In north korea dont even have the technology to watch the interview. But the communists there were able to deploy a cyber army to get revenge for an insulting stoner flick. And it could be a blueprint, frankly, for more dangerous attacks against the u. S. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We begin this friday afternoon with some breaking news in our national lead. Youre about to hear exclusively from the ceo of Sony Pictures entertainment who, frankly, just got called out by president obama. President obama wagging his finger at the company for caving to threats from north korean cyber terrorists. President obama frankly pulled no punches. It suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. I am sympathetic to the concerns that they faced. Having said all that, yes, i think they made a mistake. I think they made a mistake. Today the fbi officially pinned the sweeping online attack on cyber criminals working for kim jonguns government. A group called guardians of peace which the fbi now directly accuses of being part of a north korean hacker syndicate. They ransacked sonys servers back in september for revenge for the interview. They leaked all sorts of personal information before warning the American People or rather anyone willing to pay 14 to go see a seth rogen movie. Movie theater chains got so scared, they said they wouldnt show the film. And then sony pulled the movie from release altogether. But today the upbeat president gave a fullthroated argument in favor of free speech and American Values and said he worried about the precedent being set and forlornly wished sony executives had called him first. We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they dont like. Or news reports that they dont like. For its part, the north korean government today claimed ignorance. A spokesman insisting to reuters that pyongyang, quote, is not part of this. The president said so far theres no indication north korea is acting in conjunction with any other countries. He vowed a proportional response without revealing exactly what that means. As we said, the president lamented if only sony had called him before yanking the movie. But now sony america ceo says he did pick up the phone to call the white house and the companys been working with the u. S. Government for weeks. Just minutes ago, Fareed Zakaria sat down with sony entertainment, chairman Michael Linton, in an exclusive interview. Fareed joins me now. What did he have to say . It was a powerful interview. Michael linton said he did call the white house, spoke with a senior white house official, informed them, briefed them about what was going on, that they had been working with the federal government for several weeks. He was complimentary of the fbi. He spoke with very senior white house officials about precisely what the president says he wished he had been informed about. The president says he wishes i wish they had what is your response . My response is that a few days ago, i personally did reach out and speak to senior folks in the white house and talked to them about the situation and actually informed them that we needed help. The fbi has been with us now for several weeks and has been great. But i did reach out and explain the situation to them at that time. So the president is wrong when he says that you did not reach out to him . Well, when hes asking about reaching out i wish they had talked to me first, thats the quote. Right. We definitely spoke to Senior Advisers or a Senior Adviser in the white house to talk about the situation. The fact is, did we talk to the president himself and talk to him about what was transpiring at the theaters started pulling back . But the white house was certainly aware of the situation. Fareed, i guess im not entirely sure. Sounds like they were talking to the white house. But the president was specifically saying, i wish they had talked to me and asked my advice before they pulled the film. I kind of got like a muddled message from the chairman, all due respect to him. What exactly was he saying he talked to the white house about . Well, he talked to the white house about the fact that they had this threat. I think on the question of the pulling of the film, what he said what Michael Linton said was that the president , the public and the press have misunderstood. His argument is sony never pulled the film. What happened was sony was working very hard to get the film out. What happened was the Movie Theaters came to them, the major chains and one after the other refused to show it. And his argument is, look, at some point if you dont have anyplace to show the movie, all we did was canceled the december 25th release. And he did say that does not mean that they arent going to show the movie. It means the december 25th release cannot proceed because there is no Movie Theater in america that was willing to show it. And youll hear him say that. The president says sony made a mistake in pulling the film. Did you make a mistake . No. I think actually the unfortunate part is in this instance, the president , the press and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened. We do not own Movie Theaters. We cannot determine whether or not a movie will be played in Movie Theaters. So to sort of rehearse for a moment the skrens equence of ev we experienced the worst cyberattack in American History and persevered for 3 1 2 weeks under enormous stress and enormous difficulty and all with the effort of trying to keep our business up and running and get this movie out in the public. When it came to the crucial moment when a threat came out from what was called the g. O. P. At the