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Donald Trump Takes Aim at Toyota; Revelations on Assange Sources; Trump's Promise to Build a Wall; Russia Fires Back; Marijuana for Free on Trump's Inauguration; Brutality Live Stream on Facebook; Worst Pollution in Paris. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 06, 2017 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: WikiLeaks revelations, the U.S. says it knows who gave Julian Assange those hacked Democratic Party e- mails.

Plus, Donald Trump takes aim at Toyota. Hear how he publicly threatened the car maker and how it could affect your wallet. And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM EIDENGER, MARIJUANA ACTIVIST: It only takes about 50 people bringing joints like this to get 242 joints.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: You saw that right and you heard that right. Those joint will be given out for free in an act of protest during the U.S. presidential inauguration.

Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN Newsroom starts right now.

Welcome, in the day ahead, Donald Trump will come face to face with the leaders of the intelligence agencies that he has been doubting. The president--elect will receive a briefing on Russia's interference of the U.S. presidential election.

Intel officials say they have intercepted conversations in which top Russian officials celebrated Donald Trump's victory and they say that they have identified who passed stolen e-mails from Russia on to WikiLeaks.

Trump continues to insist it is impossible to know who is behind the cyber-attacks. The revelations come as the top U.S. intelligence chiefs are telling senators they are even more certain now that Russia was behind the hacking.

CNN's Manu Raju has this report for us.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: the nation's top intelligence officials have no doubt that Russia interfered with the elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR: I don't think that we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we have seen in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: In a nearly three hour Senate hearing, the officials are saying they are even more confident in their October assessment that Russia's senior most officials authorized the cyber-attack against the Democratic national Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign, an assessment that President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAPPER: We stand actually more resolutely on the strength of that statement than we made it on the seventh of October.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And they made it clear who is to blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY GRAHAM, UNITED STATES SENATOR: You say, you think this was approved at the highest level of government in Russia, generally speaking is that right?

CLAPPER: That's what we said,

GRAHAM: OK, who is the highest level of government?

CLAPPER: Well, the highest is President Putin.

GRAHAM: You think a lot happens in Russia big that he does not know about?

CLAPPER: Not very many.

GRAHAM: Yes, I don't think so.

CLAPPER: Certainly none that are politically sensitive in another country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Did testimony amounted to an implicit rebuke of Trump who has repeatedly slammed the intelligence community, praised Putin and downplayed Russia's role in the elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, UNITED STATES SENATOR: Who benefits from the president--elect trashing the intelligence community? Who benefits from that, Director Clapper, the American people them losing confidence in the intelligence community and the work of the intelligence community?

CLAPPER: I think there's an important distinction here between healthy skepticism which policymakers to include policymaker number one should always have for intelligence, but I think there's a difference between the skepticism and disparagement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And Senator John McCain, pushing back on Trump for relying on the word of WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange who said Russia had no role in this group's public release of thousands of internal democratic e-mails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCCAIN, UNITED STATES SENATOR: The name Mr. Assange has popped up and I believe that he is the one responsible for publishing names of individuals that worked for us that put their lives in direct danger. Is that correct?

CLAPPER: Yes, he has.

MCCAIN: And do you think that there's any credibility we should attach to this individual given his record of...

(CROSSTALK)

CLAPPER: Not in my view.

MCCAIN: Not in your view?

Admiral Rogers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I second those comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: After the hearing, McCain saying he hopes Trump takes away this lesson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: I hope he understands the importance of the role of the intelligence community and it's clear that their conclusions at least so far have been correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Manu Raju reporting there for us.

Russia is firing back at that Senate hearing. A state run news agency descried it as quote, "two hours of unsubstantiated statements" and quote, "hyperbole." [03:05:05] And the Kremlin's spokesperson told CNN quote, "We have

suggested cooperation on combatting cyber threats numerous times, it was rejected. And we are sick and tired of those irresponsibly blaming everything on our country. If there is a need for an enemy, where not try someone else?"

Let's talk more about this, let's bring in Matt Tait live from London Matt is the CEO and founder of Capital Alpha Security. Matt, it's good to have you with us this hour. So, that hearing the evidence that was presented. Do you agree with their conclusion? How confident are you that Russia was involved in this?

MATT TAIT, CAPITAL ALPHA SECURITY CEO & FOUNDER: Absolutely. So, there's a very large amount of public evidence that is now available. We don't have to rely on the intelligence's community word. There's a lot of technical details about how the DNC was hacked, how John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager how he was hacked.

