Transcripts For CNNW Early Start With John Berman And Christine Romans 20161212

That russia did not just meddle in the u. S. Election, but tried to steer the election toward him. U. S. Agencies say they are increasingly confident that russian hacking was intended to help trump win. In an interview with fox news, donald trump scoffed. I think its ridiculous. I think its another excuse. I dont believe it. They have no idea if it is russia or china or somebody sitting in a bed some place. Why would the cia put out the story that the russians wanted you to win . Im not sure it is cia. I think the democrats put it out because they suffered one of the biggest defeats. The president elect discou discounted the briefings by intelligence office. He said the briefings are repetitive. If something should change, immediately call me. Im available on one minutes notice. I dont have to be told. Im a smart person. I dont have to be told the same thing every day for the next eight areyears. Mr. Trump has taken briefin s sporadically. It is putting him at odds with senior lawmakers. A by paipartisan group of senat is asking for an investigation. Lets get the latest from ryan nobles. Reporter this has a potential showdown in the Trump Administration. A by part sipartisan group of s asking for the investigation into the election meddling. They did hack into the campaign. Were they hacking the republicans the same way . The Republican National committee . Theres a lot of issues out there. It requires an investigation. The fact that the cia and focia disagree shows for an investigation that gets to the bottom of this. The investigation should be tough, strong and bipartisan and should have access to all materials. Classified and not. Reporter both schumer and mccain making this an argument this is not a partisan issue. This was democrats this time around, it could be the republicans the next time around. One person who doesnt think this should be investigated that thoroughly . The president elect who said outright that he doesnt believe the assessment that the russians are behind the hack. He strongly believes it had nothing to do with the outcome of the election. John and alison. The calls for russian interference in the election rest on disagreement with the cia and the fbi. Now the cias conclusion is russian meddling was intended to help donald trump win was based on the belief the russians hacked both democratic and republican groups, but only leaked documents from democrats. The fbi on the other hand concluded the Republican National convention was not hacked. Only third parties and pundits. A Law Enforcement source tells cnn there was not clear evidence the hacking was done to help trump. There is disagreement, but all the agencies are on the same page on one point. Russia was trying to undermine the election. Now an added element to the controversy. President elect trump is expected to name his secretary of state tomorrow. It is thought to be exxon mobile ceo rex tillerson. Three key members of the trump party are expressing reservation about the nomination. Rubio tweeted being a friend of putin is not an attribute im hoping for from a secretary of state. He is a world class player. He is in charge of the Largest Company in the world. To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players and knows them well. He does massive deals in russia. For the company. Not himself. He has ties to russia and Vladimir Putin. So does michael flynn, the National Security advisor. Two advisors with a long relationship with russia. Mitt romney still said to be in the running and former cia director David Petraeus in the running and bob corker and u. N. Ambassador john bolton. He may end up undersecretary of state or deputy secretary of state. Lets go ahead and dive deeper in the background of rex tillerson. He joined the company in 1975 as an engineer. He has been chairman and ceo since 2006. He made more than 27 million last year which was down from the year before. As oil prices plummeted. All that is standard for a top ceo. His ties to the middle east and russia is getting the most attention. Vladimir putin awarded him the order of friendship. A top designation given to foreign nationals. That came as a multibillion dollar deal he signed with rosneft. Exxon helped the company drill oil in difficult spots like the arctic. Then in 2014, exxon lost 1 billion because of sanctions on russia for the intervention in ukraine. Exxon would likely stand to gain if sanctions are lifted. Complications in Donald Trumps relationship with china. The chinese were upset with trump for becoming the first u. S. Leader in decades to speak to the taiwan leader in decades. Now the long standing one china policy is at issue. I fully understand the one china policy. I dont know why we have to be bound by one china policy unless we make a deal with china having to do with other things. Including trade. Chinas state newspaper calls the president elect an ignorant child and insists the one china policy cannot be bought and sold. Did you catch Bryan Cranston on saturday night live . The actor appeared as the drug dealing chemistry teacher in the opening sketch. Walter white has been tapped to head up the dea. We have some breaking news tonight. President elect trump has just made his choice for head of the dea. The federal Drug Enforcement agency. Its a High School Science teacher from new mexico named walter white. Walter came highly recommended by steve bannon. Oh, yeah. Steves the best. Weve had some times. Where did mr. Bannon find you . Under the Comment Section at breitbart. How did you get considered for the job . Do you know donald trump . Nope. I am a big fan. I like his style. He acts first and asks questions later. I like the wall he wants to build. Nothing comes in from mexico. Meaning a lot less competition fors re