. >> all excellent points. we'll talk more. more breaking news with syrian president bashar al assad. what he just said about the future of the trump presidency. >>> welcome back. i'm fredricka whitfield. breaking news. syrian president bashar al assad reacting to the future of a trump presidency. in an interview with an italian news outlet, assad says he is optimistic with caution. i want to bring in mohammad lila in istanbul. more on this. >> we have the full transcript that syria's president bernie sanders -- syria's president bashar al assad was asked what he thought the incoming trump presidency would mean for syria. and it's optimistic not that trump would solve the syrian crisis overnight but because it would lead to better relations with russia and the united states. and russia has been a key backer of the syrian government since this conflict began. it will have a closer relationship, it would help solve many problem in the world specifically, specifically the syrian crisis. this comes as there are peace talks set to get under way. peace talks brokered without the united states in

hundreds of sick and wounded people to safety. the fall of aleppo into the hands of bashar al-assad forces who are backed by russia and iran is his biggest in the american proxy war there and the civil war that began six years ago. assad has murdered and thousands of his own people, many of them women children. where does this stand, ab? >> it's a -- -- the cease fire and refugees are being evacuated but the criticism is we're well into the siege, too many people have dried or become sick or starving or freezing and this is kind of u.n. coming in to monitor what has already happened, as you reported, the buses taking people out have been attack educement you have this agreement that is on eggshells with the assassination of the russian ambassador in turkey today, meeting between representatives of the government of russia and assad's government and the iranians regime, set for tomorrow, in turkey, is still supposed to be taking place but this kind of tragickity surrounding -- fragility surrounding the tensions between the countries, russia and turkey and the assad regime is not providing a

allies, russians, hezbollah, those supporting bashar al assad. listen to what she said about this current humanitarian crisis. >> are you truly incapable of shame? is there literally nothing that can shame you? is there no act of barbarism against civilians? no execution of a child that gets under your skin that just creeps you out a little bit? is there nothing you will not lie about or justify? >> whereas, u.n. man, you spent a lot of time in syria. wuk walk us through the biggest concerns now for the people in syria as this war dramatically changes. we know what, maybe 400,000 people already have been killed over these past four, five years in this civil war. those numbers will clearly increase? >> reporter: i think they are, wolf, sadly. those are very powerful words that you heard from ambassador power, but the reality is that the u.s. has been unwilling to get involved. and the russians have seized upon that impotence, they have doubled down on the regime of bashar al assad, to devastating effect in terms of the effect on civilians. i mean, you heard nic outlining whether th

the opposition base for so many years, will no longer be divided. the government of bashar al assad will control the entire city and this also means that bashar al assad will likely outlast -- imagine that -- president obama. something we thought wouldn't have been possible a few years ago but this has been possible because red cross teams on the ground have been supervising the last wave of these evacuations. most civilians were evacuated and all that left were fighters and their families on the ground. those evacuations taking place, the red cross gave us a statement where they described the process and they said during wednesday and thursday overnight in one of the last stages of evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated from private cars, vans to eastern aleppo to western rural aleppo as per the agreement reached between the parties. normally brianna the red cross didn't involve itself with trvring fighters, that i focus on civilians but it seems they were there to guarantee those fighters would be a taken to safety because if you've been fighting the regime of bashar al as

theive issal war in syria. russia, instrumental in president bashar al assad bsh'sh to include syria and aleppo. just yesterday, talks held on syria and the united states left out of the conversation. a spokesman for the kremlin says that nearly all dialogue between russia and the u.s. has been "frozen." we do not talk to each other. let's talk about the u.s. and russia's tense relationship now with christopher hill, the former ambassador to iraq. he was also the assistant secretary of state for east asian and pacific affairs and now is the dean of the joseph korbel school, university of denver. thank you so much, ambassador, for being with us. we appreciate it. i want to get your read on something. let's talk about a statement, response, we got from the state department spokesman john kirby who says it's difficult to know exactly what is known about this comment of being "frozen." this continues across a white range of issues. significant differences with moscow on some issues well known but not a break in dialogue. we noted secretary kerry spoke with foreign minister lavrov just ye