We are able to piece together, for instance, the spear fishing e-mail that John Podesta was sent and tie that back to 1800 or so other accounts that were hacked since 2015. So, there's this, we really don't have to just take the intelligence community at their word, there's a lot of evidence that is out there.

HOWELL: But important to point out, a lot of evidence but no smoking gun per se at the same time. All the agencies agree they are confident. But no smoking gun.

TAIT: That's true and that's quite common in these types of investigations. Attribution and intelligence assessments very rarely have a single piece of evidence that, you know, Vladimir Putin holding up a picture of himself authorizing it, right.

We piece together all of these different pieces of information and we're able to track this group, this hacking group over a very large period of time, so we have been tracking them for well over a decade now.

And once you start to piece together all of the different pieces of evidence, we are actually able to come to some pretty strong conclusions. Even without relying on the intelligence community's classified evidence.

HOWELL: So good to have us with us just to explain this. This is your world, you understand these things. For our viewers who may not understand the minutia the details here, what would you expect if the U.S. were to retaliate and how might that look as a cyber-attack against Russia itself?

TAIT: Well, we've already seen a lot of response already. So the sanctions that were released last week, are part of that. When we look at things like, the eviction of Russian diplomats. When we see, the Department of Homeland Security releasing technical details that allow people to hunt for malware on the network, and some people have said that those were not particularly helpful but they try to release them.

And so, these sort of add up to a package of measures designed to disrupt Russian intelligence hacking operations.

HOWELL: But rather, what would a cyber-attack look like?

TAIT: So, if we look at the Senate meeting yesterday, Director Clapper said that it's not always a good idea to respond with a cyber- attack. But in the event that there was to be a cyber-response we might see, for instance, the National Security Agency or cyber command or some other group hacking Russian infrastructure in order to disable their command and control servers used for running malware operations.

HOWELL: Matt Tait, thank you for being with us and your insights. We'll stay in touch with you, obviously as well be covering the story for some time now. Thank you.

TAIT: Thank you so much.

HOWELL: Now more on the president-elect and one of his biggest and loudest campaign promises. Do you remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: But we will build the wall, Mexico is going to pay for the wall, we are going to stop drugs from coming in. The drugs are poisoning our youth and a lot of other people and we are going to get it stopped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Well, the devils always in the detail as they say that. Promise may be falling to the wayside now that Trump's transition team is signaling to Congress that he wants to use the money of U.S. taxpayers. The money of U.S. taxpayers to build the wall.

House republican say funding could come through the appropriations bill that keeps government running. Trump has previously said that Mexico might reimburse the U.S. for the cost.

Moving on now to Turkey and the aftermath of yet another terror attack. This time, in the western city of Izmir. Police there confronted and they killed the attackers near a courthouse, those attackers armed with grenades and assault rifles who then they detonated a car bomb during a standoff.

The explosion killed two people and wounded nine others. But officials say the attackers were planning to inflict even more damage.

In the meantime, Turkish police are still trying to solve an earlier attack. The New Year's shooting at a nightclub in Istanbul. The shooting that left 39 people dead. The suspect is still on the run. Though authorities say they have been able to identify him.

[03:10:00] Our Sara Sidner spoke to the person that runs the nightclub, here is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali Unal can't sleep or eat because he can't get the images of the dead and dying out of his head.

"I'm feeling terrible, I can't sleep more than two hours a day. It's just like in the "Perfect Storm" movie where the guy knows he is going to die and he is only worried about his children, he says.

Unal walks away in tears; he is the business partner and manager of the Istanbul nightclub. On New Year's Eve he was outside as terrorists entered. This is Ali falling over a railing as the gunman shoots everyone around him. He survived because the gunman thought he was dead.

Bullet holes and blood still remain days after the attack that left 39 dead and 69 injured here. So do piles of clothes and shoes of the victims.

From what we can see, this is the area that seems to have the most bullet holes and the holes are huge. But surprisingly there aren't that many considering all the shooting that happened that night. And that is because the terrorist was targeting people one by one by one.

The owner, Mehmet Kocarslan was just up the Bosporus when he was told his club was under attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEHMET KOCARSLAN, REINA NIGHTCLUB OWNER: All my life finished in that time.

SIDNER: You thought your life was over when you heard this?

KOCARSLAN: Yes, when I heard that my life was over. I feel like that, because of all that client, all that people is my son, my daughter. I always did my job like this.

SIDNER: He said his legs buckled beneath him as the gunfire and blasts captured on this video emanated from his club. Days later, Mehmet is racking his brain trying to figure out what he could have done to protect all those people.