the rest of us . Meaning jobs . Sure. Two big explosions killed dozens and wounded more than 150 people. Were live at the scene. Who says i shouldnt have a soda every day . My doctor. My dentist. Definitely my wife. Hey wait. We have better bubbles. Make sparkling water at home and drink 43 more water every day. Sodastream. Love your water. This holiday, the real gift isnt whats inside the box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give your loved ones ancestrydna, the simple dna test that can tell them where they came from by revealing their ethnic mix. Youll save 10 and theyll have a new story to tell. Order now at ancestrydna. Com and save 10 . This morning, a Kurdish Military group claiming responsibility for two bombings in istanbul that killed 30 people. At least 155 others were wounded. A group calls itself the kurdish freedom hawks has put a message on its web site insisting the turkish people were not the target of the attacks. I want to bring in Becky Anderson live in istanbul. Becky. Reporter john, yesterday was a day of mourning. Today is the day the retribution. Turkish war planes targeting what the army suggests Kurdish Military forces in northern iraq. In the last hour, more than 100 activists rounded up in country wide raids. This comes 24 hours after the offshoot of the militant group claimed responsibility for twin bombings at a soccer stadium that killed 38 as you say, at least, and wounding over 150. The first explosion, a couple of hours after the end of the soccer match saturday night between two of turkeys top teams followed by a Suicide Attack less than a minute later. That soccer sad upper marlbocer the building im reporting from. Imagine a sporting complex like flushing meadows or the Yankee Stadium being attacked. It is easy to see why turkish leaders have come on out so strongly promising attackers effectively cold revenge for their actions. The blade of the state stretches far and wide is how the interior minister responded to the attacks. That is no idle threat. Here is the issue, john. Saturdays attack here in istanbul was the 17th major terrorist attack by either isis or kurdish militants in turkey this past year. On top of that, you have the political instability and polarization followed by the failed coup in july. The most tumultous year in the bloody year. The mood here as you round up 2016 is what you see which is the blogloomy weather. Becky a y yy anderson, thank israeli Prime Minister nutcracke Benjamin Netanyahu said he is looking forward to working with donald trump to discuss options to the nuclear deal with iran and other options. Trump is vowing to tear up the pact which netanyahu calls a threat to israels existence. I think his attitude and his support for israel is clear. He feels warmly about the jewish state and jewish people and jewish people. No question about that. I had differences of opinion with president obama and most well known is iran. And netanyahu says despite the differences his feelings toward president obama were never personal. Boeing announced an agreement on the deal to sell 80 airplanes to iran. Many u. S. Lawmakers oppose this sale. President elect trump opposes the nuclear deal to allow it to happen. The deal lifted many economic sanctions against iran in september. Boeing needed special approval to ensure iran does not use the planes for military purposes. Huge numbers of residents fleeing aleppo and thousands still trapped in the city. The latest on the fight for syria next. Isjust wanna see ifa again . My score changed. You wanna check yours . Scores dont change that much. I havent changed. Oh, really . Its girls night they said business casual. I love summer weddings oh no. Yeah, maybe it is time. Maybe i should check my credit score. Try credit karma. Its free. Oh woah. Thats different. Check out credit karma today. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Syrian Government Forces waging battles this morning with the isis fighters in the city of p palmera. And in aleppo, forcing thousands trapped in the fiveyear old civil war to flee. Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen has more on those trying to escape the violence. Reporter john and alison, the battle for aleppo is fierce and it continues. The latest information we gotten a couple hours ago is the syrian army has taken another key district in aleppo and now controls 90 of syrias second city. This is a district in the southern part of aleppo. I was on the frontline there just on saturday. We could see literally tens of thousands of people trying to flee that area. All this was happening while fierce fighting going on. Children would were too weak to walk. Some were almost falling asleep walking because they were so tired. People we saw malnourished. Others walking while they were wounded. All of them trying to just escape that fighting going on. The seyrian military now says i controls 90 of the aleppo city pushing the rebels back. Isis back on the scene. Isis militants managing to take back the ancient city of palmyra with the ancient ruins. That is of grave concern. They attacked while it was cloud and fog cover with a huge surprise offensive. The Syrian Government says it is trying to muster a force to launch a counter attack. John and alison. Fred, thank you. Two days of mourning now observed in nigeria after the collapse of a church killed 50 parishioners in the Southern City over the weekend. It happened during the dedication ceremony for the church which was still under construction when the building fell apart without warning. The steel girders gave way before the roof pancaked on the pews. The governor was inside the church at the time and ordered the immediate arrest of the contractor. In cairo, 25 people dead and dozens more after a bomb blast at the coptic church. This tore through the coptic cathedral