The latest stop for the president elects thankyou tour. First off, lets talk about these allegations of russian hacking. Donald trump is still refusing to say the russians were definitively involved. How is he doing so today . Reporter well, by tweet and then his top advisers, katy, again saying they believe that any discussion of this is really trying to somehow delegitimize the results of the election, which is a very separate issue than the matter of whether russian intelligence and all the way to the top of the russian government was directly involved with interfering with the electoral process. So, trump has continued to say that this is not something that has been proven and he has turned it back on the Obama Administration to suggest that if they were so certain of russian involvement, that they have stretched all the way to Vladimir Putin, which is nbc news new reporting, why didnt they do something about it sooner . Again, a situation of deflection, of not wanting to address what the Obama Administration says are facts, not simply conjecture or inference, and a way of trying to say they are trying to move forward and that somehow this is about linking it to the recount effort in states like this, pennsylvania. A very different set of facts. This is a case where trump and his top advisers are not addressing the underlying facts according to u. S. Intelligence, as we have been reporting that not only russia but Vladimir Putin himself directly involved in how that information, the product of the hacking, would be utilized during the election season. There seems to be some disconnect between donald trump and his campaign, as we often or his transition, as we often saw as the campaign. One adviser told brian williams, i dont think youre wrong when it comes to the russian hacking. Its our position right now is that were waiting for more information. We reject the notion that people would cyber attack our institutions. Were very upset about it. He went on to say that trump just needed more time to digest the information. Is there any suggestion or any indication down the line that donald trump might be willing to accept this and to back some sort of investigation into this as congress is now saying louder and louder that they plan on doing . Reporter that, i think, is a strong argument because we have seen donald trump throughout the Campaign Season and now in the transition, wanting to hold open his options, his possibility. Not trying reach a conclusion or lock himself into something too early. In fairness, there were many issues on the plate that he has to deal with. It also brings in the question of how engaged he is in the intelligence process with the daily briefing, which we know he does not do on a daily basis, but a couple of times a week. And gets other sources of intelligence briefing from those on his team. He also is working with and listening to republicans in congress on some matters that deal with legislation. Well, congress is also very eager to explore in a bipartisan way, looking at what the russian hacking entailed and what the u. S. Needs to do in terms of a response or a full understanding of what took place. So, i think when you see those divisions within the trump transition, you have people whose own credibility they dont want to diminish by looking like they dont agree with the facts known at this point, but also keeping the door open for donald trump to get there at some later point. Maybe its a timeline issue for donald trump. Maybe its related to not wanting to foreclose any options before hes actually president. Hard to say at this point, but it is curious they leave such an open door between what some advisers are saying, what the facts seem to show, and what donald trump and his top officials are personally saying. Kelly odonnell, literally hanging onto her hat as she reports on the disconnect between donald trump and his reporter im glad youre in the warm studio, my friend. Me, too. I have to say, me too. Lets go to nbcs caliperry, who is also outside and likely very cold as well. Cal, talk to me about what is going on in that building hyped you, in trump tower. Who is the president elect meeting with today . Reporter so, theres a bit of a routine that has set in on trump tower. You have regular visitors, newt gingrich, who has become a senior adviser, going up and down the elevators, the trifecta of the communications staff, sean spicer, jason miller, kellyanne conway, up and down. Representative peter king was here, peppered by the press corps over the conversation you just had, russian hacking, and he had this to say. I do think the russians were involved as far as hacking the Democratic National committee. All the intelligence alleges that have briefed us up to now say they do not know what the motive was other than to disrupt the election and create doubt among the American People so that no matter who won, there will be a cloud over that person. Reporter and that has been the line from the Transition Team. Weve heard this from representative king before. He has said this is a misinformation campaign, to sort of taint the presidency, the upcoming presidency of donald trump. Thats the line were getting from the Transition Team as well. Now, this afternoon, president elect trump will meet with a group of mayors, including the mayor of new orleans, who is here today to talk to him likely about issues including gun control. All of this before he pushes off to hershey, pennsylvania, which is todays stop on the thankyou tour. You can see live pictures next to cal perry right there. Kellyanne conway taking pictures with tourists as she heads up to the offices in trump tower. Its become a tourist destination, even more of one now that you can take your picture next to a political celebrity. Cal, i want to ask you one or question, about what was going on yesterday at trump tower. He had that tech meeting. In that tech meeting, once again we saw Donald TrumpsAdult