Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20161213 : vimarsana.com

We also heard praise from the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, who said, im quoting him now, Rex Tillersons decades of experience have been widely recognized for focus leadership around the globe. I look forward to supporting his nomination and then there was Vice President elect mike pence. We just couldnt be more grateful that someone of Rex Tillersons proven leadership and accomplishments have been willing to step forward to serve our nation as our next secretary of state. Weve also heard that donald trump has made his choice for Energy Secretary. The former Texas Governor rick perry. Back in the 2012 president ial campaign, perry famously forgot the name of the energy department, when naming the three Government Agencies he wanted to shut down. Later today, the president elect will leave new york for wisconsin for his next stop on his thank you tour. The Vice President mike pence, Vice President elect, i should say, and House Speaker paul ryan are both expected to be in wisconsin buy the president elect. Lets fwlibring in phil mattingt trump tower and manu raju joins us and our cnn Global Affairs correspondent elise labott. Phil, how did Rex Tillerson rise so quickly, apparently very quickly . He wasnt even mentioned until a week or two ago. Reporter exactly right. Largely on the backs of recommendations behind the scenes, wolf. Trump transition officials saying, james baker, Condoleezza Rice and bob gates. Three pillars of the gop policy establishment. Three former cabinet secretaries themselves, all of whom recommended Rex Tillerson for this position. The president elect had never actually met Rex Tillerson before this process all started, because of their recommendations he was willing to sit down with them and found she shared similar world views, were very comfortable with one another and he was willing to select Rex Tillerson above all the other candidates weve seen to this point. Obviously, a big pick, weve all waiting for it. A lot of comings and goings at trump tower. Rick perry said to be announced at Energy Secretary and bill gates leer. Were told meeting with the president elect about research and development. Pushing that forward and a rather random visitor. Kanye west stopped by a 15minute meeting with the president elect to talk about life. According to the president elect. Mostnotably, Rex Tillerson, wolf. Also getting new information on the News Conference now delayed. Supposed to be thursday during which the president elect would announce how hes going to split up his business so theres no conflict of interest, if you will. Now delayed until january. What are you learning . Reporter well, we know this obviously the president elect made a big deal about this announcement. That apparently is never going to comkucome. At least not in the year of 2016. Trying to address issue, stopping all new deals Going Forward and find a legal structure to hand the business down to his sons, eric and donald jr. Ivanka trump was nos listed as somebody handed the business. Expected to be phased out and she and her husband plan to move down to d. C. And serve in advisories roles. But there are difficulties how this process is moving forward. The reality, the president elect legally doesnt have to separate from the business at all. Anything hes willing to do to take himself operationally out should be considered a good thing, but im told advisers inside his team are wary of not going far enough. They are cognizant, wolf, the fact this will be problematic for the president elect, for his team, not just the first 100 days or the first couple months, perhaps for years if they dont address this and go far enough from the beginning. Why delayed . Werent ready. These debates internally are still playing out at lawyers try to figure out the proper legal structure 20 actualto actually place. Wolf . Phil, thank you. Concern expressed in the senate already. They have to confirm Rex Tillerson as the secretary of state. First to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Marco rubio, a republican, he said this in a statement. Ill put it up on the screen. While Rex Tillerson is a respected businessman, i have serious concerns about his nomination, the next secretary of state must be someone who views the world with moral clarity, free of potential conflicts of interest. I look forward to learning more about his record and his views. I will do my part to ensure he receive as full and fair but also thorough hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Specifically, there are questions not just from democrats but a few republicans about his dealings, his connections with putin and russia. What are you hearing . Exactly what hes going to have to answer. These confirmation hearings. You know, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will have a onevote margin, 109 panel. That means if one republican were to defect, like a marco rubio, he could be enough to stall the nomination, poe potentipo stall the nomination, poe potentipe potentially derail it as well. Assuming democrats