Was there enough security, do you think?

KOCARSLAN: You know, for our guard, our guard, we have no? We have no gun. You know, that is law, that is a law, if you have -- if you have alcohol place in the concert in the summer, you cannot, they cannot give the license for the gun. But, we are living with the terror, they have to change this law. This is stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Two of his unarmed guards were shot and killed along with other members of his staff. He said the gunman went about his killing spree with ease and operated like a professional soldier. Even blasting bullets in a small gas canister, trying to make it explode. But it was empty. The scene of this once glamorous club on the Bosporus, makes him sick to his stomach now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOCARSLAN: I'm not sure, you know, if I didn't open, if they will be successful. The terrorists, the terrorism going to be, you know, but still, 39 missed people is on my shoulders. I feel. I don't know what am I going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He says that he will leave that decision up to his staff. Men and women, some of whom perished and others who saved lives during the worst period in this club 16-year history.

HOWELL: And joining now live from Istanbul is CNN's Sara Sidner. Sara has been covering this investigation. Sara, first of all, what might you say about the significance. What are we learning about the significance of where this attack took place, a nightclub that was packed with foreigners.

SIDNER: Yes, it was targeted, clearly by this gunman and ISIS then coming out and saying that it was particularly targeting Christians celebrating as they put on social media their pagan holiday. So, clearly, it was targeted at foreigners and at a western lifestyle.

That the way that ISIS sees things, is that this is, you know, the morals are broken here, and what is so unfortunate about this, is that this was really a meeting place between east and west, very similar to the city of Istanbul. Which is both an Asian continent and the European continent in one city.

And so, the owner was so distraught, he said, you know, we have to come together, all the countries, all the people, stop fighting with one another and deal with this issue of terrorism because it is trying to wipe out not just a way of life, but you know, really wipe out what is good in the world.

People being able to sort of understand each other. And this club was one of those places where people would come together, east and west to enjoy themselves side-by-side. George?

HOWELL: CNN's Sara Sidner with the reporting and context on this terrible attack. Sara, thank you so much. And we'll stay in touch with you.

[03:15:01] We're also getting some sad news into the Newsroom. Critically acclaimed Indian actor Om Puri has died. Puri was 66 years old. A friend and fellow Bollywood actor says that Puri suffered a heart attack at his home in Mumbai. He was known for his versatility and global appeal. The award winner start in mainstream Bollywood films in regional Indian cinema and Hollywood block busters.

Some of the big roles have been in City of Joy and East is East, he also appeared with Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War. Again, critically acclaimed Om Puri dead at the age of 66 years old.

Moving now to the city of Chicago, a terrible story there. Four people are accused of a vicious hate crime that shocked the city, they broadcast beating and torture of a special needs teenager live on Facebook.

The U.S. President Barack Obama says the video is despicable that his heart is broken.

CNN's Ana Cabrera has more and we do warn you, going into this, the video that you are about to see is indeed graphic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this (muted).

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's hard to watch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out. Tied up. (muted)

CABRERA: An 18-year-old with a mental disability, tied up and cowering in the corner.

His attackers hit and kick and cut his hair with a knife until his scalp starts to bleed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn, you cut him (muted).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn, are you cutting?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put a whole patch out of him, boy.

CABRERA: The assault is streamed live on Facebook, a woman who is recording laughs as the victim is tortured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN DUFFIN, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT COMMANDER: It appears that he was in that physical position, tied up in the corner for about four or five hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Two 18-year-old man and two women, one 18, the other 24 are now behind bars. The suspects are all African-American. The victim is white.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (muted) Donald Trump! (muted) White people, boy!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The video is full of racially charged epitaph, just part of the reason police are calling this a hate crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFIN: His diminished mental capacity, the fact that they tied him up. The obvious racial quotes on -- that they post live on Facebook. I mean, taking in the totality of the circumstances, the state's attorney agreed with us, I mean, we sought hate crime charges.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And another disturbing detail, the victim and one of the suspects, Jordan Hill were friends. In fact, the incident began days earlier at this McDonald's in the suburb of Streamwood, Illinois. The victim's mom dropped him off to meet up with Hill on New Year's Eve.

But his parents call Streamwood police on Monday to file a missing person's report because they couldn't reach their son. And he had been without his medication for days.

Police found the victim wandering this street on Tuesday. They say he was bloodied, battered was wearing a tank top and shorts and in freezing weather and he was too distraught, they say to even speak. Investigator say the assault happened about a block away and the victim managed to escape when a neighbor interrupted the assault and called police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFIN: And thankfully the victim in this incident will recover from his injuries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to put you in a trunk and put a brick on a gas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Ana Cabrera, CNN, Chicago.

