Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. President Goes After Russia Over Hacking; Trump Taps Adviser As Ambassador To Israel; Civilian Evacuation Could Resume In Aleppo; Blistering Cold Hits Parts Of The U.S.; Turkish Armed Forces: 13 Soldiers Killed In Bus Blast; Reuters: Philippine Pres. Defends Killing Drug Suspects. Aired 5-6a ET.

Aired December 17, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:06] BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. president pointing a finger at the president of Russia for cyber hacks during the U.S. election. And this ...

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Anguish from the innocent thousands of civilians still caught in the middle after evacuations from Aleppo stop, but we're hearing a new agreement has been reached allowing more people to flee. We'll have a live report this hour from Aleppo.

HOWELL: Plus, below freezing, the U.S. braces for more rigid temperatures over the week. We'll have the latest forecast for you.

ALLEN: And welcome to our viewers here in the freezing United States and around the world. We're live in Atlanta where it's not too cold. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell from CNN World Headquarters, "Newsroom" starts right now.

ALLEN: U.S. President Barack Obama says Russian cyber attacks stopped during the U.S. presidential campaign after he saw the Russian leader at the G20 Summit and told him that cut it out.

HOWELL: That's the statement it came as his final news conference of the year, Friday. Mr. Obama says there is no doubt the Kremlin was behind last summer's breach of the Democratic National Committee's e- mail server. He also said that he warned President Putin of "Syria's consequences if the hacking continues." Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Based on uniform intelligence assessments, the Russians were responsible for hacking the DNC. And that as a consequence it is important for us to review all elements of that and make sure that we are preventing that kind of interference through cyber attacks in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: So, the Russian hacking raised a several unanswered questions.

ALLEN: A couple that we explored what was Moscow trying to gain and what can Washington do about it. Here's CNN's Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I told Russia to stop it.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Obama for the first time publicly blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for hacking the 2016 U.S. election.

OBAMA: The intelligence that I've seen gives me great confidence in their assessment that the Russians carried out this hacked, the hack of the DNC and the hack of John Podesta. Not much happens to Russia without Vladimir Putin.

SCIUTTO: And the CIA and FBI agree as to one, Director John Brennan telling the CIA workforce in an internal message that, "There is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature, and intent of Russian interference in our presidential election."

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement assessed that Moscow had multiple possible motives, undermine confidence in the vote, weaken Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump. The president said he delivered the stern warning to Putin at the G20 Summit in China in September.

OBAMA: When I saw President Putin in China I felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didn't happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out. There are going to be some serious consequences if he didn't.

SCIUTTO: Still, U.S. officials say that Russia's hacking of U.S. political organizations continues unabated. Since the election one attempted breach targeted the Clinton campaign though unsuccessfully.

President-elect Trump, however, continues to dismiss the U.S. assessment Russia is responsible despite the fact that he is being provided the intelligence behind that assessment, it is classified briefings.

And he saw to divert attention back to one of the revelations glean from the e-mails stolen by Russia tweeting, "Are we talking about the same cyber attack where it was revealed that the head of the DNC illegally gave Hillary the questions to the debate?'

I'm told that the CIA director's message come as many CIA staffers are frustrated even angry to be accused of partisanship in their response to the Russian hacking. The GOP chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee also comes into the defense of intelligence staff saying that they leave their politics at the door.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Journalist Mary Dejevsky is the columnist for the "The Independent" newspaper in Britain. She's also been a correspondent based in Moscow, has a lot of intelligence there working there for sometime. She joins us now from London. Thank you so much for talking with us about this.

You know, in our reporting we've just seen there's allegations, finger pointing, all of these going on, everyone want evidence. What's the likelihood we'll have evidence?

MARY DEJEVSKY, COLUMNIST, "THE INDEPENDENT": The likelihood that we'll have direct evidence I think is really very slight indeed.

[05:05:05] I've actually been surprised by how willing so many people seem to be to accept directly as absolute gospel truth the fact that Russia was not only apparently cyber hacking American election procedures. But, there's a sort of conclusion that's drawn from that which is that Russia somehow wrecked the American election. And I think there's two quite different things.

ALLEN: Right, right. It will be floating out there, though, perhaps until we learn something and we just don't know if that is going to happen. I want to know what is your take on what we've learned from Barack Obama in his last news conference of the year saying he told Vladimir Putin to cut it out.