convoy was held up by a shiite militia that fights on the part of syrian president bashar al assad that they were unhappy with the fact that this evacuation deal for the rebels had gone through and so therefore they stopped the convoy, allegedly executed several people and then sent the convoy back and after that happened, wolf, all of the international aid workers in eastern aleppo, from the international red cross, from the world health organization, the red crescent, all of them were pulled, were told to go away because the situation so unsafe. it's unclear whether or not these evacuations will resume because the united nations believe there is could be up to 50,000 people still in that rebel enclave trying to get out, needing to get out because, again, many of them are also children, unicef put out a statement really that sounds tragic about a number of orphans, they say thousands of children are still there in eastern aleppo, they're also in dire need as well. the temperatures are cold but wolf right now it's not clear whether or not the evacuations will resume and you and i know h

right now. and evacuations finally under w way. while syrian president bashar al assad celebrates what he's calling the liberation of the city. plus it's been months since u.s.-backed forces began the battle to liberate mosul, iraq, hoping to free the city from isis control. latest on both fronts right after this. ♪ for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage, even liver cancer. but there's important information for us: the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested for hep c. all it takes is a simple one-time blood test. and if you have hep c, it can be cured. be sure to ask your doctor to get tested for hep c. for us it's time to get tested. it's the only way to know for sure. >>> a desperate cry from

aleppo. russian-backed syrian forces have taken hold. a defining victory for president bashar al assad in the civil war. we're back with our panel. bill, where does this leave the civil war in syria right now with assad's victory in aleppo? >> it leaves us in a very bad place. assad is firmly in power. this is not leading from behind, this is hiding from behind. we have john kerry talking about the largest humanitarian disaster in the world, admitting the red line was a problem for u.s. credibility. >> the red line from 2013 when president obama -- >> given just to avoid taking action. >> just to rehearse this, president obama said if assad uses chemical weapons, we will punish him. then he threatened bombing and then he said no, we're not going to do that. >> let the russians come in. you have samantha power, the woman who wrote the book on genocide, ambassador to the united nations, attacking iran, russia, having no shame. what about the administration? where have been the principled resignations, not john kerry, not samantha power. i think the ambassador to syria resigned two years ago

dead, men, women and children and the stories of survival. syrian president bashar al assad said that the victory in aleppo is not only for syria but for all countries fighting terrorism, especially russia and iran. russian, iranian and tur kirk officials plan on continuing talkings to end the civil war. but russian officials say that removal of bashar al assad from power will not be part of the discussion. hence the u.s. officials, including johnÑgíqá ( while the battle for aleppo is over, it does not mark the end of syrian civil war as the rebel commanders vow to continue fightingç bashar al assad's regime. >>> developing tonight, president obama raising eyebrows for some edd ed advice he has president-elect trump on the use of executive power. watch this. >> should president-elect trump once she's inaugurated use his executive powers in the same way that you have? >> i think that he is entirely within his lawful power to do so. keep in mind, though, that my strong preference has always been to legislate when i can get legislation done. so my suggestion to the president-elect i

clearly frozen out of discussions on syria. practically speaking, that means bashar al assad will most certainly remain in power with russia's backing and support, his forces have murdered hundreds of thousands of syrian civilians and america's proxy war is all but abandoned and clearly lost. rich is live at the state department. what else are they saying about the frozen claims, rich? >> reporter: john kirby finds the statements peculiar by moscow. he does acknowledge, however, that the relations are strained and they have their differences but they talk, particularly on the middle east. >> the defense department acknowledged earlier that they held a deconfliction and certainly on the issues that matter most, i'm not sure what to make of his comment. >> however, the state department does acknowledge the u.s. was not invited to a meeting with iran, turkey and a broader cease-fire in syria. the administration denies this is a smnub. they are keeping john kerry up to date with information coming out of there. they say if these two countries can agree on a broader cease-fire, they are all

rebels or regime of president bashar al assad? >> with the national opposition, we maintain our close cooperation with the u.n. envoy and promoted resolution to this conflict. we don't feel continuing violence after five years, there's no military solution and we have to move on to a political solution to -- >> what's the syrian military of president bashar al assad supported by the russians, the iranians, lebanese hezbollah, going to win in aleppo. looks like they've got the momentum. >> that's a possibility. the syrian people deserve an opportunity to take matters into their own hands and within a political peaceful process. this is the security council resolution, the u.n. representatives a responsibility and the international community's responsibility to do so to protect the people. you have more than half of the population which is displaced, and half a million killed in the process of it. enough is enough. >> awful, awful situation. foreign minister, welcome to washington. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> good to have you here. >>> coming up, any moment preside

