Structure structures in our political system, as envisioned by the founders, that sometimes theyre going to disadvantage democrats, but the truth of the matter is, is that if we have a strong message, if were speaking to what the American People care about, typically you know, the popular vote and the Electoral College vote will align, and i guess part of my overall message here as i leave for the holidays is that if we looked for one explanation or one silver bullet, or one easy fix for our politics, then were probably
initiative and School Nutrition program is a greater threat to democracy than our government going after the press if theyre issuing a story we dont like. I mean thats an issue that i think weve got to wrestle with. And we will. People asked me how do you feel after the election . I say well, look, this is a clarifying moment. Its a useful reminder that voting counts, politics counts, what the President Elect is going to be doing is going to be very different than what i was doing, and i think people will be able to compare and contrast and make judgments about what worked for the American People,
listen to some of what he said there. In early september, when i saw President Putin in china, i felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didnt happen was to talk to him directly, and tell him to cut it out, and there were going to be some serious consequences if if he didnt. Reporter okay, now that warning and there will be consequences, obviously that didnt stop this process of selective leaks, of continued hacks that we know from intelligence officials still continue to this day. So obviously that warning of consequences was ineffective and the president didnt really address that aspect of it, but i think what he tried to do throughout this Press Conference was explain his behavior, his choices in great detail, and also defend them, and we saw a defense of how he handled the hacking initially. We saw a defense of the fbi and how they acted, defense of the
timing of the release of that information, and also an extensive defense on how the u. S. Has handled the situation, the absolutely wrenching situation ongoing in aleppo. Listen to some of that. Part of the goal here was to make sure that we did not do the work of the leakers for them by raising more and more questions about the integrity of the election right before the leck was taking place, at a time, by the way, when the President Elect himself was raising questions about the integrity of the election. Reporter so there you heard his defense of the timing, of naming russia, of the Political Forces involved. Of course, you know, how that happened, how it all played out ultimately is the open debate thats raging right now. I mean, there has been criticism of how that happened coming not just from republicans, from democrats. So the president wanted to lay
out why they felt in fact he spelled it out in those words. He said that he felt that he did what he should have done, how his administration handled it. He feels that his administration allowed the Intelligence Community to do their jobs, and he kind of left it at that. He also Didnt Want To Wade too far into other, you know, really difficult issues right now like the electors, who might not vote, cast their votes for donald trump. The criticism of the fbi and coming from democrats that that may have contributed to the outcome of the election, so there are things that, you know, as expected, he didnt want to go into too much detail on but you saw him here wanting to fully take this opportunity at length to explain his decisions and once again maybe for the last time try to make the case to the American Public of why he felt he was doing, you know, the
best under the circumstances, and trying to protect them. Jake . Michelle kosinski at the white house thanks so much. The now to how the u. S. Came to point fingers at russia. Sources confirming an internal message sent from cia director john brennan that the fbi and u. S. Intelligence, the National Security director, as well, sorry the director of National Intelligence as well as the director of the cia, all of them, including the fbi russia tried to undermine u. S. Politics and this is important, this is significant, and that one of their motivations was to try to help donald trump win the election. Joining me now cnn chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. Jim, there has not been unanimity on what the motivation of russia was. The news that the fbi now agrees with cia director brennan, that seems significant. Well it is. I think one point to make is that there was less disagreement than some reporting and then some gop lawmakers have been
saying, speaking to multiple officials both in the Intelligence Agencies and in Law Enforceme enforcement, this is what is new today. Cia director john brennan feeling the need to write the entire cia staff an internal message that said the following, there is strong consensus on the scope, Nature And Zpent jake noted it was key of russian hacking. Let me add this caveat. You never know intent for sure, thats looking into the minds of president Vladimir Putin and people working for him. Their analysis is there were multiple intents, one undermine the political process, sow doubts here in america about the president ial election. In addition to that weaken Hillary Clinton through the releases of emails and internal communications and thereby help donald trump. My understanding from speaking to multiple intelligence officials is that early on, even russia may not have judged that donald trump was going to win this election, but as he
