Arriving just moments ago here in his hometown of chicago to give his final address to the nation. In this hall before some 20,000 friends and supporters who will gather here at the president s side tonight, the first lady. Tomorrow mornings return trip to the white house will mark their final scheduled trip on Board Air Force one. There is a lot of excitement in the air tonight, people getting ready, filing in hours early. Free tickets to this historic speech. Of course now some selling for um to 5,000 according to the chicago suntimes tonight. The president has been planning his goodbye speech himself. Hes been doing it for weeks and hes gone through at least four drafts, making lastminute edits on the flight here. The president ial farewell address is a tradition that goes back to george washington. This will be the first given by a departing president from his hometown. Barack obamas presidency was born in this city on Election Night in 2008. We all remember a quarter Million People there to hear him, his young family at his side declaring in his words, quote, change has come to america. President Obama Leaves Office riding on a wave of popularity. It is his highest Approval Rating tonight in seven years. Tonights speech will focus on his vision for the future. He gave a small preview on facebook today writing, over the course of my life i have been reminded time and again that change can happen, that ordinary people can come together to achieve extraordinary things. Weve made america a better, stronger place for the generations that will follow. We are counting down to the full address to president obamas Farewell Speech. We begin with Michelle Kosinski here with me in chicago at mccormick place. A speech he was even editing on the flight here. Hes here in chicago. What can we expect tonight . Hes been working on this for upwards of a week, at least. You can imagine the task at hand. Trying to encapsulate all thats happened in eight years, trying to touch on what just happened in america with this election, and then moving forward. The way the white house has framed it is he wants to strike an optimistic tone. He wants to look at the challenges america faces moving forward. He wants to propose the best ways in his view to tackle those challenges. He wants to offer advice. Part of that is to the next administration but also to everyday people out there. The white house released just a few excerpts of his speech and he talks about where he came from, his roots, you know, starting out here in chicago, talking about how ordinary people working together is how change happens, how things get done. The white house says he wants to focus on american values, on diversity, on hard work, fairness, and justice, and pull all that together somehow into one approximately halfhourlong speech. I think it will be interesting to see how he touches on the divisions in america. Does he touch on race, does he touch on what happened during this election. Because as we saw him out so many times, an unprecedented effort on the campaign trail trying to boost his own record but also trying to say that america really isnt as divided as some say. He kind of stopped talking about that so much as it got down to it. So how will he address those very real divisions right now, erin. All right. Michelle, thank you very much. Going to be about a half an hour. Obviously there will be a lot of performances as well. Doug brinkley, our president ial historian, Stephanie Cutter, Senior Adviser to president obama, David Axelrod, also former Senior Adviser to president obama. Hes been helping the president with tonights address. Austan goolsbee. Lynn suite from the chicago suntimes, whos covered then barack obama well before he was president. Keith boykin, former Clinton White house aide and kayla mcinterknee, a conservative columnist. I heard four edits and probably more than that. Ive had a couple conversations with the speechwriters and chatted with the president. Im struck by the fact you noted George Washingtons speech and he set the tone for these farewell addresses. His message to the nation was that there was strength in unity and the greatest threat to our country was disunity. I suspect there will be echoes of that in this speech tonight. I think that tonight is not going to be a night for doing victory laps so much as talking about the future and talking about our democracy and what we have to do to keep it strong and vibrant. I think that will be the essence of what he says. Is he emotional . A lot of people in this room will be moved to tears tonight. Yeah. Its funny, i have a drawer full of drenials that go back to the first events we held in 2007. Tonight i picked up my credential and said the president s farewell address and i got choked up just picking that credential up. There of course is going to be that feeling in the room and hes going to feel it himself. Theres an emotional connection to chicago and to come back to where it all began. How can you not . Right. You would think, and so many of you were here in the beginning. Stephanie, you were with him at the beginning. Hope and change was his mantra. Donald trump now of course is going to be coming into the white house. Did trumps win affect his message tonight, what hes trying to say, how he feels as opposed to it being a victory lap versus Something Else . Well, david would know that better than i would. I would imagine that tonight is a little bit of a different speech than he would have given if Hillary Clinton had won the presidency. Were at a critical time in our country and we need hope and change more now than ever. I think the president as david said it wont be a victory lap, but hell talk about some