tributes pouring in as hollywood mourns the death of actress and singer debbie reynolds. she died just one day after her daughter carrie fisher. her son tells cnn that she's with carrie now. the beloved star took hollywood by storm for decades making her debut in 1952's "singin' in the rain." ♪ good morning ♪ good morning good morning to you ♪ ♪ rather be in louisiana in the morning in the morning ♪ >> as i said, we know that she wasn't real little a dancer before that. cnn's paul vercammen is live in los angeles with more for us this morning. put in a lot of work for that and a lot of work over many decades, paul. >> that's exactly right. as you pointed out she was not a dancer by nature but she got into "singin' in the rain." they say that she danced and felt until her feet for bloody. it is definitely something that debbie reynolds will always be remembered for.

♪ ♪ singing my song >> reporter: singer, dancer, actress, debbie reynolds was a hollywood triple threat and america's sweetheart. her film career began at the age of 16, after being spotted in a beauty pageant. ♪ i'm laughing >> reporter: her star officially launched just a few years later after a spirited performance opposite gene kelly in 1952's "singin' in the rain." >> they put me in "singin' in the rain" and just locked me in a big old studio and for three months i had five different teachers. one for tap, ballet, jazz, modern, and just work, work, work, work. you know, until i just fall apart. >> reporter: other notable roles followed including "tammy and the bachelor" which resulted in her number one hit song "tammy." she played opposite gregory peck in "how the west was won" and her performance in the unsinkable molly brown earned

her an oscar nomination. ♪ i'm going to learn to read and write ♪ >> reporter: at time her life offscreen overshadowed her success. she had two children with her first husband eddie fisher. todd fisher and carrie fisher who died just one day before her mother. in 1959, the marriage ended in a highly publicized divorce when fisher left reynolds and married her close friend, elizabeth taylor. a painful betrayal, reynolds was able to joke about the scandal years later. >> i was a girl scout. i really was very a simple little girl and that's what i was. he fell madly in love with elizabeth. now i understand so many years later. it's in the past. >> reporter: her second and third marriages ended in divorce. each time causing reynolds financial pain. however, she was collecting hollywood memorabilia over the years.

that would prove to be a wise investment. in 2011, reynolds sold marilyn monroe's white subway dress at auction for $4.6 million. ♪ singing is my celebration >> she never quit performing. she stepped away from film for much of her career, reynolds continued to entertain on broadway stages and in las vegas nightclubs. in addition, reynolds had several tv roles over the years, notably playing liberace's mother in the 2013 emmy winning tv movie "behind the candelabra." her wide array of work was recognized in 2015 when the screen actors guild honored reynolds with a lifetime achievement award. reynolds said she loved every minute she spent in show business in her 2013 autobiography "unsinkable." she credited the love she had for her friends and family for her personal and professional resiliency. >> i paid 20,000 bucks for this. >> and it is that spark and sense of humor, along with her talent, that reynolds will be remembered for.

>> i love you. good night, everybody. thank you. >> let's hear from two people who played reynolds' children on-screen. first, albert brooks, debbie reynolds, my mom very mom, a can't believe this happened one day after carrie. my heart goes out to billie. that would be the grand daughter. albert brooks also a close friend of carrie fishers. and then deborah, my heart is literally broken. an inspiration on every level. a legend of course. the epitome of clean-cut american optimism dancing with gene kelly, equal, a warrior woman who never stopped working and again that allusion to working, debbie reynolds certainly seemed to love every minute she spent on stage and screen and always seemed to give more than 100% victor. >> oh, paul i mean you have to imagine how todd fisher's feeling deflated now after losing his sister, and then his

mother, 24 to 36 hours later. paul vercammen for us in los angeles. thank you so much. let's turn now to breaking news this morning. the possibility of peace in syria, russian president vladimir putin confirms a cease-fire has been reached between the syrian opposition, and the government. at least a deal for a cease-fire. it's scheduled to begin in about eight hours at midnight local time. putin also says that both sides have signed documents that say they are ready to begin peace talks. turkey and russia will guarantee the truce. the united states apparently not taking part in the negotiations at all. matthew chance following the story for us out of moscow. matthew what do you know about the terms of this deal? >> well, i mean, first of all that point about the united states, they have been conspicuous by their absence. this is a deal that's been done without virtually any participation of the united states at all. it's been brokered between russia and turkey effectively as well as some other countries like iran and as well as syrian