which is an historic structure. Donald trump and the cia at odds. The president elect says he doesnt believe the report on the Russian Hackers helped him win the presidency. The bipartisan response coming up next. Did Russian Hackers help donald trump win the election . The cia says yes. The fbi says maybe. And donald trump says he does not believe it. Dozens dead in istanbul. Two large explosions leaving more than 150 people injured. Welcome back to early start. Im john berman. Im alison kosik. It is 30 minutes past the hour. This morning, u. S. Intelligence agencies say they have high confidence that russian hacking was intended to help trump win. In an interview with fox news, trump called it politically motivated. I think it is ridiculous. I think it is another excuse. I dont believe it. They have no idea if it is russia or china or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place. They have no idea. Why would the cia put out the story that the russians wanted you to win . Im not sure they put it out. I think the democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in politics in this country. If the interview, the president elect said daily briefings are repetitive. If something should change from this point, immediately call me. Im available on one minutes notice. I dont have to be told. Im a smart american. I dont have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years. He said to receive one briefing a week instead of every day. Back to the russian involvement in the u. S. Election. The senators is demanding an investigation into the kremlin activi activities. Cnns ryan nobles has the latest. Reporter john and alison, this has a potential to be a showdown in the early days of the Trump Administration. A Bipartisan Group of senators calling for a full investigation into russias role in interfering with the u. S. Election. Republican john mccain and Democrat Chuck schumer. They did hack into the campaign. Were they hacking the republicans the same way . The Republican National Committee Committee . There are a lot of issues out there. It requires an investigation. The fact that the cia and fbi disagree shows the need for a bipartisan investigation that gets to the bottom of this. The investigation should be tough, strong and bipartisan and should have access to all materials classified and not. Reporter both schumer and mccain making the argument this is not a partisan issue. Mccain said it is democrats this time around, but next time republicans could be the victim of the hack the next time around. The one person that doesnt think this should be investigated that thoroughly, president elect. He doesnt believe the assessment that the russians are behind the hack and he strongly believes it had nothing to do with the outcome of the election. John and alison. Ryan, thank you. The calls for the investigation of possible russian interference in the election rest on a disagreement with the cia and fbi. The cias conclusion that russian meddling was intended to help trump win is reportedly based in part on the agencys belief the russians hacked both democrat and republican groups but only leaked documents from democrats. The fbi said the Republican National committee was not hacked. And a Law Enforcement source said the fbi did not find clear evidence that the hacking was done to help trump. All of the agencies are on the same page that russia was trying to undermine the election. Now add all of the extra element. The president elect is expected to announce the secretary of state choice tomorrow. The candidate that tops his list is thought to be rex tillerson. This is a man, an executive, with long ties to Vladimir Putin. Three key members of trumps party are expressing reservation of tillerson. Being a friend of putin is not an attribute i hope for in secretary of state. Hes more than a business executive. He is a world class player. Hes in charge of i guess the Largest Company in the world. And to me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players. He knows them well. He does massive deals in russia. For the company. Not himself. He has a relationship with Vladimir Putin as does the man who will be trumps National Security adviser michael flynn. Donald trump says mitt romney is in the running as well as David Petraeus and bob corker and former ambassador to the United Nations john bolton. He could be deputy secretary of state. Donald trump not letting up on china. Beijing officials already upset with the president elect for becoming the first u. S. Leader in decades to speak to the taiwan president. Now trump is questioning whether the u. S. Even needs to adhere to the one china policy. I fully understand the one china policy. I dont know why we have to be bound by one china policy unless we make a deal with china. Having to do with other things including trade. Cnns matt rivers joining us live from beijing. China not taking these words lightly. Chinese officials reacting angrily to trumps comments this morning . Reporter there was a state run newspaper edtorial that said trump had a child like response to the issue. Now the one china policy holds that beijing views taiwan as a breakaway province. Under that same policy, the United States only has formal diplomatic relations with beijing and not taiwan. Why does this matter . Why are we talking about this . If the Trump Administration comes in and ignores the one china policy or establishes ties with taiwan, it could signal to beijing that u. S. Is in favor of taiwan independence. That is a line china is not willing to cross. China could freeze out the United States economically or cause military action in taiwan. That could be a conflict that the United States could get drawn into down the road. We should emphasize here that this is all hypothetical at this point. The Trump Administration could