russia and iran, which backs bashar al assad. not involved in this -- might be key -- isis and the al qaeda affiliate in syria and could cause problems. >> the u.s. was not involved in the deal at all? not involved in this del at all. the administration of barack bak obama not part of this. the united states has been very active backing the rebels which are part of the deal, also been involved in u.n. backed peace talks in geneva and elsewhere for the past several years. russia has managed to push u.s. out of the picture for the moment. russian foreign minister lavrov said, once president-elect donald trump gets into office the united states be allowed back in. as our viewers will. , trump has been pretty supportive of the russian role in syria, also he has been against obama backing the rebels. one final note, john, there are reports tonight of an outline of a long-term settlement that will be hashed out in talks beginning next month. it could divide up syria to some degree, where the rebels are, where the government and is might have an end point to the regime of bashar al assad but

syria's murderous dictator, bashar al-assad, in a proxy war. now defeated survivors are leaving what is left of their homes in syria's largest city. a big win for the dictator who what killed countless women and children with poison gas. emergency workers began evacuating people in aleppo. among the survivors, hundreded wounds, including children. volunteers claim they came under fire today while clearing a path for evac -- evacuation. ewan clear who was shooting at them. the fall of aleppo was part of a russian-backed cease fire. russia is a long-time support ore of bashar al-assad and provided air strikes to assist in murder of 400,000 people pie assad's forces of state john kerry spoke about that a long time ago. >> there's absolutely no justification whatsoever for the inscrimmage nat and savage brutality against civilians schoop by the regime and by its russian and iranian allies, and for the past five years. >> the war there could be a major test for president-elect donald trump who says he wants a closer relationship with russia and a closer relationship with vladimir putin, t

that syrian president bashar al assad's regime along with russia and iran has blood on their hands for the slaughter of silvian, addincall for humanita aid to fly in to aleppo. they are cut off from medical supplies, food, water and he called for safe passage for the thousands of people who remain trapped there. while the battle for aleppo may be coming to an end, that does not mean the end of syria's civil war. back to you. >> far from it. john, thank you very much. here now, dana perino, cohost of "the five." dana, you're very familiar with how this is, when a president has to go oubt and take responsibility for their policies and what's led us here. clearly the president seemed anguish earlier today but we didn't hear any solution. >> no. and this is not going to end. this is actually probably going to continue for quite a while. the slaughter has been going on for years. earlier this week you had samantha power, the u.n. ambassador -- the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. chastising the syrians, iranians and the russians saying have you no shame. but what president obama is saying is

to their operation inside aleppo and brought that back under control of bashar al assad. this was meant to be a time of celebration for the military inside syria. members of the choir, members of the orchestra as well, it's a huge blow. >> that's also one of the reasons it's so curious they would rule out terrorism so quickly because among the many groups the russians and bashar al assad's forces were fighting in aleppo, along with moderate rebels and innocent civilians and the like are some groups allied with terrorists like al nusra and the like. that's why the discounting of terrorism seems to curious. >> i agree with that. funny enough, this has happened before. just over a year ago there was a russian civilian airliner shot down that at first the russians said no way this is terrorism. a few days later it emerged terrorism was responsible for that. >> matthew chance in moscow, thank you so much. >>> one christian town in iraq celebrating christmas for the first time in years. we'll show you how they're marking this holiday after being liberated from isis control next. take on

days after syria's murderous dictator bashar al assad declared his biggest victim ary yet. that's coming up. this is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number #1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. want more proo

revolution and revolt against bashar al assad's rule in syria. government forces defeated the city's remaining pockets of resistance last friday, after a siege and aerial bombing campaign by russian and syrian war planes. 35,000 people, including the remaining fighters and civilians, were evacuated in the last two weeks, after tense negotiations. they joined hundreds of thousands already displaced to other rebel-controlled areas outside the city. a convoy of buses leaving the shattered city became a symbol of the rebels' defeat. it was a somber exodus of people who once came close to overthrowing president bashar al assad. one of those who held out to the end was salah ashkar, an activist from aleppo. he spent the final days of the bombardment documenting it on social media, and begging the outside world for help. he fled to turkey just days ago, still haunted by what he saw in aleppo. >> ( translated ): death was following us during the last days we spent in aleppo. the amount of air strikes we had there, i don't think has been seen anywhere in the world, or the types of bombs they