continued to improve his chances, there say perception, judgment and assessment inside the cia that they believe russia went, in effect, allin for donald trump. Again, thats their assessment with the necessary caveats that they cant know for sure but another thing here. There have been reports out there, also been charges you might say from lawmakers that the fbi and the cia are disagreeing that the cia is alone in making this assessment, that the intention may very well have been to help donald trump. In fact im told by people on both sides of the river that, is from Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies that that disaxwreegreement is overblown. They find that plausible and the cia believes it has more evidence that was the the case. Ive spoken to a lot of people inside the agencies. There is enormous frustration and anger among intelligence agents and analysts and the cia, and a number of things, attacks
on them, questioning of the work that they do, charges that they are politicizing the intelligence here, going in for Hillary Clinton, say by making this assessment. Enormous frustration there. Theyre trying to do their job and what youre hearing in this communication from the cia director to them, listen, were on the same page. Dont hear what you say about disagreement between us and the cia. We like what youre doing, we respect what youre doing, up necessary message. Lets bring in our panel now to talk about the president s Press Conference, we have usa today columnist keirston powers, republican pollster Kristen Soltis anderson, senior political analyst david gergen, as well as David Axelrod. And let me start with you, keirston. The president coming out making a Strong Defense of himself, of his administration, of the decisions hes made and very
specifically criticizing not just the russians, but things that donald trump, the President Elect, has said and done regarding russia. He also was pretty critical of the media as well, he felt the media didnt do their job covering the issue appropriately, that the media went overboard in covering things that he referred to was in the wikileaks emails basically sort of Routine Information that was embarrassing but shouldnt be getting the front page coverage that it was getting and basically saying we put the information out there and you guys didnt do enough with it and i actually agree with him on the coverage of the more salacious or silly stuff that wasnt relevant. I dont necessarily agree on the other side. I think its the job of the people in power to make issues for people for the press to follow them and highlight them for being important, thats how things often get covered, and thats how people often know whats important. Kristen, President Obama citing a poll that suggests that
37 of republicans in the United States have a favorable impression of Vladimir Putin. I believe thats a higher favorable rating among republicans than President Obama has, and his point being was that donald trump the President Elect has been cozying up for want of a better word, praising putin. We have become a very tribal nation so when people are listening to these Poll Questions theyre responding from sort of partisan instincts. Youve seen not only improvements in the flafrt toward Vladimir Putin but wikileaks, where three years ago those numbers flipped p republicans slightly more positive toward wikileaks and a lot of this was in part aided by much of the discussion before the election about the need for this election to be taken seriously and treated as legitimate and now republicans, having won the election are feeling a little bit like well you told us we needed to accept these results. Now were being told this election was illegitimate. I think thats some of the emotional response. Maybe we like Vladimir Putin and we like wikileaks. Its not all republicans and youll see in some of the Confirmation Hearings for the Secretary Of State, some republican senators who are opposed to what russia is doing. Some of the conflicts between existing republican senators and the new President Elect potentially coming out. At one point President Obama knew about these hacks and suggested of course he did. Take a listen to that. The intelligence that ive seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the russians carried out this hack. Not much happens in russia without Vladimir Putin. Let me go to David Axelrod now and david, did anything President Obama say surprise you . It seemed to me that he was very aggressively linking donald trump and the russians and i dont know that thats going to
help make the case to the country, which some of whom did vote for donald trump, the President Elect that this russian hack should be taken very seriously. First of all on the previous point about the poll, i think the point he was trying to make is not that a third of the republicans are soft on putin, but the point that kristen made, which is that we have become so polarized, that even on Something Like putin, partisan tribal instincts kick in and you see these great shifts and what he was making the case that we shouldnt do that. I actually thought, jake, that he was trying not to be, to done thematory of donald trump, but he was making a point that trump, throughout the campaign, has or throughout this issue has minimized and dismissed this, and theres a danger in that. His overarching point it seemed to me was this was an incursion
on our national sovereignty. This is not a democratic issue or a republican issue. Setting aside of what the intent or motivation was, it was an alarming intrusion on our political process by Vladimir Putin, and that should be a source of concern to everyone, and on this point, jim sciutto mentioned earlier how dismayed the Intelligence Community, i assume the fbi is about the characterization of their roles in this. I thought one important part of this Press Conference was the president s stout defense of those people who do that work. He was talking about the fbi and he said they work hard, they save lives. Its important for the president of the United States to stand up for our institutions, and i think the president was trying very hard to do that in this Press Conference. David gergen lets talk about that last point. Obviously the fbi just in the last 4 hours has really been under fire by former Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, who in a room full of donors faulted
