Transcripts For CNNW Early Start With John Berman And Christine Romans 20170105

Chicago bound and tortured on facebook live. What his captors were saying on the assault ahead. Good morning. Welcome to early start. Im christine romans. Im john berman. It is thursday, january 5th. 4 00 a. M. In the east. New developments in the battle with donald trump and the Intelligence Community. Not only does mr. Trump doubt views on russian hacking, but doubting the whole apparatus is set up the right way to begin with. More on that in a moment that the russians directed hacking during the election season. The president elect sided with Julian Assange over u. S. Intelligence. The president elect tweeted Julian Assange said a 14yearold could have hacked john podesta. Also, russians did not give him the information. Dismissing claims and pointing to the russians for the release of the john podesta emails. All this ahead of the hearings of the Senate Armed Services committee of Cyber Threats to the u. S. Mean while, a review is expected to be released on monday. This as we learn more about trumps plans to overhaul the way he receives critical intelligence. Here is sara murray. Reporter good morning, john and christine. Trump going to battle not just with u. S. Intelligence agencies and some leaders of his party. As he takes to twitter to suggest he doesnt believe u. S. Intelligence agencies assessment that russia attempted to meddle in the u. S. Election. Instead suggesting he may be more likely to believe Julian Assange who insists none of the information of Hillary Clintons Campaign Came from the russian government. Because donald trump is not inclined to believe the agencies doesnt mean all members of his party are following suit. I have a lot more faith in our Intelligence Officers serving around the world. Very smart and experienced and list analysts. Not only should he ignore Julian Assange, he should condemn him for what he has done to our country. Putting Foreign Policy at risk. Reporter we heard a number of other republican officials echo Lindsey Grahams concerns and Julian Assanges credibility. He says that is what trump will ask officials about when he meets with them in new york on friday. Back to you. Theres that and a new developme development. We learned that donald trump wants to limit the power of the intelligence. According to sources enclosing to the trump team, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn believes they get in the way of the 16 agencies it represents. It is worth noting that general flynn has clashed in the past with the current director James Clapper who is scheduled to give trump a briefing on russia tomorrow. The president elect is considering expanding the cia human spying abilities. He thinks the agent i is too reliant. The republicans are moving forward with the promise to repeal and replace obamacare. Mike pence met with republicans on capitol hill yesterday. He made it clear the Affordable Care act will be dismantled through executive action and other actions although there is no concrete plan to replace it. Obamacare all the promises of obamacare have shown to be false and broken promises. The American People want us to repeal obamacare and replace it with the kind of reforms that will give the American People more choices when it comes to health insurance. Release the power of the free market is the pathway to expanding access and affordability of health care and the American People know it. President obama made a rare appearance on capitol hill urging democrats not to help with the health care law. We get more from manu raju. Reporter good morning. The fight with obamacare started on day two of the new congress. Mike pence, the Vice President elect met with house and senate republicans. They discussed how to move forward on repeal of obamacare and replacement. Not many details on what is in the replacement, other than donald trump will move on executive actions and tom price, the health and Human Services secretary, assuming he is confirmed, will move as well. They are digging in on the democratic side. They will not work with republicans on replacement if the obamacare plan is ultimately repealed. President obama himself making that case yesterday to democrats in a closeddoor session saying we will not rescue republicans if they replace the plan. Suggesting what republicans are doing is quote trumpcare. He thought it would pay a political price. Saying the town halls will be outraged. Storms of protesters and activists expressing concerns that republicans districts. If they move forward with this, this is all the beginning of the very long debate here that will dominate the next two years on capitol hill. John and christine. Manu, the Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer says republicans are like the dog who caught the bus. They dont know what to do next. Senator schumer is warning the republican repeal of obamacare without a plan to replace it would devastate rural hospitals and leave millions of americans vulnerable. The republican plan to cut health care would not make America Great again. It would make america sick again and lead to chaos instead of Affordable Care. Republicans would create chaos in the Health System because they are stuck between a rock and hard place and no idea. They had five years when they talked about repeal. There is not a plan to replace it on the table because they dont have one. Meanwhile, Mitch Mcconnell is firing back at schumer for threatening to block the pick for the Supreme Court. That will draw the wrath of voters. Senator schumer said in the Second Bush Administration that they would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the