and bashar al assad. never forget that. that is part of baabu bakr al baghdadi's narrative. that's painting a target on all of the entities' backs, frankly. >> thank you, we'll talk about the assassination in a few american airlines. michael weiss, juliette kayyem in new york city. police are stepping up security in new york city. nypd moving teams to high profile locations around the city. let's go to brynn gingras who can explain. it's a busy holiday dime in new york, what do they mean? what are they do. >> reporter: in new york, the nypd has this city covered. there's always a heightened security here but they move around their units to make sure that certain areas have more security like the christmas markets, one of which they are standing in front. there are a half dozen in the city we're seeing heavily armed highly trained officers, part of counterterrorism units here with their presence shown. you're not seeing them now. but i can tell you that's the point. the nypd is scattering around, being unpredictable so there's no at the earn a potential terrorist could follow. you c

backer of syrian president bashar al-assad, while turkey had pressed for his ouster. but they joined to work out this cease-fire, and plans for future peace talks in kazakhstan. the russians say rebel groups numbering more than 60,000 fighters are taking part. they include the western-backed free syrian army. >> ( translated ): during the talks, the russian government guaranteed to us that they will keep the syrian regime forces and their allies under control. >> warner: other groups are excluded: the islamic state, which controls a swath of eastern syria, the al-qaeda offshoot jabhat al-fateh al-sham in the northwest, and the kurdish militia y.p.g. battling islamic state's forces in cooperation with the u.s. iran is also a major ally of the assad government, and is expected to be involved in peace talks. absent entirely from the negotiations: the united states. three years of talks between secretary of state john kerry and his russian counterpart sergei lavrov produced a number of cease fires, but they didn't hold. instead, 15 months ago russia launched a fierce bombing campa

syria's president, bashar al assad, now controls the entire city. for many years it was divided ben the rebel part of the city and the government forces part of the city. the divide is no longer in place. it's a stunning turn, jake. i remember when the revolution began. we thought bashar al assad would last three, six, or nine months. it's been a dramatic turn. it's now looking like assad will outlast president obama. something most of us thought was unthinkable just a few years ago. >> there are obviously still pockets of resistance throughout syria, but the fact that aleppo is in complete control of the government seems to suggest that he will hold on to power. >> there is no question. you can't underestimate the importance of eastern aleppo. for more than four years since the rebels took hold in the eastern part of the city it was their base of operations. they directed operations out of there, they had communications. they with activists in touch with people across the city and in fact around the world. what happens when you take that base away? what happens to the revolution? we kn

relationship with vladimir putin in syria, that somehow we can perhaps partition the country, put bashar al assad into an alawite area, just the area where they're very loyal to him, break up the country, give the sunnis some leadership over there, so they can grab most of the country from isis? in other words, a hopeful -- i don't see anything happening now as long as assad's there. what can we do -- do you think the selection of tillerson and working with putin might work? some deal that gets us to a closer place to peace? >> well, with you know, i think this is a very important question. even with regards to iraq as well. i think iraq has disintegrated into at least two countries, maybe two countries and a civil war region. syria's the same way. and will they ever be put back together? there's a lot of smart people who look at foreign policy and don't see those countries ever being put back together. the kurds are advocating for their own country. joe biden, many years ago, and he and i don't agree on everything, but we did talk about dividing iraq maybe 15 years ago. the turks ruled it from the ot

show of solidarity with the people of aleppo as the city appears to fall to bashar al assad and his sources. the ceasefire is now reportedly back on after evacuations. the deal aimed and now aims again to get families, women and children, away from the fighting and moved to the north and western countrysides, but with new shelling today, an estimated 50,000 people seem to still be trapped in the war zone. the new ceasefire could help to get buses moving, currently sitting, waiting to rescue civilians. u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha power blasted assad and his benefactors for slaughtering civilians. >> is there no execution of a child that gets under your skin and creeps you out a little bit? >> cnn's frederik pleitgen has more in this report after spending the last week in syria. >> reporter: on a day that was supposed to see calm and a ceasefire, instead, heavy fighting. mortar and artillery fire and war planes dropping bombs. the civilians in the last rebel enclave in aleppo once again fearing for their lives. >> just a few on the roof. my building. now the people

foreign policy in syria. we want over throw of bashar al assad regime and defeat isis. the two situations on the ground in syria are opposed. i think we will be reckoning -- a new reckoning in syria about what our foreign policy is going to be. i fear we may be -- we may be backing off of the overthrow of bashar al assad regime, and possibly getting in bed with the russians and turks and everybody else to fight isis. so i think that that hasn't been resolved yet, but i think it is where it is going. this is where general mattis comes in because i think mobs of the military people that were concerned about donald trump believe mattis to be the voice of reason, and for that reason i think paul bagalla is right, he will get through the senate. >> hover picks, general rat mattis, but whoever he specks for secretary of state, donald trump will be sending the policy to the secretary of state that will have to execute. what president-elect says or a candidate says is often different or even what they set out as president hoping tore their foreign policy or lack of involvement in the world, they