HOWELL: The victim is back home with his family. His brother-in-law says that the young man is doing as well as to be expected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BOYD, VICTIM'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: We're so grateful for all the prayers and efforts that led to the safe return of our brother. We are fully aware of the charges being brought against the offenders.

At this time, we ask for continued prayers. For all those involved and for our families privacy as we cope and heal. We are overwhelmed and surprised, we're happy that everyone is concerned. And yes. This should never have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: It's good that he survived it and good that he is back home with his family. We will be back after this.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell.

Japan has recalled two top diplomats to South Korea after a controversial statue was erected outside a consulate in Bussan. The statue is meant to represent comfort women who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Japan has agreed to pay nearly $9 million for a fund for Korean women who survived that wartime injustice. But some activists don't think that Japan has done enough, which is why they put up the statue.

In China, 12 people have been killed in a coal mine accident. State run -- state media report that the miners were working near a pipe when a massive gas leak exploded on Wednesday. Authorities so far are blaming human error. Thirty nine miners who were underground at that time did manage to escape.

France is carrying out a mass slaughter of ducks to contain a highly strain of the bird flu. They are planning on wiping some 800,000 just to begin which could have a huge economic impact. The flu strain has never been found in humans but can be deadly in poultry.

Officials say they are only taking such drastic measures because the entire population is at risk.

Paris last month experienced its worst pollution in a decade and that led to not just smoggy skies but a host of other health problems.

For more on this story we are joined now we are joined now by CNN's Melissa Bell, live from the French capital. Melissa, always a pleasure to have you. We know that this been a consistent problem, but it's not every day. What's it looking like today?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, George, here the sun has just come up in the French capital. As you can see behind me, it's a clear blue day here in Paris. It's going to be a lovely day. It seemed cold but beautiful, and that cloud has lifted.

We are now back to the levels that the World Health Organization believes are safe for what is called particulate matter, there is fine dust particles that get into the air and that can be so troubling to human health.

So we are back to the right levels of particular matter in the air. But for anyone who is coming through Paris in December, the picture was different. Have a look.

The city of light turned an unusual smoggy hue in December, Paris' monuments shrouded in a cloud of particulate matter. Those fine particles cause by wood fires and car fumes that are the most harmful to people's health. With Parisian doctors reporting a 35 percent rise in children's hospital admissions in the first week of December, the smog has lifted but not the outrage it caused.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIEN VRAY, RESPIRE ASSOCIATION SPOKESMAN: The peak was in December was so long and so strong that thousands of people have experienced asthma attacks and breathing problems or cardiovascular problems.

The French government, we have in French Constitution that says that we have a right to breathe a clean air. The fact is we are not breathing a clean air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: And this just a little over a year after the French government vowed to lead the way at the COP 21 climate talks in Paris.

[03:25:05] The trouble say campaigners is that pollution is all too often dealt with locally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Viola.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.

BELL: In Paris, the man in charge of public health is also a doctor. Bernardo Jomier is determined to lower pollution. Through changes like the move to electric cars but also by closing roads like this one pedestrianized since July. Action he said is urgent with pollution contributing to 48,000 deaths every year in France.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNARD JOMIER, FRENCH HEAD OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Developing public transportation is very important. In fact, and turning our cars to clean cars is important as well. But it's time, it needs a sort of improvement by whole population.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: But campaigners say authorities should be doing more and faster. Sebastien Vray is helping a group of several hundred ordinary citizens to bring a legal case against the French government itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VRAY: The mere fact that air pollution and concentration are higher than the safe levels of air pollution, is the responsibility of the French government. That's why we are helping people to sue the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: The facts might be hard to collect for those planning to sue. Every day this balloon measures Paris' levels of particulate matter pretty sure of air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VRAY: You know exactly how many particulate matter in the luter.

BELL: And these small ones are the dangerous ones because these are the ones that get into blood.

VRAY: Yes, exactly. The biggest ones stay in your nose and the medium ones stay in your lungs but the smaller ones go into your blood. And this is why you have more heart attack when you have a big air quality issue with pollution. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: And these readings after December's well publicize rise, will be all the more place he watch by Parisians over coming months.

It should be pointed out, George that Paris is by no means amongst the most offenders. That good level of particulate matter as described by the World Health Organization is of about 20 micro grams per cubic meter. Over the course of the year, 50 micro grams per particular days, for peaks on particular days.