james comey for the letter and her, what she perceives to be his interference in the election, costing her the election, and then john podesta, Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, today in the Washington Post laying out in an oped how he thinks the fbi is really performing in a subpar manner and its behavior during the election was indefensible in John Podestas view. As David Axelrod pointed out President Obama a strong defender of the fbi today. He was a very strong defender of the fbi, and i think, jake, his whole Press Conference underscored just how dramatic a change we are having in american government. Ever since the end of world war ii, when one president has succeeded another, the two president s, the old one and new one almost always agree on the nature of the threat we face as americans, but disagree sometimes on the means of dealing with it. In this case, President Obama has a completely different view of the threat we face from russia than donald trump does. He lay squarely on the russia, at the russians feet, blamed for whats happening in aleppo we wouldnt have this slaughter were it not for the russians bringing in armaments and saving assad and the question on the election and the hacking. The russians are squarely behind that and here weve got donald trump coming in with a completely different sense of reality in effect going we want to cozy up to the russians. Vladimir putin can be our friend. Hes the strong man i admire. I admire him and 37 of the American People follow along with trump and say that, too. Were in New Territory here on so many different fronts, and i think it makes the Trump Presidency not just fascinating but it also makes it, you know, very, very, makes people feel very uneasy in washington in
places like the fein and the cia, where they want to do their jobs and they fear they have a president who comes in, who is coming in, who is hostile toward them, who has a very different sense of reality and they dont know where that goes. Of course, at home you might be forgiven for wondering if russia did all of this as the u. S. Intelligence agencies and President Obama allege russian officials did. What is the United States going to do about it . President obama did briefly address that. Take a listen. I told russia to stop it, and indicated there will be consequences when they do it. Our goal continues to be to send a clear message to russia or others not to do this stuff because we can do this stuff to you. Clarissa ward is live in moscow. President obama saying there will be consequences for russias actions. Has moscow reacted to that
threat yet and do they worry at all, given the fact that they are so overjoyed, according to your reporting and others, with the election of donald trump . Reporter well theres been no official response yet, and i wouldnt hold your breath in terms of any major shift in the Russian Party line which has been this is ludicrous, this is nonsense, prove it or move on. Its indecent, was the word the kremlin spokesperson used today to describe these constant accusations but i think you also heard President Obama during that Press Conference really illuminating the two main reasons that it is so difficult to respond to russia and to respond to President Putin in particular. The first one being that naming and shaming dont work. Naming russia doesnt work because russia just denies it, whether its hacking, whether its when the Little Green Men first appeared in crimea, you might remember President Putin initially denied there was anything going on there. Shaming weve seen clearly doesnt work as in aleppo
particularly, in that example. So theres a sense that you have a tough situation on your hands as a u. S. President , when youre trying to respond to Something Like this, because you cant name, you cant shame and the second difficulty becomes that because russia is engaging in what is essentially hybrid warfare, you cant really respond in a conventional way and you certainly cant respond in a public way, and unlike president Vladimir Putin, who doesnt really have to answer to his voters, i think the u. S. President does feel some pressure from the American People to answer to them to explain what is being done to punish russia or to retaliate or ensure Something Like this never happens again, and what President Obama was essentially saying there is you cant really do that in this type of situation. So he then says i cant illuminate for you, i cant tell you exactly how im going to respond and im sure thats bound to leave some people feeling was that a weak answer, is it a copout . Why wont he name President Putin directly and say exactly
whats going to be done in terms of retaliation. It struck me it illustrates some of the ways in which it is so difficult to respond to the unique set of threats that russia and President Putin present to the u. S. Jake . Clarissclarissa, let me ask h your Senior International correspondent hat, somebody who has covered Whats Going On in syria, from the front lines, President Obama said he feels responsible every time he sees images from syria, whether its children being killed by sniper fire or anyone being slaughtered but that ultimately, he said i understand the impulse to try to do something, but then ultimately when it came to a decision and finding a decision on what to do about syria and the civil war, finding a solution that was sustainable and realistic and good for the United States, that he ended up where he ended up and he doesnt know that its successful but he doesnt know that he would arrive at a different decision,