. >> what, if anything, should the united states be doing to get rid of bashar al assad? assuming that's what the u.s. wants? >> we are going to have to determine what is the end state we want? this war needs to be ended as rapidly as possible. that's the bottom line. but if the americans go in, if the americans take leadership, if the americans take ownership of this, it's going to be a full-throated, very, very serious war. we need to be very clear about our military end state contributing to what political end state. otherwise you're liable to invade a country, pull down a statue and then say, now what do we do? you know what i mean? >> you know, everybody know what's he means when the u.s. went in and -- liberated iraq back in 2003. statue of saddam hussein went down and everybody knows what happened after that. >> right. i think general mattis is absolutely right. he's absolutely correct about the military capacities of the united states. we have, by far, the world's strongest military capacity. we can do some amazing things with our military. what happened afterwards? how do

city, it is now largely in ruins and was recaptured this week by president bashar al-assad's troops. as night fell on aleppo, there was no sign of the buses needed to carry out the evacuations. for more on the situation, i am joined by skype from beirut in neighboring lebanon by "new york times" reporter anne barnard. anne, why was there such confusion and such a breakdown in the evacuation of people from eastern aleppo? >> well, it's not the first time a deal like this has been rocky to implement, and that's because as this extremely violent and chaotic war goes on, even on each side, there's a lot of fag menitation. so, you know, there isn't one single leadership for rebel groups, and increasingly, there isn't one single leadership for the progovernment forces. ssia and turkey agreed to a deal. turkey is one of the main backers of the rebels, and russia is the most powerful backer of the syrian government, having bailed it out with air strikes and political support. and, you know, at the same time, there are other crucial allies, like iran, which has provided thousands of militia

for help on twitter-- >> how are you? i am sick. s reporter: ...syria's president, bashar al-assad, called their internet posts a game and propaganda. others then claimed the account rss somehow a fake. >> reporter: bana and her mother did show the world what happened e aleppo and made it out alive, though to the world's shame, even a little girl's pleas for help didn't stop the carnage. holly williams, cbs news, ankara, turkey. ns pelley: we've been reporting l tensively on russian hacking in the presidential campaign, and last night, we showed you inw russian hackers shut down part of ukraine's power grid. well, now david martin reports the hacking has led to death on d e battlefield. >> reporter: locked in a bitter battle with russian-backed separatists, a ukrainian artillery officer devised a cell phone app that allowed his men to aim and shoot their howitzers in seconds rather than minutes. but after they showed it off on youtube, says adam meyers of the computer security firm yrowdstrike, russian military intelligence hacked into it. >> the backdoor provided them full access to the d

killing civilians, with help from syria's allies, iran and russia. syria's president, bashar al assad, calls the rebels terrorists, and in an interview yesterday with russian tv, he castigated the west for trying to protect them. >> it doesn't matter what they ask. the translation of their statement is for russia, please stop the advancement of the syrian army against the terrorists. >> reporter: the u.s. has condemned the regime and its friends in russia and iran, but in five years of civil war, america has avoided a direct confrontation with the syrian regime. fearing a dangerous escalation and perhaps conflict with russia, the price of that policy has been paid by syrian civilians with their lives. the united nations human rights chief said today the bombardment of civilians in aleppo by the syrian regime and its allies is almost certainly a violation of international law, and, scott, he said it may be a war crime. >> pelley: holly williams for us in istanbul. today, the federal reserve raised a key interest rate a quarter of a point, a milestone in the recovery from the great recession.

