white house correspondent michelle cmis michelle kosinski has more from tampa. >> this was a brought explanation of policies over the last eight years but it also serves as almost a warning to the next administration you that need to be extremely care with these intricate complexities of national security, otherwise you could make things worse. when you think about it, this is how this administration continues to community with the next one. the president continuing to hit the same points and set up these contrasts between his policies and some of the things that donald trump has said. for example, the president's continued attempts to close gitmo calling it a blot on our national honor. his opposition to enhance interrogation techniques or torture saying adherence to the rule of law is not a weakness but in fact is our greatest national strength. also on the muslim issue, arcably the most controversial part of donald trump's campaign platform. listen. >> united states of america is not a country that imposes religious tests as a price for freedom. we're a country that was founded so

i want to bring in our white house correspondent, michelle kosinski. the white house press secretary said not only was russia responsible for hacking, to impact the election, if you will, but that trump himself encouraged it. update our viewers. >> on the hack itself today we heard the press secretary say that in his view it is obvious that vladimir putin played a role. based on that statement the intelligence community put out in october naming russia, even though they didn't specifically name putin. and on donald trump. what we've been hearing from the white house has been the surprising, steady buildup of now direct criticism of donald trump and his team, precipitated, they say, by his repeated denials and questions over russia's role. listen. >> first of all, it's just a fact -- you all have it on tape -- that the republican nominee for president was encouraging russia to hack his opponent because he believed that that would help his campaign. that's not a controversial statement. i am not trying to be argumentative. i am trying to acknowledge a ba

george and alison. >> okay, michelle kosinski, thank you. today marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on pearl harbor. thousands of veterans and a few remaining survivors will attend a ceremony there. on monday, japanese prime minister shinzo abe announced he will visit the site of the attack in late december with president obama, making him the first japanese leader to do so since the end of world war ii. speaking to reporters abe replied the gesture say way of mirroring the commitment shown by obama to japan-u.s. relations when he visited hiroshima in may. >> it is a moment of history. >> it is. >>> the president-elect donald trump taking credit for bringing a $50 billion investment of 50,000 jobs in the united states. but here's the question, was that deal already in the works before donald trump was elected? we'll examine it. >>> welcome back to "early start." i'm george howell. donald trump is taking credit for a $50 billion investment in the u.s. by the japanese tech conglomerate. the president-elect making an appearance in trump to

michelle kosinski is in the briefing room getting ready. michelle, set the scene for us. you're getting information about what we might hear. >> there are going to be a lot of questions obviously. but obviously this isn't for the benefit of reporters who have these difficult questions, this is also for president obama to get out there and hit those points he feels are important. i mean, he's going to want to be in a position of strength against russia towards the hack without getting into too much detail on this proportion al response he's been warning about but the white house wants to clarify what's been called now an ugly transition, what's been termed a gloves-off back-and-forth between the white house and donald trump and his team. it has been surprising in some respects the way this information has been put out there, the responses by the white house and the defense of the white house for the way it's responded and why. the white house has been wanting to explain that and i think hoob wi -- president obama will want to put that in his own words. we're hearing from s

>> michelle kosinski there at the white house, thank you so much. let's bring in cnn politics reporter tom lobianco and commentator errol louis. good to you both. errol, the president's classification, characterization of the united states' response to russia up to this point and potentially moving forward. let's listen to a bit more of the news conference from yesterday. >> i know there have been folks out there who suggest somehow that if we went out there and made big announcements and thumped our chests about a bunch of stuff, that somehow, that would potentially spook the russians. and so, how we approach an appropriate response that increases costs for them for behavior like this in the future but does not create problems for us is something that's worth taking the time to think through and figure out. that's exactly what we've done. >> so, errol, a response here that doesn't have a big, bold exclamation point that a lot of people are looking for. how does this likely sit with democrats who agree with the former cia director who called what ru

kosinski reporting for us. gail, i want to bring down some of the key issues some of the areas of uncertainty with president-elect trump. one being torture. we expect president obama to talk about the ban on torture, practices like waterboarding and how he wants to make sure those stay in place. now we know that president-elect trump has in the past said he wants to bring back waterboarding. >> can you imagine them sitting around the table or whatever they're eating their dinner saying the americans don't do wat wa water boarding but we chop off heads. they probably think we're weak and stupid and have no leadership. you have to fight fire with fire. >> he did back track a little bit when james mattis said i'd rather have a beer and get a guy to tell me things, secret things, that way versus torture. but there's a lot of conversation can he be convinced that torture is not effective by people he trusts? meaning people who were retired generals? perhaps those potentially leading at the pentagon because when you

