the syrian conflict might be solve. >> reporter: mohammad lila in istanbul, thank you so much. >>> meantime, in this country right now, security measures are ramping up from coast to coast ahead of new year's eve weekend

just hours after the u.s. hit russia with some of the toughest sanctions ever imposed, russia did what few anticipated -- nothing. america forcing russian diplomats suspected spies out of this country, shuttering two russian compounds, one in maryland, the other in new york, and hitting russia's chief intelligence agencies with tough sanctions. russia deciding not to engage. president putin issuing a statement which included an invite to the children of american diplomats in russia to christmas and new year shows in the kremlin. and then came this tweet from the kremlin's twitter account reiterating that festive sentiment that has left a lot of people scratching their heads. it's apparently from putin who "offers his new year greetings to president obama and his family, also to president-elect donald trump." let's go live now to moscow and senior international correspondent matthew chance. matthew, the u.s. just slammed some of the toughest sanctions of any country in the world on russia so what now is behind this kind o

interesting symmetry between the russia and the us. nvites to the children of american diplomats. here in the united states, the russian compounds in maryland and new york are being cleared. 35 diplomats havejust maryland and new york are being cleared. 35 diplomats have just a few hours to leave the country. when you look at what is happening in the two countries, well, an interesting dilemma. for the new incoming president—elect. he is yet to comment on what is happening. donald trump has rejected the evidence given to him in regards to hacking, treating it with a slight disdain at times, saying this is the same intelligence agencies that gave us saddam hussein saying there were weapons of mass destruction. trying to pour some scorn weapons of mass destruction. trying to pour some scoi’i’] on weapons of mass destruction. trying to pour some scorn on what evidence was before him. in the last 2a hours he has softened his stance. he says it is time to move on. he says he will meet with intelligence officials to find out any update. it do

the u.s. but this is definitely going to hurt russia. united states is going to expel 35 russian diplomats and close two russian compounds in new york and very close to washington, maryland, in response to a campaign of harassment against american diplomats in moscow and interference in the u.s. elections. we expected this decision to come today, and the diplomats have to leave the u.s. in 72 hours. that is the time that has been given to diplomats when something like that happens. it feels a little bit like the cold war, doesn't it? we will probably see a tit for tat. i expect russia to expel american diplomats as well. this is going to happen soon. i also expect some kind of action by the nsa but i do not think we will hear a lot about it in the news. i just read an obama statement that this is not going to be everything, these actions, meaning the russians are not the sum total of response to russia's aggressive activities. we will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing. we will maybe see more sanctio

the second part has to do with harassment of u.s. diplomats in russia. that's what it seems of the 35 expulsions declaring of the 35 diplomats here in the state from russia. and the back end of it, there is a little bit of a defense and there is a clear csigma phi epsil epsilon -- and helping u.s. cyber security firm protecting america institutions and individuals. it gives you a reminder of ronald reagan and a bear being in the woods. grizzlies' steps what i say they are calling it. >> i won't attempt to pronounce some of these men. what do we know about these four men? >> they are all associated with the g ru. we ha gru. all four of them are involved. o he's the one that we had the fbi poster from. he was involved allegedly in some cyber mouth phases, he was indicted in nebraska and that's where they brought tg case forward and allegations is up to 100 million loss property. he's been in the fbi's list for some time. the reward for him is $3 million. >> to be clear that picture, that's one of the gentlemen named. we did not have pictures of the other th

the cia has told u.s. officials and senators secretly that when russia hacked the e-mails of russia's campaign chair and the dnc, when they fed that information to the u.s. public via wikileaks, it wasn't some chaos plan to make americans wonder about the integrity of the election system. they weren't trying to make us feel ughy about voting. they weren't trying to make us feel that our democracy was shaky and vulnerable. they were overtly trying to win the american election for donald trump. okay. so that's one. here's the other part. and i said stick a pin in that sourcing stuff there for a reason. it's always important to pay attention to the sourcing, but particularly on stories like this. obviously the reporters at "the washington post" aren't going to tell us who their sources are and we would never ask them to, but they do describe them. they describe the officials they're talking to and their sources for the story as, various throughout the story, officials briefed on the the matter or u.s. officials or at one point, like i said, stick a pin in it. a senior u.s. official briefed on an intelligence p

the guardian has a story about russia and the usa. russia brokers syria ceasefire. elined. 0n opposite sides in this conflict and syria that has been raging for six years but here they are managing to secure a ceasefire. it seems on the face of it incredibly positive. the guardian reports that there seems to be some further confusion over exactly who signed up and which rebel groups have signed up to this and hopefully that will become clearer in time. i think this is the third ceasefire this year when all the others have collapsed. we have hopes that this one won't. it is interesting. russia and turkey on the world stage, us nowhere to be seen in this negotiation. it is quite a strange picture. if this is a stain on the legacy of obama, how he has handled this civil war. he said that the red line would be if a side used chemical weapons on his own people and his deep. the line was crossed and his deep. the line was crossed and america did nothing, partly because the house of commons voted against joining because the house of commons voted againstjoining military act

political groups and officials on the dnc to russia. before the announcement of the u.s. taliation, russia promised a response. a spokes woman for the foreign minister saying in a statement, frankly speaking, we are tired about lies about russian hackers that continue to be spread in the united states from the very top, and we can only add that if washington takes new hostile steps it will receive an answer. the white house is ready to respond, whatever actions russia takes. >> we can anticipate a response of some kind, but the truth is that we enjoy the greatest capabilities of any country on earth. that's offensive and defensive. that applies to cyber space but it also applies to diplomatic resources, intelligence resource, and tools we have in our tool box to hold countries accountable like sanctions. >> reporter: and that russian response is coming soon. russian's foreign mind city spokeswoman saying in a statement on facebook russia will announce retaliation measures on friday saying, quote, tomorrow will be the owe feshl statements, counter measures and a lot of othe