of the change he has brought about making this country a much more fair and just country. I think it will be a message looking forward about we need to stay the course and all of us can effect change. For those who may have lost the election, dont give up. We can still effect change. For those that won the election, lets work together. I think thats the kind of message well hear tonight. The significance of where we are. Just today, spending a few hours before this event, you saw the people coming to hear him speak. These are his passionate supporters, people who love him. We saw someone with a my brothers keeper jacket on the back. This is very significant. These addresses are usually given from the oval office, almost always, in fact. Never from an adopted hometown as chicago is for him. Always from the oval office or a state of the Union Address that might count as a farewell. George Herbert Walker bush gave a speech at west point that some consider his farewell address. Nothing like this. This is a rock n roll concert, a political rally. The energy level is high and the amount of love in this city for the president coming back here to this president ial center is skyhigh. One of the messages of having it here is what stephanie spoke of. He believes change begins from the bottom up. So to mark this moment with sort of grassroots folks who have supported him from the beginning underscores that message about the vitality of democracy. Lynn, youve covered him from the very beginning. Before he was running for president , youve known him for a very long time. He and his wife left washington tonight, the last time they expect to leave washington as president and first lady of the United States. A final flight on air force one. How emotional is this for them and their daughters . If im guessing what it is, this is the only thing their daughters have known, really. They were so very young. And we remember the pictures from dpragrant park and now the grownup young women. How could you not be emotional . This is not just the president s journey. This is the familys journey. This is mrs. Obamas journey who ended up as a very popular first lady. Shell make her final public appearance on jimmy fallon where shes shown she is a terrific a terrific personality. As stephanie knows, tentative as she was at the beginning of first term, even getter her to do some shtick, everything was a little more cautious, to where she now has fully embraced social media and is kind of the the most Popular Democratic voice in this country. Pretty clear. Also the importance of chicago tonight. Its a town that he may come back to. Of course hell be living in washington, which carries his own level of awkwardness. But this speech tonight is in a city where murder rates have soared in the past year. There is frustration here. Some say he didnt do enough for the city. Does he feel an a guilt or obligation, a reason he wants to be here tonight . Probably an obligation. Its got both sides. The magic of grant park wasnt far away from where were sitting tonight. But of all states in the union actually the state of illinois is the most resembling of the nation as a whole, a microcosm. I think its totally appropriate that he would do it here. The country tends to grind up our political leaders while theyre in office and venerate them when they leave. His Approval Ratings just surged. As we come to the end of the administration, you can see it on the faces of the people in the audience here. Hes a decent man. Hes confronted by a lot of tough challenges and he did a good job in my opinion. You can see the setup. 20,000 people in this room. Theyve been queueing for a long time to get inside. The emotion of the people coming here. I saw a lot of people under 30. They are coming in droves. I think thats right. Hes representing not only a youth generation but a lot of people who saw hope and change in his administration and in his campaign. Ive known barack obama since we were in young, in law school together, and to see him be elected president i have to say, maybe its that you dont have hair, but the presidency ages people. He was a year ahead of me. Just to watch this young man who grew up from being editor of the law review to being president of the United States and eight years later the end of his administration. This is a sad moment for me. To know his administration will be book ended by two republicans, george w. Bush before him and donald trump after him, it alds a certain sense of somberness to it as well. Does he feel any sense of defeat because of that . I dont think hes someone who feels a sense of defeat. I think he reflects on events and thinks about how to move forward. Youre going to hear that tonight. As michelle said, i think there will be an optimistic tone to this. I do want to mention about chicago, yes, if you go north, you get to grant park where if you go a few miles south youre in the neighborhoods when he first came as young man to become a Community Organizer in the shadow of steel mill where is he faced all kinds of despair and helped forge small victories. Hes not a guy who feels defeat. Hes someone who looks for ways forward. Thats the feeling well have tonight. You all are staying with us as were counting down for this moment in history as it is, the Farewell Speech of barack obama, our president. Coming up, a cnn exclusive report. Intelligence officials presented donald trump with claims of russian efforts to compromise him. The breaking details coming up. And also a farewell to the first lady and the two little girls who are now two very striking and very successful young women. And the highs and lows of eight years in office. What will president obamas legacy