last 18 months of president bush 43. Apparently, a new standard now which is to not confirm a Supreme Court nominee at all. I think that is something the American People simply will not tolerate and we will be looking forward to receiving a nomination and moving forward on it. Republicans will not move forward with an infrastructure package in the first 100 days of the presidency of trump. That would break a promise made by the president elect last year. The house of the Transportation Committee says they have to focus on figuring out how to pay for the 1 trilli 1 trillion pla china is slamming the twitter of trump. Calling it undesirable. It blasts trumps negative tweets about the u. N. And china and accuses the president elect of treating diplomacy like a childs game. Donald trump making jay clayton as his pick for the securities and exchange commission. Clayton has deep ties. He is a partner at the law firm sullivan cromwell. That is the big money advisors. Clayton represented bear stearns. Recently he worked on the ali baba ipo. He says quote, we will carefully monitor our financial sector. This will be a tricky thing to do. It is responsible for rooting out fraud and ensuring Capital Markets are fair. Trump wants to rollback regulations. He criticized bankers are saying some are getting away with murder. For many, all of the tough talk on the campaign trail about holding the wall street guys accountable on behalf of main street. He is tapping into the pool of talent. While they are in the room work are for him. The state of california is gearing up for a legal battle with a President Trump. They hired eric holder to advise them when they need to challenge what will be President Trumps policies on immigration, civil rights and Climate Change. They insist they will not allow the president elect to undo the progress they say they made. Former attorney general holder who served under president obama is honored to be asked. We have deeply troubling video from chicago. This was all aired on facebook live. Four people abusing a bound man with mental challenges. Were going to discuss this next. Onnected. The microsoft cloud offers infinite scalability. The microsoft cloud helps our customers get up and running, anywhere in the planet. Wherever theres a phone, youve got a bank, and we could never do that before. The cloud gave us a single platform to reach across our entire organization. It helps us communicate better. We use the microsoft clouds advanced analytics tools to track down cybercriminals. This cloud helps transform business. This is the microsoft cloud. Chicago Police Arrested four people over disturbing torture video broadcast on facebook live. This 30minute individuvideo sh people punching and kicking and shouting antiracial slurs. Here is cnns rosa flores. Reporter Chicago Police say the victim was targeted because he has Mental Health challenges. They do say that the victim knew at least one of the offenders and at least initially the victims and offenders were together willingly. That changed. You will see why. I have to warn you. It is very disturbing. You will see in the video the victim is white and offenders are black. A lot of antitrump language going back and forth. The obvious question is this a hate crime . We dont know. Police dont know. They are investigating that. They tell us they dont have a motive in this particular case. But they are working on it. They say they dont know a lot of details. For example, they dont know how much time the victim spent with the offenders. They believe it is between 24 to 48 hours. At this point, four offenders are in custody. Can you give us reaction to seeing the video . Have you seen the video . It is sickening. It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that. You know, i have been a cop for 28 years. I have seen things that you shouldnt see in the lifetime. It still amazes me how you still see things that you just shouldnt. Im not going to say it shocked me, but it was sickening. Reporter as for the victim, they are not going into the extent of his injuries. They do tell us he is highly traumatiz traumatized. John and christine. Rosa, thank you. The Nuclear Threat from north korea has south korea taking action. Officials in seoul setting up a b brigade to target kim jongun. The brigade was planned for 2019, but south Korean Military officials are speeding things up because they expect further provocation from the north this year. Belgium prosecutors expecting anis amris movements after he orchestrated the deadly truck attack on the Christmas Market in berlin. Police say Surveillance Video shows amri traveled from germany to brussels and spotted at a train station two days later. It is believed he traveled in france to italy and gunned down four days after fleeing berlin. This comes as the tunisian man helped amri carry out the attack. You can see the movements of western europe show the issues battling terror. There are no borders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he supports a pardon for azaria. He was convicted for shooting a 21yearold suspect while the suspect was lying on a road. The case has divided israelis. The sentencing is scheduled for sunday. Emotional and sometimes bizarre first day in the sentencing phase for the Charleston Church shooter dylann roof. What he told the jury. Thats next. Sometimes you just know when you hit a home run. Thats how i feel about blueemu pain relief spray. Odorless and fastacting. It soothes all my muscle aches and pains. And its convenient for those hard to reach places. And if youre like me, youll love blueemu super strength cream. Its made with real emu oil, its non greasy, its