governments. two countries russia and turkey that have been on opposite sides of the syrian conflict. russia backing bashar al assad, turkey backing various rebel groups opposed to assad but they've come together now. they seem to have ironed out their political differences on that level, at least enough to try and get together and forge this agreement. and three agreements according to vladimir putin the russian president have been reached now and he's announced them already. the first one is that cease-fire which takes effect from midnight local time in syria. the second one is the police. a situation very important in a country as volatile as syria the third agreement is for all the parties to get to the, and this is probably the agreement with more far-reaching consequences. to get together in kazakhstan next month in central asia, to start a peace process. to talk about bringing an end to conflict in syria permanently. now, what the russian foreign ministry has said is that we

want to see the united states involved in this. and we hope that donald trump, when he assumes office in the white house, will take part in this process. but, it looks like with or without the participation of washington, this is going ahead. >> particularly as the deal is probably to come out but safe to assume that this guarantees assad will stay in power ? >> i think the russian presence in syria guarantees that. what this -- this certainly consolidates his position. i think we have to put a major caveat on it, though, which is this. two of the main rebel groups, islamist groups that are fighting bashar al assad in syria. i'm talking about islamic state and the group formerly known as the al nusra front, the al qaeda affiliate, they're not included in this cease-fire. and frankly, victor, they're the ones that are doing the majority of the fighting against the assad regime at the moment. and so, look, the fighting is not going to be stopped. but it certainly is a step in

that direction. but, in no sense is this an end at this early stage, to the long-running, and brutally, you know, blood-soaked syrian war. >> which we've all watched. again, as you raise here the point that the u.s. not involved in this deal at all. we'll continue to watch it, matthew chance for us from moscow. thank you so much. let's turn to the obama administration, and the preparations to strike back at russia soon as soon as today really for meddling in the u.s. election. it's expected to retaliate with expanded sanctions, diplomatic measures, and later, covert actions. the upcoming announcement already putting the kremlin on defense. a spokesperson saying if washington really does take new hostile steps, they will be answered, any action against russian diplomatic missions in the u.s. will immediately bounce back on u.s. diplomats in russia. cnn justice correspondent evan perez is following this story for us from washington. evan, good morning to you. what do you know? >> good morning, victor.

the obama administration has been debating frankly internally for months, and in the next few hours we expect to finally hear the names of russian officials that the u.s. wants to punish for meddling in the u.s. election. u.s. officials tell us to expect new sanctions, diplomatic measures, they're also expected to name individuals associated with the russian disinformation operation that u.s. intelligence officials say was at least partly focused on harming hillary clinton's presidential campaign, and helping donald trump. there's also covert actions that we may never know about in which the u.s. said it can take when it chooses. president obama hinted at what's to come in an interview with npr. take a listen. >> i think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections, that we need to take action. and we will. at a time and place of our choosing. some of it may be explicit and

publicized. some of it may not be. >> of course, in just three weeks we will have a new president here in washington who doesn't believe that the russians were behind the cyber hacks of democratic party organizations. he told reporters yesterday that we ought to just frankly move on with our lives. these are actions today that we expect donald trump can undo if he so chooses. victor? >> all right. evan, thank you so much from washington. let's get to that, now, this brief meeting with reporters outside his mar-a-lago estate -- mar-a-lago estate, rather, donald trump weighed in as evan said there on russia's election meddling. the president-elect acknowledging that he has not yet spoken with senator lindsey graham who favors sanctions against russia but when asked for his opinions on the idea, trump responded, this way. >> i think we ought to get on with our lives. i think the computers are complicated lives greatly. the whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows

exactly what's going on. we have a lot of other things -- but, i have not spoken with the senators. and i certainly will be over a period of time. >> all right joining me now cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley and cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein. ron i want to start with you. let's sift the comments about computers aside for a moment. what he says we need to get on with our lives as it relates to russia, donald trump has been litigating the election for more than 40 days now. in that case he's not getting on with it. >> -- contrast and the point is that the argument he makes about computers we can't really know what's going on is certainly contradicted by the intelligence community which believes we know exactly what's going on. there's clear evidence kind of fingerprints in effect, digital fingerprints of russian entities involved in this hack. donald trump still seems to be processing this intervention, this russian intervention, concern about it, really,