Paris, to give you an example in December, reached peaks of about 80 or 90. But there's many cities in the world, in Pakistan, n China, and India, George, where those levels are of over 500 micro grams per cubic meter. And that is obviously far worse than what we've seen here in Paris.

HOWELL: Goodness. Melissa Bell on a clear day there in the French capital. Melissa, thank you for the reporting.

Still ahead here on CN Newsroom, an inside look at Russia's hacking abilities from the people who know that system well. How it works. Stay with us.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: And a warm welcome back to our viewers around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. It is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell with the headlines we are following for you this hour.

The U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will meet with top U.S. intelligence today officials for a briefing on Russian hacking during the presidential election.

Three top Intel officials testified Thursday before a Senate committee, they say they have no doubt that Russia tried to interfere with the election.

In western Turkey now, an explosion that killed nearly two people in a courthouse, killed two people, at least in the city of Izmir. Killed those two assailants armed with rifles and grenades, but the attackers don't manage don't manage to detonate a car bomb during the confrontation there.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.

In Mexico, anger over a spike in gas prices it is fuelling protests. Looting and roadblocks. The unrest has resulted in more than 250 arrests around the country so far.

Officials announced back in December, they would increase prices in some cases more than 20 percent.

Some people are questioning how the U.S. can be so sure that Russia is behind these cyber-attacks. Officials admit they have no single smoking gun but they do know this, that in Moscow has fully integrated hacking into its arsenal of weapons and it is not afraid to use it.

CNN's Brian Todd has this report.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A stark warning from U.S. intelligence officials. Vladmir Putin hackers remain very aggressive and will continue to target America. They'll probe for intelligence and cyber space to give Russia's military the advantage.

U.S. officials telling CNN Russian hackers are working relentlessly around the clock trying to breech America's cyber defenses. America's top intelligence official asked a dire question in the Senate about Putin's cyber warriors targeting U.S. allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK REED, UNITED STATES SENATOR: This activity is around going now in Europe as Europe prepares for elections, is that fair assumption?

CLAPPER: It is. They would very much like to drive wedges between us and western Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: British officials recently said the Kremlin is to blame for a series of cyber-attacks, fake news blasts and other attempts to destabilize the British government. Putin's aides dismissed the claim. U.S. officials tells us Putin's hackers have been aggressively targeting Ukraine, including one crippling attack on the civilian power grid there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It interrupted energy grid activities and several companies for a matter of hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Putin's army of hackers working in teams nicknamed by American investigators Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear are considered among the most proficient in the world.

The cyber security firm CrowdStrike says they are the ones who targeted the U.S. elections and they are tied to Russia's military and intelligence services. Analysts say they have emboldened Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vladimir Putin at this point is acting like he won the American presidential election. He feels like the most powerful man in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Still, Putin and his inner circle are said to be bracing for America's response issuing new plans to guard against cyber-attacks. U.S. officials have told CNN they are looking at that as a possible option. How could America retaliate?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON HEALEY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CYBER SECURITY EXPERT: The U.S. cyber command at Fort Meade has a team that's looking in -- looking at what the Russians are doing, not to collect intelligence on it, but to be ready to disrupt it in case the president ever gave the order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Sean Kanuck, a former top U.S. intelligence official who analyzed Russia's hacking operations said America's cyber warriors could hit back hard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN KANUCK, FORMER NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Reveal details of the perpetrators on the other side, ranging from their tools and techniques to the computers and the I.P. addresses that they are using to their malware signatures even to their physical identities in other cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:35:04] TODD: Kanuck says U.S. cyber warriors could hack personal information that would embarrass Putin and his cronies but he warns the Kremlin may then escalate and target American energy, banking or telecommunications networks.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

HOWELL: Let's talk more about this with CNN global affairs analyst, David Rohde. He is also a national security investigator for Reuters. David, it's good to have you with us.

So, U.S. officials tell CNN that U.S. intelligence intercepted Russian messages after Trump's win on election night. These were messages that were congratulatory of nature and that help to give the intelligence agencies confidence that the hacking was in part to aid Trump. First of all, what's your take on that?

DAVID ROHDE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it's, you know, we saw it in the hearing today that they feel they have collected more information after the election that makes this conclusion clearer. Some of the information is not clear in terms of whether Putin himself authorized this.

But there was a hearing today here in Washington today and it was very clear, you know, the top intelligence official, the head of the NSA, as well, saying that they are standing even more firmly behind these conclusions of Russian meddling than they were the last fall.