DEJEVSKY: Yes. But interestingly, I mean, he was talking about his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Hangzhou in September. Now, you know, this was two months before the American election, so what effect did that have if any.

And, also, when you listen very carefully to what President Obama was saying, he was saying something very symbolic to what the intelligence agency people also been saying that they never quite pin it out down.

That they say according to our sources, according to what we understand, according to the intelligence estimates, et cetera. But, again, you know, nobody has this absolutely clinching proof that it really, really was the Russians and that what they were doing is what they were alleged to be doing.

ALLEN: Right, vagueness over such a hot topic. It's very, very difficult. And I'm wondering what do you think of, you know, U.S. and Russia relations because of this story that could be hanging out there and if the U.S. were to impose sanctions on something where there's this vague evidence? What if anything could hurt Russia here?

DEJEVSKY: Well, Russia is already on the sanctions from the Europeans and the Americans over Ukraine. And so additional sanctions, it's quite difficult to see how they would harm Russia unless they were -- the sanctions that Russia I think most fierce, which is blocking access to the international financial system. And, frankly, I don't think that an outgoing president with early two months to go is going to impose the result of sanctions.

I think, also, you know, if I was sitting in Moscow then I think the Kremlin and President Putin would think, well, it's actually worth waiting this out because the messages coming from President-designate Trump really quite different.

So it's rather interesting to be that President Obama in his last few weeks is making these very strong signals against Russia. And I don't quite understand that given that the incoming president is -- it seems intent on setting around the different term.

ALLEN: Mary Dejevsky, we appreciate your comment. Thanks for joining us from London.

Well, President-elect Trump has made his choice for U.S. Ambassador to Israel. He has tapped his close campaign adviser, David Friedman, for that job. And its CNN Global Affairs Correspondent Elise Labott reports Friedman's comments about Israel for grabbing attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELISE LABBOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In tapping his long time friend and bankruptcy lawyer, David Friedman, as his ambassador to Israel, Donald Trump move to make good on a campaign promise.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel.

LABBOT: Israel's right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett, praised Friedman calling him a "great friend of Israel". By appointing the hard line, Friedman as ambassador, Trump could be signaling plans to reverse decades of U.S. policy towards Israel.

Friedman, an orthodox Jew has no experience in diplomacy. He strongly supports legalizing settlements and Israel annexing the West Bank and his question that need for a Palestinian state writing that a two state solution appears, "impossible as long as the Palestinians are unwilling to renounce violence against Israel or recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state."

AARON MILLER, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR, WILSON CENTER: I'm reminded an alliance from "Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy lands and sister of little dog Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. The issue is the positions that have been attributed to him on issues like two state solution settlement activity that clearly contradict decades of U.S. foreign policy.

TRUMP: We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.

[05:10:02] LABBOT: In his statement, Friedman said he look forward to doing his job, "from the U.S. embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem," echoing his promise to Israelis in Jerusalem in October. DAVID FRIEDMAN, U. S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL NOMINEE: The law provides that the obligations to move the embassy to Jerusalem can be waived at the desire of the state department. The reaction from Donald Trump is going to be, "You know what guys, you're all fired."

LABBOT: For decades, U.S. presidents have argued the status of Jerusalem which both Israelis and Palestinians see as their rightful capital can only be settled as part of a peace deal.

Friedman's criticized the left leading Jewish lobby, J Street, which has criticized some Israeli policies calling them, "far worse than kapos-Jews who turned in their fellow Jews in the Nazi death camps". As a response to those comments, Friedman said, "They're not Jewish and they're not pro-Israeli."

In a statement to the group that supports the two state solution for Israelis and Palestinians said it was "vehemently opposed" to Friedman's nomination calling it "reckless and putting America's reputation in the region and credibility around the world at risk."

Current and former diplomat say that by picking Friedman as ambassador and promising to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Donald Trump is running counter to his professed desire, which is making what he call the ultimate deal between Israelis and Palestinians, because there was serious doubt about whether the U.S. can continue to be an honest broker in future mid-east peace talks.

Elise Labbot, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Elise Labbot, thank you.

