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> pelley: tonight the central intelligence agency ">
forever. this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. reporting tonight from washington. >> pelley: tonight the central intelligence agency is confident that a russian hacking plot tried to influence the u.s. presidential election in favor of donald trump. the hacking did not affect the actual vote totals. instead it was centered on the leaking of embarrassing e-mails and a campaign of misinformation. now with 39 days to go before the president-elect takes the oath on the steps of the capitol, jeff pegues looks at the case against russia. > reporter: the evidence that the russians were trying the influence the u.s. election dates back to mid-june when private e-mails, opposition research and campaign information stolen from the democratic national committee appeared online. u.s. investigators said the russians were to blame. >> did their actions impact one candidate over another? >> i would say that their actions definitely were more detrimental to one candidate than the other. >> reporter: adam myers works for crowd strike, the cyber security firm that investigated the hack and that works closely with u.s. intelligence. what did you see? >> imagine somebody breaks into a bank and they use some sort of special saw to cut through the safe. we found that saw as they were using it. >> reporter: you caught them in action? >> we did. >> reporter: myers said the cyber attacks beganned with russian-backed hackers he nicknamed fancy bear and cozy bear. the information they obtained was then passed on to wikileaks and others to make public. the hackers also gained access to some republican files, but that information never became public, even after being expose ed the hacks against democrats continued. >> this is pretty bold. this is pretty brazen in a lot of ways. >> it's very russian. >> reporter: what do you mean by that? >> i don't think the russians are shy oar would necessarily pull back after something like that happened. they're doing their thing. >> reporter: one reason the c.i.a. believes russia was trying to tip the scales to trump, they've used similar tactics for favored candidates before most, recently in the elections in ukraine. scott, no one is saying the actual vote count in the u.s. was hacked. >> pelley: our homeland security correspondent jeff pegues. jeff, thank you. well, the president-elect is not buying any of this, an he has picked a fight with the c.i.a. here's our chief white house correspondent major garrett. >> i think it's ridiculous. i think it's just another excuse. i don't believe it. they have no idea if it's russia or china or somebody. >> reporter: president-elect donald trump bashed intelligence officials in an interview on fox news two days after releasing a statement that argued they're the same people that said saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction. but on saturday, we asked the president-elect if he trusted the nation's spy agency. >> i do. >> reporter: today on twitter, mr. trump lashed out at democrats. "can you imagine if the election result were opposite and we tried to play the russia/c.i.a. card"? the intelligence community concluded in october that russia directed the recent compromises of e-mails that were almost uniformly damaging to democrats and hillary clinton. throughout the campaign, mr. trump resisted. >> she has no idea whether it's russia, china, or anybody else. >> i am not quoting myself. >> if it is russia. nobody knows. it could be china. it also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. okay? >> reporter: in july, candidate trump egged on russian hackers to find deleted clinton e-mails. >> russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. >> reporter: mr. trump also explained yesterday why he only takes intelligence briefings from time to time. >> i'm a smart person. i don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. >> reporter: the trump transition continues to gauge senate reaction to the possible nomination of exxon-mobil c.e.o. rex tillerson as secretary of state. scott, tillerson's close ties to russian president putin have already alarmed some republicans, potentially general dieding his confirmation. >> pelley: major, there's breaking news. we've been looking forward to the president-elect's first news conference scheduled for this thursday, but you understand that's changing now? >> reporter: that is correct, postponed until after the new year. the main subject of that press conference, scott, was to be the president-elect's explanation to the country how he was going the move himself away from his business, his vast business empire, separating and eliminating all conflicts of interest. i'm told by transition officials the legal work there is incomplete. there are many unredisfd questions within the trump family and with the president-elect himself. and as one transition official told me, you do not want to have this press conference twice. stay tuned after the new year. >> pelley: major garrett, thanks. for insight into all of this, we spoke today will republican william cohen, former senator of maine and secretary of defense in the clinton administration. >> i think it's a big mistake to belittle the intelligence community because it looks as if you're trying to politicize it. if the intelligence community agrees with me, they're good. if they don't, they're bad. and i think the notion that