Children sitting in on the on the meeting. So, is there what do we make of his kids still being involved so publicly and visually with the transition . Is this an indication were going to continue to see them, even in the administration . Reporter i dont think theres any question about that. Maybe not in the administration, but certainly senior advisers in the white house. There has been reporting that ivanka will be having some kind of an office in the white house. She has been in on these meetings. She was in on the Leonardo Dicaprio meetings which may seem flippant, but theyre not. This was about global warming, something shes willing to take on. Certainly some of the other children, the Jared Kushner factor when it comes to the middle east, that seems to number play. When it comes to that tech meeting, there they are sitting around the table with some of the most powerful people in the country. The legal aspect, the nepotism law, is still a question. Its not a done deal with the courts. Weve heard from ari melber who says it is still a question. Trump seems to be pushing back on those questions. Certainly on the morning call this morning with the Transition Team, they pushed back and they said, its not such a clear issue. That his children can be involved, certainly, when it comes to a role like senior advising. Cal perry, somewhere in that puffy coat, thats my friend. Thank you so much out there outside of trump tower. Thanks, katy. Moving on, nine people are dead. Their killer laughed while confessing he did it and now a year later, its finally up to jurors to decide if dylann roof was motivated by hate. Prosecutors and Defense Attorneys presented their closing arguments this morning in the federal hate crimes trial in the man accused of the shooting at an Historic Black Church in charleston, south carolina. The arguments come a day after testimony concluded. The final witness, polly shepherd, who roof chose not to shoot her so she could tell people what happened. Jurors also heard the 911 call from that day. Please answer. Oh, god. 911. Whats the address of the emergency . Its emanuel church. Theres plenty of people shot down here. Please send somebody right away. Emanuel church . Emanuel ame. 110 calhoun. Theres people shot . Yeah, he shot the pastor. He shot all the men in the church. Please come right away. Okay. My partner is going to be getting some help on the way while i get a little more information from you. Okay . Stay on the line with me. Are you safe . Hes still in here. Im afraid. Hes still in here. Nbcs mariana is live in charleston. What is happening right now . Reporter katy, dylann roof wearing a light blue sweater, looking through some paperwork with that same expressionless face we have come to know throughout this trial. The judge is charging the jury right now. Remember, these are hate crimes. 33 counts in association with the shooting that night, june 17, 2015, at mother emanuel church. The most important ones, counts 1 through 9, hate crime resulting in death because of a persons race or skin color. The jury will begin deliberating momentarily. Its a jury comprised mostly of white women. We may get a verdict as soon as today. Nbcs mariana in charleston, south carolina. Youll be watching that and well bring you the news as it comes in. Meanwhile, you may have seen the headline in your news feeds, say, on facebook, pope shocks the world, endorses donald trump for president. Or fbi agent suspected of Hillary Clinton email leaks found dead in apparent murder suicide. Faketories shared a spread all over social media. Facebook now says theyre going to try to do something about it. Jacob joins me on how facebook plans to do this. So, obviously none of those headlines you read have any factual basis whatsoever, yet they were shared in extraordinary number of times on facebook in the lead up to the election. There were criticisms thrown around after the election that this fake news on facebook may have influenced the election in some way. Mark zuckerberg, cheryl sandberg, executives at facebook have denied. Now facebook has something to combat this fake news. Its a fourpronged plan. Let me go through some of them with you. Easier reporting. Basically, being able to click a box when you suspect something to be fake. Flagging stories as disputed. You or i would see facebook has checked this and thinks its fake. Informed sharing and disrupting financial incentives for spammers because advertising revenue is a huge reason a lot of this has spread. When it comes to what this is going to look like, were also getting our first look at what facebook is doing. Take a look at this. Right here, if you believe a story is fake, can you can check that box at the bottom that says you suspect it is a fake news story. When youre looking at your news feed, this is what it will look like. On the forwardfacing end it says, disputed by thirdparty factcheckers. And those factcheckers, its important to note, are independent of facebook. They include snopes, factchecker, Associated Press as well as abc news. One thing i want to say about that, people that distrust the Mainstream Media are the ones turning to fake news. I spoke with a fake news creator this afternoon, justin kohler, who i brought to our viewers on msnbc last week, he says he doesnt think thats going to help the cause, if some outlets of Mainstream Media in this coalition. Jacob, i dont mean to sound hyperbolic but had we talk about spreading of fake news, ultimately the enemy is truth. It feels like its a slippery slope, Something Like 1984 where the truth is the enemy i remember having a conversation with my mother about facebook, telling her to try and take her foot off the polic pedal and just post pictures about cats or something. It seems like the public doesnt necessarily want to know what is real and what is fake. There is such a divide in this country. Is there a way, beyond this, that facebook can get out there and