time, threatening audiences who would go to the Movie Theaters, the Movie Theaters came to us, one by one over the course of a very short period of time, we were completely surprised by it, and announced they would not carry the movie. At that point in time, we had no alternative but to not proceed with the Theatrical Release on the 25th of december. Thats all we did. You have not caved in . We have not caved. We have not given in. We have persevered and we have not backed down. We have always had every desire to have the American Public see this movie. So, fareed, i had heard a few weeks ago im sorry, a few days ago that there were big concentrations going on with netflix to try to get this streaming into peoples homes through netflix. Is there any hope of the movie being released that way or on demand or online or some other way . Jake, the impression i got is that they are very active discussions and consideration going on about precisely this. But again what he pointed out was they dont own the pipes that you cant just put something on the internet, especially in this context because you know whats going to happen. This north korean cell is going to hack at those pipes. So you need netflix or even if its youtube, you need google to be willing to make the investment and to take the risk, frankly, of withstanding these kind of Cyber Attacks, withstanding the malware that would come. So far, he did say to me no one has stepped forward. This struck me at very important. They continue to look at every alternative, including free distribution on youtube. Does sony regret there are a number of options open to us and we have considered those and are considering them. As it stands right now, while there have been a number of suggestions that we go out there and deliver this movie digitally, there has not been one major video on demand distributor, one major ecommerce site thats stepped forward and said they are willing to distribute this movie for us. We dont have that direct interface with the American Public. We need an intermediary to do that. I guess the big question for the chairman, does he regret making this movie to begin with . You know, i asked him just that question. I said to him, a lot of people say this was a tasteless comedy and he was very strong on that. He said, look, thats not the issue. We made a movie we thought was a funny movie. But the real issue is, you have a group of artists who have made an artistic product. They deserve to have the public be able to see it. And i did ask him, do you regret making the movie. Listen to what he said. Would you make the movie again . Yeah, i would make the movie again. I think for the same reasons we made it in the first place, it was a funny comedy, it was it served as political satire. I think we would have made the movie again. Knowing what i know now, we might have done some things slightly differently. But i think a lot of events have overtaken us in a way that we had no control over the facts. And youre saying you still want the public to see this movie . We would still like the public to see this movie, absolutely. But somebody has to step forward, whether netflix or youtube or on demand, someone, and take the risk of actually showing it. Fareed zakaria, great work. Thank you so much. Be sure to catch fareeds full interview with the ceo of sony tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on a. C. 360. The president said sony made a mistake by pulling its release of the interview. Does hollywood agree . Did the company give in to the cyber terrorists and does this set a bad example on how to handle Cyber Threats . Well pose those questions next to the current chair of the Senate Intelligence committee. So,as my personal financial psychic, im sure you know what this meeting is about. Yes, a raise. Im letting you go. I knew that. You see, this is my amerivest managed. Balances. No. Portfolio. And if doesnt perform well for two consecutive gold. Quarters. Quarters. Yup. Then amerivest gives me back their advisory. Stocks. Fees. Fees. Fees for those quarters. Yeah. So, im confident im in good hands. For all the confidence you need. Td ameritrade. You got this. vo rescued. Ed. Protected. Given new hope. During the subaru share the love event, subaru owners feel it, too. Because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. Well have given 50 Million Dollars over seven years. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Then boom. What happened . Stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what . Lets build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. Introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiq™ technology. It tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. The difference . Try adjusting up or down. Youll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. Give the gift of amazing sleep, only at a sleep number store. Find our best buy rated c2 Queen Mattress with sleepiq. Know better sleep with sleep number. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. President obama all but scolding Sony Pictures today for scrapping plans to release the interview film. And sony hitting back in a way, telling cnn exclusively that they really had no choice. Now, the movie itself may be a farce. But the Bigger Picture here has very serious implications for u. S. National security. The chairwoman of the National Security committee. Senator Dianne Feinstein, whats your response . Heres my response. This is part of a much Bigger Picture. It really began in 2008 with robberies by cyber of both the royal bank of scotland and citibank, to the tune of about 8 million and 10 million, respectively. It has gone on and graduated to the point where most companies have been attacked one way or another. In the last two years, we have jpmorgan chase, we have home depot, we have ebay and we have target. Whats different to me about this attack is the monumental size of it, and secondly, there is extortion involved with it. In other words, the North Koreans are saying, unless you do this, we will do that. And this is where it becomes extraordinarily dangerous. In the six years that have gone by, we have no real policy to handle this. Right now, you can look at north korea, taken off the terrorist list, you can see this attack is in a sense a terrorist attack. You could put them back on. You can levy financial sanctions against them. But the big problem is developing an International Agreement with teeth to stop this kind of behavior because were going toward bloodshed, i believe, if we dont solve it. We have tried to pass a cyber information sharing bill. What do you mean by bloodshed . That seems like a very stark comment. Well, because you can respond in a number of different ways. Attacks can come in a number of different ways. There can be an attack on the electrical system of the United States, on airport computers of the United States. Were getting into the arena of major attacks. Right now, it has to do a great deal with private industry. But the cost for private industry is now in the trillions of dollars. And it has to be stopped. So the question comes, how do you stop it . One step is allow companies to share information, both with each other and through what we call a portal with the federal government and get responses, where necessary, from technicians in the federal government and be protected for liability for so doing. Thats part of our information sharing bill that we passed out of the Intelligence Committee that has been awaiting floor action. And we hope this next year, we will get it to the floor and get it passed. Let me ask you about the events of the last week when it comes to Sony Pictures. Do you think the decision by the Movie Theater chains and by Sony Pictures sets a dangerous precedent, as president obama said . I dont quite understand danger the response by sony sets a dangerous precedent . He was saying if sony caves in because north korea doesnt like this film, this silly stoner flick, what happens when north korea or another enemy of the United States doesnt like a documentary or doesnt like news or doesnt like a company . Like, did sony just blink and now we are all subject to that . Well, i listened to mr. Lynton very carefully for the excerpts that came through from Fareed Zakaria. I think he did practice all due diligence. He did call the white house. He has tried to work something out. He recognizes that their contracts with big theater companies, if they pull out, that obviously prompts a decision on his part. This is a complicated matter. And there is the question of liability. If something were to happen, who is liable for the loss of life . You heard mr. Lynton saying, so far in company, whether netflix or on demand or youtube, no one has stepped forward to offer to show this movie, presumably because theyre all so afraid that theyre going to be hacked, too . Well, thats correct. And thats why it is so important to take governmental action and assure americas business sector, americas entertainment sector, americas transportation sector, that the government has a plan and an ability to respond appropriately imminently. Now, this attack took place almost a month ago. So were 3 1 2 weeks into it and still going back and forth as to what might be done or who should have done what. And this cant continue to happen, in my view. This is a problem thats going to be with us for a very long time. And so we have to get certain strictures in place and the ability to handle it. Senator, as chair of the Intelligence Committee in the senate, do you think that north korea is acting alone here or do you suspect that there might be another country involved . Well, i have no way of knowing at this stage. I assume since the digital marks, as i understand it, come directly from north korea and this guardians of peace organization, which i gather is governmentenabled and probably controlled, that puts an onus on the government. I would hope that we can convince the North Koreans that this carries a very heavy price. And maybe its the beginning of america taking some actions. The eventual action has to be a worldwide agreement because we have these attacks from a number of different places. Certainly we have attacks from china. We have attacks from russia. We have attacks from iran and we have attacks from within our own country. So it has become a very sad way of life. And at some point, we face a disastrous attack. And this is what we must prevent. And only some international enforceable agreement is the way to solve it, that i can see. The fact is, weve gone on for six years now after these first two big attacks and it continues on. So i am one not to assess blame or say the blame has to be against us. We have to find a way to control these and respond to these and stop these. Thats not an easy thing to do. Senator Dianne Feinstein, thank you so much. Happy holidays to you. Same to you, jake. Its a place where the web isnt closed to being worldwide at all. How did north korea, according to the federal government, north korea hack into a multibilliondollar movie companys computers and spark all of this lunacy . Well show you how next. Also in the pop culture lead today folks, if this is your first time tuning in to the colbert report, i have terrible news. All the highlights