having covered Whats Going On in syria, what was your response when you heard him say that . I think my response was its clear that President Obama, that this does weigh on him heavily. He has said this a number of times, that it keeps him up at night, that he does feel some sort of responsibility. I think maybe privately he might acknowledge that there was a window at some point where the u. S. Probably could have done more, where the u. S. Potentially could have saved more lives, but what weve seen the president do over and over again is try to present syria as a situation where there were only two options open to the u. S. Do a little bit of not that much, which is what the u. S. Ultimately went for, or go full scale boots on the ground, Hundreds Of Thousands of troops invasion. Personally, from what i have seen on the ground, from what i have heard from allies who were supporting the rebels, i do believe there was a middle
ground option, although i do not think anyone would argue that there have ever been any easy answers in syria, but certainly weve seen President Obama repeatedly try to present this as it was a choice between what we did or a full scale invasion and i still think i did the right thing by doing what we did. Obviously hes interested in preserving his legacy but i think you heard there as he talked about the ways in which hes haunted by quha is happening in syria he is aware history may not be so kind t may be a stain on his legacy. David axelrod, there are no easy answers about syria, but do you accept that President Obama largely tries to present this as the two choices, either not really do much of anything, which is Whats Going On right now, or full scale invasion, and he kind of leaves out the fact that there were other options, including more fully arming
syrian moderate rebels, creating a no fly zone, trying more emphatically to get arab nation troops on the ground there. What is your insight . First of all just knowing him as i do, when he says he anguishes over this, i know that to be true. I dont think anything influences him more than children. He said this is the first time i cried in the oval office, and whenever a child is in distress or being wronged, hes also someone who tend to ask the question then what . The question that wasnt asked when the invasion of iraq took place, so you heard him articulate it here. I dont think he was particularly defensive today. He was laying out his reasoning
and history will judge whether it was right or wrong. His reasoning this would have sucked us into a conflict that would have grown and would have enveloped us in the way the past conflict did and the country could not afford that, couldnt stand that. Whether he would disagree im sure there was a viable middle ground and that again will be debated by history but i dont think anyone should conclude that he was looking for a way not to solve this problem i think he desperately wanted to find a seclusion. You talk to people around the white house this is something that haunts them. David gergen, it does seem as though president s and historians judge themselves harshly when it comes to inaction in situations such as this, im thinking about
president bill clinton and rwanda. The public doesnt really have much interest getting involved in foreign wars or better or worse, often for worse when it comes to innocent lives being slaughtered. Thats a very good point, jake. Its certainly true that george w. Bush will be remembered far more for going into iraq than President Obama remembered for staying out of syria. The syrian situation became a lot more complicated when there was a dramatic Turning Point when the russians got in. That made it a lot harder to look at any middle ground, and this thing has gone south ever since that happened. The russians have been blocking actions of the u. N. You would think by this time the u. N. Would have teams in there to save these poor civilians and when you have the russian blocking thing you cant get anywhere. I just think thats why donald
trump represents 180degree turn in how we think about the russians, how to respond to them and how to move ahead in the world. Kristen, what tuning about President Obamas response when it came to talking about aleppo . He said i cannot claim that my strategy has been successful. I appreciate that President Obama is anguished as we are when we see the horrific footage and photos. Anguish doesnt Save The Children of alep poe. There have been folks all along before russia got involved that have been saying we need to arm moderate rebels there, because now you have situations where you have cities that were first taken by isis, liberated by assad and liberated from isis, because the one good potential side was never fully supported by the u. S. So a feckless half measure led us to where we are and created a vacuum where russia was able to step in and take stronger measures. President elect donald trump sounds less interested in getting involved in syria and iraq than President Obama was. I also think to a certain extent we dont know what would have happened if we armed the rebels. Now the people can say if we just would have armed the rebels all of these great things would have happened. It could have easily gone badly. Weve armed rebels in the past and its gone badly. We didnt know who the rebels were so we could be giving arms to potentially isis actually. The president did a Painstaking Step By step going through all of the Different Things he had to think through making this decision and it weighs heavily on him and i think he was in a really tough decision in making this call, and in a way well never really know whether it would have made a difference or not. Kristen, kirsten, david, david, thank you so much. Our breaking news coverage. Congressman sean duffy, republican of wisconsin, when we come back will weigh in on