somehow this is the same group that said there were nuclear weapons in iraq misses the point. it's like saying, donald trump has filed seven bankruptcies and several of his companies, so that means a bad businessman. he mad good choices and bad choices. sometimes you get it wrong. most of the time the c.i.a. gets it right. >> pelley: mr. trump said he was "a smart person" and therefore he didn't need to receive the presidential intelligence brief every day. what do you think of that? >> i think information is power, and information doesn't always translate into knowledge, but at least you have the basic facts in front of you. i think it's important that the president be aware of what's taking place on the global basis every day and not every week. >> pelley: so your advice to the president-elect would be what? >> listen more. read more. and you have an intelligence community which is among the finest in the world, and listen to what their analysis is and their recommendations to you are. >> pelley: one of the complaints that he appears to have is that the president's daily brief has a lot of redundant informationdy after day. >> well, the president can say, similar flay this because i know all of the other material, but i want it in five and not ten beiges. he can do that, but i think to ignore the daily briefing is not wise. >> pelley: this controversy with russia, what are the implications of fighting this battle now at the same time that president trump has made so many complaints about china and reached out to taiwan? >> i'm confused in terms of why president-elect trump is seeking to embrace president putin, who has annexed crime, yeah who has destabilized ukraine, who has bombed thousands of innocent civilians in aleppo. and he's poking the finger in the eye of china. the best way to start a new policy is to sit down with the president and say, we're going to have a slightly different relationship than you're acuss comed to. >> pelley: former secretary of state william cohen, thank you for being with us. for its part, f.b.i. has not concluded its investigation into this, but so far it is not siding with the c.i.a. on the motive for the russian hacking. here on capitol hill, there were new calls today for another investigation to get to the bottom of it. here's congressional correspondent nancy cordes. >> the russians are not our friends. >> reporter: republicans found themselves caught today between distrust of putin and allegiance to mr. trump. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell tried to put it as gently as possible. >> i just addressed how i feel about the russians, and i hope that those who are going to be in positions of responsibility in the new administration share my view. >> reporter: house speaker paul ryan washed that under president putin russia has been an aggressor that consistently undermines american interests. he said the intelligence committees are and should be looking into it. >> this is serious stuff. >> reporter: but democrats, led by new york's chuck schumer, are pushing for a separate congressional investigation into russia's election meddling. >> we need to get to the bottom of this in a fair, non-partisan, non-finger-pointing way. >> reporter: schumer appeared on cbs this morning with arizona republican john mccain, who agreed with him. >> there's no doubt that russians and others have hacked. i mean, there's no doubt about that. now the question is the intention. >> reporter: and now ten members of the electoral college, nine democrats, one republican, want their own intelligence briefing on donald trump's ties to russia before they cast their ballots next week. the clinton campaign says it supports that request, but, scott, so far the director of national intelligence has had no comment. >> pelley: nancy cordes, thanks. the effort to recount the presidential vote in states that put mr. trump over the top is largely over. today a recount in wisconsin confirmed that mr. trump defeated hillary clinton by nearly 23,000 votes. in pennsylvania a federal judge rejected a call for a recount, and that state certified that mr. trump won there by 44,000 votes. in syria today, the assad dictatorship backed by russia has cornered the remaining rebel forces in the city of aleppo. aleppo was the rebel's biggest stronghold and its fall may break the back of the rebellion that began more than five years ago. debora patta is in syria. >> reporter: even with near total control of aleppo, the syrian military sent bombs then during down on the rebels still holding out. thousands of civilians have been caught in the intense fighting as the war came closer with the constant shell this past week. aleppo's historic old city has now been reclaimed by the syrian army. among the rubble, some insights into how this war was fought. opposition groups tried to reach the government-controlled western side and launch surprise attacks. the rebels were outgunned and outnumbered. this syrian soldier showed us how they fought back. the sandbags, the propaganda on the walls, and the improvised weapon. before they started using cannon, he told us, they used these catapults. his words drowned out by his army's fighter jets overhead. this increasingly one-sided battle may be coming to an end. a bicycle, a sewing machine, a kitchen stool is what's left behind. [gunfire] the battle for aleppo has stretched syrian forces thin, so thin the regime lost track of palmyra, the ancient city the government vowed they