a deep penetrating formula that works itself down into your joints. Take it from me. It works fast and you wont stink. Blueemu, it works for me itll work for you. The sentencing phase continues in the trial of convicted charleston shooter dylann roof. Day one featured gutwrenching testimony in an odd Opening Statement from roof that drew somebo sobs from families. Cnns Martin Savidge was in the courtroom. Reporter keep in mind what transpired. First and foremost, a convicted mass murdered. Self confessed racist now acting as his own attorney and standing up and talking to the same 12 jurors that convicted him. While listening were a number of survivors and many of the victims families. The prosecution up there basically saying dylann roof deserves the Death Penalty if anybody deserves the Death Penalty. And outlined the circumstances of the killings he carried out were worse than in any other kind of killing that had recently taken place. It was also brought out that dylann roof six weeks after being captured continued to write about these crimes and if you thought that he had any come to jesus moment, no. According to the prosecution, he wrote, i do not regret what i did. Im not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people i killed. The most dramatic moment of all, dylann roof standing up in the courtroom and walking to the jurors. Did not ask for mercy. He said im not crazy. Anything you may have heard regarding my mental state of mind, you should disregard. I have no mental illness. And then he sat down. After that came the first of what will be a long list of witness testimony. Much of it heartbreaking and gutwrenching. That was just day one. John and christine. In arizona, a Police Officer caught on camera punching a female suspect in the face resigned. The flagstaff officer was criticized by independent investigators and would have been terminated if he did not step down. Video of bonar surfaced on facebook yesterday. Bonar went to her moment in november to serve an eviction notice. Service is back online now after more than 100 passengers were injured on a brooklyn derailment. Officials suggested it was a case of human error. Federal investigators say it will take several days to figure out what went wrong. Millions of folks in the southeast bracing for the extreme cold and possibility of snow this weekend. Lets get the forecast from meteorologist derek van dam. Good morning, john and christine. Frigid day across the plains and great lakes region. When you factor in the winds, we are talking temperatures from 20 to 40 degrees below freezing. Cold air. That cold front responsible for the chilly conditions is sagging further and further south. Atlanta, chattanooga and international, you will feel the frigid temperatures. Look at the temperature trend. The new england coastline, you will not escape the cold air. Look at temperatures. They get colder from here if you are in new york city. You top 33 today. Temperatures plummet through the weekend. Chicago, 14. Minneapolis, 2 lonely degrees. The next big Winter Weather subject is a potential for a snowstorm across the southeast. It is all about the placement of this low pressure tracking across florida and georgia border. Look at the computer models. The potential for snow for atlanta metro. Back to you. Snow. President elect wants to alter the way he receives intelligence when he gets into office. Well tell you how and why next. New this morning, frustration trying to boil over with president elect and senate republicans. Donald trump dismissive of in l intelligence on russian hacks. Now looking to overhaul the Intelligence System in the u. S. The battle over the future of obamacare drawing in the president. He is trying to lay a red map for democrats urging them to turn up the pressure on the gop as they begin the process of gutting his signature law. Video from chicago that is just so troubling and offensive. A mentally challenged man bound and tortured on facebook live. The rhetoric his attackers used could make this a hate crime. Welcome back to early start. Im john berman. Im christine romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Lets start with donald trump targeting the u. S. Intelligence community and widening the divide between his party. Continues to express septembkep in the russian hacks. Trump tweeting, Julian Assange said a 14yearold could hack john podesta. Trump has repeatedly dismissed claims pointing to the russians for the hack in the release of john podesta emails. The Senate Armed Services committee looking at foreign Cyber Threats to the u. S. A review of the meddling into the u. S. Election is expected to be released to the public on monday. We are learning about the president elects plans to perhaps overall the Intelligence System. Cnns sara murray has latest. Reporter good morning, john and christine. Donald trump going to battle with the u. S. Agencies and leaders of his party as he takes to twitter to suggest he doesnt believe u. S. Intelligence agencies assessment that russia attempted to meddle in the u. S. Election. Suggesting he may be more likely to believe Julian Assange who insists none of the information about Hillary Clintons Campaign Came from the russian government. Just because donald trump says he is not inclined to believe in the intelligence agencies doesnt mean all members of his party are following suit. I have a lot move faith in our Intelligence Officers serving around the world. Very smart and experienced analysts we have here in the Nations Capital than Julian Assange. This was done by the russians and i hope by friday, president elect trump will come to that revolution. Not only should he ignore