Decisions the president made and Decisions Congress made during the depths of the Great Recession and his leadership and their leadership through the last several years and it could play a big role in the 2016 election. Getting back to the headline, big headline out of this News Conference, the headline being of course that the president thinks Sony Pictures made a mistake in pulling the release of the film the interview because it made fun of north Korean Leader kim jongun. Jay carney, how surprised were you by how blunt the president was on this sensitive subject and saying that the u. S. Would retaliate although he wasnt going to provide public details. I knew he felt that way. I was extremely glad to hear him say that so bluntly and clearly. I think that its absolutely the right thing to say. The precedent, the issues here go far beyond the decision to cancel screening of one movie. The implications of this move by the North Koreans are profound and we need to react and take action. I think when he said the reaction would be proportional, i think the only signal he was sending is he is not going to bomb north korea but will respond in kind to what north korea has done. I think the message he sent about the importance of the First Amendment and the importance to continue to avoid selfcensorship was profound and the right thing to say. What do you think, cliff may . What is the strong u. S. Response that you would like to see come from the president . I think hes right to ask for a range of options from the Defense Intelligence agency, from the National Security council and from others. And i think hes stated that this was a red line thats been crossed. Its vital that red line not be crossed with impunity. It would be useful. You could use cyberweapons. We should have them to do some damage. It should be right to the dictator in this case. I think you could also do other things. How about a showing of the movie in the white house . How about using voice of america to show the movie around the world and to show that we will not be intimidated and this film will be shown and then inflict pain on this regime. Short of bombing the regime but there is more that can be done with economic sanctions on this regime as poor as it is. When the president says there will be a response, there has to be one. In the past there hasnt always been one. When iranians plotted to bomb a restaurant in washington, d. C. , the response was promised. We havent seen one yet. Doug brinkley, the president is the most powerful person in the world. When he said Sony Pictures made a mistake they shouldnt have pulled the release of this film, Sony Pictures is a private company. They can change their mind and go ahead and say the president is right. Were going to release this film. Heres the question, doug brinkley. Do you think they should . No. I dont. I think you have to get this crisis behind us. I think you have to address it in the future. I was disturbed. Why didnt sony check in with the white house about what they should do. The president said they never called him. Never wanted his opinion on it. Meaning we need a Clearing House for these cyberproblems. President earmarked all sorts of companies in the future will have these problems. We have to have a way to solve it better than sony acting unilaterally and u. S. Government having to correct a private corporation. Gloria borger, the president in these final two years, he opened up by saying were going into the Fourth Quarter talking about a football game. He says interesting stuff happens in the Fourth Quarter. Hes got two years to go. Hes setting the stage that he wants to be active every single day. He says im not going to stop for a minute in trying to make life better for the middle class of america. He was making the argument thats what hes doing. As to why sony might not have called him, maybe they didnt want to call him because they know what his answer would be. His answer would have been i dont think you should do this in the interest of National Security. You shouldnt cave into this kind of hack attack. That may be one reason they didnt do it. I think this is a president who is energized and in many ways its been no secret to anybody in washington that he was unhappy with the kind of lead bracelets he had to wear during the campaign and he felt like he had to reign himself in and was getting criticized from the left and criticized from the right and i think now he kind of feels like he is able to be who he wants to be and do what he wants to do within the confines of his executive power. He doesnt have to worry about the next election and he was frustrated in the past by his tactical responsibilities as a politician in chief for the democratic party. Now those tactical responsibilities aside from setting the table for 2016, which hes doing, have sort of melted away. I think we saw in his mood was a sense of im finally getting to do the stuff i want to do. I bet he does veto the Keystone Pipeline again setting the table for Energy Issues in the next campaign. Galoloriagloria, thanks very. I want to thank the entire panel. Important stuff from the president of the United States. Once again, the headline, the president says while sympathetic to Sony Pictures and their concerns, he says they made a mistake in pulling the release of the film. He says i wish they had spoken to me first. The president of the United States also saying that there will be a u. S. Response. The fbi has concluded north korea is responsible. President saying no indication other countries assisted north korea. This was the work of north korea. The president said fbi indication showed the u. S. Will respond at the time it decides to respond. It will be proportional but the president refusing to spell out publicly what that response will be. Up next, George Clooney goes off on Sony Pictures as well, hollywood and the news media because he tried to get support from movie executives and nobody played ball. Youll hear his choice words for them and for kim jongun. If yand youre talking toevere rheumyour rheumatologiste me, about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. This is humira giving me new perspective. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works for many adults. It targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Talk to your doctor and visit humira. Com this is humira at work lets continue on our breaking news. Im brooke baldwin. Thank you for being with me. The big news today from the president of the United States in his last News Conference of the year he addressed a myriad of issues including sony which was the headline. Let me quote him precisely. Yes, i think they made a mistake yanking the release of the comedy the interview and that hackers are acting under the will of north korea. That was confirmed by the fbi today. And whats more, this attack now has taken this new turn. Let me fill you in. Overnight, another threat against sony. These hackers sent executives a message that confirmed all this criticism that by pulling the release of the film the interview, sony gave the terrorists what they wanted. Let me read this email for you. The grammar isnt perfect. They say, its very wise that you have made a decision to cancel the release of the interview. It will be very useful for you. We believe you will never be engaged in something dangerous like that. Now we want you never let the movie released, distributed or leaked in any form of for instance dvd or piracy and we want everything related to the movie including trailers and its full version down from any website hosting them immediately. We still have your private and sensitive data. We ensure the security of your data unless you make additional trouble. Again, from the president today moments ago saying he is sympathetic to the plight currently facing sony but he says sony shouldnt have pulled the interview over this ongoing threat. You listen to that part. We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States. It says Something Interesting about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an allout assault on a movie studio because of a movie starring seth rogen. The president says he worries that having seen this as an example other studios, other producers could retreat into censoring themselves. Michael, i know you were listening to that and every single word as i was from the president. I planned on hitting that point precisely with you off the top. Let me begin with that. This whole idea that kim jong n jongun, this tiert hayrant hal world away could have any say on culture here in the United States, is that unreal to you . The whole thing is surreal. If what played itself out in the last week or two were part of a movie pitch and we would go into a Hollywood Studio saying heres the idea for our movie and we lay this chronology out, it would be a hell of a movie. They would have laughed us out and said, come on, its too far. I like what the president had to say. And i believe those are his sentiments. Im surprised that he expressed them. I would have expected him to dodge when asked a direct question about whether sony made a mistake. Im glad he said its a mistake. Its easy for those of us on the sidelines to say that sony blew it. Its not our personal data that hangs in the balance. True. He said i wish sony would have spoke to me first. Dont get into a pattern in which you are intimidated. He pointed out the boston bombing and if they had let the terrorists win, there wouldnt have been a marathon this year and there was. He was asked how the United States will respond to this. His answer again and not going farther than just saying the u. S. Will respond proportionately. What would a proportional attack look like . Do we know . I think it would look like a bug much like was used presumably by the israelis against the Iranian Nuclear capability. My prediction is there will be some action. There will not be an announcement by the white house that the action has been taken but there will be fallout and well be aware of it and it will be cyberwarfare in its purpose. There will be no claim thats made that this is what we did but a wink and a nod. What about that aside, here you have now that this has been successful considering success that sony has yanked this film from appearing in theaters Christmas Day, whats to prevent north korea from saying that worked. Lets try google and the pentagon. We heard the president say today we are way behind on cybersecurity. Congress needs to get on that. You know, there are many in the government saying this for a long time. It will be odd if this is the wakeup call that brings it home but probably it will be. You think of richard clark, the former National Security adviser who has gone so far as to write novels using much of this material as a plot line because he found that when he went out and delivered speeches, people werent taking him seriously. We need a wakeup call and thats certainly the case. One other observation if i can make it because were all laying this off on sony. Sony shouldnt have done this. I dont think sony should have backed off. In the end, it was the distributors. It was about a half dozen entities. Those that control all of the screens across the country that all backed out and said were not going to distribute this movie. I would like to see it put on demand and give americans on Christmas Day the opportunity to spend 5. 