President Obamas final News Conference of the year. Stay with us. Dont stare at me. See me. See me. See me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. Im not contagious. See me to know that. I wont stop until i find what works. Discover cosentyx, a different kind of medicine for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Proven to help the majority of people find clear or almost clear skin. 8 out of 10 people saw 75 Skin Clearance at 3 months. While the majority saw 90 clearance. Do not use if you are allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, you should be tested for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. See me. See me. See me. On my way. Find clear skin. And a clearer path forward. For a different kind of medicine, ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. So we know how to cover almost almoanything. Hing, even a rodent ridealong. [dad] alright, buddy, dont forget anything [kid] i wont, dad. [captain rod] happy Tuesday Morning captain rod here. Its pretty hairy out on the interstate. Traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. Getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. December 14th, 2015. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum you recommend synthetic and can yover cedar . To me why super food . Is that a real thing . Its a great school, but is it the right the one for her . Is this really any better than the one you got last year . If we consolidate suppliers whats the savings there . So should we go with the 467 horsepower . Or is a 423 enough . Good question. You ask a lot of good questions. I think we should move you into our new fund. Ok. Sure. But are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed . Wealth management, at charles schwab. Welcome back to the lead. Im jake tapper. The russians are responsible for hacking the dnc and john podesta and that his administration laid out the facts when it released a joint statement accusing the russians of orchestrating Cyber Attacks against u. S. Political targets. I wanted to make sure everybody understood we were playing straight, werent trying to advantage one side or another. Joining me to discuss this all republican congressman sean duffy from wisconsin, a member of President Elect trumps transition executive team. Congressman thanks so much for joining us. Great to be with you jake, thanks for having me on. You heard the president say russia is directly responsible for the hacks and there was no attempt before the election to spin the fact for the political ben fit of Hillary Clinton. Whats your response . If you remember in the middle of October Trmp Trrp was saying this election was going to be rigged. Ive come on cnn the elections not going to be requirigged. Fair and free. President obama said to donald trump stop whining, mag the case to the American People. Never did he say russia was involved in this election and now after the election the president s come out and we see leaks from the intelligence department, Media Reports have come out as well about russian involvement. The problem that we have is, we havent seen any reports yet. The Intelligence Community hasnt come to the hill and briefed deb nunez, nor senator ron johnson, chairman of Homeland Security in the senate so we have great reservation how this played out and i think a key point is, one, if russia was involved, russias hacking, i want to know that. I think the American People deserve to know that but the truth is, i agree with barack obama. We had a free and fair election, all votes that were cast were
counted and the dnc hack or the hack in to Clinton Clintonhilla email through john podesta, nobody cared about the attacks. This didnt drive the opinion. They looked at the economy, security and strong leadership. They didnt care that the dnc was involved helping Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders or some of the internal scandals and strive inside the Hillary Clinton campaign that came out through the podesta emails. Those were nonfactors so the hack didnt impact the outcome but that they were trying, we should actually know about that and i support any investigation to find out what involvement they are trying to have. One other point, jake, russia should be pretty good at hacking and if were going to have some influence, try to have some real influence on the election. They were miserable failures if they just did the dnc and podesta. You might be conflating the idea of hacking into voting
machines to change vote counts. Thats one of the things that i think was being debated before the election, whether there would be an attempt to do that and that obviously did not happen and i think thats what President Obama talked about before the election in terms of go out and make your case, but then in terms of what effect did the election, i mean i guess we dont know. Hillary clinton could have gone to wisconsin after the convention, your home state and the kremlin didnt tell her not to do that. Theres any number of factors that could have played a role, were talking about 80,000 votes in three states and Hillary Clinton would be President Elect right now, so the idea that maybe this played a role, well never know but maybe it did. Surely you would want to know what russia did. Sounds like thats what youre saying, that Congress Needs to get to the bottom of it. I totally agree with that but i do think sometimes i think the media can conflate the two as well and say russia hacked and then therefore had an
influgs on the election. I can speak for my part of the state of wisconsin, and it had no bearing on the decision that the people made on who they were going to vote for. It was embarrassing stuff but not really things that drove the electorate one way or the other, in my opinion, from the voters that i saw, and again going back to President Obamas statements at the beginning in the middle of october, you know, if there was hacks coming in from russia, he should have talked about that with donald trump and said you know what . There is an issue here. This election could be rigged not by the Voting Machines but because of russian influence and we should have had a whole vetting of that in october but if not why wont the Intelligence Community come to the hill and vet members of congress . Why are we getting this information through leaks instead of in a secure setting on the hill . Thats a Head Scratcher for a lot of us in congress. We look forward to them briefing you and open hearings as well. Congressman duffy thanks so much, appreciate your time