julian assan assange, he should condemn him. Putting out soldiers at risk and foreign policies at risk. Julian assange is not a friend to america. Reporter we heard a number of other officials echo Lindsey Grahams concerns about the russian attempts to meddle in the election and Julian Assanges credibility. Sean spicer says it is not with the raw intelligence gathered, but the inclusion that russia attempted to interfere. That is what trump will ask officials when he meets with them in new york on friday. Back to you. Donald trump is determined to limit the power of the director he of national iof nat intelligence. Michael flynn believes the dni gets in the way of the agencies it represents. Worth noting, flynn has clashed in the past with Current National director James Clapper who is scheduled to give trump a briefing on russia tomorrow. President elect is considering expanding the cia human spying abilities. He thinks the agentcy is too y reliant on electronic spying. Mike pence spoke on capitol hill and said obamacare will be repealed although there is no concrete plan to replace it. Obamacare all of the promises of obamacare have shown to be false and broken promises. The American People want us to start over and repeal obamacare and replace it with the kind of reforms that will give the American People more choices when it comes to health insurance. Releasing the power of the free market is the pathway toward expanding access and affordability of health care across the country and the American People know it. President obama made a rare appearance on capitol hill urging democrats not to help republicans with the new health care law. Lets get details on this from manu raju. Reporter good morning, john and christine. The fight over obamacare began in earnest on day two of the new congress. Mike pence, the Vice President elect came to capitol hill and met with house and senate republicans. They discussed how to move forward on repeal of obamacare and replacement. Not many details on what would be in the replacement other than the fact that trump as president will move on executive actions and tom price, assuming he is confirmed, will move on things as well. On the democratic side, they are digging in and will not work with republicans on replacement if the obamacare plan is ultimately repealed. President obama himself making that case yesterday to democrats in the closed door session. Saying we will not quote rescue republicans if they do replace the plan. Suggesting what the republicans are doing is quote trumpcare. He thought it would pay a political price of republicans repeal the law saying the town halls will be outrageous. Storms of protesters and activists expressing concerns at the republican districts if they move forward with this. This is all the beginning of the very long debate here that will dominant the next two years on capitol hill. John and christine. Manu, thank you. Chuck shchumer says obamacae is like the dog that caught the bus. Repealing obamacare without a plan could devastate rural hospitals and leave millions of americans vulnerable. The republican plan to cut health care would not make America Great again. It would make america sick again and lead to chaos instead of Affordable Care. Republicans would create chaos in the Health System because they are stuck between a rock and hard place and have no idea what to put in place. They had five years when they talked about repeal. There still isnt a plan to replace it on the table because they dont have one. Majority leader mitch mccancmcko mcoconnmcco mcconnell is firing back over the Supreme Court pick. Mcconnell claims any attempt to obstruct the president will draw the wrath of voters. Senator schumer said in the Second Bush Administration that they would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the last 18 months of president bush 43 tenure. Apparently a new standard now which is to not confirm a Supreme Court nominee at all. I think thats something the American People simply will not tolerate and well be looking forward to receiving a Supreme Court nomination and moving forward on. It. Republicans will not move forward on the package in the first 100 days. Chairman of the House Transportation Committee says republicans have to focus on figuring out how to pay for the 1 trillion plan. China slamming donald trump for his obsession with twitter. An editorial criticizes the president elects diplomacy calling it undesirable. It blasts the recent negative tweets about the United Nations and china and accuses the president elect of treating diplomacy like a childs game. The state of california gearing up for a possible series of legal battling with trump. Leader there s there announce t hired eric holder over policies and when they believe they should challenge policies from the issues like immigration and Climate Change and civil rights. What they are doing is trying to keep a President Trump from undoing moves they believe it. Holder, who served under president obama, says he is honored to be asked. One words from the fundraiser advisor and friend of president obama for the man about to take office and try to gut the obama legacy. Don peebles says he is encouraged by the tone that donald trump has changed for business. Encouraged by the discussion and promises that trump is making about what he will do for mobility for women and minorities and millennials. I asked don peebles if behind closed doors if president elect is the same man you see on tv. No. Very warm. Very kind. Complementary. A good listener. Very receptive to different ideas. Our discussion was more him asking and listening. We talked about a number of issues. One of the