Let's now bring in CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott live via Skype from Washington. Eugene, as always, a lot to talk about here. Starting with David Friedman, Trump's pick for ambassador, so this would mark a major shift from past administrations regarding Israel more specifically with Jerusalem.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Very much so. We saw Donald Trump campaign saying that he would love to negotiate a deal between Palestine and Israel to reach a peace agreement. But further, I understand thing when he was hoping for more of the conservative Jewish vote. He made it very clear that he would help make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel. So this is pretty consistent with that.

I think, though, one things that's worth mentioning is that people who are more familiar with international relations have criticized Friedman for having neither no diplomatic or policy experience, but pretty much it's being a long term ally of Donald Trump.

HOWELL: Well, let's talk about the president-elect in Orlando, Florida. He was on stage in front of this crowd, but I want to play this sound by where were hearing Donald Trump describe the crowd and we can talk about this here on the other side, Eugene. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You people were vicious, violent, screaming, where is the wall, we want the wall. Screaming, prison, prison, lock her up. I mean, you are gone crazy. I mean, you are nasty and mean and vicious and you wanted to win, right? But now you're mellow and you're cool and you're not nearly as vicious or violent, right, because we won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: I want to make sure, these are not words that have been used, you know, it's categorizing one other than words used by the president-elect in his word, vicious, violent, screaming prison, nasty, mean, vicious, but now mellow, Eugene.

SCOTT: It was a surprising emission from the president-elect. We have had repeatedly throughout the campaign his critics and even other Republicans characterized some of his followers asked that. We've had long video footage and first-person testimony, CNN on Jeremy Diamond just last night at a water bottle thrown at him while covering the rally.

And so for him to acknowledge one of the major concerns that his opponents had about him was very surprising, whether or not they actually have mellowed, we haven't seen that yet. Will they mellow more in the future? They'll probably follow his lead.

HOWELL: Look, there are some in the crowd who will, you know, harass reporters, as you point out, a water bottle thrown at a reporter, but at the same time, you know, there are people who go to those rallies, they are there to support the candidate that they chose and they are not violent people. So important not to pate the entire crowd with one large brush here, but, again, the president-elect on stage using some very specific words to describe the crowds during the campaign.

Let's talk more about the Trump supporters and people who did not support Donald Trump. Look, supporters say it's time to give him a chance. They want to see a person -- they elected a person who will make major changes. That is what's happening. Donald Trump is a disruptor. He's changing the system and that's what people voted for.

[05:15:02] But more than half of the people who voted in this election, people who supported his rival, they are now hoping that electors could stop Donald Trump just given the background. If you don't mind Eugene, just kind of explain to our viewers around the world who these electors are and could they indeed make a difference here or is this just a rubber stamp?

SCOTT: This will likely be a rubber stamp. These electors are -- have been chosen to pick the candidate that most in their community have gotten behind and support it. Then we have some that have been calling themselves paid for electors who'd seem to want to move in a different direction based on what they've seen so far during this transition.

But the likelihood of a significant number doing that enough to cause a change in the outcome is so low that there should be no expectation of that. Many of them were asking for a briefing from intelligence prior to take -- making their boat this Monday, but we just found out yesterday that that is not what is going to happen.

HOWELL: 5:15 in Washington, D.C. with Eugene Scott who never sleeps, always around to give us analysis here for our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. Eugene, thank you.

SCOTT: Thank you.

ALLEN: Well, let's take a quick look at some of the people Trump want in his cabinet. They include long time Trump supporter, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, tap reports for U.S. Attorney General, Goldman Sachs Veteran Steve Mnuchin, nominated for Treasury Secretary and Retired Generals John Kelly and James Mattis to head Homeland Security and Defense. The Senate must approve all cabinet level appointments. Two question marks are still there.

Well, a rare glimmer of hope in Aleppo. More on the reports of a new agreement to evacuate civilians, basically, that's coming next.

HOWELL: Plus, if you're here in the United States, hey, we're going to bundle up because it is cold outside. There's wind, there's snow, cold weather sweeping across most of country. Stay with us, we'll tell you about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Turkish Armed Forces say 13 of its soldiers were killed off duty by an explosion in Kayseri. Report say a car bomb detonated next to a public bath. 48 more soldiers have been wounded, but we haven't heard any details about civilian casualties.

Last week, twin blast left dozens of people dead in Istanbul. The Kurdish group that flincher (ph) from the PKK claimed those bombing.

[05:20:08] HOWELL: We're also following the crisis in Aleppo with Syrian government official tells Reuters that evacuations from Aleppo will resume. A broken cease-fire stalled evacuations, Friday. Well, that source the breach was never clear.