brutal dictator bashar al-assad in power. yet, the president acknowledged the images of suffering children in aleppo do haunt him, and he feels responsible for failing to stop it. >> i cannot claim that we've been successful. and so, that's something that, as is true with a lot of issues and problems around the world, i have to go to bed with every night. >> reporter: the president said time and again, he's considered using military force to protect civilians, but ultimately defended his decision not to do so. >> unless we were all in, and willing to take over syria, we were going to have problems, and then everything else was tempting because we wanted to do something, and it sounded like the right thing to do, but it was going to be impossible to do this on the cheap. >> reporter: as the president left the podium, he was asked if this was his very last news conference. he paused, said he'd have to think about it, and said he really enjoyed today's session, scott. >> pelley: margaret brennan for us, margaret, thank you. mr. obama also said he will retaliate for the election hacks

possibility to put distance between the russian government and the government of bashar al assad. there's some possibilities there. europe is more complicated and whether we can get the russians to not just stop doing what they're doing in eastern ukraine but not to expand and do any challenging of the nato countries and how we basically combine getting tougher in europe in some ways reintroduce military forces into nato europe. at the same time, we've got to marry that with a diplomatic initiative to russia. when mr. obama called russia a regional power. there's no reason to insult them or belittle them. we've got to be diplomatically open at the same time, we've got to be 20/20 about what our real interests are and our real differences are in europe in the middle east and obviously in terms of what it is they've been doing here in terms of getting into our cyber domain. >> when we come back, we'll talk about a really interesting question. is isis already on the brink of collapse even before donald trump takes office and has promised, of course, to bomb the hell out of them when we come

aleppo, critical of president bashar al-assad. they have been supporting the people of aleppo and now we see at least no at least nomally this man used it as a reason he wanted to kill him. a lot of this is very delicate and it brings in other parties that you might not expect. for instance, in the united states could be brought in because of the rebel leader, who's in pennsylvania, and whom the turks have wanted extradi d extradited. >> the clerk who is actually denied having anything to do with the failed coup in july as well as this assassination of the ambassador. we also heard from the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov, he too stressing the unity between these two countries. here's what mr. lavrov had to say. >> translator: we are sure the main goal of those that plotted this barbaric act was to undermine the process of relations between russia and turkey. in many ways and not allow an effective fight against terrorism in syria. >> just to pick up on the last part of what lavrov said about the effective fight against terrorism in syria. is that the kind of retaliation which th

word of the deal after speaking to syrian president bashar al assad by phone and paves the way to comprehensive talks in russia's state of kazakhstan. while some can argue that local players like turkey should be involved than a more distant superpower like the u.s., you can remember that's an allegation that people in both parties were making while resisting further entanglement in syria, there are political ramifications here. russia announced it will only welcome the u.s. to their talks aftedonald trump becomes president and that was before the u.s. had this afternoon's big news, the series of sanctions against russia related to the hacking of the election and announcing the suspension of those 35 intelligence agents which we were just discussing with david sanger. almost immediately russia vowing to retaliate and pledging to cause that, quote, considerable discomfort in the same areas for the u.s. also russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman calls the white house occupants a group of foreign policy losers. ouch. because we live in a world where most grave issues are boiled down

and starvation. aleppo is the center of the rebellion against the syrian dictatorship of bashar al assad, and this past week assad and his russian ally intensified their air strikes against aleppo's dense neighborhoods. for civilians under this bombardment, the greatest fear is to be buried alive, to suffocate or bleed to death in the rubble of their own home. their only hope is the syrian civil defense, a self-appointed, all-syrian volunteer force of rescue workers who call themselves the white helmets. the air strikes, day and night, obliterate apartments and shatter the nerves. often, the bombs are not aimed at military targets; they're not aimed at all-- just a barrel of shrapnel and t.n.t., heaved from a helicopter onto any neighborhood the assad dictatorship does not control. >> rami jarrah: it's to terrorize people in this area. it's to tell these people that "you're not welcome here, and we want you out." >> pelley: rami jarrah is a syrian reporter who's followed the white helmets from their makeshift beginnings to today's trained force of 3,000 rescue workers. >> jarrah: they provide

government of bashar al assad controls the entire city. that means the city is no longer the divided between rebels and the government. the government controls the entire thing syrian state television broadcasting images of people celebrating in the streets and firing guns in the air and of course the language that the syrian government is using is that they're saying they have liberated east aleppo and they have sent out a warning or threat to remaining rebel groups saying put down your arms, you've already lost aleppo, you can see what the future holds for you so put down your arms and come to the negotiating table so the syrian government is celebrating this as a decisive and major victory. >> we're looking at pictures. this is syrian state tv and these flags being waved and the celebratory atmosphere but what's the reality among syrians, muhammad? >> [laughter]. that's a difficult question. like so much of this conflict it depends who you ask the syrian government said it's a battle against a group of terrorists bent on not only overthrowing the government but applying a