are against him. Just got off the phone with bob corker, passed over for the secretary of state job. Hes a very best choice for donald trump but acknowledged not really knowing what tillersons world views are on russia. She havent spoken about it in depth and he has a lot of questions to answer on that very topic. On separate but related matter, corker told me his committee is going to launch an investigation, more hearings into the issue of russia hacking, and thats something that the Foreign Relations committee la not done yet. Something the Armed Services and intelligence committees shed he to do but corker the third panel to look into that issue come january. Obviously, that russia issue looming over tillersons nomination and hacking looking over congress as well. Ed Senate Foreign reses committee, Armed Services committee, intelligence, why not just have a select panel, if you will, bring all of these resources together, instead of duplicating all of these investigations . Thats what democrats want. Smk like the Benghazi Committee that went after Hillary Clinton or 9 11 commission. Republicans are resistant. Particularly the republican leadership, Mitch Mcconnell and marco rubio. Could be problematic for donald trump and easier to do it to the standing legislative committees and have more control over the process and people they trust, like a bob corker, a john mccain, for instance, dealing with it rather than a more unwieldly process by a standalone committee. Interesting reporting on your part. Elise, pressure on you for more reporting from the diplomatic area. And Rex Tillerson nominated as the next secretary of state . Ive talked to a lot of career diplomats. There is a lot of wariness about tillersons ties to russia and that i think plays into larger fears about what u. S. Policy and russia is going to be. More accommodating to russia in serious areas of disagreement, in ukraine in syria, in some of the election meddling theyve been doing through eastern europe. There are those concerns and also some of his other business dealings s kur s kyrgyzstan. While there is a wariness, also theres a little excitement about a diplomat coming in with a new approach, hardnosed negotiator who could have a little bit more success. I think theres willing to be a little bit more of an open mind and giving him a chance. I think there is some excitement among the Career Foreign Service he could have a new approach. What about all of these reports out there that perhaps john bolton, a former u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations, also served in the state department during the bush administration, could be named deputy secretary . Number two person at the state department . What are you hearing about the reaction to that . And he was also a u. S. Antiu. N. , a controversial recess appointment. I mean, john bolton has a complicated history with the state department. Hes been very controversial about the foreign service, about career diplomats, and so there is a little, theres a lot of, frankly, anxiety about john bolton in career services, but there is also, there are people that think that he has been also a very good negotiator on behalf of president bushs proliferation agenda. Negotiated 100 separate agreements on the icc with other countries. I think that if it is tillerson and bolton, john bolton is really the deputy, the Main Management position in the state department. If Rex Tillerson doesnt have any government experience that really gives john bolton a lot of power to shape whats going on at the state department, and for some people that do follow john boltons kind of more extreme rightwing view antirussia, antiiran, antimalty lateral organizations that could be a good thing. He doesnt have that nomination yet. John bolton. See if the president elect decides to go that route. Quickly. If he does go that route, expect that become a huge battle on the hill. You talk to rand paul about possibly bolton becoming the secretary of state, he was opposed to that. Going to fight that. Hell fight deputy as well. And two bruising battles at secretary of state. And sean spicer, Republican National committees chief communications adviser. Chief strategist. Senior adviser to the president elect right now. Sean, thanks very much for joining us. Good afternoon, wolf. Thanks for shing me. Why did the president elect choose the exxon mobil ceo Rex Tillerson to become the nations next secretary of state . Oh, because hes a worldclass Business Leader with connections throughout the globe. He has been unbelievably zexz succe successful and a tough negotiator by everybodys standard. Can implement a trump agenda around the world, reestablish americas place around the world and get things done. What donald trump has looked for in all picks. Successful people to get the job done and Rex Tillerson by all accounts is somebody that will do that. Youve seen people like bob gates, condi rice, stephen hadley, very, very topnotch folks and folks on the hill, senator ron johnson, speaker paul ryan, sarah mcconnell, others praise this pick because they realize this is a person that can get things done