HOWELL: What has been the response or the feeling from folks that you heard from in the intelligence community about the dismissiveness from the president-elect? ROHDE: Well, it's -- I've talked to three former CIA officials

they're talked to -- talking to current intelligence officials, moral is down. I had an official told me that people are apoplectic about the way Donald Trump has referred to the CIA.

And there is real concern that as moral drops, will, you know, intelligence officers, you know, take risks, will they want to take risks for this president? Earlier I had people telling me that if they were asked by the Trump administration to do anything even approaching something that was illegal or unethical, people will simply resign.

And again, the CIA is a critical, you know, element to securing the country, its made mistakes. There is no question. But this is a risky thing for Trump. If he kind of drives down moral, if he restructures the CIA or changes it, the entire intelligence community and there is some kind of terrorist attack on the United States. These moves, this treatment of the intelligence community could come back to hurt him politically.

HOWELL: It's interesting, because these are people that the president-elect would rely on for his own intelligence during his administration. People who, in many cases put their lives, their families at great risk to gather information for the U.S.

Is there a concern also about the possibility of a future Russian cyber-attack on various entities from banking systems, the electric grid or state agencies?

ROHDE: Yes, there's a general sense and I wrote a long story on efforts to kind of prepare the intelligence community more for cyber war that we aren't prepared. A colleague of mine wrote a very simple story several weeks ago.

For years the U.S. ran all these, you know, studies and did sort of games simulating these attacks. And we always planned on attacks as you mention on the banking system or the you know, financial system. There is no preparation and no plan for how to deal with a disinformation campaign.

And twice today, James Clapper, the head of the Director of National Intelligence said the U.S. needs to recreate a cold war agency, the U.S information agency which try to get out, you know, an American government message. He wants to see that return, it was dissolved after ending the Cold War, he wants to see a U.S. information agency on steroids.

And we are not prepared, we are vulnerable to power attacks and the financial attacks that you mentioned, but also have really no strategy for how to counter a disinformation campaign.

HOWELL: So, you know, when it comes to the geo politics question of Russia, an ally or an enemy. Are you concerned about the incoming administration's eagerness to cooperate with Russia on global affairs?

ROHDE: Well, I think there should be an effort. There was a reset you know, put out by the Obama administration to try to improve relations with Russia, so and it's the president-elect's right to try to, you know, forge a new relationship with Moscow.

But there should be you know, clear things that need to happen. There's a lot of tensions over Ukraine. The republicans the senators that are sort of standing up to Trump on this, you know, we are just in the Baltic republic as well, and so there would have to be clear changes in Russian behavior.

Reduction of the hacking. There's been funding of right wing parties in Europe. The threatening of neighbors that would need to drop. You would need to see sort of concrete actions an end to this sort of strategy of divide -- of dividing Europe, it's internally and also dividing Europe and the U.S. that seems to be the Russian strategy at this point.

HOWELL: It's good to your insight, David Rohde, CNN global affairs analyst. Thank you so much for your time.

ROHDE: Thank you.

[03:39:57] HOWELL: Still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, Toyota stock tumbles after Donald Trump scolds the car maker for a deal to build a plant in Mexico.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to Newsroom.

Let's talk Toyota stock. The price took a hit on Thursday and it really never recovered. The drop was modest and not out of line with the stock's movement over the past month.

But it came immediately after the U.S. President- elect Donald Trump sent out this tweet. "Toyota motors said it will build a plant in Baja, Mexico. To build Corolla cars for the U.S. No way! Build plant in U.S. or pay a big border tax."

Toyota quickly pointed out that the Mexico plant was first announced in 2015 and said that it poses no threat to the U.S. workers.

To talk more about this, CNN's Andrew Stevens is here with us. He is CNN Money Asia-Pacific editor, live in Seoul, South Korea. Always a pleasure to have you with us, Andrew.

So, Toyota has had a large presence in the United States for many, many years. What else is the company saying to defend itself?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Yes, they say they've been part of the cultural fabric of the U.S. for the past 60 years, George, and Toyota certainly rattled by that tweet from Donald Trump. In fact, it's resonated in the Japanese government as well.

But Toyota is saying that this plant that it's building is to build Corolla cars, which is their best selling cars. Now at the moment all Corollas which is sold in the U.S. are either in Mississippi or they're made in Canada. This new plant in Mexico would basically take over the operations of the Canadian plant. So, it wouldn't affect jobs in the United States. But Toyota is also

really keen to point out just have good corporate citizen that has been. It says that it has invested $22 billion in the U.S., it's got 10 manufacturing plants, 1500 dealerships, you know, and employs 136,000 people.

