Intelligence Report Presented to Trump and Obama; Trump's Pick for Homeland Security Chief Questioned; Trump Aide Accused of Plagiarizing Book, Articles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm John Vause. Great to have you with us. We begin with a story that we brought you first on CNN involving the next U.S. President Donald Trump. Here is Jake Tapper with more.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: CNN has learned that the nation's top intelligence officials presented information to President-Elect Donald Trump on Friday and President Barack Obama on Thursday about claims of Russian efforts to compromise President-Elect Trump. The information was provided as part of last week's classified briefings, intelligence briefings regarding the Russian efforts to undermine and interfere in the 2016 elections. I worked on the story with Jim Sciutto, with Evan Perez and with Carl Bernstein -- all of us have been working our sources for several days. They all join me now. Let me start with my colleague now. Jim Sciutto -- walk us through the basic outline of what we have learned.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This was is a team reporting effort at CNN. And multiple officials with direct knowledge of those briefings tell CNN that classified documents on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election that were presented last week to President Obama and to President-Elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump. These allegations were part of a two-page synopsis based on memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative whose past work U.S. intelligence officials consider credible. The FBI is now investigating the credibility and accuracy of those allegations which are based primarily on information from Russian sources. But the FBI has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump. The classified briefings last week, I remind you, were presented by four of the senior most U.S. intelligence chiefs -- director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI director James Comey, the CIA director John Brennan and NSA director Admiral Mike Rogers. The two-page synopsis also included these allegations. That there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government -- this according to two national security officials. CNN has confirmed that the synopsis was included in the documents that were presented to Mr. Trump. We cannot confirm if it was discussed in his meeting with the intelligence chiefs as well. I'll note the Trump transition team has not yet commented on this as have not the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Jake, and the</s>FBI. TAPPER: That's right. For several hours now we told the Trump transition team about the story, and they said that they would have a statement for us. They have yet to provide it. When they do, we will provide it to you. And just to underline, this information, this two-page synopsis was an addendum. It was an annex to the intelligence community report on the Russian hacking. It was not part of the report in itself.</s>SCIUTTO: That's right. The focus of this briefing was the intelligence and the analysis behind the intelligence community's assessment that it was Russia who did the hack of the election, and that Russia's intent was to help Mr. Trump. This synopsis, though, included in this briefing which shows its importance was not part of that overall assessment.</s>TAPPER: Now, Evan -- what we have here are allegations being made by Russians that they have potentially compromising information, financial and personal, about Donald Trump and information allegations that there were exchanges of information between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. But so far the intelligence community has yet to corroborate these allegations. So why even bring it up to President-Elect Trump and President Obama?</s>EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well Jake -- there are a couple of reasons why we're told that they were -- why they decided to do this. The senior intelligence officials included the synopsis in part to make the President-Elect aware that these allegations involving him are circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress, and other government officials in Washington. The officials said that they also included it in part to demonstrate that Russia had compiled information potentially harmful to both political parties, but only released information damaging to Hillary Clinton and the democrats. Now this synopsis was not part of an official -- the official intelligence community report about the Russian hacks, but it really, you know, underscores that it augments the evidence that Moscow intended to harm Clinton's candidacy and to help Donald Trump. Several officials acknowledge in these briefings to CNN.</s>TAPPER: It's a fascinating story. Let me bring in the legendary Carl Bernstein because Carl -- when we're all working together on the story and you brought this to us, this information, the underlying memos upon which the synopsis that was included as an annex to the intelligence community report, these underlying memos, they did not start with U.S. intelligence. They did not start with the FBI or U.S. law enforcement. Where did they come from?