for this country. On the other hand, listen to republican senator john mccain. What he told our jake tapper on the lead yesterday. This guy is a thug and a murderer and i dont see how anybody could be a friend of this oldtime kgb agents. Referring to vp who has a pretty Good Relationship with mr. Tillerson. How do you respond to the critics saying hes too close to russia . Its not a i think frankly if we want to get things done in russia we need somebody with a relationship not just with putin but other world leaders. How things get done. When people have a relationship to put americas interests first and foremost to achieve our interests. If the hit against Rex Tillerson he has a relationship with people like putin and our world leaders, able to get things done. Look at exxon. No question, highly successful. By all accounts a tough negotiator and yes, got relationships. What we want out of the next secretary of state. Somebody who will reestablish interests around the globe, stand up to world leaders, put americas interests first and achieve great things. Thats why donald trump picked him, while hell be confirmed and do a great job at our next secretary of state. Do you think that john bolton will be the deputy secretary of state . One thing ive learned around here is the only person who makes those decisions is donald trump. It will be up to him to decide who that deputy secretary will be as well as other highranking positions within the state department and throughout the government. I want to just see if you can clarify. Because i know its been a big issue in recent days. The cia, the Intelligence Community, the fbi, they all agree the russians hacked democratic institutions, the dnc, John Podestas gmail account, chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign. They disagree on what the purpose, the motive was. The Intelligence Community thinks it was trying to help trump get elected president. The fbi disagreeing saying they were just trying to meddle and cause mischief. There seeming to be emerging consensus while republicans didnt hack the Republican National committee, they did hack republican institutions and political operatives. What can you tell us about that . What i can tell you is that weve got a lot of unnamed sources making accusations and i think one of the things we were presented last friday night was several media institutions coming to us saying the conclusions that the intelligence agencies that we are talking to, or at least the sources, conclude that because they hacked both the rnc and dnc, they concluded, therefore, russia did the following. Our pushback, we have conclusive proof they didnt hack us. Therefore the predicate is wrong and conclusion calmed into question. Thats it, plain and simple. What weve had is a lot of people citing unnamed sources from unnamed agencies, making it seem as though those are credible outcomes. What we need is more credible understand of what actually happened and more concrete disclosures of what agencies think exactly what and why. Right now we have a lot of folks in the media running around trying to make accusation whats they think their sources claim have happened, and yet theres no concrete proof to actually show that any of those conclusions are based in sound practice. So you agree with the fbi that, yes, the russians hacked, but it was not designed necessarily to get trump elected . Is as it designed to muddy the waters, if you will, embarrass the United States . Is that what im hearing . No. Because what i think we throw aroundhacked. A difference in, probing, seeing whats out there, trying to find an Entrance Point is hacking. Hacking is getting inside an organization or Computer System to extract data. In some cases its just merely probing around. I think thats whats, hackers do that. Other countries do that. Other organizations do that. I think what we have is a lot of rumor about different organizations potentially doing it and who may be behind those organizations. I think theres further investigation that needs to be done, but there needs to be a lot less speculation and a lot more fact. You want these investigations to go forward in the house and the senate as Mitch Mcconnell, the majority leader in the senate and others have called for. But let me be precise on this. Hold on, wolf. One delineation. One i think, this is theres a difference between the integrity of our voting system. Right . I agree, donald trump agrees, everybody, i think all americans agree we dont want any entity, foreign or otherwise, getting involved in our election system and trying to interfere in any way, whether trying to change the outcome or otherwise. Theres another piece of this, leftwing groups and frankly some media trying to delegitimize Donald Trumps resounding win on november 8th. Thats a point for all talk that occurred prior to november 8th to hear these folks and a lot of folks frankly on the Hillary Clinton yet to get over fact they lost and lost big is upsetting. It was our side that was getting questioned of whether we would accept results of these elections, whether we believed in the integrity of the election