was not at the meeting. russia and iran are allies of the murderous syrian dictator bashar al assad, who's killed hurricanes of thousands of his own people. the united states and turkey support the rebels looking to overthrow him. it's a proxy war and russia is winning. assad recently declared his biggest victory yet when he saw his forces retake aleppo, syria's largest city. the civil war began about six years ago. killed around half a million people and forced millions more from their homes. connor powell in our mideast bu bureau tonight. >> after a week of chaotic efforts, turkish and russian officials say more than 37,000 people have been evacuated from the war torn city and many more are expected to be evacuated the next few days. the buses are likely to roll for the next two days or so. trz desperate civilians, many malnourished and in need to have medical care braved freezing temperatures and escaped what was once syria's main commercial hub. today, most of aleppo is a bombed out wasteland. very little of what was once aleppo actually existed today. as an chptured the city as they l

bashar al assad wouldn't be in power if he hadn't been proved up by russia. there are any number of groups in syria that have a gripe against russia and gripe against russian diplomats in turkey. some of these militant groups have proven they've been able to strike inside turkey. isis attacked the airport earlier this year, coordinated attack. there are kurdish separatists who attacked in turkey as well. turkey just went through a failed military coup earlier this year. there are any number of groups that may be interested in striking russian targets but the big variable is will innocent civilians in syria pay the price for this attack on the russian ambassador. >> that is precisely what i was getting at. thank you. clarissa, as always, thank you. next, the battle over russia's hacking now sits on capitol hill. bipartisan group of senators is calling for a special committee to investigate this interference but the president-elect is not supportive. we'll have a live report on that coming up next. also ahead, coky roberts will join us, we'll get her take on politics here in 2016, the

inned lib. still opposition to bashar al-assad, protests again calling for him to step down. people there are unlikely to accept a russian and iran yap backed deal and to complicate matters more, the cease fire das not include isis and al qaeda in group, fighting is continuing in the areas they hold. now it was assad who annoyanced the cease fire yesterday but it's russia who made this deal happen a long with turkey, and russia is out in asking the u.n. security council to formally adopt a resolution to recognize the deal, and if that cease fire holds, if it hold holds, all key players melt for talkness kaz -- talks in kazakh tan. >> drug traffickers moving marijuana cruise the united states bit they're not just bringing in the hooch from the south. more smugglers are turning to colorado where cannabis is legal. >>> transporting it to states writ is not. just ahead, the new weed for weed. >>> now for the cheech and chong segment, people bought more than a billion dollars worth of legal pot in colorado. that according to the state department of revenue. what some people did with some

accompli and bashar al-assad will be in four for the foreseeable future. there's a problem for the russians but the bigger problem is in the u.s. we're basely a secondary player in the middle east. >> how did that happen. >> because red lines were crossed when they shouldn't have been. >> when we saw president presida celebrate how much we have achieved in the middleç east. the he will have blood on his hands. >> i spoke to the u.n. envoy and told me he would like to meet with the trump transition team, and he said have to do a deal with russia to fight isis. are the democrats going support that? >> given the hacking, which i don't think cost them the election but underscores the degree to which russian influence is being felt in the world, there is going to have to be a willingness to engage with the russians, but not on their terms. it has to be with mutuality. we worry about europe. the baltics. ukraine. we cannot just give in to what vladimir putin wants. >> of course we can. what we need to do is actually show strength to russia because we have not done that in the past eight years.

strong ally of bashar al assad, most recently taking part in the successful offensive to overtake the city of aleppo. president-elect trump responded to the assassination today in a statement, "we offer our condolences to the family and loved ones of ambassador to turkey, andrei karlov. this must be universally condemned." donald trump will take office and russia reaches what may be its lowest points since the cold war. the russian government under vladimir putin was behind hacks targeting the u.s. election. john mccain and chuck schumer are calling for a special select committee to investigate what happened. president-elect still disputes the hacking and dismissed it as a political witchhunt. >> it does seem to be a political response at this point because the president is under pressure from team hillary who can't accept the election results. >> the reality of all of this and all of the players that are spinning these reports are doing it for a political purpose, which is to delegitimatize the outcome of the election. >> in a new "wall street journal" poll, 54% said they are uncerta