from the final colbert report and my interview with the only man who can bring willsie nelson and cookie monster on stage together. Dont settle for 4g lte coverage thats smaller or less reliable when only one network is americas largest and most reliable 4g lte network verizon. With xlte, our 4g lte bandwidth has doubled in over 400 cities. And now, save without settling. Get 2 lines with 10gb of data for just 110. Or 4 lines for just 140. And get a 150 bill credit for each smartphone you switch. Only on verizon. Female announcer sleep trains ends sunday. E for 3 event its your last chance to get three years interestfree financing on beautyrest black, stearns foster, serta icomfort, even tempurpedic. Plus, get free delivery, and sleep trains 100day low price guarantee. But hurry sleep trains interest free for 3 event ends sunday. Guaranteed sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. We want to dig a little deeper on the world lead. Exactly how does u. S. Intelligence know for certain that north korea is behind the sony hacking . For nearly a month now, the fbi has been backtracking data released online, working to identify who put it there. Sources told cnn hackers stole the credentials of a sony administrator, then went to town. They lurked around the system for months, then stole information. At times the fbi thought even other countries like maybe iran or china might have been involved. So what led u. S. Intelligence to this point . Lets bring in cnn chief National Security correspondent, jim sciutto. How much evidence does the u. S. Have, evidence . This was a cyber sleuthing investigation that was as unprecedent unprecedented. Investigators working around the clock tracking the hackers around the world, from asia, including china, to europe, latin america, even servers here in the u. S. And as they went, they were eliminating other potential suspects, including china, iran, russia, but ultimately leading right back to north korea. The blame has been dealt. The u. S. Now calling out north korea, naming the rogue nation publicly as responsible for the sony hack. In a statement today, the fbi said, quote, the destructive nature of this attack coupled with its coercive nature sets it apart. We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Reporter the hackers sent investigators on a worldwide chase, routing the attack through servers ranging from countries in asia including china, then europe and latin america. Some servers in the u. S. Were even used. Still, the nsa and fbi were able to track the attack back to north korea and its government. Think of this as dirty tricks on a global scale. This has exceeded their expectations. They always make threats. Most people shrug off the threats. So threatening a cyber 9 11. The film is dead, they must be incredibly happy in pyongyang. Reporter now that the country behind those damaging keystrokes has been identified, the administration is looking how to respond. They caused a lot of damage. And we will respond. We will respond proportionally, and well respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. Reporter the u. S. Could impose sanctions on north koreas prized military complex. And further economic sanctions, including applying even tighter restrictions on pyongyangs access to dollardenominated trade, the states lifeline to fuel food and crucially weapons. But u. S. Officials arent calling the hack on act of terror or war. The cyber domain remains challenging, very fluid, part of the reason why its a challenging domain for us is there arent internationally accepted norms and protocols. Thats something that we here in the Defense Department have been certainly arguing for. The president today unyielding in his response and encouraging america and american businesses to be unyielding as well, not to be cowled by attacks like this. But the damage is defense. Tens of billions of dollars lost every year from Cyber Attacks emanating from just china alone. Thats over a number of years. And the country hasnt figured out a way to defend very well, partly its cost. Partly, its difficult to do. And partly is cooperation between the private sector and the government, as senator Dianne Feinstein mentioned to you. Its going to take some time. You heard her frustration, six years. Jim sciutto, thank you so much. Now we know how the u. S. Traced the cyber attack to north korea. But how did the hackers pull it off . Bruce clinger worked as the cias Deputy Division chief and monitored north and south korea. He joins me now. Just to be frank here, north koreas not exactly known for being sophisticated when it comes to data mining and anything have to do with hardware or software. Do you think, as the president suggested, that they are capable of doing this without the help of china or another country . Very much so. There is the perception of north korea as a technologically backward nation. If youve seen the nighttime photos of north korea, seems to be no electricity emanating. But they have an extensive Cyber Warrior capability. Weve had defectors from a unit called 121. There may be 3,000 of these Cyber Warriors in a unit subordinate to a security service. Additional cyber attackers can be in a military unit. North koreas in the top five of the countries that can have cyber attack. And these Cyber Warriors or cyber terrorists, theyre spread out throughout the globe, right . Theyre not just in north korea. Exactly. Theyre trained in north korea but they can also be trained in china and elsewhere. And the defectors have said they dont usually operate from north korea to reduce the signature. So they operate out of china, singapore, europe, perhaps