thanks, jake. Hillary Clintons Campaign manager says the fbis handling of the russian hacking shows something is deeply broken at the agency. Does the nations top Law Enforcement official agree . Ill ask Attorney General Loretta Lynch next. Y red tag sa. This thing is a beast. Steel or aluminum . Steel. Why . Science. Its gonna hold up over aluminum, big time. You can get special Holiday Pricing and when you find your red tag, you get thousands more cash back. Thats two deals in one. Two deals sound better than one. Thats a forsure thing for me. During the red tag sales event, get two deals in one. Find your tag for an average total value over ninetysix hundred dollars on Chevy Silverado all stars. Find new roads at your local chevy dealer. What Makesheart Healthysalad the becalifornia walnuts. R . The best simple veggie dish ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. The best simple dinner ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. Great tasting, heart healthy california walnuts. So simple. Get the recipes at walnuts. Org. Signer attack on u. S. Election systems, blames a long time grudge held by russian president Vladimir Putin. John podesta also took some time and blame for the Sprawling Hack that ensnared her candidacy. He faulted failures at the fbi and podesta called out fbi director james comey. Now the fbi however is pushing back. Evan perez joins me now. Evan, youve been reporting on fbi warnings of attempted hacks since the summer. How do you recall officials describing their response . Jake, i think whats happening right now is members of the Clinton Campaign are trying to explain to their supporters how they lost this election and Hillary Clinton met with some of our donors and she described it this way. Take a listen. We have to recognize that, as the latest reports made clear, Vladimir Putin himself directed the covert Cyber Attacks against
our electoral system, against our democracy, apparently because he has a personal beef against mimi. Against me. Hillary Clintons Campaign manager john podesta wrote an oped in the Washington Post in addition to the fact that the fbi director sent these letters just before the election that talked about the finding of new emails, he also said that the fbi did not work hard enough to investigate the dnc hacks, certainly not as hard as they did to pursue the Email Investigation. They left voice mails with an i. T. Staffer. Jake, weve been reporting on this since the summer and our reporting scholes the fbi one official told me they called the dnc 11 times they reached out to the dnc, they reached out to the dncs general counsels office, they went so far as to invite the dnc to an exercise to a briefing where they could get an idea of how these things are
done. The dnc declined. So the fbi did not do everything perfectly here but there was a little bit morrow bust response than podesta makes it out to be. Some spinning coming from the dnc why this wasnt their fault. Owe des ta suggested the fbi should have investigated the hacks by the russians with the same intensity and manpower that it used to investigate Hillary Clintons private email server. Is that a fair charge . Are the cases too different to compare . Theyre very different. One case were talking about the clinton and her staff being the targets of an investigation, of a criminal investigation, and then the other the dnc, they were victims of a crime. You could only go so far to encourage a victim to cooperate. If they decline theres not much more they can do. They didnt call the Security Company that she should have done and look at it from the Point Of View of the dnc, they dont necessarily want the fbi in their business. We can understand perhaps why this went this way. Interesting, thank you so much. Attorney general Loretta Lynch oversees the entire Justice Department and this includes of course the fbi. Earlier today i sat down with her exclusively and i asked her to respond to what poe des spod said in his oped in his case against the fbi. He said hes surprised to read in the New York Times when the fbi discovered the russian attack in September Of 2015 it failed to even send a single agent to warn senior dnc officials. Instead messages were left with the dnc i. T. Help desk. Is that an accurate description of the outreach to the fbi did to the dnc and if so, is that sufficient . So as weve talked about earlier this year, the investigation into the hacks of the dnc and the d triple c is an Ongoing Investigation, an active investigation so im not able to comment on the specifics of how people were contacted but i can say that the fbi has
worked closely with those organizations, both to discuss what weve learned about the hacks to gather information about them so that we can continue this investigation. Whether or not you can get into specifics, is it true that there was this level of calling the dnc that doesnt sound particularly competent or doesnt sound like it had the urgency that one would think . Is that basic description that podesta makes, is it accurate . I can tell you this investigation was taken seriously from the beginning. This is an incredibly serious issue. I cant comment on mr. Podestas sources or where he gets his information or why he has that view. What i can say is that hes not involved in the Ongoing Investigation so he wouldnt be privy to everything that would have been done or said to that. But as i said, hes entitled to his opinion, but what im what hes not entitled to is facts. I wonder if his facts are accurate. He finds it downright infewer