michelle kosinski is with the president in tampa, florida. michelle, the president, without naming him directly, seemed to criticize donald trump at the end of his speech. let me play a little bit of that for you. >> united states of america is not a country that imposes religious tests as a price for freedom. we're a country that was founded so that people could practice their faiths as they choose. the united states of america is not a place where some citizens have to withstand greater scrutiny or carry a special i.d. card or prove that they're not an enemy from within. we're a country that has bled and struggled and sacrificed against that kind of discrimination and arbitrary rule. here in our own country and arno around the world. we're a nation that believes that freedom can never be taken for granted and that each of us has a responsibility to sustain it. the universal right to speak your mind and to protest against authority. to live in a society that's open and free. that can criticize a president without retribution. [ applause ] >>

first to our white house correspondent michelle kosinski. you were there at the president's news conference. there were a lot of questions about russian hacking. >> reporter: this was abhour and a half long news conference focused on the hacking, russian influence on the election. you could almost picture vladimir putin watching this and being very pleased with the turmoil he's been able to cause. you're right, the president said it without saying it, making it very clear, though, that he does believe that putin himself had a direct role in all of this. the president defended his administration's actions, defended the fbi, when asked if this was a free and fair election he could only go so far as to say that the voting process wasn't tampered with, calling all of this a clarifying moment for america. president obama defended his administration's actions when it came to the announcement that the russians had hacked the democratic national committee. >> once we had clarity and certainty around what in fact had happened, we publicly announced t

senior white house correspondent michelle kosinski joins me on the phone what you heard? >> that is how quick this happened. a call was made. there was reach out from the chinese government to the u.s. we don't knee the details of the call. we don't expect to get it. what the white house is saying is they confirm that china has already reached out but they don't want to get into diplomatic discussions. so how deep this discussion went we're not sure at this point but it is very telling how quickly this happened. i mean, as soon as we knew about this call between donald trump and taiwan, before we even knew the details. and he's now tweeting that it was they who reached out to him. that is how quickly china was reaching out to the u.s. what the white house has been saying is kind of a very, very careful response. that it is committed to the one-china policy as elise was saying. and she also mentioned the pakistan call. the pakistani government -- out the call with donald trump and directly quoted him ads saying to the prime minister you are a terrific guy. you have a very

michelle kosinski of cnn. >> reporter: thank you. this week we heard hillary clinton talk about how she thinks that the fbi director's most recent announcement made a difference in the outcome of the election and we also just heard in an op-ed her campaign chairman talk about something being deeply broken within the fbi. he talked about thinking that the investigation early on was lackadaisical in his words. so what do you think about those comments? do you think there's any truth to them? do you think there's a danger there that they're calling into question the integrity of institutions in a similar way that donald trump's team has done? and the second part to that is that donald trump's team repeatedly -- i guess giving the indication that the investigation of the russian hack as well as the retaliation might not be such a priority once he's in office. so what do you think the risk is there and are you going to talk to him directly about some of those comments he made? >> well, on the latter point, as i said before, the transition

. >> michelle kosinski begins coverage live from the white house on this breaking story. the president of the united states blaming vladimir putin for the russian hack. there was no question about that. >> that's right and what we've been hearing from his administration. of course it has the added weight coming directly from president obama. this entire hour and a half long press conference was focused, for the most part on russia. you can almost picture vladimir putin at some point watching this very pleased with his influence over this debate. but we heard president obama defend his administration's actions over naming russia, defend the fbi over its investigation. although when president obama was asked was this a free and fair election, he would only go so far as to say that the voting process wasn't tampered with. calling all of this a clarifying moment for america. president obama won't say definitively that he thinks russian president vladimir putin himself authorized the hack of the u.s. elections. but he lives little doubt. >> this happened at the highest levels

michelle kosinski takes us through the issues discussed at the white house today. judge upholds california electoral college mandate a federal judge is rejecting a challenge to california's requirement that electoral college members vote for the statewide winner of the presidential election. an attorney for elector vinz koller says the judge issued his decision following a hearing on friday. the attorney, melody kramer, says u.s. district court judge edward davila did not find that koller faced irreparable harm. kramer says she plans to file an appeal. koller is the head of the democratic party in monterey county, but he says he wants to cast his ballot for a compromise republican such as mitt romney ele country p to d majority on the north carolina man who walked into a pizzeria with a gun. has pleaded not guilty to all of the charg3 28-year-old edgar appeared arlier this say,r appeared welc restaurant fired several sho>> reporter: will ley cool night outside. holiday parties out there for tonight temperature's very chilly bundle up if you're heading up the door w