the United States. But theyll use Computers Worldwide to hide their signatures. Insulting kim jongun or before him kim jongil, not exactly a new thing created by james franco and seth rogen. Any evidence north korea has tried anything like this before . Yes. They have done Cyber Attacks, u. S. And south korea has linked them to Cyber Attacks against u. S. Government agencies, south korea Government Agencies south korean banks, even dissident groups in the south. And north korea responds very strongly to anything they perceive as an insult to their leader. Theyve threatened south korean media organizations, even publishing the geographic ordinates of the headquarters as a way of making clear their message. Wow. Do you think north korea is expecting a response from the u. S. . They may not. There have been many times when theyve conducted military attacks, even leading to loss of life of u. S. And south korean citizens and the u. S. And seoul did not respond. So they may feel they have immunity really from a strong u. S. Or south korean response. Do you think that the u. S. Needs to respond . I think so. There are a number of things we can do. First of all, this attack may fulfill the legal requirements for putting north korea back on the state sponsors of terrorism list. It includes definitions of criminal acts conducted in the u. S. Intended to coerce the population. Also more broadly, there are a number of things we can do still on sanctions. North korea is not the most heavily sanctioned country in the world, despite the widespread perception. The u. S. , eu and u. N. Have put far more expansive, far stronger sanctions on iran. Thats one reason they came back to the table. Weve also done things on iran, burma, syria and zimbabwe that we havent done to north korea. We continue with sony in our pop culture lead. Today, two of the most famous people on the planet are speaking out. George clooney and president obama. President obama says the decision was a mistake. It says Something Interesting about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an allout assault on a movie studio because of a satirical movie starring seth rogen and jamie franco. I love seth and i love james. But the notion that that was a threat to them i think gives you some sense of the kind of regime were talking about here. As for George Clooney and maybe only a guy George Clooney big can rip into showbiz like this without fear of recrimination, he committed a statement arguing, they should not give into the demands of cyber terrorists. Quote, to give into these criminals now will open the door for any group that would threaten freedom of expression, privacy and personal liberty. We hope these hackers are brought to justice but until they are, we will not stand in fear. Joining me to talk about the ongoing fallout is matthew bellamy. Matthew, whats the response in hollywood to what the president had to say and then the sony response, that they had been working with the white house . I think youve got a clear backandforth here. The president was clear, he called it a mistake. He called out a studio for the way they handled this. I think people in hollywood were taken aback by that. He said it was a mistake to pull the film. Then he says that, just call me, if you wanted to talk about this, just call me, Michael Lynton of sony is saying they did call and talk with the white house. Clooney is not as alone as some might think. Celebrities have been taking to twitter blasting sonys decision. I want to get your reaction to what Comedian Chris Rock had to say. Take a listen. This whole thing is just scary, man. Somebody emails, its your private stuff the whole town is scared. Everybodys got to be scared. Away from twitter, is that how people in hollywood feel . I think so. I think there are two things going on here. There is a fear of the personal stuff, of peoples personal emails and exchanges being exposed and kind of the cyber attack on the industry. And then i think theres a larger fear. Theres the Chilling Effect that might go on here. You have essentially a studio saying, were not going to release a film that offends a country. And we know that it was the theater owners that sort of backed them into this decision. But thats the way the talent is perceiving this. That a studio is now not releasing a film because a country doesnt like it. And the effects on that, on future movies, on future subjects of media, i think are only beginning. And were already seeing that paramount pulling a screening of a steve carell film set in north korea, was supposed to start shooting in march. Thats been scrapped. I would be afraid if i depended on creative expression and the freedom of speech to do my craft. I think if youre a screenwriter and you have a script that is set in north korea, you might as well throw it in the trash right now because its not going to get made. Every studio is going to reevaluate the political sensitivities of every movie they put in production. I think that ultimately is going to have a negative impact on the output of the industry. And we in journalism rely on the same freedom of the press, freedom of speech. This is chilling. Today its just movies. Tomorrow, it could be much, much more. And president obamas comments on that subject were very on point. He said, what if they dont like a documentary or a media report . Every one of us is in a Creative Media industry. And were producing content that are ultimately going to offend certain people around the world. Now we have an example of that media being silenced because a particular person doesnt like it. Thank you so much, matt. Hope you have a good