ALLEN: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave his take on the crisis in very bleak terms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN KI-MOON, U.N SECRETARY-GENRAL: The cottage in Syria remains of gaping hole in the global equations. Aleppo is now a synonym for hell. As I told the Security Council three days ago, we have collectively failed the people of Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: A synonym for hell. That certainly is a bleak term. Our Fred Pleitgen has reported from Aleppo through much of this crisis and you certainly have seen that hell firsthand. Fred, I know you're back in Beirut, Lebanon, but what are you hearing about this new agreement?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, everybody hopes that new agreement is actually going to be followed through, Natalie. What we're getting is from opposition sources who also say that a new agreement has been reached, which involves getting people out of Aleppo, resuming those evacuations, but also involves evacuations of two Shiite villages in rebel controlled area that are besiege as well where evacuations will start and to further places in other parts of Syria.

So it's a large and complex deal of that has now apparently been hammered out and certainly one that is necessary, because yesterday those evacuations were halted for those who needed it and that turned out to be a very dangerous situation. Let's have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: They were supposed to be brought to safety, instead they are running for their lives once again. A convoy them to take this East Aleppo residents out of the besiege areas under fired.

This eye witness says he was part of the convoy stop he claims by an Iranian militia fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): There are the crossings. The Russians say are secure.

PLEITGEN: The Syrian government has a very different account. It says rebel fighters in a convoy were carrying concealed weapons and that they are to blame for the violence that reportedly left a number of people dead.

Evacuations that had already succeeded in getting thousands out of Eastern Aleppo ground to an immediate holds as the blame game begin. Russia making a puzzling announcement saying it believed the evacuation of East Aleppo was complete and that only hard-line rebel fighter remains in the enclave.

Turkey which helps negotiate the agreement shooting down those blames. The Red Cross and UNICEF for their part say tens of thousands of people including more than 1,000 children are still trapped inside the war-torn city. For those that made it out, the anguish was almost too much to bear.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PLEITGEN: But for those still trapped inside, the tiny rebel enclave in Eastern Aleppo, the situation is even worst. Stock in the bitter of cold with no food and no medical supplies left to pray that the violence won't begin again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So as you can see now, lay a tragic situation for the folks there are still caught up in Eastern Aleppo. That's one of the reasons why the U.N. came out earlier today and said that those evacuations need to resume immediately. That it shouldn't be part of any sort of deal, any sort of agreement that there is a humanitarian crisis, and that means the civilians need to get out of eastern Aleppo as fast as possible because there are still people in there who are sick. There's people who are wounded. There's people who need medical attention as fast as possible, Natalie.

ALLEN: Right. And you can't just say everybody out because it's a very such a complex situation. I really don't know what to say after your story there, Fred. These people talking -- finally getting to talked, that one man holding two plastic bags of all of his belongings standing there and just wondering. OK, so Russia's allowing them hopefully to get out now.

Where did they go from here? I mean, these are people that they lived there. They had homes there. They have belongings. They have (inaudible). They have businesses. What's next? I'm sure that's the question if I was in Israel.

PLEITGEN: Well, you know what -- yeah. You know, I think that's a very important point you take -- make. And it's really two-pronged answer that I think can be given to that and both of the answers really are pretty badly tragic for the people who are evacuating right now.

[05:25:03] First of all, you're absolutely. A lot of the people that are coming out now, they've lived in Aleppo all of their lives. Many of them haven't even traveled out of their neighborhoods for a substantial period of time until now. So a lot of them, for them having to leave their homes, having to leave their belongings, having to believe the place that they lived in all their lives is absolutely better.

And then the second part of it is, of course, they go into a very uncertain future. Most of them are going to go to Idlib province. That itself is also under the control of the rebels, some of them Islamist militias and it's also being bombed by the Russians and the Syrian government.

So they're going from one besiege war zone area to another war zone area that isn't besiege, but certainly the living conditions there are not going to be substantially better than they were in Eastern Aleppo. So for a lot of these folks, it is going to be moving forward into a very, very uncertain future in a very uncertain area where no doubt once the battle for Aleppo is over that's probably going to be one of the areas that the Syrian government and the Russians are going to focus on and try to win back that as well, Natalie.