</s>CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The underlying memos were produced by a former British MI-6 intelligence operative with great experience in Russia and the former Soviet Union. He had been hired by a Washington political oppo research firm -- does opposition research and he'd been doing -- this firm had been doing opposition research on the Trump campaign, on Donald Trump for both Republicans and Democrats opposed to the Trump presidency. And as this firm in Washington started to look at Trump's businesses in Russia, his trips to Russia, his business ties to Russians, and those of others in his family, they then took their information to this MI-6 person in London, former MI-6 person with whom they had worked before to see where he would further develop their information. And over the course of the months, he began producing reports. And by August of 2016, he was sufficiently concerned by the substance of the reports to go to Rome, turn them over to an FBI colleague, a counter intelligence colleague in Rome from the FBI and it was then forwarded to the FBI in Washington -- these reports. Subsequent to that, a former British ambassador to Russia contacted John McCain and said there is this information floating around produced by this MI-6 guy. And a meeting was arranged between McCain and the MI-6 -- a meeting was arranged between the former ambassador and McCain. And at that point, McCain got the information shortly afterwards -- the underlying memos. He then turned them over, memos subsequent to the ones that had been turned over to the FBI in August. They now go through December. McCain turned those over to FBI Director Comey personally in December, on December 9th. And now people are a-waiting to see what the FBI and other investigators produce now that they have this underlying information.</s>TAPPER: And what is interesting, we obviously, as we said earlier reached out to the Trump transition team to get a response to the fact that these intelligence officials provided this information in a briefing to President-Elect Trump and to President Obama as well as some senior congressional leaders suggesting that Russians were making these claims. We've been trying to get a response from the Trump transition team for several hours now. I'm told that President-Elect Donald Trump finally issued a response that I can, I think safely assume is about our inquiry. He wrote, quote, "Fake news, a total political witch-hunt." Ok. I'm not really sure what that specifically addresses. The news that we're bringing you is that these intelligence officials provided this information to President-Elect Trump. If he believes it's a political witch-hunt, that's certainly his perspective. One of the things that is interesting, of course, Jim is that a lot of these allegations have been out there before. We haven't reported on them. We haven't discussed them. But what changed is, of course, the fact that the intelligence officials, these senior intelligence officials brought them to this level of saying, hey, President-Elect Trump, you should know about this for the reasons that Evan enumerated. Who else knows about these charges and allegations?</s>SCIUTTO: Let's be clear here. You have U.S. intelligence agencies -- they have not corroborated this. But they're not dismissing these allegations, right. They're not in effect treating them as fake news. You have the FBI that has not yet corroborated this. But they're not dismissing it. They are investigating. And you have to be clear Democratic and Republican lawmakers who are pursuing this and in fact want to talk about hearings on this, both to look at alleged communications between the Trump surrogates and Russian operatives during the campaign but also into the other personal and financial, more salacious details. So there are multiple outfits, as it were, in Washington, from both parties that are taking this at least seriously on the face of it. They haven't confirmed it. In addition to that we know that on the Hill the eight senior most congressional leaders, the four</s>TAPPER: And Evan -- some of this information was floated last year. Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a blistering letter in October to the FBI director saying that he possessed explosive information about communications between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. And today now-retired Senator Harry Reid, a spokesman said that his statements speak for themselves. What changed? Why is this now elevated?</s>PEREZ: Well, we know now that Harry Reid is saying this is exactly what he was talking about when he sent those letters. And we know that the FBI has been busy looking at these allegations including the allegations that there have been surrogates of the Donald Trump campaign who were in touch with intermediaries of the Russian government. Now, none of this has been proven. None of this has gone anywhere in part because of the election. The FBI had to put a lot of this on hold and on simmer, so to speak, until after the election. And now there is a renewed interest in this especially in light of the report from the intelligence community. I can tell you that as early as last summer, I began looking at some of these allegations. And so it tells you something that this has been around in Washington. Again -- we haven't confirmed them but it is something that is being taken very seriously and they're going to have to get to the bottom of it.</s>TAPPER: And Carl Bernstein -- let me ask you, the idea that intelligence chiefs, people at the level of the head of the CIA, the head of the -- director of the National Intelligence Agency -- that these individuals would bring this to President-Elect Trump, to President Obama -- why would they do it?</s>BERNSTEIN: They want to see that there is an investigation done that is thorough and complete about whatever is there or is not there. And there obviously is some concern that as a new administration comes in with new national security officials that perhaps there might be a disinclination to do the proper investigating. So they have laid down a marker, they've taken the information to the outgoing president of the United States, the incoming president of the United States and said here it is and we are going to make sure that this matter is investigated. And it's not going to go away. I think it's very significant and it also does not say that they have expectations of what their findings will be, but rather that they're going to run it down and determine what the findings are.</s>TAPPER: All right. Carl, Evan, Jim -- thank you so much.</s>VAUSE: We'll take a short break now but when we come back the U.S. President and his farewell address and the message from Barack Obama -- yes, we did. And the nominee for the next U.S. Attorney General grilled by the Senate and backed away from some of Donald Trump's more controversial campaign promises.