holiday season. No problem. President obama now headed for hawaii, the hard part of his day finally finished. Now well analyze his words after his News Conference a few hours ago. The politics beyond the podium, plus the legacy he is trying to leave behind. Thats coming up next. Narrator these are the skater kid whoa narrator that got torture tested by teenagers and cried out for help. From the surprised designers. Who came to the rescue with a brilliant fix male designer i love it narrator which created thousands of new customers for the tennis shoes that got torture tested by teenagers. The internet of everything is changing manufacturing. Is your Network Ready . You never dwell on how you dont it was made. Ut it. Its just a blanket after all. But when Everything Else has been lost, the comfort it provides is immeasurable. The america red cross brings hope and help to people in need every 8 minutes, every day. So this season give something that means something. Support us at redcross. Org welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. Now our politics lead. Like most of the American People, president obama today seemed all set to put his office in the Rearview Mirror and get out of town for some vacay. In a few hours, that means a stroll across the white house south lawn, onto air force one and off to hawaii. But where we have to go through tsa acts and submit our bags and shoes to inspections, president s have to subject themselves to fullon probes from the White House Press corps. The president began today by bulletpointing his achievements. More jobs, more people insured, a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, Booming Energy pick any metric that you want, americas resurgence is real. We are better off. But in between laying out the playbook for what he called his Fourth Quarter in office, the president was asked about north korea and cuba and Race Relations and more. Here to discuss it all, cnn political commentator Stephanie Cutter and ana cabrera. David also joins us. He seemed to be in a great mood, a better mood than ive seen him in years. Eggnog. Eggnog. It was barack obama he was as loose as he would be on a Basketball Court playing pickup basketball. Because he was in some senses liberated, liberated by defeat, first of all, with no other elections to lose and by the forward action of what hes done in the last couple of things. Ana, how much do you think cuba and his move on cuba is actually going to have any negative consequences for him . The American People seem, at least according to polls, behind a shift. I know its going to be a big issue in the republican primaries. But do you think its going to hurt obama at all . I think thats nor why he timed it for when he did. Both with immigration and cuba he timed it for after the 2014 elections. I think everybody whos dealt with president obama has been watching him when he was candidate obama, snows this is probably something he wanted to do from day one. And politics, the restraint of politics have kept him from doing it. Remember, there was a close congressional race in south florida. Supposed to be a close governors race in florida. I think he didnt want the cubans come november to remember. Now those restraints are gone. He doesnt have a price to pay. Others may but it wont be him. By the time 2016 rolls around, i hope this will be a moot point. Those castro brothers are looking old and frail. Stephanie, what else is on this list of i feel like president obama has cuba, check, immigration executive action guantanamo, closing guantanamo. What else can he do or will he try to do . I have seen a lot of these press conferences. This was vintage obama. He was energetic, he was incredibly optimistic about the future but also what i really liked about it, more aggressively talking about what weve accomplished. Over the course of the next year, i think youll continue to see significant action. Weve got climate standards, firstever climate standards to protect this country. Weve got International Climate negotiations taking place for the first time. China is submitting to standards. These are all executive actions, not congressional but he was very clear he really does want to work with congress. He wants to find Common Ground on some of the things we can agree to. Yeah, kind of. He said trade, trade measurements. Trade is important. He was issuing veto like, if you dry to come after the wall street reform bill, i will veto it and you cannot override my veto. He all but said he would veto keystone. Not totally sure on that one. What he said today about keystone, about how this was not going to create very many jobs in the United States he said that a month ago, too. But i think the question still is can he build the alliances and does he even want to . Hes done everything i think obama went into office wanting to be a great president. I think he was thwarted in many respects by himself and by the opposition. And now i think hes doing everything he can to try to reach some level of that. And so some of it is by an odd form of leadership. I dont think weve ever seen a leader quite like barack obama before. Hes not that great at building alliances. Hes not necessarily the strongest at making the world think theyre afraid of him. And yet hes been able to get a lot done. Hes made a calculation. Hes not going to be able to do the big permanent solutions, not on things like immigration. He cant lift the embargo because its codified in law. But the things he can do, hes decided, im liberated and if im going alone, thats what im going to do. He told us this was what he was going to do back in the state of Union Earlier this