99 or 6. 99 and use it as a Family Activity and watch the movie at home in the protection of our own homes. That would send a wonderful message. Youre not alone. One of the reporters asked president obama if he would see the movie. He said i have a long list of movies. Before i let you go, i want to ask you about cuba. The president was asked about it. He said obviously hes pleased with what happened so far. He was clear in saying he doesnt plan on going to cuba and meeting with raul castro any time soon. You once interviewed fidel castro in his heart of hearts, do you think fidel castro feels that he and his brother have given it to the big yankee imperialista to the north. The best thing that happened was implementation of cuban embargo. For 54 years the embargo succeeded in one respect and that is keeping them in power. It created a boogie man. It created an entity they could blame everything on. Its a third world country to be in havana and the outlying areas is to see the abject poverty. He always was able to lay it off on Foreign Policy of the United States. What are they going to blame now . If things go terribly wrong for cubans as they have in the past, there wont be any blaming the United States going forward. I think its a good thing. I say i think its a good thing because what i would most like to see is a change in leadership in cuba and how best to bring that about . Give them a taste of what we experience here on a daytoday basis. Michael, cant wait to see you on cnn tomorrow morning. Thank you so, so much. Coming up next, George Clooney goes off on sony and hollywood and the media. Why . Because he tried to get support from movie executives and no one was willing to play ball. Hear his choice words for them and for kim jongun and also ahead on cnn, is america prepared for cyberwar and what other countries have this kind of capability to attack . Youre watching cnns special live coverage. Im brooke baldwin. Stay with me. So,as my personal financial psychic, im sure you know what this meeting is about. Yes, a raise. Im letting you go. I knew that. You see, this is my amerivest managed. Balances. No. Portfolio. And if doesnt perform well for two consecutive gold. Quarters. Quarters. Yup. Then amerivest gives me back their advisory. Stocks. Fees. Fees. Fees for those quarters. Yeah. So, im confident im in good hands. For all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. George clooney defends Sony Pictures and he takes hollywood to task for not standing by the studio as hackers linked to north korea used this epic cyberattack and threats against theaters to force sony to pull the plug on the interview. In this back and forth interview, he said Top Entertainment producers wouldnt sign the petition. He said nobody stood up. Nobody took that stand. Now i say this is a situation we are going to have to come to terms with because this could happen to an electric company, a car company, a news room, it could happen to anybody. Clooney is behind releasing this movie in some form even online. He says do whatever you can to get this movie out. Not because everybody has to see the movie but because im not going to be told we cant see the movie. Thats the most important part. We cannot be told we cant see something by kim jongun of all [ bleep ] people. Clooney blasts the news media for failing to see the bigger picture. This is what he said on that. There was a real story going on with just a little bit of work you could have found out that it wasnt just probably north korea, it was north korea. I have Mike Flemming on the phone of deadline that conducted that interview with clooney. How did you get the interview . I had heard that he was going to try to get all of the support for a petition. I reached out and we had an agreement that when he did, i would break a story about it. And so the story that i broke was actually much more interesting but there have been so many twists and turns in this story that i never could have predicted and this was one of them that no one would sign a petition of support for sony. Lets back up a half step. When we talk about this petition, explain to our viewers, what was the purpose of this petition that George Clooney and his agent were trying to get signatures . The purpose of the petition, i think, was just to establish that sony and its leadership were not alone and that the community recognized what was happening here, this divide and conquer campaign that was going on or these embarrassing emails were released and basically polarized everyone in hollywood from supporting them. But in this case, the most powerful people in hollywood were asked to sign a simple petition of support and they didnt want to do it because they didnt want to put themselves in the hackers crosshairs. When you say the most powerful people in hollywood, did George Clooney say specifically who he went to because i know he told you he went to some pretty big names because once you have the big name sign on, you have that trickle down effect. Who did he get and why exactly did they say no . He wouldnt say. I didnt press him because that isnt georges style. What i liked about georges interview was he wasnt really condemning anyone. Kind of the way that aaron sorkin made comments about the media. George understands everyones rationale