system. Now that donald trump won big, 306 electoral votes, 2300 counties, 62 million votes, it is now everyone coming back to us and saying, weve got unnamed sources and believe the following, the fact of the matter, we should all agree in the same way we agree that no one should interfere with our electio elections, equally agree donald trump resoundingly bip the ruled established and will be the next president and we should want to ensure we have integrity in our democracy as well. You agree, i assume, if in fact the russians hacked whatever you want to use, whatever word you want to use, their important lessons are to be learned and a full review should be done by various congressional committees as well as by the u. S. Intelligence community and the Law Enforcement community. You support that . Sure, but i think absolutely. Take it back a step. I believe institutions whether government or private should be putting proper protocols in place to ensure they have the highest integrity in their own systems first and foremost. Secondly, sure, ensure no entities are looking into attacking our own government or institutions achieving to be involved in the electoral process. But i think thats vastly different than whether or not there was a difference in the outcome of the election. This is a there were discloches about emails frankly the other nos getting talked to. The only reason were talking about this, john pedestrian prd and tandon and others on the left said things in emails they wished hadnt come out. If they hadnt behaved the way they did, none of this would have happened. They wrote the emails had a secret server, didnt put proper means in place, and not disqualifying the second piece of this. But we keep forgets then had a secret serve r, didnt abide by rules and regulations set by the government and state department to ensure that some of this kind of stuff wouldnt happen. Thats been lost in this discussion. I know youve got do go. One quick question, button this up about hacking of republican institutions. Mike mccall, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Told me in september on my show that the rnc had been hacked. Later corrected that. Said i misspoke asserting the rnc was hacked. I intended to say in addition to the dnc attack, republican political operatives have also been hacked. Twopronged question. Which republican political operatives were hacked and why wasnt that information released . Well, one, its not my job to speak for anybody but the Republican National committee at that time. And my job was to ensure that people understood that we had taken certain protocols, put things in place and hadnt been hacked. That was my only concern at that time. I have to let others speak for themselves and its not my job nor anyone elses to speak for other organizations or individuals whether or not they were attacked. Even having thus discussion we are having, an invitation to folks. We have to understand those kind of discussions have implications for people in terms of security of their networks. All right. Leave it on that note. Well continue this conversation down the road, im sure. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Coming up, as trump fills out his cabinet, whats next for trump loyalists like former new york city mayor Rudy Giuliani and governor Chris Christie . Well discuss that. Plus a compete meltdown of humanities, the growing crisis inside syria. Reporting mass executions and children pinned down by heavy artillery fire. Were going live to the region. Whoa, whoa, i got this. Just gotta get the check. Almost there. I cant reach it. If you have alligator arms, you avoid picking up the check. What . Its 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. Its what you do. Oh that is good crispy duck. President elect donald trump makes two more cabinet picks. A pick to lead the department of energy, trump chosen oil company ceo to be the next secretary of state. Bring in our panel. Cnn political commentator ryan lizza, washington kornt for the new yorker magazine and dana bash and analyst Gloria Borger with us as well. Gloria, why did Rex Tillerson all of the sudden become nominee for secretary of state . There were several other important people on that list. Well, i think it was played out in public pretty much, as we yo. I think at one point somebody like a mitt romney might have been a favorite and i think Rex Tillersons name came into the mix as a result of some folks recommending him, which often happens, and it was bill gates. I mean bob gates. Sorry. Former secretary of defense. Right. And koncondi rais, and steve hadley, a Consulting Firm. It works with exxon, and they recommended this guy that trump did not know to the president elect. The president elect said, bring him in, and it turned out, theyre two business guys. They believe tillerson can get the deals he wants and he took a liking to him. And i think this was very much a process that played itself out and it was clear to me from watching this on the outside that trump really didnt have any favorite candidate going into this. And he ended up finding one by taking some peoples