for that we go to michelle kosinski, our cnn white house correspondent. so we know this will be different and separate than what the fbi already did before the election when they announced they believe the russian government was hacking into different entities including the dean see and the clinton campaign with a view of influencing the election. that's where that ended and that's all that was released publicly. this new review the white house has just ordered the white house says will be a deep dive, a much broader look, it's going to look at patterns of hacking, again focusing on elections, it's going to look at the state of defenses and what lessons have been learned as well as what lessons need to be learned. the most interesting thing we just found out from the white house is that this is going to go all the way back to the 2008 presidential election. it emerged years later from that that u.s. officials suspected china back in 2008 of hacking into both the obama and mccain campaigns. that information wasn't released publicly, china denied it. but th

let's get the latest from michelle kosinski. >> we know that almost immediately, as soon as the world got word of this very interesting phone call, chinese officials reached out to the white house. that says a lot. what isn't saying a lot right now is the white house itself. they don't want to comment on diplomatic conversations. about you let's just say that this was a discussion that happened, and china has questions. well, there's really not a lot that the white house can convey at this point. they likely emphasized what the white house has said publicly about this. that the white house adheres to the one china policy. meaning they believe taiwan is a part of china, and they address diplomatic relations accordingly. but they can't lend china any real clarity on how relations and diplomacy will change. this is the same problem the president has had on his recent foreign trip. where world leaders want to know what's going to change and what's going to happen. the white house doesn't have the answers. >> michelle, thank you. joining me now is former ambassador christopher hill, served

i want to begin with jim acosta who is in orlando with the president-elect, michelle kosinski and david gergen, an adviser to four presidents. also with us political commentator ryan lizza, washington correspondent for the "new yorker." jim, i'll start with you. while everyone is talking about russian hacking, donald trump is talking to supporters in florida tonight. did he mention russia? >> he did not, don, perhaps it's a return to the holiday spirit, the spirit of the season. there was this back-and-forth that was going on over the last 24 hours between donald trump and josh earnest and then kellyanne conway jumped into the fray earlier today but at that press conference you heard president obama decline to really go after donald trump, he just merely suggested that the president-elect get on board with this probe into russian hacking but at this rally here in orlando one of these thank you tour rallies donald trump did not continue the fight. he did not keep this fight going but he did take issue with the policy towards syria, he offered a different proposal, one he's been talking a

>> michelle kosinski at the white house thanks so much. >>> the now to how the u.s. came to point fingers at russia. sources confirming an internal message sent from cia director john brennan that the fbi and u.s. intelligence, the national security director, as well, sorry the director of national intelligence as well as the director of the cia, all of them, including the fbi russia tried to undermine u.s. politics and this is important, this is significant, and that one of their motivations was to try to help donald trump win the election. joining me now cnn chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. jim, there has not been unanimity on what the motivation of russia was. the news that the fbi now agrees with cia director brennan, that seems significant. >> well it is. i think one point to make is that there was less disagreement than some reporting and then some gop lawmakers have been saying, speaking to multiple officials both in the intelligence agencies and in law enforceme enforcement, this is what is new today. cia director john brennan feeling the ne

michelle kosinski is "outfront." >> erase if you can for a moment all the nastiness of the campaign trail. >> we are led by stupid people. okay? we're led by stupid people. >> donald trump is uniquely unqualified to be our chief executive. temperamentally unfit to be commander in chief. >> reporter: and now listen to donald trump today calling into the morning tvrgs. >> we have a very good dialogue. and i must tell you, you know i never met him before this. and i never spoke to him before this. i really -- i do like him. i love getting his ideas. >> reporter: since the election the president and president elect have had. >> at least a handful of conversations. >> is as specific as the white house will get. so is the feeling mutual. >> does the president enjoy these phone calls? >> the president is pleased he can play a role in ensuring a smooth and effective transition. president obama was not just a willing participant in those kind of conversations. but rather he would welcome the opportunity to be as helpful as he possibly could to the incoming president. >> caller: the white house wou