ALLEN: Oh, my goodness. Fred Pleitgen for -- following it for us from Beirut. Fred, thank you.

HOWELL: God really needs up there. I mean leaving Aleppo going to Idlib that could be hell number two.

We're switching over now to weather. A dangerous blast of Arctic air groups much of the United States this weekend. Our meteorologist Karen McGinnis is here with the very latest.

KAREN MCGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Natalie and George, I just saw some pictures coming out of Indianapolis and across that Ohio River Valley, they have had to take people off have been interstate ramp and take them out of their cars and off because they can't moved because the ice is so dangerous. It is dangerous in some so many places.

If it isn't the cold, the wind chill, the icy conditions, the snow just wait, there's more to see with our own Derek Van Dam. But I want to show you these temperatures. Dallas will go from 76 tomorrow, the second to the record but that's away about normal for them until around 32 degrees to 33 degrees on Sunday.

Huge temperature difference once that front moves through, it is going to be dropping those temperatures like crazy. And it take a look at Atlanta go from the 60s in to the 40s into the Northeast in New England, very dangerous weather conditions.

I want to show you some images coming out of Mitchell, South Dakota and they send kids home early from school because of road conditions were so bad, the visibility was so bad. The wind chill factor tonight is expected to be as low as 50 degrees below zero.

Now, that is in degrees Fahrenheit, but Fahrenheit in Celsius made up at minus 40. So that gives you some ideas just how horrible this is. All right, Derek Van Dam, he never meets an obstacle. He cannot think, "Oh, I can conquer that. I can climb that mountain. I can swim across that lake." Well, here he is snowboarding. This is a Colorado Rockies. They have seen so much snowfall there. They're got a little stock.

He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to get out of this pickle. I know he looks very confident in that picture, but at some point he was walking to find a trail. He eventually did, which is good news. But, you don't typically see Derek with any kind of specialized fear on his face. I won't say he was afraid, but he was concern because that's snow was so deep and he's trying to figure out a way to get out of it, which he did by the way. So, that's good news.

Well, here you can see where some of that (inaudible) across Virginia and into West Virginia. Icy road conditions across essentially west. It is such everywhere we look. Back to you guys. Even for Derek, he tripped which we saw on his Facebook.

ALLEN: A little trouble there. Yeah, something about our meteorologist playing in this cold instead of covering it, we're going to get onto him.

MCGINNIS: There you go, yeah.

HOWELL: Karen, thank you.

(OFF-MIC)

HOWELL: Still ahead here on "Newsroom," the U.S. president says that he called out the president of Russia from meddling in U.S. politics weeks before the presidential election.

ALLEN: Plus, the Philippine president details how many people he killed and the weapons he used when he was mayor of his hometown.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:32:43] HOWELL: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN "Newsroom." It is always good to have you with us. I'm George Howell

NATALIE ALLEN: Wherever you are, thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories. Turkish armed forces say 13 soldiers were killed in an explosion in Kayseri. Sources say a bus carrying off duty soldiers was hit by an apparent car bomb near university campus, 48 more are wounded, but those numbers don't include possible civilian causalities.

HOWELL: The rebel group at Aleppo says it's reached the new evacuation agreement with Russian and Iranian forces. A Syrian government source confirms the agreement in a Reuters report the evacuation process stop in Aleppo on Friday. Rights crusade militant rebels broke a cease-fire there.

ALLEN: Donald Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel is already creating controversy, nominee David Friedman is signaling his support moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. A move that would up in decades of U.S. policy and the quite controversial, a top Palestinian official warns it would destroy prospects for peace. Israel and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital.

HOWELL: The current president of the United States leaving very little doubt about who he holds responsible for cyber attacks during the U.S. election. The man you see right there, the president of Russia.

Barack Obama says that he told Vladimir Putin to "cut it out" when the two men met at the G20 Summit in China. Mr. Obama saying the hacks stop then, but the damage had already been done with hack e-mails posted on WikiLeaks.

The debate about how to handle the alleged tax is growing louder and louder and more partisan by the day, but security experts say Russian efforts to gather information, they are still ongoing and they're urging other countries to shore up their cyber defenses before it's too late. And CNN's Brian Todd reports for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Moscow says the hacking allegations against Russia are groundless. Vladimir Putin spokesman challenging America to prove them, but U.S. officials tell CNN the Russian hacks continue around-the-clock fishing attempts targeting private e-mail accounts associated with Hillary Clinton's campaign as recently as December 6th.