So, it is really making the point that it is heavily invested in the U.S. already. And interestingly, the chief secretary to the cabinet in Japan was asked about this Donald Trump tweet and he said that he thought Toyota was also trying to be a good corporate citizen in the U.S.

So, this is how they are pushing back. They are saying, "We are here in the U.S., we are here to stay and we're not taking jobs away with this move."

But, George, I think it's interesting I don't think we should be particularly surprised by this Donald Trump tweet. It's virtually is the same language he used against General Motors when G.M. Chevy Cruze was being in Mexico and sold in the U.S.

He said that in relation to the G.M., he said that make it in the U.S. or pay a big border tax. This is exactly what he said to Toyota as well. He has also gone after Ford as we know, so he really is targeting these car makers. The difference here is Toyota is the first foreign car maker that Donald Trump is going after, George.

HOWELL: And Andrew, just briefly, president--elect who with a tweet moves stocks.

[03:45:02] STEVENS: Yes. I mean, he is about to be the leader of the free world. And policy is being proclaimed by a tweet at the moment. And the thing is, what is becoming clearer is these are not just random tweets. Donald Trump getting up early in the morning and sort of, you know, venting his spleen at 3 a.m. in the morning.

His incoming press secretary says this is him setting an agenda. So, this is all quite serious stuff. If you look at what he's done with his trade negotiator with the head of his White House trade team. They are strong talks against what China has been doing, for example.

So, it seems clear that there is a pattern here that he is going to change things on trade, George. And that's why we see that sort of stock reaction on Toyota.

HOWELL: CNN Money Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens live for us in Seoul, South Korea. Thank you, Andrew for your insight and reporting.

One of the world's largest tech fairs is happening now in Las Vegas. And there are a lot of cool gadgets to see. One is a device that quickly charges a smartphone battery.

CNN Samuel Burke has more now from the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Before you send me your congratulations the marvels of technology have not delivered me a baby quite yet, but they have delivered a smart crib which actually has microphones that listening for the babies cries. So, if it acts up while I'm reporting it will interact with the baby. So, we'll come back and make sure the baby is being taken care of.

But also as difficult as a baby waking you up in the middle of the night is having a cell phone battery and it running out on you in the middle of the day. You don't have a charger. There's a lot of Israeli companies actually, working on cell phone charging technology.

Small country but has big representation in the tech world, especially here at CES. And this is a company called Store Dots. They have charging technology which will take your battery from 0 to -100 percent in 5 minutes. We've seen the technology working here. It doesn't work on just any phone. It has to have a special charger. And it has to have a particular type of battery inside the phone.

This company has already partnered with Samsung on some projects but they believe that their technology will be on the market by the end of this year.

Now, one of the places where it's really cool to be a technology reporter is to see how this tech might actually make a difference in people's lives. The glove that I'm wearing right now this smart glove is actually for stroke patients trying to recover from a stroke.

And basically what it is it's not a robotic arm or anything like that. It's actually measuring what you do with your hands so that if you are trying regain mobility, you actually know how much you are squeezing in.

If you are going up and down, it will tell you an actual number to show you if you are getting better or if you're getting worse and do different activities with you. So just something simple like this that can be done at home maybe instead of going to a doctor's office or the P.T. office.

So you just squeeze and it's measuring and it's telling you what you're doing, and it will show you how much. And you see there, I was able to squeeze it out. So we know a lot of times, elderly patients don't complete their physical therapy.

So, this could be something that could enhance. And speaking of enhancing, OK, the baby was crying a little bit while I was over here. The microphones listen for the baby, this is called the SNEW and then start rocking it back and forth.

And they even start making a swishing noise this device trying to emulate what the baby would have heard in the womb to keep it calm now that mom and dad are trying get some sleep. It cost $1,160,000. Hey, a lot of money, but maybe it's cheaper than paying for a nanny.

HOWELL: The parents will try many things. Maybe that works. Samuel Burke, thank you so much.

Still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, a group of activists is planning a free handout at Donald Trump's inauguration come January 20th. How it could take the ceremony to, well, let's say, new heights?

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HOWELL: On the day of Donald Trump's inauguration a group plans to protest by handing out free marijuana to anyone who wants it in a form of 4200 joints. People are going to be encouraged to light up at 4 minutes and 20 seconds into Donald Trump presidency.

The group is called DCMJ, they fought to legalize marijuana in Washington, D.C. and they won two years ago. Now they are trying to send a message to Donald Trump and his supporters.