recommendations. Would you say they worked with, that Consulting Firm works with exxon . Work for, get paid by, yes. How much will tillerson have, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee . Marco rubio says i have serious concerns about tillersons nomination, specifically because of his Good Relationship with putin . There are two steps. Right . First, of course, you said, Foreign Relations committee. That is the committee that is charged with the confirmation process, will hold the hearing, then a vote. Without getting out too far ahead of ourselves, it is possible the senate rules allow, if for some reason marco rubio is not convinced tillerson is the right person, or other republicans, even, you know, if some democrats dont Cross Party Lines which is possible, and the vote are not there in the Foreign Relations committee, it is possible for the full senate to take up the nomination. Happened with john bolton, 2005, nominated to be ambassador to the u. N. That is possible. We dont know that will be the way it plays out, because there are actually some moderate democrats on that committee who might Cross Party Lines say, you know what . A president should get the nominee he wants. And then the broader question, of course, is the full u. S. Senate. And with the 5248 split, if the democrats stay lock step against him. Thats a big f. A bif. A big if. And in relatively conservative states in two years . Joe manchin, energyproducing states and so forth. The point, if that doesnt happen he can only afford to lose two republicans in the full senate. So its they certainly have a majority, the republicans do, but its tight, especially when you look at people who could be controversial. We dont know he is ultimately going to be. He could knocked socks off everybody in the confirmation hearings. Why do you think he picked him . You have to look at what is the world view that tillerson brings that donald trump liked. Right . And we do know on Foreign Policy the big break with the Republican Party that donald trump articulated in the campaign was a new view of russia. Right . He voiced skepticism of nato. He had a Campaign Manager who was very prorussia, worked for a proukrainian candidate. He praised Vladimir Putin during the campaign. And that alarmed a lot of republican hawks who think of Vladimir Putin as one of the major adversaries of the United States. There was a big question, will his secretary of state conform with that world view or pick someone different . Mitt romney would have been very different. Tillerson, we know hars a long record doing deals in russia, a close relationship with Vladimir Putin. Actually awarded a special state award from Vladimir Putin, and so his confirmation now is going to be a proxy fight in the Republican Party, over this change in policy that donald trump is bringing in to the presidency, and thats why you have people like marco rubio, Lindsey Graham and john mccain, three leading republicans on Foreign Policy, saying, wait a second. I was unsure of trump when he articulated this policy in the election, and now hes got a secretary of state nominee thats going to push it even furth further. I think a big fight in the Republican Party over this. Potentially other complicating issues which is, we dont know if he wants to undo the iran deal. Yeah. I mean, he had been positive towards the iran deal. Opens up oil markets there. Well, whats he going to say about the iran deal . We know he was positive about trade agreements. Whats he going to say on trade agreement . We know he was positive about the paris Climate Change deal. What is he going to say about that . These are all issues that have to come up in the confirmation hearings and he my straddle a lot of different lines. And the other thing to that point is that if you kind of take a step back and now look at the broader cabinet, particularly on national security, that donald trump wants to have, there are very big differences, mattis, general mattis, who we wants for defense secretary a completely different view of Vladimir Putin. Much more aggressive and iran. Much more in line with mccains, Lindsey Grahams and others within the party. And the hacking thing. This confirmation thing will be a proxy war about the russian hacking and looking forward to covering it. Every step of the way. Stand by. The president elect donald trump welcomed a couple of profootball hall of famers over at trump tower in new york city just a few moments ago. Part of his diversity meeting. They spoke about trumps promises to the africanamerican communities, and what they see as the biggest road block to equality jobs. What we believe with the Trump Administration is, if we can combine these two powers of coming together, forget black or white. Black our white is irrelevant. Bottom line, job creation, Economic Development in urban neighborhoods to change the whole scheme of what our kids see for our future. Theres nobody we cant reach and i think thats why were here, because we can bring a lot of people to work together. Were not here because of politic. Its we are here to help the president of the United States help the