would never lose again is new back under isis control. with much fanfare earlier this year, the syrian and russian forces had declared isis would never come back. that lasted just nine months. the syrian government might be on the verge of taking back aleppo, but the recapture of palmyra by isis is a major setback, scott. reclaiming territory is hard, holding it harder still. >> pelley: debora patta for us tonight. debora, thank you. coming up on the "cbs evening news," the latest on the frigid weather, and later, an innocent man spent three decades in prison. why won't the state pay restitution? so why are you still puttingy. up with complicated cash back cards? some cards limit where you earn bonus cash back to places they choose... then they change those places every few months. quicksilver keeps it simple. with quicksilver you always earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. 'tis the season for simple. what's in your wallet? yeahashtag "stuffy nose."old. hashtag "no sleep." i got it. hashtag "mouthbreather." yep. we've got a mouthbreather. well, just put on a breathe right strip and ... pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. so you can breathe ... and sleep. shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right. >> pelley: grab an extra blanket if your in the northern half of the country tonight. it could hit minus 4 in minneapolis. that's 17 below average. jamie youk yas is following a nasty storm. >> reporter: heavy snow and freezing rain calledded treacherous driving conditions from the great lakes to the northeast. over the weekend, icy conditions contributed to the 30-car pile-up in michigan. and in minnesota, dash cam video shows a pick-up truck just miss a state trooper's patrol car as it skids out of control. airport runways were also icy, sending a plane carrying 70 passengers and crew into the grass at detroit metropolitan airport on sunday. in western new york, 30 inches of snow kept this man's towing company busy. >> they're tired. they're worn out. this snowstorm just didn't quit. >> reporter: following the snowy weather is a mass of arctic air moving in from canada. the frigid air will bring sub-zero temperatures to a large part of the country for the first time this winter. the salvation army in minneapolis says because of the extreme cold, they're having trouble recruiting bell ringers for their annual drive. but debora walker bundled up to help out. >> i do it every year. every christmas. >> reporter: it only reached 12 degrees in minneapolis today. overnight temperatures will dip below zero, meaning winter is starting to take shape and its beauty here at minnehaha falls where half of the water is now frozen, but, scott, it will be dangerous for anyone outside tonight. >> pelley: beautiful out. jamie yuccas, thank you. well, there was trouble on delta flight 2083 today before it left detroit for san diego. police dragged a woman by her arms down the aisle and off the plane, a witness said she had russiad through the gate without checking in. and we'll be right back. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. if you're still just managing your symptoms, talk with your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. i have a big meeting when we land, but i'm so stuffed up, i can't rest. nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka-seltzer plus night liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms. plus, unstuffs your nose. oh, what a relief it is. >> pelley: d.n.a. evidence is freeing innocent people from prison, but often only after they've lost decades of their lives. 30 states offer compensation, but less than half of these former prisoners are ever paid. omar villafranca has been looking into a case in tennessee. >> reporter: these days lawrence mckinney can't seem to stay still. the 60-year-old has spent enough time sitting in one place. how long were you in prison? >> 31 years, nine months, 18 days and 12 hours. >> reporter: you have it down to the hours? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: a memphis, tennessee, jury convicted mckinney of rape and burglary in 1978. the victim identified him as one of two men who attacked her in her bedroom. he was sentenced to 150 years. what's going through your mind when you're hearing that now you're going to prison? >> i still could not believe because i thought that it was a dream. >> reporter: in 2008, d.n.a. testing of evidence scientifically excluded mckinney as a suspect. prosecutors said if this evidence had been available, all my life was took away. >> reporter: in 2009, he was released and given $75. since then mckinney has depended on odd jobs at his church just to pay the bills. under tennessee law, he could be eligible for up to $1 million compensation, but the parole board, which hears such cases, has rejected his request twice. >> the exn ration hearing, we have to have a lot of evidence, clear and convincing. >> reporter: patsy bruce served on tennessee's parole board for 12 years. shea herd heard mckinney's first exoneration case. >> why wasn't the judgment by a court and district attorney clear and convincing for you? >> because they didn't notice that they didn't test everything that was ordered by the original judge to be tested. >> reporter: prosecutors say the two samples not tested either had no d.n.a. or were so degraded tests could not be performed. do you feel there is a guilty man walking? >> i have no been convinced he's innocent. >> that's