be doing this as a negotiating tactic in future talks with china down the road in terms of the economics with both countries. When the incoming president talks about taiwan and one china policy in this way, china will react strongly. This could be hypothetical, but learning quickly how words matter on the world stage. Matt rivers. A busy day of meetings with the president elect today. Fea Carly Fiorina will tower today. So will joe manchin in his second meeting with the president elect. He could be a democrat tapped for the administration. All right. Top executives from apple and google and facebook and microsoft scheduled to meet with trump on wednesday here in new york city. It is a notable meeting because many leaders spoke out against trump during the campaign from silicon valley. Sources with knowledge of the meeting say the high power executives are expected to attend. Apples tim cook, larry page and Sheryl Sandberg and sat ya nadella. Noticeably absent from the list is amazons ceo and Washington Post owner jeff berzos. It is interesting to watch the transition he has been extending the olive branch to some. Some are taking and many are not. Many or most are meeting with him. He is the president elect. If al gore can go and meet with trump. It is hard to say no to the invite. Smooth sailing for Disneys Moana at the box office. The third weekend in a row at number one. It brought in 145 million to date. The Jennifer Aniston Comedy Office Christmas Party brought in 17. 5 million. There is buzz for lala land. It opened in five theaters, but brought in 855,000. That is an alltime record. The only movie really that matters this year. I mean at all. Not Disneys Moana. No, it is rogue one which opens this weekend. You will be first in line . I wait until after christmas to see it. Avoid the crowds. I have plans to see. It. Chaotic scene in istanbul. Two large bombings leaving dozens dead and over 150 injured. . Youre welcome. I just helped you dodge a bullet. But i was just checking my. Shhhhh. Dont you know that checking your credit score lowers it. Just be cool. Actually, checking your credit score with credit karma doesnt affect it at all. Are you sure . Positive. Huh, so i guess i could just check my credit score then. Oh check out credit karma today. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Sorry about that. The death toll and two bombings over the weekend in istanbul has climbed to 44. 36 of them police officers. At least 155 others were wounded in the blast. A Kurdish Military group claiming responsibility for the attacks. The kurdish freedom hawks has put a piemessage on its web sit claiming the turkish people were not the target. Lets abring in cnns becky and certi erson. Reporter this is well known to authorities and it is to strike a blow to the turkey economy and security apparatus. If yesterday was a day of mourning, today is the day of retributio retribution. Turkish war planes targeting kurdish militant positions in northern iraq. Reports of more than 100 pro kurdish activists rounded up in country wide raids. This 24 hours after. It a. T. A. C. The offshoot of the group for the twin bombings at the soccer stadium. After the saturday night match between two of turkeys top teams followed by a suicide bomb attack less than a minute later. That soccer stadium right next to the hotel im coming to you live from right in the heart of istanbul. The engine of turkeys economy and its main tourist attraction. Imagine attacks on a sporting complex like flushing meadow or yankee sad upper marlbortadium. It easy to see why the president on down vowing revenge. The blade of the state stretching far and wide is how the interior minister responded to the tax. Th attacks. That is no idle threat. Saturdays attack, alison, was the 17th major terrorist attack by either kurdish militants in turkey the last year alone. Along that, the polarization brought about by the failed coup in the summer. This has been one of the most tumultuous years in turkey. The mood here as we round up 2016 very much like what you can see behind me. This gloomy weather that we are having here today. Times are tough in turkey. Alison. Thank you, becky. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is excited about the prospect of working with donald trump. The Prime Minister told 60 minut minutes he plans to meet with the president elect soon to meet with other options, including the nuclear deal with iran. Netanyahu calls a threat to israels existence. I think the attitude for his support is clear. He feels warmly about the jewish state and jewish people. No question about that. I had differences of opinion with president obama and most well known is iran. The Prime Minister says despite the differences, his feelings toward president obama were never personal. Boeing with the deal to receive 80 airplanes to iran. Iran air will get 30 777s. President elect trump has yet to weigh in on the deal. The deal possible by the Obama Administration lifting of the sanctions of iran in september. Boeing needed special approval to ensure iran does not use the planes for military purposes. The gunman who shot and killed former new Orleans Saints star will smith has been conv t convicted of manslaughter. Cardale hayes. He was facing serious charges, but the jury convicted him of a lesser charge. The stock market on fire. All three major averages at record highs this morning, but moves in other markets are making some things a little more expensive if you are looking to buy. Well explain next. Syrian Government Forces waging battles on two fronts this morning. Up against isis fighters for the ancient city of palmyra. This as the regime reclaimed another neighborhood in aleppo today forcing thousands of civilians trapped in the middle of the countrys civil war to run for their lives. Cnns