year. He said, im going to use the power of my pen. Now that the elections have passed. He is a caged bird thats been released. He has been in political quarantine for the entire Political Campaign season. Hes out and hes the caged bird singing. Stephanie, what do you expect to happen in 2015 . Is it going to be more gridlock or do you think theyre going to be able to come to terms on something . I think theyll come to terms on things. I think this is not atypical of president s entering in the final two years of their presidencies. With bill clinton, i worked in the Clinton White house for the tail end of that presidency. He was just coming off impeachment at this point. But he was still able to Work Across Party Lines 67 approval rating. Obamas at 42 . This is more like 95 in some sense, comparing clinton and obama. You remember bill clinton had to give the press conference where he said, im still relevant. Obamas already done that. Youve got to have drunk some of that spiked punch, too, to be believing that my point is executive actions are a common tool for president s at this stage of their presidency saying hes relevant without actually saying, im still relevant. Thank you all so much. Happy holidays to all of you. Up next in our pop culture lead i promised you a revolution. I have delivered. Technically, one revolution is 360 degrees right back to where we were. Thats the thing about Stephen Colbert, sometimes the truth hurts. His thoughts, his last word as he says his final goodbyes to the nation. You used to sleep like a champ. Then boom. What happened . Stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what . Lets build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. Introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiq™ technology. It tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. The difference . Try adjusting up or down. Youll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. Give the gift of amazing sleep, only at a sleep number store. Find our best buy rated c2 Queen Mattress with sleepiq. Know better sleep with sleep number. Finally, a new Television Show premieres and changes the world. Open wide, baby bird, because mommas got a big, fat night crawler of truth. Here comes the colbert report. Welcome back to the lead. That was Stephen Colbert on his First Episode of the colbert report which ended its incredible nineyear run last night. In all the episodes, colberts done it all and seen it all. Interviewed president s and celebrities alike. Had a nasa treadmill named after him, hosted a rally on the National Mall to restore sanity and or fear. Last night on the final report he brought back a few friends, including your humble anchor. To send the character into immortality. In all truthiness it was undeniably the best television finale ive ever been involved in. After a celebrated nineyear run, Stephen Colbert, the kashlt, not the comedian, bid a fond farewell to the colbert nation last night. If this is your first time tuning in, i have terrible news. Reporter colberts been a satirical newsman since 1997, two years before jon stewart even came on board. Well meet again reporter and now after nine years behind the anchor desk, Stephen Colbert ended his run as Stephen Colbert, the satirical anchor. Sars from all genres joined in one voice, even henry kiss ging as big bird carried the tune. Colbert took the helm in 2005. Youre my date. This is before your show. If you meet tom brady reporter you get up at some point in the meal. Very polite. You get up. About 45 minutes later you come back and you said, i just made a deal to have my own show. Yes. I told you what it was. Reporter you told me what it was. You said, thats a terrible idea. Reporter i said, i loved you as a correspondent. You poured cold water on it. Reporter i was worried about it. You were. I remember thinking, hey, what . Reporter because i didnt know if you could do the character for a half hour. I didnt either. I knew i could do it for half an hour. Im not sure if i could do it more than once. Maybe by the second guy, people would say, that guys a complete ahole, why am i doing it . Your instincts are terrible. Not journalistic. Your show business instincts. Reporter what a wild ride its been for the colbert nation, from colbert hosting the white house Correspondents Dinner and roasting president bush to hosting his show in a war zone and of course all of this running for president , saving the olympics, Colbert Super pac, treadmill in space, the rally to restore sanity and or fear none of that was really me. You, the nation, did all of that. I Just Got Paid for it. Reporter colbert now moves up the street in manhattan to cbs and the famed ed sullivan theater will he will succeed David Letterman as host of the late show. He will just be Stephen Colbert. Stephen, we hardly knew ye. Heres to getting to know stephen all over again. Okay, thats the show. Thats it for the lead. Im jake tapper. I now turn you over to wolf blitzer in the situation room. Have a great weekend. Happening now, breaking news, calling out sony. President obama weighs in on the exploding controversy saying the studio should not have bowed to terror threats as the fbi lays blame for the devastating cyber attack directly, publicly on north korea. Sony responds. The ceo talks exclusively to cnn, contradicting the president , saying hes mistaken. Will sony still give audiences a chance to see the movie at the center of this drama . Axis of evil, experts say the sony attack was too sophisticated to be carried out by north korea alone. Did kim jonguns regime have help . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room