Kellyanne conway had to say about it today. That cannot be verified. Thats a classified briefing. We should all be increasingly confirmed that we have, quote, Intelligence Officials, divulging information unsourced, unnamed to the rest of us. Just to smear the President Elect of the United States we now have Intelligence Officials divulging information theyre sworn not to divulge. We should be very concerned about that. I dont even think this is fake news. I think its just fake. I would take the news word right out of it. Reporter so what were seeing from donald trump and his advisers is pushback against the Intelligence Community but taking issue with the underlying allegations that cnn has not cooperated and have not been reporting. And reince priebus, trumps chief of staff, said he asked donald trump directly about some of these underlying allegations. Donald trump apparently told him they were complete garbage but
in more colorful language. You can bet this will come up at the Press Conference today, as well as a host of other issues. Back to you, chris and alisyn. A lot to discuss. Lets bring back evan perez and cnn political analyst Carl Bernstein along with Senior International correspondent collar ris is ward in moscow. Carl and evan worked together on this report alongside jim sciutto and jake tapper. Carl, let me begin with you. You heard Kellyanne Conway saying this was leaked by the intelligence communities classified information that shouldnt be out there. Our sources for this information originally were not the Intelligence Community. In terms of the underlying documents and story, which i began working on a good while ago as did others at cnn, the Intelligence Community was not the original source of this information. This is part of a counter
it. Reporter its pretty extraordinary, chris. What were seeing is President Elect donald trump directly quoting the kremlin spokesperson, dimitri peskov, who told reporters that this entire report is a witch hunt. He described it, quote, as a clear attempt to harm our bilateral relationship. The fabrication of such lies in terms of the previous open part of the report and this one which is a comparable lie, its called pulp fiction in english. Peskov also went on to address the allegations that russia had been collecting compromad, an ageold or decadesold technique that the russian kgb and fsb has used which is essentially collecting Compromising Information on potentially powerful people that could be used ostensibly for blackmail purposes. He said no, the kremlin does not
have compmad on trump, its complete fiction. With regards to whether they have it on Hillary Clinton, he said something very similar. We have no compromat on clinton. The kremlin and the russian president tried to rebuild relationships and the russian people and for the world in the interest of stability and security, all of this, chris, very similar language to what we have been hearing over and over again from the kremlin since the allegations have hacking emerged months and months ago. As far as the kremlin is concerned, theres more than enough plausible deniability. This is their story and theyre sticking to it. Evan, now that we know from your reporting and carls, among other colleagues, that this information was included in the briefing from the Intelligence Community to donald trump and to President Obama, now what . Now where does the investigation
go . Reporter actually, its very important for us to underscore that, alisyn. In all the tweets that the President Elect has sent out, none of them says that he did not receive this information in the documents that were provided by the Intelligence Community. Its a very important thing because hes mentioned all these other things, but he has not yet taken on the central premise of the story that he wrote yesterday and been airing. So we know its true and he has not yet addressed that. What happens now is that simply the fbi and the Intelligence Community are still taking a look at this stuff. They know its out there and they know its important enough for them to get to the bottom of this because weve never had a president take office with this cloud, frankly, over him. Were not saying its true. Were not saying these allegations are true or have been proved. As a matter of fact, theres still a lot of work to be done here to get to the bottom of it. But we know they just cannot be
dismissed. We know the fbi is going to spend a lot of time looking not only at these allegations but looking at a broader set of facts including possible contacts, communications between people who were associated with the Trump Campaign surrogates and People Associated with the kremlin. So this is going to be a lot of work that the fbi is going to spend time trying to get to the bottom of, as well as the Intelligence Agencies. We asked kellyanne, reince priebus, anybody in the Incoming Administration to come on the show. They denied and declined those invitations. Carl, to what extent is it true that the speculation about what the connection is potentially between trump and russia that could compromise him is of his own doing, his sheltering of russia from obvious responsibility according to the Intel Community for the hacks, his desire to not disclose
business interest, not disclose taxes . Obviously theres this whole underlying question of conflict of interest. Myself and others have talked about it, his Business Investments in russia, around russia, partnerships with russians, debt that might be incurred to rushians, et cetera, et cetera. Thats part of the story. There are a couple of stories coming together. Also, lets be fair to donald trump that this is why these things are going to be investigated, to see if theres anything there by the congress of the United States inevitably, as well as by the Intelligence Agencies. More important, the President Elect in that latest tweet seemed to indicate that this was going to be a fight with the Intelligence Community. If you look at that tweet, he declared war on the Intelligence Agency agencies. That is an extraordinary situation. One of the things the outgoing intelligence chiefs, and some of
them are not outgoing, is to lay down a marker for the incoming president and for an Ongoing Investigation that is going to be almost impossible or very difficult for him to thwart. He cant stop this process unless he does something that is liable to produce a very, very troubling political reaction. Carl, clarissa, evan, thank you very much. This plays into another dynamic which is Secretary Of State rex tiller sons Confirmation Hearing. He has his own connections with russia to speak to when his hearing begins in just minutes. We have a live report from capitol hill next. En a rodent r. [dad] alright, buddy, dont forget anything [kid] i wont, dad. [captain rod] happy Tuesday Morning captain rod here. Its pretty hairy out on the interstate. Traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. Getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. December 14th, 2015. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum why pause a spontaneous moment . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. Capitol hill. Rex tiller son was expecting to face a lot of tough questions on russia today. This new intel adding more fuel to the fire. According to prepared remarks hell deliver in front of the committee in just under an hour, hell be making a sharp departure from the rhetoric were hearing from President Elect donald trump. Tiller son today will label russia a danger rex tiller son facing the Senate ForeignRelations Committee today. Tillerson is expected to address his 17year relationship with russian president vladimir putin. In the militarys Opening Statement released to cnn, tillerson will say the u. S. Government must be, quote, cleareyed about our relationship with russia, that the country poses a danger and must be held to account for its actions. This as Attorney General nominee senator Jeff Sessions faces day two of an already contentiousConfirmation Hearing. This is one of the more consequential appointments in American History right now. Reporter fellow senator cory booker will testify against sessio sessions. On tz multiple protests broke out against the alabama senator over old allegations of racism which sessions addressed head on and strongly denied. As a southerner who actually saw discrimination and have now doubt it existed in a systematic and powerful and negative way, i know that was wrong. I know we need to do better. Reporter sessions breaking away from some of the President Elects controversial statements, including Trumps Campaign call for a ban on all muslims entering the u. S. I have no belief and do not support the idea that muslims as a religious group should be denied admission to the United States. Reporter trumps vow to
bring Back Waterboarding absolutely improper and illegal. Reporter sessions also pledging to enforce Supreme Court rulings on abortion and samesex marriage despite consistently voting against those issues in the senate. Meantime general john kelly tapped to lead the department of Homeland Security had a much smoother Confirmation Hearing on capitol hill and is likely to sail through to confirmation, the same expected today from the start of the hearing for elaine chow to be the next secretary of transportation. President elect donald trump has not directly addressed the allegations or even verified whether or not he knew about this appendix. But in a series of tweets, hes dismissing the matter out of hand as being completely untrue. Lets discuss with congressman mike mccall, the chairman of the house Homeland Security committee and congressman from texas, where Rex Tillerson hails from, and all these stories kind of coming together. Do you endorse the understanding of the Intelligence Community that what they have learned about potential Compromising Information that russia might have about the President Elect deserves investigation . Of course it deserves investigation. I think the fbi, the Intelligence Community and the congress will be looking into these allegations. But lets be sort of cleareyed about what is in front of us. It has not been verified. Its based on one source. I know in the Intelligence Community when you have source information, you have to look at the credibility of the source and the information coming in. Theres no factual proof that any of this occurred. If it did ive been to russia myself, i know in the hotel rooms when you visit you ear under surveillance. Presumably if this took place, there will be video tape of this, and i have seen no evidence to confirm this. As you know from our reporting, the Intel Communityfinds the source credible enough to they include it in the appendix to the report to the President Elect. Do you think showing the video about the russian government and maybe what they have done, again, just an allegation, but the idea of getting that video, thats setting a pretty high bar for legitimacy, arent you . Youre correct in the sense that it was included in the appendix to the briefing based on onesource information. I see nothing to validate that or vary five that. I do think, as pointed out, it does warrant further investigation by not just the fbi and the Intelligence Community but the congress itself. My understanding is the report on the russian interference in our elections will be made available to the congress. At this point in time its unclear whether the appendix will be. You just mentioned the intel conclusions about the hacking during the election. As you know, the Intelligence Community strongly believes that
it was russia. The President Elect strongly disagrees with that, has done so consistent consistently. Raising questions on why he would be so intent on sheltering russia from responsibility that seems to be known as a consensus among the intelligence communities. How do you explain that . I think since the time of his briefing recently, hes acknowledged it, in fact, happened. I think what he said is it didnt have any influence. He has never said the Intel Community is right, i was wrong, russia is responsible for this. He said russia, china, south korea, they all are trying to hack us. Its an issue. People in his Transition Team say the same thing. They wont say in a simple statement, yep, Intel Community is right, russia did it. How do you explain that . Well, my understanding, chris, and perhaps im wrong, is he has accepted the findings that the russians attempted to
interfere with the elections, but it did not influence the outcome of the election since the time of his briefing. Prior to that time, chris, i warned both the Obama Administration and the Incoming Administration that this was a Nation State Attack on our democracy. It turned out to influence the election and it needs to be taken seriously, and i think consequences need to be taken as well. Weve seen the bill that senator mccain and senator Lindsey Graham have introduced in the senate to have consequences to this type of behavior if a foreign adversary, Foreign Government attempts to influence our elections. Just to be clear, you not only accept the recommendation of the Intelligence Community that this was russia and they know that, but you believe that the hacks did influence the election . No. I thought you just said that. Thats why im asking you to clarify. What i say is russia
attempted to influence the election, but i think the consensus of the Intelligence Community is it did not impact the outcome of the elections. Okay. And how does all of this come together today when rex tiller son gets into the chair of the core fir hearing. He already has his own preexisting relationship as a businessman with russia and theres speculation about what may have been done with his companys subsidiaries with State Sponsors of terrorism. How do you think this plays out . This will be vetted at the Confirmation Hearings. Thats why we have the hearings. I think rex is a unique, outofthebox choice in the sense that hes not just some guy thats been in the government for 20, 30 years. He is a guy who has International Business ties including russia, has good relationships with Foreign Governments which i think can effectuate good foreign policy. I think in the case of russia, id rather have a guy who can
engage with a foreign country rather than somebody who is going to become an immediate adversary. I think the fact he does know putin can influence and shape that policy. To your point, chris, this will obviously be one of the key questions asked of him. Congressman mccaul, always a pleasure to have you on new day. Thank you, chris. President obama saying goodbye. How will his time in the white house be