International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen has more as families battle fatigue and malnutrition to escape the violence. Reporter john and alison, the battle for aleppo is fierce and brutal. Latest information we gotten just a couple hours ago, the syrian army has taken another key district in aleppo and now controls about 90 of syrias second city. Now this is a district in the southern part of aleppo. I was on the frontline there just on saturday. We could see literally tens of thousands of people trying to flee that area. All this was happening while fierce fighting going on. There were children who were too weak to walk. There were some almost falling asleep while walking because they were so tired. People we saw malnourished. We saw others walking while wounded. All trying to just escape that fighting that was going on. The Syrian Military now says it controls 90 of aleppos city pushing the rebels further back. Syrian army losing here in syria and isis is back on the scene. Isis militants over the weekend managing to take back the ancient city of palmyra with the ancient roman ruins. That is of grave concern because isis is known to destroy archaeological sites. They attack under cloud and fog cover with a huge surprise offensive. Syrian military pushed back. Syrian government now says it is trying to muster a force to launch a counter attack. Fred, thank you. Two days of mourning now observed in nigeria after the collapse of a church killed at least 50 parishioners if tn the Southern City of oya. This was a church still under construction. The building fell apart without warning. The steel girder girders gave w. The governor was in the church at the time and ordered the arrest of the contractor. In cairo, 25 people dead and dozens more injured at a coptic church. No immediate claim of responsibility for the blast which tore through the small church attached to the historic st. Marks coptic kacathedral. Lets get a check on cnn money stream. Will a santa claus rally come early or has donald trump stolen st. Nicks thunder . The dow and nasdaq at record highs this morning. Check out the gains for the year. 14 trading days left. The dow is up more than 13 . That was not predicted this year by the way. The nasdaq almost 9 higher. The s p 500 gaining 10. 5 on the year. Onethird of the gains coming in over the past month as investors give trumps plans a big time endorsement. Futures are down slightly. Stocks in europe are edging lower. Shares in asia closing with losses overnight. The cautious tone were seeing as investors await the federal reserve. Janet yellen is beginning the policy meeting tomorrow. At the meeting last year, the fed hiked Interest Rates for the first time in almost a decade. Investors are expecting a repeat performance. Now a 95 chance the fed will raise rates when the meeting wraps up on wednesday. That will make things like mortgages and credit cards and car loans more expensivexpensiv. Wall street will read it carefully to see what clues it will give to the next rate hike. Also getting more expensive this Holiday Season . Gas prices because of this. A huge run up of crude oil. Above 54 a barrel for the first time in a year and a half. That is thanks to a 5 jump thanks to russia and other producers agreed to cut production. Opec nations vowed to do the same last week. What does this mean for you . It means higher gas prices. The National Average sitting at 2. 21 a gallon. It is up 4 cents over the past month. Gas prices trail crude by two weeks. You will feel it at the pump in the new year. I did not notice it over the weekend. The markets like that, too. They like to see oil prices up a little bit. Early start continues right now. Donald trump calling the cia report ridiculous and dismissing daily intelligence briefings. The growing contentious relationship. And two deadly bombings in istanbul. We have a live report from the ground. Good morning. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. Im alison kosik. It is monday, december 12th. It is 5 00 a. M. In the east. This morning, donald trump is rejecting the cia conclusion that russia threw the election to him. Agencies say they is high confidence that russian hacking helped trump win. In an interview with fox news, donald trump scoffing at that. I think it is ridiculous. I dont believe it. They have no idea if it is china or somebody sitting in a bed some place. They have no idea. Why would the cia put out the ti story . Im in the sure they put it out. It may be the democrats putting it out because they suffered the greatest defeat in politics in this country. And president elect saying daily briefings are repetitive. If something should change from this point, immediately call me. Im available on one minutes notice. Im a smart person. I dont have to be told the same thing and same words every single day for the next eight years. Back now to the situation with russia. A Bipartisan Group of senators demanding the investigation into the kremlins activities. Cnns ryan nobles has the latest. Reporter john and alison, this has the major showdown potential in the early days of the Trump Administration. Calling for a full investigation into russias role in interfering with the election. Among them, powerful senators. Republican john mccain and Democrat Chuck schumer. They did hack into the campaign. Were they hacking the republicans the same way . If so, why theres a lot of issues out there. It requires an investigation. The fact the cia and fbi disagree shows the need for a bipartisan investigation that gets to the bottom of this. The investigation should be tough, strong and bipartisan and access to all materials, classified and not. Reporter both schumer and mccain making the argument this is not a partisan issue. Mccain said it is democrats this time around, but republicans could be the victim of the