ADAM MEYERS, V.P. OF INTELLIGENCE, CROWDSTRIKE: It's a continuing effort to collect intelligence.

TODD: Adam Meyers specializes in cyber intelligence with the firm Crowdstrike, which investigated the Russian hacks for the Democratic Party.

[05:35:05] Meyers and other experts have new information on operations inside Putin's hacking teams, which they say are as talented as they come.

JASON HEALEY, CYBER SECURITY EXPERT, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: When it comes to espionage and offense, they are fantastic. They are close to the best in the world probably right after our own here in the United States.

TODD: Crowdstrike discovered that a Russian hacking team called "Cozy Bear" first penetrated the DNC in the summer of 2015. Crowdstrike says that team also known as "The Dukes" or "APT 29" for advanced persistent threat is tied to Russian intelligence. In March of this year, Crowdstrike says another Russian hacking team, "Fancy Bear" began targeting the Democratic Party.

"Fancy Bear" is believed to be commanded by the GRU, Russia's Military Intelligence Agency.

What are the tools they used?

MEYERS: What these tools allow them to do is to access the computer, to download files, to upload files, to execute commands, to even take pictures of what's going on, on the screen.

TODD: This is apparently the bogus e-mail that open Pandora's Box of the Clinton campaign, "someone has your passwords" says an e-mail to campaign chair John Podesta in March posted online by WikiLeaks. It says, "To click on this link to reset the password."

MEYERS: Once they go to that link it will actually take them to what looks like a Google log in and they'll be asked for their username and their password. And when they provide that username and their password, it will forward it to Google, but the attacker actually now has a copy of their username and password.

TODD: A technique used by what's believed to be an army of at least 4,000 Russian cyber agents.

Are these the disheveled hackers who happen to be wearing military uniforms? Who are they?

MEYERS: I think that there's people in military uniforms. There's people that are probably more business focused and then there is going to be a technical codger that maybe a little bit more informal and maybe a little bit more casual.

TODD: A key question now, who are the next targets of the "Fancy Bear" and "Cozy Bear" hacking teams? Crowdstrike says NATO should have its guard up. Any company that has major business deals going in Russia and they say political leaders in France and Germany should have their cyber defense as ready. Those are countries having political elections next year, countries where Russia cares a lot about the outcome of those elections.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: This very stuff (ph) there and we have this very stuff here, the Philippines president is defending his controversial war on drugs.

HOWELL: On Friday, the President Rodrigo Duterte imply that he won't stop until all drug dealers are dead and he told CNN's Will Ripley how many people he killed and why he makes no apologies for doing so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGO DUTERTE. PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: I did kill. I was only three months mayor in 1988.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte making no apologies elaborating on his stunning claim that he shot and killed suspected criminals.

DUTERTE: I grabbed my M-16, American made, mind you, to kill criminals.

RIPLEY: Nearly 30 years before he was president, in his early days as mayor, Duterte's hometown at Davao was considered one of the Philippine's most dangerous cities. Today, police say, it's one of the safest and many here credit Duterte.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can walk in the street long, no danger.

RIPLEY: No danger anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, because we have no addict.

RIPLEY: No drug addict.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No drug addict.

RIPLEY: As mayor, the former prosecutor encouraged the mass killing of drug suspects earning him the nick name, "The Punisher."

Do you recall how many people you killed? Are you certain that all of them were guilty?

DUTERTE: I'll count one, two, three. One, two, three. When I tell you now that I killed -- do not term as suspects because all of them died while they were fighting government people.

RIPLEY: As president, he's taking his drug war nationwide. In less than six months, nearly 6,000 people have died.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the name of human rights, it's bad. But if in terms of -- for the safety of the people, it's good. RIPLEY: In a nation fed up with crime and corruption, Duterte's approval rating is still almost 80 percent, though, it's down from 90 percent in July. Voices of opposition are growing louder.

LEILA DE LIMA, PHILIPPINE SENATOR: These are mass murderers. Mass murderer certainly falls under the category of high crimes. And high crime is a ground for impeachment under our Constitution.

RIPLEY: Duterte's most prominent critic, Senator Leila De Lima, is calling for his impeachment. Duterte has fired back accusing De Lima of ties to illegal drugs. Some critics say Duterte has used his drug war to weed out legal adversaries, a claim he denies.