people that need help. Jim brown. He admitted he did not vote for mr. Trump, but the president elect, by the way, also met with billionaire bill gates to talk about research and development. Listen to this. How did the meeting go . Just a quick comment. We had a good conversation about innovation. How it can help, education, impact of foreign aid and energy, and a wide ranging conversations about the power of innovation. Thank you. Meanwhile, trumps team, again today, saying the russian hacking narrative is an attempt to delegitimize trumps election win. Up next, democratic congressman elijah calm ummings calling for bipartisan investigation into any potential interference by the russians in the u. S. President ial election. Elijah cummings, standing by to join us live, right after this. The russian president , Vladimir Putin, hez hes ready to meet with president elect donald trump with an interview way japanese newspaper and tv station, saying, as for meetings i think the president elect should be given an opportunity to form his administration and assume Office Meetings will come next. This comes on the heels trump has chosen Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of state. The pick sparked controversy over tillersons close ties with putin. For more, lets go to our Senior International correspondent matthew chance, whos joining us live from moscow right now. Matthew, has there been reaction in russia regarding tillersons nomination . Reporter there has. Even before his nomination officially, there were already a whole line of russian officials lining up to pour praise on this. Since the announcement is official, since trump tweeted it, in other words, a whole raft of statements coming from the kremlin. The kremlin saying mr. Tillerson is a respectable and professional person. The Russian Foreign minister, sergey lavrov, the counterpart, of Rex Tillerson, of course, if he is confirmed secretary of state, he said they were not opponents to developments of relations. On the contraire, pragmatic and expect the pragmatism is a good basis for building relations between the two countries, and the head of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs committee here in russia, the russian parliaments, saying he believes, going further saying appointment of tillerson is a sensation demonstrates what he says is the seriousness of donald trump. The seriousness, of course toshs do some sort of deal and bridge the divide, perhaps, in the relations between russia and the United States, wolf. Matthew, you know, a Bipartisan Group of senators calling for a fullscale investigation into the cias conclusion that russia hacked that Russian Hackers attempted to influence the u. S. Election, and in trumps favor. Any reaction from the kremlin . Reporter oh, i mean, only the reaction that weve got since october, which is when this issue first was made. When we first floated the height of the president ial campaign and its been categorical denial saying, look, theres absolutely no concrete evidence linking anyone russian individual, any russian Government Organization to this hacking. Of course, thats a line thats been put out there by donald trump as well. I mean, theyre playing from the same songbook, trump and the kremlin, when it comes to this issue. But theres always been a suspicion and this motivation that the russians have had to try and influence the u. S. President ial election. They mate de no secret they supported donald trump and despised Hillary Clinton, someone incredibly antirussian and donald trump voiced sympathetic comments towards russia sow inevitably they supported him. The argument here in russia, the extent to which russian officials actually acted to try to influence the outcome of that election, and that at the moment is an allegation as far as the russians areconcerned. Not a proven fact. Thank you. The House Intelligence Committee devon nunez are vowing to continue an investigation into russian hacking during the u. S. Election, but ranking democrats and several committees say thats not enough. One of those democrats, maryland congressman Elijah Cummings joining us now from baltimore, Ranking Member of the House Oversight committee. Why is that not enough, congressman . First of all, mr. Nunez is on Donald Trumps transition team, and one of the things we need to do in this situation is, we need to have an investigation that has integrity. I listened to one of your earlier guests talking about whether the motive for the russians interference was to sway the election in Donald Trumps favor. Lets be clear. To me thats a distraction. The question is, that weve got 17 intelligence agencies that we pay to put their lives on the line that we pay 70 billion a year to get intelligence and they have said a fact that the russians did interfere with our e ear lection elections. Whatever the motive, we need to look into that. I believe a commission. Something like the 9 11 commission where e dont get all muddied in politics, because the American People deserve to know if a Foreign Government which is not a friend of the United States, is interfering with our elections. President