processing it mostly as in effect a kind of undermining of his victory. rather than as a national security challenge, and a precedent that has been set here that could also reverberate into elections coming in france, and germany, nr 2017 if russia does not believe there is a price for this sort of meddling. he still seems to be looking at it through the prism that acknowledging this in some ways undercuts his victory, rather than the way that even many republicans on capitol hill are that you know, this is a serious national security issue. it's not about overturning the results of the election. it's about establishing a price so that russia feels this is not behavior that can go on. >> in suggesting that we get on with our lives he reminded everyone that lindsey graham was an opponent in the primary election still holding on to that race. douglas, let me come to you. he recently met with the president-elect. tell me about that meeting. >> well, i got a little bit of face time with him to talk about past presidents, and about some public policy issues. not russia, unfortunately.

but he was very interested in talking about veterans issues. he had met with the heads of places like mayo clinic, cleveland clinic, johns hopkins recently, with the idea of how do we get the best minds in the medical infrastructure of america to start helping veterans with their health issues. and this seemed very near and dear to his heart. something he wanted to talk about. which kind of signaled to me that was going to be one of the unifying issues he's going in. we know he's going to pick conservatives to the supreme court right out of the gate. somebody that the right just loves. the bipartisan piece of the first months of trump, the veterans issue, may rise as being one that he wants to take on immediately. because i think he would get democratic support for doing something like that. >> the announcement of who will be the next secretary of veterans affairs still is an announcement we're waiting for. some are asking to keep the secretary there right now under the obama administration.

let's talk about this transition. this stark contrast between the tweet that was released during this hour yesterday from donald trump, talking about how he was trying to overlook some of the roadblocks being thrown up by president o. as he called him and then later in the afternoon saying this about the president and the transition. >> he called me. we had a very, very good talk. about generally about that. he was in hawaii. and it was a very, very nice call. i actually thought we covered a lot of territory. a lot of good things. >> ron, how do you reconcile these two on the same day? >> well you don't. and we've seen that before where he has sent very mixed signals. i think kind of the underlying theme, this goes back to the first point, really seemed to get under his skin when president obama suggesting to david axelrod in the podcast that he could have beaten him if he would have run for a third term. anything that seems to question the validity or the magnitude of his victory really does seem to get under his skin very quickly and he reacts. i mean, fact is he won the

electoral college fair and square but he did lose the popular vote by more than anyone who has ever actually won the white house. so i think anything that kind of goes to that, i think really does kind of unsettle him. one other point on the previous, president obama does even if donald trump can overturn sanctions on russia, that would have to be one of the first things he does, and it would create an immediate controversy. donald trump wants to change relations with russia. he has signaled that very clear lir and against i think the -- against the preference of -- republicans on capitol hill. he has to overturn sanctions from president obama that is setting a trip wire for the next administration. >> could dominate the first 100 days as we know that his agenda has many of the things on it. let me come back to you douglas and what we laerd from the white house after the call from president obama to the president-elect they say they described the call as a positive call and focused on continuing smooth and effective transition. there has been calls between the president and president-elect

before this. is the white house, seems to be sensitive to these tweets. this characterization from trump? >> i think they are. i mean, they -- barack obama's determined to make this a smooth transition, as smooth as possible considering they have very much diametrically opposed points of view. it's a position and the president wants to keep it. my keen insight i've picked up about donald trump in this way he's like franklin roosevelt. fdr used to say i'm a juggler. i never let my left hand know what my right hand is doing. anybody who would come and see fdr, he would give them an answer one day, and then four hours later, it would be something different. and it left everybody unsure of where fdr was headed except fdr himself. and i'm seeing donald trump on, you know, operate in those kinds of ways. so he may -- he may tweet out this afternoon, and then another one contradicts it later. that doesn't bother him.

because he feels he's moving his agenda forward and he's in command. we're going to have to get used to that style of leadership or else we're going to be tweet dizzy the next four years. >> i think a lot of people are already there. >> -- uses uncertainty as a positive asset. >> unpredictability as a positive asset. he said that many times. douglas brinkley, ron brownstein, thank you both. all right coming up tensions escalating after secretary kerry delivers a harsh warning to israel. prime minister netanyahu firing back. what this means for u.s. and israel relations moving forward. stay with us. and even though their dentures look clean, in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique micro clean formula works in just 3 minutes, killing 99.99% of odor causing bacteria.