say, listen, you know, were not even going to let this on our site . I honestly dont think so. Firstly, i should say in defense of your mother and friends with her on facebook, i think her posts are perfectly acceptable. Dont be so hard on her. I think that this is this is a hard thing for facebook to wrap their arms around. In fairness to facebook, this is not necessarily a problem solely of facebooks creating. If you look at polls from places like gallup, only 32 of Americans Trust the Mainstream Media, trust us. You know this better than anybody from standing in the press bin at countless donald trump rallies and hearing insults are hurled your way. I think as long as theres an appetite for news from sources other than places like us, facebook can do whatever they want. But again, you know, youll talk to fake news creators and theyll say these folks will find a way around it. Facebook is not going to whatever they do, they will not be able to stop all this news or fake news from getting out there, as hard as they try. Its not from facebook, youre absolutely right. They werent the or begins of this. Bitz been going on for decades. Politician, mostly on the right, some on the left, de crying what they call the liberal media, refusing to take reporting from outlets they dont believe as real and true and stelg their constituents and supporters to never trust anybody on nbc, on nbc, cnn, abc, whatever. A wise man once said, news should not make you comfortable. It should make you uncomfortable. If it does make you comfortable, dont believe it. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up, lots of questions about why Donald Trumps children were at his meeting with his top tech leaders, as we tarp you canning about with cal perry a moment ago. Apparently the Campaign Promise of separating himself from his business is not happening. Instead, it looks like all in the family white house edition. Thats up for discussion in our daily debate a little later. First, nbc news exclusive. Senior intelligence sources confirming russian president Vladimir Putin is directly linked to the russian hacking intended to undermine u. S. Elections. That report is next. World ugly and messy. They are the natural born enemy of the way things are. Yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. But under the proper care, they become something beautiful. He wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. With his army shirt looking all nice. And then people just say, thank you for serving our country and im like, thats my dad. Male vo no one deserves a warmer welcome home. Thats why were hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. Im very proud of him. Male vo comcast. Now that nbc news exclusive tying Vladimir Putin directly to the 2016 hacks. Heres nbcs Cynthia Mcfadden with her story. Reporter this morning nbc news has learned from Senior Intelligence officials that russian president Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the campaign to undermine the u. S. Election. The officials tell us that new information derived from diplomatic sources and spies working for u. S. Allies points directly to the russian president. With one highlel official saying putins role was to direct how the hacked material from democrats was used. His objectives, multifaceted. It began, as one official says, as a vendetta against Hillary Clinton after the former secretary of state criticized the parliamentary elections back in 2011. We do have serious concerns about the conduct of the election. Reporter but trying to hurt clintons president ial chances soon morphed into an effort to show corruption in american politics. Attempting to split off key american allies, hoping to prove the u. S. Is not a credible global leader. The stunning revelation comes after the cias recent assessment that the russian government wanted to elect donald trump, a view that the fbi and other intelligence agencies dont fully endorse. And neither does the president elect. Theres great confusion. Nobody really knows. Reporter trump calling the cias assessment, ridiculous. They have no idea if its russia or china or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace. Reporter this morning the russians seemed to agree, telling nbcs richard engel, western media have gone beyond the rooch of reason. Now with evidence against the russians mounting, the question is, will president obama respond before he leaves office . That was nbcs Cynthia Mcfadden. John heilemann is the managing editor of bloomberg politics. Lets talk about that report that cynthia just did. Her sources are saying that Vladimir Putin not only knew about this, but he directed how the leaks would come out, giving them to wikileaks and whatnot. How long can donald trump refuse to acknowledge that russia was behind these hacks . I dont like to ever answer questions when asked to me about someone who knows more about the toc than i do. Since you know more about Donald Trumps brain than anybody on the planet, i feel a little inadequate to this task. I dont know how long he can refuse because a lot of his tendencies to the truth defy the norms of how politics work. I think whats clear is theres going to now be some kind of an inquiry on a very large and bipartisan basis. Thats the question. How long can he go against congress . Look, well get into this into this hearing. I think one of the key questions right now is whether or not its going to happen on capitol hill or whether or not its going to happen in a 9 11 commission style, independent way. There seems to be a partisan split on that question, about where the right location for this hearing is. It seems it would be hard for the Republican Party in total to line up with trump. In so many ways weve seen the party fall in line, in a way that seemed unthinkable six months ago behind trump and trumps version of reality. It seems to be the party you saw a little with marco rubio at the end of the campaign and now,