obama, the other day, announced he wants a fullscale Intelligence Community investigation, and he wants the results before he leaves office on january 20th. Why isnt that enough . First of all, i applaud the president for doing that, but i think that that will get us, some basic information to start with. This investigation to do done properly may take quite a while, long after the president has left office. So i think what well do with that is get some basic information. But theres Something Else that needs to happen. The entire Congress Needs to know about what is going on with the russians. Only a few members of congress now have seen the secret documents. One of the reasons why i joined steny hoyer and many others in asking that we have a briefing from our Intelligence Community. Again, keep in mind, this is a, this has been an effort based upon 17 intelligence agencies, they have told us that the highest level of the russian government was involved in this, and that it happened. So now, how do we make sure with figure out how it happened . How we can prevent it from happening in the future . Now, if there is if they had certain motives, i think those, the russians had certain motives, i think those things will come up in the midst of the investigation. We have always said in our committee that we follow the evidence wherever it may lead, but right now im more concerned just trying to figure out exactly what happened, how it happened and how can we make sure that it doesnt happen again, and every american should be concerned about that and as ive said to you before, wolf, this is a fight for the soul of our democracy. And im going to fight with everything ive got. Congressman, i want you to listen to something that the Outgoing Senate democratic leader, harry reid, told our correspondent up on capitol hill, manu raju, yesterday. Listen to this. The dnc was hacked. Everybody knew that. We knew wikileaks was coming out drip by drip by drip. They wouldnt do it all at once, of course, because they were coordinating this, obviously, from, with the trump folks and the russians. Are you aware of any evidence that there was coordination, as he claims, between the trump folks, those are the words he used, and the russians . I dont know of any, but, again, thats what the investigation is all about. Thats why we need to look into it. The evidence will lead us to where we need to go, and i would hope, and i would think, that president elect trump would join us in this effort. After all, he swears, just like we do, to uphold the constitution and protect us from enemies, domestic and abroad. So this is a part of our duty. This is not doing the American People a favor. This is our job. So what should the u. S. Do, if the u. S. Intelligence community has concluded, and they did conclude what . On october 7, 2016, as you point out, in a statement that clapper, general clapper, head of the, the director of national intelligence, jeh johnson, secretary of Homeland Security says the u. S. Intelligence is confident the russian directed emails of institutions referring to the democratic National Committee and they said, we believe based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts that only russias senior most officials could have authorized these accesses. So what should the u. S. Do about that . Theyve already reached that conclusion. The russians did it. Highest levels of the russian government were involved. Whats your recommendation . What does the u. S. Do about that . Let me be clear i want i want the investigation, first of all, and i want the people who address these eschews every day, those 17 agencies to come back with their recommendations. Im not the expert in this area. Thats why we have experts. I want to hear what they have to say, after all, we do pay them the 70 billion a year, and im sure theyll come back with recommendations and hopefully the congress and president will follow those recommendations, wolf. Elijah cummings, the congressman. Thanks so much for joining us. Always a pleasure, wolf. Thank you. Coming up, the United Nations holding an emergency session to discuss the humanitarian crisis in aleppo, syria, and reports of trapped children. The mass execution of civilians. Were going live to the region. Well be right back. Huh . Come on your turn where do pencils go on vacation . Pennsylvania laughter crunchy wheat frosted sweet kelloggs frosted miniwheats. Feed your inner kid wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong insurance company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Breaking news out of syria. Sources telling cnn the ceasefire and evacuation agreement reached in aleppo, the deal allowing fleeing of battle zones. This comes as the United Nations holds as emergency session issuing a dire warning syrian regimes fors are going door to door slaughtering women and children in their own homes. How it was described earlier today. In these hours, looks like a complete meltdown of humanity in aleppo. Senior National Correspondent Fred Pleitgen in nearby beirut. Fred a complete meltdown of humanity. We just heard the u. N. Official describe