[05:40:07] DUTERTE: At least I kill to protect people. I am not yet a dictator killing my political opponents to stay in power.

RIPLEY: Just this week, a newspaper quoted Duterte warning so-called corrupt politicians to resign or face death. Judging by the president's own words, it may not be an empty threat.

Will Ripley, CNN, Davao, Philippines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The president of the Philippines admitting that he has killed people.

ALLEN: It is surreal. Coming up here, Venezuelans called up yet another economic crisis or stocked with bank notes that are now worthless.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome back to "Newsroom." Venezuela's cash problems just keep getting worst. That country's president announcing the 100 bolivar notes would be discontinued.

ALLEN: Happy holidays, right, but protests broke out after the currency set replace. It did arrive at many banks. Rafael Romo has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL ROMO: It's an extraordinary site. Long lines of desperate Venezuelans trying to get rid of their 100 bolivar bills. The bolivar is the Venezuelan currency. Some people carrying travel bags stuffed with packs of bills.

This is chaos, this man said. If you go to banks, you'll see people bringing in bills in cardboard boxes to exchange them because they are worthless.

They are doing it because last Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered that 100 bolivar bill discontinued.

[05:45:05] State-run media said it would be replaced with coins of the same value, but the government has yet to distribute them. Now, consumers are stocked. Banks no longer accept the bills, but ATMs are still dispensing them because the replacements haven't arrived.

This woman says many businesses also no longer accept the 100 bolivar bill, so consumers like her have to use their credit cards to make purchases.

It's just one more blow to the Venezuelan economy, which has been sputtering over the last few years. Inflation is expected to rise on estimated 470 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Next year, the IMF says it may rise to more than 1,600 percent. The Venezuelan currency lost 55 percent of its value just in November.

Venezuelan authorities had announced they would roll out 500 bolivar bills this week. At the highest official exchange rate, 500 bolivar's are worth 75 U.S. cents.

All you can buy with the 500 bolivar bill this man says is a piece of bread and you will still be short by 50 bolivars.

Economists say the bottom line is that the Venezuelan economy is in tatters and the government has failed so far to find a solution.

ASDRUBAL OLIVEROS, VENEZUELAN ECONOMIST (through translation): This accumulated inflation is very, very aggressive and it reflects the monetary policy failure and steps taken to reduce inflation by both the Chavez government and also the current president, Maduro.

ROMO: The government says it will make available bills of much higher denominations up to 20,000 bolivar soon. In the meantime, people are left without answers and wondering if their cash is now worthless.

Rafael Romo, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Now, the South Korea supporters of the South Korean president are now in the streets rallying to keep Park Geun Hye empowers, very much a different thing in what we've seen over the past weeks and weeks.

As, you know, others have been rallying demanding for ouster. South Korea's parliament voted to impeach her so her powers are suspended for now. Ms. Park is accused of sharing government information with a long time friend and other abuses of power, but by fairness to people, wanting her to stay.

HOWELL: And that decision now in the hands of the constitutional court there in South Korea. So in Germany, one woman is on a mission, she is walking through streets in Berlin neighborhoods looking to destroy any signs of swastikas that she sees.

ALLEN: CNN's Atika Shubert has more on the 70 years-old graffiti war against the Neo-Nazis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 70-year-old Irmela Schramm scours the street of Berlin armed with a scraper and a spray paint and nail polish remover.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SHUBERT: And she sees it, a Nazi swastika amid the street graffiti she gets to work. Schramm calls herself a (inaudible), a political cleaner of Neo-Nazi and racist graffiti. And every week, Schramm sent up to 17 hours scraping off racist stickers and painting over swastikas with art.

Oh, I couldn't look at that swastika and say, oh, that's awful and walk by she says. But, no one would dare to do anything. Well, I don't want to wait for someone else to do something about it, she says.

At home, Schramm shows us her catalog of work. It started 30 years ago when she spotted a flyer supporting convicted Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hess plastered to her bus stop, disgusted she took her house keys and scratch the flyer off.

I just scrap the head away until it was all gone, she says. It was a fantastic feeling afterwards, the mind pollution was gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will symbols in Austria, in Polland.

SHUBERT: It has become a personal mission that has taken her across Germany and six other countries. She says she has cleaned more than 130,000 Neo-Nazi symbols and erases graffiti and the amount she sees on the street is increasing, she says, especially against refugees.