things we talked about which is important to me is equal access to Economic Opportunity for minorities and women. He was very receptive to that. He expressed a deep commitment to it. He agrees with you . Yes. And prepared to take bold steps which we will see. Is he going to help working people . Being a Real Estate Developer is an interesting profession because it doesnt require a very strong specific skill set. It requires an understanding of broad issues. You assemble the experts who are best in their fields and you give them the an tutonomy and produce a building that is successful. He will run the country that way. One of the things of building buildings is getting good value for your money. We will see a more Efficient Government to do more with the money they have. He said the behind closed doors donald trump listened to his concerns for minorities and equal access and opportunities for women and minorities. He said donald trump said i will work on it. I have plans. That is interesting. A lot of people had long relationships, positive and negative with trump. A lot with positive come back and work with him later on. He said he is a Ronald Reagan type. He knows how to use the media for this message. The behind closed doors, he is a different person and working with, you know, a big team of successful people to try to bring that to the american economy. It is interesting. Ill have more of that interview later. It doesnt necessarily translate, but we will see. Disturbing video from chicago. This was all aired on facebook live. Four people abusing a bound man with mental challenges. Ill tell you what they told him as they tortured him. Thats next. All right. Chicago police have now arrested four people over a very disturbing offensive torture video broadcast on facebook live. A 30minute video shows a group kicking, punching and cutting a man with special needs. All the while people in the group shouting antitrump and antiwhite slurs. We want to warn you the video is difficult to watch. Here is cnns rosa flores. Reporter john and christine, Chicago Police say they believe this victim was targeted because he has Mental Health challenges. They do say that the victim, knew at least one of the offenders and at least initially the offend ders and victim were together willingly. That changed. You will see why in the video. I do have to warn you it is very disturbing. You will see in the video that the victim is white and the offenders are black and a lot of antitrump language going back and forth. The question is is this racially motivated or a hate crime . Police dont know. They are investigating that. They tell us they dont have a motive in this particular case. But they are working on this. They dont know a lot of details. For exam mkpaexample, they donw much time he spent with the offenders. They believe it is between 24 and 48 hours. At this point, they have four offenders in custody. Have you seen the video . It is sickening. It is sickening. It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that. I have been a cop for 28 years. I have seen things that you shouldnt see in the lifetime. It still amazes me you still see things you just shouldnt. Im not going to say it shocked me, but it was sickening. Reporter as for the victim, they are not going into the extent of his injuries. They do tell us that he is highly traumatized. John and christine. Thats awful. The Nuclear Threat from north korea. How south korea is taking action. Officials in seoul set up a special brigade to target kim jongun in the event of war to remove or paralyze the north Korean Leader and regime. The brigade was be originally planned for 2019, but they are speeding it up because they expect further prove indicatioc year. And anis amris movements after he orchestrated that christmas attack in berlin. Amri traveled from jengeneral g brussels and then france to lyon and italy and gunned down in a shootout four days. This comes as a tunisian man is being held for helping amri carry out the attack. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports asoldier. He was found guilty for shooting a wounded 21yearold suspect in the head lying on the road. The case divided israelis. The sentencing had been scheduled for sunday. 48 minutes after the hour. If you were worth hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars, would you still do your own Grocery Shopping in. I would still. We will show you the big name caught stocking up in aisle ten. Thats next. Feel ad coming on . Zicam cold remedy nasal swabs shorten colds with a snap, and reduce symptom severity by 45 . Shorten your cold with a snap, with zicam. I never want to miss these cmoments due to my pain. I live for this. Arthritis used to get in the way. But now with blueemu maximum arthritis cream, ill never miss another hug. 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The sentencing phase continues in the trial of convicted charleston shooter dylann roof. Day one featured gutwrenching testimony and an odd statement that drew groans from victims families. Cnns Martin Savidge was in the courtroom. R reporter what a remarkable day one of the sentencing phase trial. Keep in mind what transpired. You have the convicted mass murdered. Self confessed racist acting as his own attorney in defense standing up and talking to the same 12 jurors that convicted him. While listening to all this were at least a number of survivors and many of the victims families. You have the prosecution up there basically saying dylann roof deserves the Death Penalty if anybody deserves the Death Penalty. And they outlined over and over how the circumstances of the killings he carried out were worse than any