the situation in ale o aleppo. Is this tees ceasefire for real . Reporter you know, thats something the next couple of hours, wolf, will be decisive in telling whether it is actually going to be for real or whether or not it could get derailed. It has the backing of those who wield the most power prp the russian, the turks involved in brokering the ceasefire and rebel factions behind it also. By all estimates it is something that should happen and its something that potentially will save a lot of lives, because there was a lot of fire power bearing down on that small rebel enclave, jets hit it and heavy artillery as well, and it was very important to negotiate a way out for those rebel fighters, also for the civilians. On the flip side of all of this, of course, as the rebels then evacuate, that last enclave, that means that aleppo has essentially fallen. There will be no more no more rebel pressen. It will be back in the hands of bashar al assad. Wolf . Fred pleitgen, lets hope the ceasefire does take place. Coming up, the pentagon says its killed three isis leaders linked to terror attacks in europe and who are actively plotting more attacks against western targets. We have new details. Thats next. I really did save hundreds on my Car Insurance with geico. I should take a closer look at geico. Geico has a long history of great savings and great service. Over seventyfive years. Wait. Seventyfive years . That is great. Speaking of great, check out these hot riffs. You like smash mouth . Uh, yeah i have an early day tomorrow so. Wait. Almost there. Goodnight, bruce. Gotta tune the a. humming take a closer look at geico. Great savings. And a whole lot more. The pentagon now says three prime terror target, all attack planners for isis, were killed in an air strike in syria. Lets go to our pent again correspondent barbara starr. Who were the three men the pentagon says were killed . What terror operations were they tied to . Wolf, this happened last sunday but the pentagon announcing it a short time ago. Three isis operatives killed as they road in a car in raqqah, syria. All three are said to be faci facilitators for foreign attacks, external attacks outside of syria against western targets. Two of them said to be involved in those deadly november, 2015, attacks in paris that really shook the world. They were all struck by a u. S. Drone as they rode together in a car. We are told no one else was there, just the three men this tells us a good deal about u. S. Intelligence facilities because u. S. Drones are now able to track targets. They have been following these men, they have waited until theyre not near civilians then the drone took its shot. This says a lot about u. S. Intelligence in an area that isis still says is its capital. Wolf . And the u. S. Believes these three were actively planning attacks against western targets. Do we know more about that . Absolutely. We are told by pentagon officials that all three were believed to have been very deeply involved in facilitating attacks, involved in financing, recruiting foreign terrorists, doing targeting, all of it they are not, for obvious reasons, because of the security issues, saying exactly what targets they were planning to go after but they are adamant here at the pentagon that all three of these men killed were heavily involved in attacking western targets. So these targeted killings will continue, right . Absolutely. This is the real core of what special operations is trying to do in that area. They are continuing to conduct drone flights. They pretty much have aroundtheclock surveillance over raqqah. Its a key area theyre looking at wolf. Barbara starr with the latest at the pentagon. Thanks very much. Thats it for me, thanks very much for watching. Ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room. For our international viewers, amanpour is coming up next. For our viewers here in north ameri america, newsroom with Brooke Baldwin starts right after a quick break. Generosity is its own form of power. You can handle being a mom for half an hour. Im in all the way. Is that understood . I dont know what shes up to, but its not good. Cant the world be my noodles and butter . Get your mind out of the gutter. Mornings are for coffee and contemplation. That was a really profound observation. You got a mean case of the detox blues. Dont start a war you know youre going to lose. Finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. On xfinity x1. Here we go. Top of the hour. Im Brooke Baldwin. Live pictures here, oakland, california. Heads up to all of you. Well take this live momentarily because investigators with the atf there in oakland, california, scheduled to hold a News Conference. We could now learn what caused that warehouse fire on the second of december that killed 36 people. We have a live picture as you can see. Well hop back to that as soon as they begin. But lets talk about this trump transition here. A battle is brewing over one of the two texans that donald trump has just tapped to be a member of his cabinet. Im talking about exxonmobil ceo Rex Tillerson. He is the man the president elect would like to serve