Well, they would tell I am intolerant that I don't respect the far right freedom of speech, she says, but I say freedom of speech has limits. It ends where hatred and contempt for humanity begins.

Neo-Nazi group has entered death threat, police have warned that her work is too provocative and that she could face thousands of dollars in fines for defacing public property. On the daily tag along, a Berlin cleaning crew was simply annoyed.

Look, I like what you're doing says (inaudible), but not the way you're doing it.

Well, Schramm dismisses the cleaners with the last and she does most of her critics. Just as she's about to call the day, Schramm's spot a big one across the street, not to (inaudible) or not to neighborhood.

[05:50:07] She whips out her can of red spray paint and get to work. This graffiti war is a never ending battle, but Schramm seems happy to continue the fight one heart at a time.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Don Riddell with your CNN World Sport headlines. Let's start in the Bundesliga league where Hoffenheim, one of only two teams in the top five European leagues was unbeaten the season, the other on the beaten side around the grave.

(Inaudible) tough match against Borussia Dortmund, Hoffenheim still unbeaten settling for two draw when the visitors tied it early in the second half, it was Hoffenheim's ninth draw of the season and the (inaudible) third in the league.

In other news, Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas has emerged as the latest candidate to join Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes following the surprise retirement of Nico Rosberg.

It is a bit like a game of musical chairs, but apparently finish driver Bottas could be the newest man at the Silverado (ph), that's according to BBC. The Williams team principal, Claire Williams says she'd be prepared to let him go just as long as incredible and experienced driver can be found to replace him.

Maria Sharapova has taken her first tentative steps back towards competitive tennis. The Russian superstar is serving at doping ban and so she can't play on the WTA tour until April, but she was able to compete in the inaugural Monica Puig Invitational in Puerto Rico. Puig become a national hero when she won at the Rio Olympics this year and she beat Sharapova in three sets. Sharapova described the experience as "very special."

That is a quick look to your sport headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

ALLEN: So we're live in Atlanta and when you're live, of course, thing just don't always go with plan, perhaps, you can share an example of that.

HOWELL: OK, sure. You (inaudible), though. OK, so just last week my voice was glittering, right? I was getting over a cold and one of our colleagues brought out some hot water right before the start of one of the segments. I tried to put the water down her right before the show and I burn my head like that.

ALLEN: Oh, dear, a work injury.

(OFF-MIC)

ALLEN: I've got live standing in fire ants before, that was fun. Imagine that (inaudible).

HOWELL: They'll have to hurt.

ALLEN: Yeah, a little bit.

HOWELL: So from a scooter wipe out to a crumbling ceiling, this has been rocky week for a few T.V. host.

ALLEN: With burn hands. Here's Jeanne Moos for that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was what your mind calls a rough stretch for those who make a living on live T.V.

[05:55:06] On KTTV's Good Day L.A. they had come to the grand finale of their hot holiday gift segment ready for disaster as anchor Lisa Breckenridge positioned herself on $1000 electric scooter.

(Inaudible) was the disco version of Silent Night played on.

LISA BRECKENRIDGE, LOS ANGELES FOX ANCHOR: I think I'm OK. Oh no.

(OFF-MIC)

BRECKENRIDGE: Am I OK?

MOOS: To make sure she was OK, Lisa went to the hospital. But the anchor who crashed isn't the only one attracting eyeballs.

Lisa posted a photo of herself giving a thumbs up alongside a paramedic. Website TMZ wrote, "All's well that ends with a hot firefighter, right?" And a firefighter Instagram, "They called me 'hot,' LOL.

Meanwhile, some Canadian sportscasters found themselves in hot water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was at the back of gold (inaudible) and say ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There goes a piece of the roof on live television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you all right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On live television the studio just fell apart.

MOOS: A close call, but no injuries. Lisa described her injuries as just swollen and bruised and slight head injury. He just missed slamming into a T.V. then hit the barriers and knocked over a second T.V.

The owner of Route 66, the store that loaned up a scooter told CNN, "It has awesome brakes if only she used them." He also said if you Google Lisa Breckenridge, she falls down a lot. We did and she does, but the thing about Lisa, she gets backup and back off.

Jeanne Moose, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Oh, men (ph), we keep only doing it. Thanks for watching, I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)