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truths. those words from secretary of state john kerry framing his criticism of israel's handling of the mideast peace process. now israel is returning the favor with some sharp criticism of kerry making it clear that prime minister benjamin netanyahu cannot wait for president-elect donald trump's inauguration in a little more than three weeks. cnn's oren liebermann joins us now from jerusalem. oren, give us an idea of the fallout, the response to this speech. >> prime minister benjamin netanyahu fired back almost immediately after the speech and he certainly hasn't shifted his tone since then. his spokes people have come on cnn to say how disappointed netanyahu's government was with this speech. some of netanyahu's right-wing coalition partners have used far less gentle words to describe kerry and president barack ob a obama's vision of middle east peace. the question now, with 2 1/2 weeks or so to go, how bad can this relationship get? >> friends need to tell each other the hard truths. >> secretary of state john kerry

issuing a stern warning that a two-state solution is now in jeopardy. >> the two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace between israelis and palestinians. >> kerry blasting israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, accusing him of undermining peace efforts. >> the israeli prime minister publicly supports a two-state solution. but his current coalition is the most right-wing in israeli history with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements. >> netanyahu firing back, calling the speech a disappointment, and an attack that paid lip service to terror attacks by palestinians. >> israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of peace by foreign leaders. >> despite repeated denials, netanyahu again accusing the u.s. of orchestrating friday's united nations vote condemning israeli settlements in the west bank and east jerusalem. >> we have it on absolute incontestable evidence that the united states organized,

advanced, and brought this resolution. >> kerry vehemently defending the obama administration's refusal to veto the u.n. resolution. >> no american administration has done more for israel's security than barack obama's. we cannot properly defend and protect israel if we allow a viable two-state solution to be destroyed before our own eyes. >> president-elect donald trump weighing in on kerry's speech from florida. >> we have to have peace. i think it set us back. but, we'll see what happens after january 20th. right? >> and this wasn't just about a speech and a response. netanyahu also took to social media. he posted this picture on his facebook page. it's a picture of president barack obama visiting the western wall in the old city of jerusalem back in 2008. then it says, 2016, u.n. security council calls -- passes a resolution calling the western wall occupied territory. netanyahu has made it clear he holds president barack obama

responsible for that. and then netanyahu asked rhetorically, serious? so, victor, this relationship very much falling apart in its final days. as you pointed out, netanyahu has made it very clear he can't wait for these three weeks to be up and for him to be working with president-elect donald trump. >> he's made that very clear. oren liebermann for us there. thank you so much. and the prime minister was not alone in his criticism. kerry's speech managed the rare feat of uniting some democrats and republicans in congress who slammed both the secretary of state, and the white house. let's talk about this now with cnn global affairs analyst aaron david miller. good morning to you. >> good morning, victor. >> let's start with arizona senator john mccain. he said this after the speech. the secretary kerry speech today was at best a pointless tirade in the waning days of the outgoing administration. at worst it was another dangerous outburst that will further israel's diplomatic isolation, and embolden its enemies. let's put up what we're hearing from chuck schumer the incoming senate minority leader.

while he may not have intended it i fear secretary kerry in his speech and action at the u.n. has emboldened extremists on both sides. are these men right? >> i think they're right about the fact that at five minutes to midnight extremely difficult to create an initiative that you can leverage in control. this was an effort by the obama administration i think to frame as a point of reference their own efforts to identify what they believe to be the obstacles and the reasons for the impasse in the two-state solution. in the face of what i suspect both the president and secretary kerry see coming. which is an incoming trump administration that is likely not to pay much attention to this issue, and probably seek to defuse the tensions with israel both with respect to what to do about iran, the peace process, and the personal relationship between -- between an american president, and an israeli prime minister. this deep support for israel,

bipartisan support, in both the senate and the house, and neither mccain or schumer's comments surprise me. >> i want you to listen to former president bill clinton, what he said about the peace process, in the final days of his administration. this was in january of 2001. let's watch. >> in the resolution of remaining differences, whether they come today or after several years of heartbreak and bloodshed, the fundamental, painful, but necessary choices will almost certainly remain the same whenever the decision is made. the parties will face the same history, the same geography, the same neighbors, the same passion, the same hatred. this is not a problem time will take care of. >> more than 15 years ago. your reaction to what you're hearing there from the former president? >> i mean, i worked for reagan, for bush 41, for bill clinton,