other kind of killing that recently taken place. It was also brought out that dylann roof, six weeks after captured, continued to write about these crimes and if you thought he had any come to jesus moment, no. According to the prosecution, he wrote, i do not regret what i did. Im not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people i killed. Then the most dramatic moment of all, dylann roof himself, standing up in the courtroom and walking to the jurors. What did he say . He did not ask for mercy or remorse. He said im not crazy. Anything you may have heard regarding my mental state of mind, you should disregard. I have no mental illness. And then he sat down. After that, came the first of what will be a long list of witness testimony. Much of it heartbreaking and gutwrenching. That was just day one. John and christine. Thank you for that, martin. In arizona, a Police Officer caught on camera punching a female suspect in the face. Has resigned. Flagstaff officer jeff bonar criticized by the investigators and would have been terminated if he did not step down according to chief of police. Bonar went to the home in november to serve an eviction notice before that altercation. Traffic and weather. Service is back to normal on the long eisland railroad. The train plowed through a metal bumper as it pulled into the broo brooklyn terminal. Investigators say it will take several days to figure out what went wrong. All right. Millions of people in the southeast, sorry, you have to brace for extreme cold here and possibility of snow this weekend. Lets get the forecast from meteorologist derek van dam. Thats right, john and christine. Temperatures taking a nose dive from the plain states and great lakes. Check out the temperature in chicago. Tomorrow, 14 degrees. New england. Look at new york city. 33 today. We cool in the upper 20s by the weekend. If you want to ride a real roller cost aster. 70 in orlando on saturday. 54 on sunday. There is the cold air. Frigid temperatures across new england through the great lakes. By the way, factor in the windchills across the plains. It feels like 20 to 40 below. The next major Winter Weathermaker across the deep south. Florida, georgia border. That is where we have the potential for a winter storm this weekend. Starting late friday and ending on saturday. Wintry mix with the potential of significant snowfall for many locations, including metro atlanta. Well monitor the situation. Back to you. Thank you, derek. Lets get a check on cnn money stream. Dow 20,000 watch is back on. Dow just about 58 points away following two solid weeks of gains. Some of the optimism from the federal reserve. The policymakers discussed the trump economic proposals and path to quicker Interest Rate hikes. Futures are flat. Stocks in europe and asia are mixed. Theres a big sale at macys today. Stock. A 10 discount on all of the shares. Macys had a tough year. Struggling against fashion competitors and macys holiday sales were weak. Macys will layoff 10,000 employees. It will now have 660 stores in the u. S. It may have to cut deeper for a serious turn around. It is cutting deeply and the stock is down 10 . Sometimes that happens and the stock sor stock soars. Look at the environment. Kohls with weak sales results. That stock is tanking premarket as well. If you are not a department store, sales were good. People spent money. Holiday sales were good. Not good at department stores. That is a Business Model issue. Finally, if you raked in 25 million last year. When . Just scored a job as the top diplomat and strike a deal to cash out 230 million of stock. Would you do your own Grocery Shopping in f shoppi shopping . Apparently for Rex Tillerson, yes. At a washington, d. C. Grocery store. This is what he tweeted. Yup. That is Rex Tillerson in my safeway. His security guy is 20 paces behind him. He is in the canned goods aisle. Raisin brksan in the bin. Tillerson is known for his close ties to russia. That last thing was a joke. Before you tweet us in anger. It is a funny picture that people are really talking about. The baby carrots are not joke. Baby carrots in the basket. If that doesnt come up in the confirmation hearing. Early start continues right now. New this morning, a divide emerging with the president elect and senate republicans. Over trumps support of Julian Assange. Now donald trump may be looking to reshape the entire intelligence apparatus. Digging in to define the Nations Health care system. The gop repealing obamacare, but with no replacement. How president obama tried to rally democrats. Video just awful to see. Mentally challenged man in chicago bound and tortured on facebook live. Well tell you what his captors were saying. Thats ahead. Good morning. Welcome to early start. Im john berman. Im christine romans. Nice to see you. Thursday, january 5th. 5 00 a. M. In the east. Lets start with donald trump taking on the Intelligence Community and widening the divide. The president elect continuing to express skepticism about russias interference in the president ial election. He seems to be siding with Julian Assange over his own intelligence team. Trump said a 14yearold could have hacked john podesta. Why was the dnc so careless . Trump has dismissed claims by intelligence pointing to the russians for the hack and release of john podesta emails. All this hours before the hearing this morning in the Senate Armed Services committee considering foreign Cyber Threats to the u. S. A review of the russian meddling is expected to be released on monday to the public. This all comes as we learn about the president elects plans to perhaps overall the Intelligence System. More on that in a moment. First