be . We are standing by for his farewell address to the nation here in chicago. Are you ready . . You gotta be ready. Oh, im ready i mean, really ready. Are you ready to open . Ready to compete . Ready to welcome . The floors, matsspotless. The uniforms, clean and crisp. Do your people have the right safety gear . Are they protected . Im ready you think your customers cant tell the difference between whos ready and whos not . Of course they do. Im ready for you everybody wants a piece of ready. Cintas, ready for the workday. Yet up 90 fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. Lets do more. Add one a day mens complete with key nutrients we may need. Plus hearthealth support with b vitamins. One a day mens in gummies and tablets. Tomorrows the day besides video games. Every day is a gift. Especially for people with Heart Failure. But today theres entresto. A breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. Tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. In the largest Heart Failure study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. Women who are pregnant must not take entresto. It can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. If youve had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, dont take entresto. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. Tomorrow, im gonna step out with my favorite girl. Ask your doctor about entresto. And help make the gift of tomorrow possible. Welcome back. We are live in chicago Just Moments Away from president obamas farewell address to the nation. Breaking news in the nations capital. Straight to jake tapper from washington. Cnn has learned that the nations top intelligence officials provided information to president elect donald trump and to president barack obama last week about claims of russian efforts to compromise the president elect donald trump. This information was provided as part of last weeks Intelligence Briefings regarding russian efforts to undermine the 2016 u. S. Elections. Jim sciutto, evan perez, and Carl Bernstein and i have been work ong this story. Ill bring in my colleagues. Jim, walk us through the basic story of what we know. Okay. Multiple u. S. Officials with direct knowledge of these briefings tell cnn classified documents on russian interference in the 2016 u. S. Election presented last tweak to president obama and president elect trump included allegations that russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and Financial Information about mr. Trump. The allegations were part of a twopage synopsis based on memos compiled by a former British Intelligence operative whose past work u. S. Intelligence officials consider to be credible. The fbi is investigating the credibility and accuracy of the investigations which are based primarily on information from russian sours but is not yet confirmed. Many essential details in the memos about mr. Trump. Those briefings were presented by four of the most Senior Intelligence chiefs, james clapper, the fbi director james comey, cia director john brennan, and nsa director admiral mike rogers. The twopage synopsis also included allegations that there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government. This according to two National Security officials. Cnn has confirmed the synopsis was included in the documents that were presented to mr. Trump. We cannot confirm it was discussed in his meeting with the intelligence chiefs as well. To be clear, the Trump Transition Team have declined to comment, as did the officer of the director of the national telgs and the fbi, but jake, i know youre reaching out for comment. We reached out to the trump team earlier today. We are still waiting for them to give us a response to this information that cnn broke earlier today. I just want to put a button on the point you said, this synopsis was an addendum to the Intelligence Community report on the hacking, not part of it. Thats right. The Intelligence Community report on the hacking focused on did russia hack the election, their assessment, yes. Why . To help donald trump. Thfls appended to that focused on these allegations of personal and financial compromising information about mr. Trump. So not part of that initial and overall assessment. Evan perez, we have allegations being made by russians and theyre saying, a, they have compromising personal and Financial Information about the president elect. B, they had exchanges with the trump team throughout 2016. What the intelligence officials did not do is say we know these things are true. They say russians are claiming it, that they believe. Why bring up this information if the fbi and the Intelligence Community is still investigating it and hasnt corroborated it . Why bring it to the president elect . For a couple reasons. The intelligence cheechs decided to include these summaries in a way to remind donald trump that this information was out there, that these allegations involving him were circulating among some of the highest level officials including intelligence agencies, members of congress, government officials in washington. Several officials with knowledge of the briefings tell cnn is information was included in part to demonstrate in part russia had compiled information potentially harmful to both Political Parties but only released information damaging to Hillary Clinton and the democrats. This synopsis was not an official part of the report from the Intelligence Community. That was focusing on the russian hacks. Some Officials Say it augmented the evidence that moscow intended to harm clintons candidacy and help donald trump. Let me bring in the legendary Carl Bernstein. This information did not start with u. S. Int