for bush 43 on this particular issue. i was with bill clinton at camp david i think the president has identified the issue. but the real question, victor, is this. i don't think the focus is the man or woman in the middle, that is to say the u.s. mediator. i think the reality is that israelis and palestinians are simply unable and unwilling, both president -- prime minister benjamin netanyahu and president mahmoud abbas, to make the kinds of choices on the core issues that drive, border, security, jerusalem, refugees, end of claims, recognizing the state of israel and the jewish people. to make the kinds of choices that would allow an external mediator to mediate. and whether it's settlement expansion or the resolution to -- or extension on the resolution on settlements, on friday, that painful and politically inconvenient reality, that's the thing that's

not going to go away. unless israelis and palestinians are confronted with enough prospects of gain and i'm sorry to say, probably a fair measure of pain, to motivate them, i suspect you and i are going to be having this same conversation next year. >> aaron, quickly before we let you go here, we saw there from president clinton his parameters for peace. just a week and a half or so, maybe two weeks before the end of the administration. but the president delivered those remarks himself. from your perspective, the significance of not hearing this from president obama, but instead from secretary kerry. >> i think it's very significant. you know, whether it's the reagan initiative or clinton parameters, presidents attach their names to initiatives that they are invested in and they think have a chance to succeed. i think the president basically, the parting shot with the extension and i think he left it to secretary kerry who is the energizer bunny of american foreign policy on this issue, to basically make this speech and frankly, to take the hits as a

consequence, so it doesn't surprise me that it's the kerry parameters, not the obama parameters. >> aaron david miller. thanks so much. quick check now on the markets. dow's been flirting with 20,000 for a couple of days now. but, i wonder if that's fizzling with the drop we saw yesterday? let's check in now with cnn money correspondent christina alesci. dropping more than 100 points? >> gentleman. so we have to kind of take a step back and look at what's happened over the last year. right? we've had an incredible run. we're up 14%. and that is because companies are getting full credit for doing a great job. the economy is humming along, and investors have been really positive about trump's pro-growth policies. but now, to your point, investors are hitting the pause button and we saw that yesterday. they want to see better economic data, which we might get next week with the jobs report, they want to see trump actual execute on those policies, and they may

even want some reassurances that trump's not going to do anything too drastic when it comes to some nongrowth things that he's talking about. namely, trade, and immigration. there fact, cnn money talked to 15 experts just yesterday, all but one said they were very worried about trump's stance on trade and how that might impact the market. and you've got to -- victor you've got to imagine that trump is paying attention. >> oh, of course he is. >> he is looking at this market. he does not want it to drop on his watch. so, you know, he's going to be very mindful of that when he goes out and he talks about protectionism, and holding china and mexico accountable. he doesn't want to freak out the market. >> not only is he hoping that it won't drop he's taking credit for any increase and he's also taking credit for these 8,000 jobs. >> exactly. >> that he talked about at mar-a-lago yesterday. >> right. and that is part of a, you know, those 8,000 jobs, 5,000 of them were part of a previously

announced plan by sprint to bring some jobs back to america. and it seems like this is part of a larger theme. trump is taking credit for a lot of things that companies are doing, and the companies are letting him do it. because, they don't want to seem like they're stilling the thunder from the president-elect. >> no one wants to say sorry, mr. president, you're wrong about this? >> or you're wrong or we had these plans before. >> yeah. >> anything along those lines. they want to keep good relations with the president, and we're going to see this time and time again. but the market is going to want more than one-off deals on jobs. they're going to want to see a comprehensive policy that's pro-growth. >> all right. we're about a minute or so into the day of trading day. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> still to come, remembering a hollywood legend from her iconic career to her tragic final hours, after the death of her daughter. we're honoring debbie reynolds, next.

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♪ all i do is dream of you the whole night through ♪ ♪ dreaming of you ♪ >> iconic performance there from debbie reynolds. this morning hollywood is honoring her legendary career, unsinkable spirit. reynolds died one day after

losing her only daughter, actress carrie fisher. the relationship was famously complicated. but by the end of their lives they were close, close figuratively and literally living so close to one another. both women being remembered today for their wit. here's reynolds in 2011. >> it was hard for carrie, i think, because in school, like when she was in grammar school the teacher kept calling carrie debbie. now you know -- >> well after awhile it was okay, because now i'm princess leia's mother. you know. everywhere i go i'm princess leia's mother now. >> all right. with me now michael musto, columnist for out.com. michael we were here yesterday, talking about carrie fisher. now about her mother. >> you know what? i'm horrified but i'm not surprised. the bond between carrie and debbie had grown so strong they were like the same person. they had their ups and downs through the years but they ironed them out. and they were beautifully bonded. they actually were the same person, they were cut from the