boost in morale that many of their soldiers have gotten. troops loyal to syrian president bashar al assad tell us they believe they could capture all of aleppo. the rebel headquarters was right here, he says, so the loss of this district was a big blow to them. you can see how our shelling is pounding them, and that shows their morale is collapsing. rebels left behind a makeshift cannon when they fled here last week. so far the opposition hasn't found a way to shore up their defenses in the face of this massive and possibly decisive syrian government offensive. >> fred pleitgen is joining us on the phone. he's in aleppo. i want you to be really careful over there, fred. we know the syrian military is getting help from the russians, iranians, lebanese, hezbollah. who is helping the rebels? >> reporter: well, it looks like the rebels aren't getting very much help at all anymore. one of the things we're seeing is the enclave they hold in eastern aleppo is getting smaller every day. seems the syrian government made headway last night. of course, the situation here is also getting worse for the civ

failed to act with bashar al assad crossed president obama's red line in syria. joining me now for reaction, lieutenant colonel ralph peters. thank you for joining us. unbelievable when you look back at the failed foreign policy of this administration certainly putting america in a week weaker national security position. >> well, kimberly without the least exaggeration, we can say that president obama has been the worst foreign policy president in our entire history, whether you look at the middle east, north africa, the south china sea, north korea, venezuela, history oomph in c-- triumph in cuba. we'll be paying for it for a long time. >> it's problematic because we have president-elect donald trump going to be in a position on january 20th where he's got to deal with russia. president obama appears to have tried to and failed to box him into a one on one with vladimir putin. we have a mess that he's made that i think really is his he built it legacy in syria, one of the worst humanitarian crisis that we've seen in our lifetime. unbelievable inability to even react and make good

turkey's and so has bashar al assad. turkey, for instance, has to stop the fighting in order to stop the flow of refugees coming into turkey. it's simply is overwhelmed. what turkey was afraid if the fighting had continued. there was t a cease fire that lotted the refugees from the province would be driven in into turkey. turkey is absolutely furious about u.s. support to syrian kurds. most recently they have accused the united states of supplying surface to air missiles to the kurds. i don't think that is true. there are surface to air missiles showing up in the kurdish areas but they were bought in libya. nonetheless it gives you an idea how far out of this solution we are. ultimately we may see this work if -- and i've seen this for years, if syria is divided up. where you have the aloeites the minority regime directs and the sunnis in the north and russians and iranians are on the same side. it is too bad but it is truly a? >> i don't think the people in the west should be talking about dividing up the middle east anymore. we tried that, didn't work out too well. no one on the gr

with crimea being part of russia and not ukraine, saying he wants to weaken nato, saying bashar al assad is somebody we can do business with, that strikes me as somebody that vladimir putin is comfortable with. >> julie, again, that's nonsense. here's why. what donald trump is talking about with nato is making it so that the united states isn't picking up the entire check for the meal when everybody else had the buffet and we had the salad. i don't think donald trump is ready to destroy nato but nato hasn't had an effective stance against stopping the aggressive moves of russia over the past few years. as far as the hacks, let me make one point very clear. it seems that democrats are more embarrassed that the russians hacked the system which is a major concern and i do think that that's a bipartisan concern, but why aren't they just as worried about what those hacks revealed, that the democrats -- >> but they are, governor huckabee. congressional republicans are calling for this too. they want to learn from it and find out why it happened and how it happened. >> sure. >> but donald trump sa

is. very little chance now that the syrian armed opposition could force syrian president bashar al assad from power, and assad is a very close ally of russia and iran. he's a dependent of them and it is correct. russia and iran have now really consolidated their position in syria. >> and that, i imagine, means a diminishment of u.s. influence, certainly in syria, and the end result? i imagine, in syria? >> absolutely. it mean as reduction in american influence in syria. not that american influence in syria ever was very big, but now we have a new, permanent russian air base in syria that wasn't there two years ago. they've upgraded their navy base in syria, and so the russians are much stronger in this area. kind of peculiar. same time, the u.s. military is conducting military operations in eastern syria against the islamic state, but that counts for little. it gives little leverage in the broader conflict between syrian president assad and the syrian opposition. >> you've been critical, ex-. seely critical of the obama administration handling of this and left your post saying you could no lo