Adam Eidenger is one of the people leading the protest, he joins now from Washington, D.C. Adam, good to have you. So, again, this group designed to send a message. What is the message that you want to send to the president-elect?

EIDENGER: Yes, the main messages we want the president-elect to work on a federal reform policy. To legalize marijuana at the federal level, to allow the states to continue their process of medical marijuana and legalize marijuana to go forward. But we are not seeing that with his attorney general pick, Jeff Sessions.

HOWELL: And let's talk just a bit about Jeff Session, a known prohibitionist. Listen to what he said just last April at a Senate hearing on marijuana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF SESSIONS, INCOMING UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: The creating of knowledge that these -- this drug is dangerous, you cannot play wit. It's not funny. It's not something to laugh about. And trying to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Sessions says the message is good people don't smoke marijuana, so what message do you want to send to Sessions?

EIDENGER: Well, I think our agreement ends in the fact that great people smoke marijuana. I would agree that it's not just good people, it's great people. You know, his ideas about marijuana are outdated. They are not based in science.

The institute of medicine. We have so many different medical organizations that have come out and said, it's real medicine. And then, to argue for just say no policies of locking people up, breaking down doors, splitting up families, taking kids away from their parents, we can't go back to that.

We fought really hard to end the drug war here when it comes to marijuana in the nation's capital where we had as much as 1 percent of the population on the annual basis going to jail just for marijuana. Half a million arrests a year. It's got to stop.

And people want change and a lot of Trump supporters are with us, so this isn't really a Trump protest. This is more or less a statement to Donald Trump that are you going to -- are the one setting the policy? Are you for reform? If you -- we would call off the whole protest in a heartbeat if we knew the president was supporting reform.

HOWELL: Well, two years ago, your group again did win when it came to legalizing marijuana in D.C. You can carry only two ounces of marijuana legally in the nation's capital. How are you going to turn that into 4200 joints?

EIDENGER: Well, you know, so it only takes about 50 people bringing joints like this so get 4200 joints. And our organization has 12,000 people, and it's list there we think there's about a thousand people growing marijuana in Washington, D.C. right now legally in their homes.

Many people like myself, we have surplus from the summer harvest, so we are rolling it up in small quantities of under two ounces or less and all of the activists are going to be carrying it and we are to be giving it away as a large group at 8 a.m. on the west side of DuPont Circle about a mile and a half from the White House.

HOWELL: So, Adam, one point though, it is illegal to smoke marijuana on the national mall. Are you encouraging people to get arrested?

EIDENGER: No, we don't want anyone to get arrested. That's the whole point here. We are trying make marijuana legal. But, if someone feels compelled to smoke marijuana at 4 minutes and 20 seconds into Donald Trump's administration as an act of protest to the lack of coherent policy, to the lack of commitment to reforming these laws and ending the war on marijuana users, then yes, I think people should smoke.

[03:55:10] I'm going to hold out whether or not I'm going to smoke at 4.20 into Donald Trump's administration. Because really the act for me is to give away the cannabis and to draw attention to the issue and that's legal to do currently.

I think, whether I smoke has a lot to do with is the Trump administration and is he going to respond to us? Will he have a green ribbon panel come up to the Trump Tower? I think it's time for him to sit down with leaders and the reform movement and let us know what he is thinking.

Because when he picked Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, he has everyone very concerned that they are going to be shutting medical cannabis dispensaries and raiding people's homes and going back to what we had in the 80s which we don't want to go back to.

HOWELL: What do you say to critics who point to problems with legalization that we've seen in places like Colorado. We're talking about traffic accidents, hospitalizations, illegal growing or trafficking?

EIDENGER: Well, I just want to be clear that we have to have a public policy on sale and we have to have a public policy on when it's not appropriate time to be using cannabis. But that doesn't mean total prohibition. So, we are for reasonable regulation. We all think, you know, that makes sense.

Yes, we are going to have the issues with the young people always experimenting with substances. And we need to intervene and talk to them and educate them why they shouldn't be using, you know, cannabis or alcohol or anything else.

But we really shouldn't be preventing adults from making a decision for themselves. And that's the main point.

HOWELL: Adam Eidenger, one of the people who will be leading the protests come the day the president-elect becomes president of the United States. Adam, thank you so much for your time.

EIDENGER: I appreciate being on the show.

HOWELL: And we thank you for being with us for this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell at the CNN center in Atlanta. The news continues here on CNN with my colleague Max Foster, live in London.

Stay with us.

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