2016 u. S. Election. The response to russias hacking could include expanded sanction, diplomatic measures and covert actions. Russia warned that it will respond to any hostile new steps. But president elect trump says its time to, quote, get on with our lives. The Incoming White House press secretary will join us live. War of words. Israel fires back after pointed criticism from secretary of state john kerry. A spokesman for israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu says the israeli settlements being built in the west bank are not the main obstacles to the peace process. Rather, he says, its the palestinian refusal to recognize the jewish state. And remembering a hollywood triple threat. Dancer, singer, Actress Debbie Reynolds has died. Her death comes just one day after the death of her daughter, writer and screen icon Carrie Fisher. While we do not know the cause of Debbie Reynold s death, this raises the question, can a person die of a broken heart . First, payback time. The Obama Administration says its getting really to take action against the russian government over its hacking during the 2016 election. We could learn today exactly how the Obama Administration plans to respond. Correspondent athena jones is currently in hawaii where president obama is spending the holidays. Senior International CorrespondentMatthew Chance is in moscow with russias reaction. Athena, let me start with you. What steps do we think the Obama Administration will likely take . Hi, jake. You mentioned some of them, expanded sanction, diplomatic measures, even covert action, actions that they say will be taken at a time of their choosing that wont be announced. We also expect the government will name the individuals associated with the russian disinformation campaign. Thats really what its all about, jake, russia is known for using these disinformation campaigns to meddle in and influence elections in various countries. U. S. Intelligence officials believe they hacked information mostly from the Democratic Party organizations and officials and used it to attack Hillary Clinton and her president ial campaign. These moves are coming after months of internal debate over how to respond. The white house has come under fire including from democrats for not responding sooner to this russian cyber activity. But if you speak to white house officials, they say they wanted to make sure that intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies had the time to do their work. Carefully and thoroughly do these investigations to determine that russia was behind these actions. There was also sensitivities about protecting some of the classified sources and methods used to determine that russia was involved. And also the white house not wanting to appear it was trying to put its finger on the scale and help out its preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton. We are going to see those announcements as soon as today. It could even be in a matter of hours well find out more of what the u. S. Plans to do to respond to russia. Matthew chance in moscow. Is russia still denying that it played any role in these hacks . What is their response . Oh, yeah, well, theyve already issued a scathing response to the threat that these new sanctions could be issued. Saying this is just misinformation put out by the Obama Administration, this russian linked attacking, to excuse their own failures in the president ial election. Theyve also warned about specifics, if there are sanctions, for instance, they say against any russian Diplomatic Missions in the United States. Then diplomats here in russia will face similar sanctions. They said if washington does take new hostile step, they will be outed. But in general, you get the impression, speaking to other russian officials, as i have, theyre not all that worried about new sanctions. Because theyre holding out that for the new Trump Administration to enter the white house, because they believe, with donald trump as president and with his choice as secretary of state in Max Tillerson who has spoken out against sanctions, the sanctions regime against russia by the United States is going to be degraded in the months and in the years ahead. All right, Matthew Chance and athena jones. Thank you. Russian president putin says a ceasefire between the Syrian Government and u. S. Backed Opposition Forces will begin in just a few hours. The deal was brokered with russia and turkey. The u. S. Was not involved. The u. S. State department put out a statement that said, in part, news of the ceasefire and the Syrian Civil War is a positive development. We hope it will be implemented fully and respected by all parties. The International Community hopes this ceasefire will hold. So a syrianled transition toward a more united and peaceful government can begin. Although russia has indicated it may bring the United States back into the fold once president elect trump is sworn in. Lets bring in hala gorani, anchor of cnn international. This is not the ceasefire that has recently been brokered. Both parties said theyll enter into peace talks. Is there anything that might make this ceasefire more effective in the sixyear civil war . There is. It is potentially more significant because these are two opposing sides in the conflict. Turkey and russia who, for many years, were very hostile toward each other. You might remember even that turkey shot down a russian warplane just a few months ago. Theres been this discussion between the two. They met in moseco about ten days ago and they were hammering out a deal that was ultimately announced by vladimir putin. Because theyre on opposing sides and because the primary military goals by the assad regime supported by russia, iran, hezbollah fighters and others, has been met, and that is taking all of aleppo back from the rebels, the eastern part at least. Perhaps now they see an opportunity to come together, hammer out some sort of deal. Theres some sort of confusion, though, jake, there, regarding al nusra front, the Al Qaedalinked group. Its unclear whether theyre part of this agreement. If they are, it will be significant in the sense that an Al Qaedalinked group would be allowed to operate and control some portion of syrian territory. If theyre not, that means alongside isis, they will continue to be targets of military action by the Syrian Government. Syrian armed forces and other Groups Associated with bashar al assad, which means ultimately the ceasefire wouldnt cover the entire territory but only parts of the territory not controlled by isis or the nusra front. Is this the end of hostilities . Certainly the chapter that involved Aerial Bombardments of large parts of civilian areas of rebelheld aleppo, that is over. But is it the end of all hostilities . It doesnt appear to be. All right, hala gorani, thank you. To u. S. Intelligence now, hes enemy number one, abu al baghdadi, the leader of isis. This video purportedly shows him, though cnn cannot verify that. Al baghdadi has been often the radar for months but today a u. S. Official told cnn, quote, in the last few weeks, weve been aware of some of al baghdadis movements. Thats significant because any sighting could potentially lead to his location. This official declined to say whether intelligence believes hes in iraq or syria. But it is believed, long believed, that hes in the isis strong hold of raqqah, which is in syria. After the break, blowback against secretary of state john kerry for his message for israel, for members of his own partys leadership. Later this hour, president elect Trump Incoming press secretary will join us live. Will president elect trump jump into the Syrian Crisis as president . Stay with us. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare . Thats a good thing, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare Insurance Company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they pick up some of what medicare doesnt pay and could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call today to request a free decision guide to help you better understand what medicare is all about and which aarp Medicare Supplement plan works best for you. With these types of plans, youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. 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Its been seen as a parting shot and reaction to secretary of state john kerrys speech rebuking israel and calling for peace has been fast and harsh, even from many of those in the Democratic Party. Democratic senator Chuck Schumer say the following in a statement, quote, while he may not have intended it, i fear secretary kerry in his speech and action at the United Nations has emboldened extremists on both sides. Now, despite kerrys harsh words, the Obama Administration assures it will veto any forthcoming potential u. N. Resolutions calling on the recognition of palestine as a state. Heres what Deputy National security adviser ben rhoads told me. Just to be clear here, when secretary kerry says these are not the choices we will make, which is kind of vague, is he saying that the u. S. Would veto any resolution in the u. N. Which might dictate a peace solution or might recognize a palestinian state . Yes. He would veto that . Yes. The u. S. Will veto that . Yes. Pretty clear. Cnns Oren Liebermann is in jerusalem with the latest. What is the reaction in israel . Is this assurance that the u. S. Will not permit a recognition by the u. N. Security council of palestine as a state do anything to assuage netanyahus feelings . Prime minister netanyahu hasnt changed his tone. He is still furious not only about the speech but also the Security Council resolution and he lumps those together. He sees them as one element. He says it is an antiisrael biased element. The speech in the Security Council resolution. His spokespeople have reiterated his point. They were disappointed. They thought the focus shouldnt be on settlements. Hes reiterating his opinion that the settlements are not a problem. Theres a lot of bad blood here. That is why we keep seeing netanyahu calling for a clearer statement from obama, saying he wont make any more moves on the peace process. Ben rhodes reassurance may help a little bit. It seems netanyahu wants something explicit. That there wont be any further moves. Jake, the concern isnt just on the american side. There are other countries that may take what it is that kerry laid out in that speech and present that at the Security Council resolution. That is also what netanyahu wants to hear, a veto of anything based on kerrys speech. No more moves from obama. Still has about three weeks to worry, for netanyahu, until hes dealing with the man he wants to deal with, president elect trump. Oren liebermann, thank you. A spokesman for the Prime Minister talking to cnn this morning. Heres what he had to say this morning about what the real holdup to peace was in his view. What was so disappointing about secretary kerrys speech is it didnt really deal with the core issue of why this conflict continues to rage. And that has precisely nothing to do with the presence of jews in the west bank and everything to do with the palestine leaderships continued refusal to recognize a jewish state. Israels Prime Minister has called on president abbas literally to meet hundreds of times for peace talk, even invited him to the knesset. President abbas said no to recognizing israel as a jewish state, no to direct negotiations. Since the disagreement right now seems focused on the kerry position versus the netanyahu position, i want to bring in two men on either side the negotiating table. Michael herzog is with the Israeli Defense force and fellow of the Washington Institute for near east policy. He took part in past israeli peace negotiations. David marcosi is corredirector e washington peace middle east project. Let me start with Michael Herzog. I want to ask you, do you agree that the main obstacle to peace is the palestinian refusal to recognize israel and anything else is really secondary . It is certainly a major issue. But i think the picture on Israeli Palestinian conflict is multidimensional one. And theres not only one cause why we havent managed to break through to a deal, to a solution. I think that secretary kerrys concern about the future of twostate solution is being shared by many. I think where hes wrong and where he did not resonate with the israeli people is his contention that the main reason we failed is lack of trust and not guts within the parties, no major guts. As someone whos participated in Israeli Palestinian negotiations for over two decades, id say there are major guts. And what he said ignored the history of two decades of negotiations. And thats why it did not resonate with the israeli people. Even those like myself who share the contention on the settlement activities is fonot helpful to peace. That ignores many years of negotiations. In fact, these very parameters that secretary kerry presented yesterday were presented through a person later, mahmoud abbas, on march 2014, in march 2014, at the white house, and he promised an answer in eight days, and never came back. So david, let me ask you, because right now it seems as though secretary kerry and others in the u. S. Government, in the Obama Administration, are concerned that netanyahu and other israeli leaders are essentially abandoning a twostate solution. Do you see any evidence that the palestinian leadership, whether the pol or hamas, or any other palestinian Leadership Group believed that there should be a twostate solution . It seems as though their charters, whether its hamas or the plo, call for a onestate solution, a palestinian state. Okay, i would draw a distinction, jake, between hamas and the pa. Because hamas is not the size of a telephone booth. The pa changed their charter when the president came to gaza in 2008. I think the p. A. Would like peace but on their terms and those terms are not attainable. When kerry was involved in 2013, 14, and i was part of the effort, there were five core issues, and we were close on i think two of the five. But, you know, we didnt get mike is right, we didnt get a response from abbas. And it was unclear to me we could close the gap on the five for five. In this ven diagram, theres not an overlap between, you know, abbas and netanyahu. Thats part of the problem. Each wants peace. I think i believe them. But each wants peace on their terms and its terms that do not overlap. So general herzog, let me ask you, is there any possible way that the settlements that are being built not within the area that might become part of greater israel in a peace deal, but the part the settlements that are way beyond any security barrier deep into the west bank near the border with jordan, is there any way that those can be viewed as anything other than essentially a policy against the twostate solution . Well, i personally support the policy of not doing settlement activities beyond the settlement blocks. I think that israels policies should be in line with the statement, stated policy of supporting a twostate solution so we dont built in areas where we dont have claims to, and i would certainly hope that our pol