not justice for him not to receive compensation for being wrongfully imprisoned. >> reporter: mckinney's lawyer has appealed the case to governor bill haslam, who has the final stay. >> there's been one mistake made when he was sent to prison. i trust another one is not made that does not allow him exoneration. >> reporter: the governor could make a decision at any moment. after waiting 31 years for his freedom, mckinney says he can wait a little longer. omar villafranca, cbs news, lebanon, tennessee. >> pelley: up next, love lost and found. platinum-based chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene who've tried an fda-approved targeted therapy, this is big. a chance to live longer with opdivo (nivolumab). opdivo demonstrated longer life and is the most prescribed immunotherapy for these patients. opdivo significantly increased the chance of living longer versus chemotherapy. opdivo works with your immune system. opdivo can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. this may happen any time during or after treatment has ended, and may become serious and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you experience new or worsening cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; diarrhea; severe stomach pain or tenderness; severe nausea or vomiting; extreme fatigue; constipation; excessive thirst or urine; swollen ankles; loss of appetite; rash; itching; headache; confusion; hallucinations; muscle or joint pain; flushing; or fever... as this may keep these problems from becoming more serious. these are not all the possible side effects of opdivo. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant, or lung, breathing, or liver problems. a chance to live longer. ask your doctor about opdivo. see opdivotv.com for this and other indications. bristol-myers squibb thanks the patients, nurses, and physicians involved in opdivo clinical trials. i'll take it from here. i'm good. i just took new mucinex clear and cool. ah! what's this sudden cooooling thing happening? it's got a menthol burst. you can feel it right away. wow, that sort of blind-sided me. and it clears my terrible cold symptoms. ahh! this is awkward. new mucinex fast-max clear & cool. feel the menthol burst. and clear your worst cold symptoms. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. if you then you'll know howuth, uncomfortable it can be. but did you know that the lack of saliva can also lead to tooth decay and bad breath? well, there is biotene, specially formulated with moisturizers and lubricants... biotene can provide soothing relief and it helps keep your mouth healthy too. biotene, for people who suffer from a dry mouth. i'm 51 years old.m. when i was diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia, it was huge for everybody. she just started to decline rapidly. i was rushed to the hospital... my symptoms were devastating. the doctor said, "pam! if you'd have waited two more days, you would've died." if i'd have known that a vaccine could have helped prevent this, i would have asked my doctor or pharmacist about it. >> pelley: we end tonight with a story of undying love. here's ben tracy. >> reporter: griffin madan and his girlfriend love to dance, on rooftops and in nightclubs. but just before midnight on december 2nd, the dancing stopped. griffin was trapped inside the massive warehouse fire in oakland, california. 36 people died, including griffin. his girlfriend was not there. in her grief, she remembered a moment the two shared in new york last year. they had just seen the book of mormon on broadway. on facebook she wrote, "the city was so beautiful, and amidst all the light, i got to look at the brightest light of all, my sweetie. i cried and we kissed." a photographer nearby captured the moment, her lipstick still on griffin's cheek." -they looked like nobody else existed. >> arca nevan took the photo. it was one of 200,000 he's taken on the streets of new york. after the fire she tried the track down the photographer to get a copy. maybe some facebook miracle could happen, please share, she wrote. thousands of people did. avan saw the post and sale the picture. >> i can give her the picture as a memory of her loss of griffin, an i hope she will keep that for forever. >> reporter: she is not ready the talk about her loss, but she did unite a tribute to griffin. "i have been hoping for a miracle, a glimpse of your light back into my life. with the infinite help of our families, friends and strangers, i finally found you. and in this moment where time will always stand still, she never has to let go. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. with thanks to the jones day law firm for this window on washington and for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. ryan versus ryan. is this the sexiest showdown in history? >> at least i remembered pants. >> we're on set of the golden globe nominees today. and celebrating with a very happy stars of "this is us." >> this is mind-blowing. >> plus, making fun of mariah? why nick cannon is taking aam at his ex on tv. >> i couldn't leave nothing on the table, man. >> before "the voice" finale, our interview with alicia keys and what she really thinks about the other coaches. >> i definitely did not think i would like blake. >> jennifer lawrence and chris pratt with "e.t." >> my name is jennifer. and these are my issues. >> all about their real-life friendship. and his new scene. >> that's what my butt looks like all the time. thatha