yaiting nearly the exact same time no one could bother to drive ten minutes from the agency. He is suggesting without question that Hillary Clintonese email server got more attention from the Justice Department and the fbi than this Hack Investigation by russia, which i think its fair to say seems fairly serious. Well thats an Ongoing Investigation so i would say its been taken very seriously. Did the clinton Email Investigation get more attention than the hacks . You cant characterize it and i dont think that it is going to be helpful to try and draw equivalencies to any investigation with others to say and therefore it means that one was more or less important. Because as i said, one is resolved right now. One is finished and one is very active and very ongoing, so there you see a great deal of Activity Still continuing. I know you cant comment on the active investigation but let me just put it this way. John podesta is out there trashing the fbi. And hes saying that the investigation into the hacks of the dnc was substandard. Thats clearly what hes saying. Do you agree with that characterization . I dont. I dont. First of all, the investigation isnt even over, so i think its impossible to characterize it in any one way or the other. Again, i know where mr. Podesta is on taking information. Said the New York Times, a big long New York Times story which im sure you read. I know also because of his involvement with the campaign hell have a certain interest with this and a certain view of that, and so i again i allow him his opinion. Everyone has a great deal of respect for him so i allow him that opinion but i disagree with that if that is the characterization hes trying to make. I think youve got to look at every investigation separately. Youve got to look at every case separately, and youve got to allow for the fact that the way in which someone may be contacted isnt indicative of the full relationship that they developed or the response that
they may have gotten initially from that organization as well. And you can see my entire interview with outgoing Attorney General Loretta Lynch this sunday. I speak exclusively with former republican president ial nominee senator john mccain. See both on State Of The Union at 9 00 a. M. Eastern right here on cnn. Coming up, an American Hero displaying bravery. You may have never heard his name but you will hear his story next. they tell me im wrong to want to stand alongside my, my love whoa, talkin bout my love
serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. If youre still just managing your symptoms, talk with your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Vietnamese villagers died yesterday at 67. Pilot Hugh Thompson landed the chopper on a Search And Destroy mission and had Lawrence Colburn cover him and convince members of Charlie Company to stop the shooting. The young men left behind elderly men and women and children who were nearly wiped out. 30 years later colburn would remember the day saying may we never forget again the heartbreak and brutality of war. Rest in peace to that brave veteran. Turning to our pop lead, he might have the coolest gig, bill weir travels the world to take a deeper dive into untold stories. He goes to holland generally known for its liberal progressivetal rant views but comes along a man called the dutch donald trump. Maybe thats not fair, maybe it is, trying to catch a wave that
many other populations in the u. S. And europe have ridden to victory. Bill, removing donald trump from this at all, tell us about this politician in the netherlands. Why is he getting this reputation . Well he is completely antiislam, not the people, not muslims in particular but he thinks islam is a religion of death, it is corrosive and he is trying to limit immigration in this famously openminded society. The dutch created that country out of mud and water and they are famously collegial, they Work Together but its neighbor against neighbor as this gentleman rises in the polls. Hes a favorite to become the Prime Minister and its so, i really cant take trump out of, jake. Okay. I happened to be there while his rise was happening here and it was such an interesting
parallel. The guys we hired to drive us around blue collar good guys are voting for him and this is part of a trend thats happening across europe, where these populist sort of antiimmigration candidates are on the rise and more and more young people actually in polls are saying living in a democracy is not as eessential as many thought in the past. Fascinating and populism is rising everywhere in the west. What does it mean for the refugee and immigrant communities in places like the netherlands . You know, we met one guy from serious, tried to bribe his way across the borders, from homz, finally went through the system in netherlands, sort of an accepted member of the society trying to ingrashiate himself
there but that is the exception to the rule. His biggest flag speech weve been too tolerant of intolerant people. If they dont want to fit into our society we dont want them but its the pressures of assimilati assimilation. The mayor of rotterdam is a muslim from morocco. It took him 15 years to feel dutch so the sheer numbers coming up from the war in syria is creating this pressure point, even if the lowest sort of liberal openminded societies. Interesting and having to spoken to policymembers and others in europe what do you think brexit will mean for the future of eu . I think were living through seismic times. I wanted to do a Wonder List Europe Edition after brexit. Now i want to do an american version after our election, but yeah, you know, its the pendulum, Liberal Democracy seems to be on the wane, if you look at these trend lines and people becoming moreiness la in
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