same cloth. they both were introduced to the public as enjen us, girls next door. they were so far from that. they were so dark and complicated. they had horrible relationships with men and they got closer and closer and debbie just couldn't go on without carrie. it's actually a beautiful love story. >> planning her funeral and then she has this -- this health episode, this stroke and dice. you talked about this being hollywood royalty. it's like a fairy tale. debbie reynolds discovered at a beauty pageant, and then shortly after she starred alongside gene kelly in "singin' in the rain." >> debbie came from poverty. they were eating out of pots and pans and basically she wanted to make it and she did by the sheer drive and talent that she had. debbie was an old-school star. she was a trouper. she conquered every medium she was nominated for unsinkable molly brown for an oscar. was in "singin' in the rain." was tony nominated for irene had a casino in vegas where she had a museum of artifacts from movies and performed. and having met her i was impressed by her drive even at

that late age the drive and professionalism and talent. >> those artifacts i don't want to brush over those. those served to be quite profitable in her later years. >> she had some terrible husbands along the way, and they messed with her finances and she needed that casino to make money. one of the artifacts was something liz taylor wore in cleopatra. liz taylor was the one eddie fisher dumped her for. they made up because they all didn't like eddie. >> and you think about the final days here, after carrie's death, now after debbie reynolds' death what todd fisher must be feeling. >> i can't imagine. because he basically lost his sister and mother within a two-day period. and todd sometimes is a forgotten member of that family. he's actually very talented and funny himself. there's a great documentary from hbo about the three people in this family, which is going to be more resonant than ever. >> all right. >> and a cute story about postcards from the edge that carrie wrote about debbie. debbie wanted to play herself in the movie. she wanted to play the mother and mike nicolas says you're not right for the part and they got

shirley maclaine. >> she was great. michael musto, thank you so much. we'll continue, of course, to pay tribute to debbie reynolds. she was 84 years old. we'll be right back. ♪ family road trip! fun! check engine. not fun! but, you've got hum. that's like driving with this guy. all you do is press this, and in plain english, "coolant", you'll know what's wrong. if you do need a mechanic, just press this. "thank you for calling hum." and if you really need help, help can find you, automatically, 24/7. because you put this, in here. hum by verizon. the technology designed to make your car smarter, safer and more connected. put some smarts in your car. i just wish it had been for a better reason. me, too, but the eulogy that

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president-elect trump taking credit for a plan to keep 5,000 jobs in america, a number already announced as part of a broader hiring plan by japanese company softbank. watch. >> i was just called by the head people at sprint, and they're going to be bringing 5,000 jobs

back to the united states, taking them from other countries. they're bringing them back to the united states. and masa and some other people were very much involved in that so i want to thank them. and also oneweb, a new company, is going to be hiring 3,000 people. so that's very exciting. >> earlier this month, trump tweeted, masa, softbank, of japan, has agreed to invest 50 billion in the u.s. toward businesses, and 50,000 new jobs. softbank owns a majority share of sprint. the company has confirmed that the number trump is referring to was included in its original plan to invest in companies around the world. a plan announced before the election. so let's talk more about this. i'm joined now by president of the american action forum and former director of the congressional budget office. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> very well, thank you. is it appropriate for donald trump to take credit for these jobs? >> well, he's under a lot of

pressure. let's face it, expectations are quite high that he will change the direction of this economy. an economy that's had no discernible sense of momentum. it's characterized by poor wage growth, poor productivity growth, and you know, he's not yet president. there's a lot of expectations about tax reform, and regulatory reform, and infrastructure sp d spending programs so in this vacuum before he's inaugurated i think he's trying to maintain the momentum, the expectation, when he can't really do anything. >> maintaining moment when he can't do anything. we go back to the original question though, is it credible that he should claim having brought these jobs to the u.s.? >> no. i think we know that the plan was in place before the election. and, you know, that's pretty clear. so the question is, what will he actually get done once he's inaugurated? and has a chance to influence some of these plans? >> as we talk about credit, donald trump tweeted out earlier this week about the u.s. consumer confidence index, up 113 -- up to 113 points highest

in 15 years thanks donald. credit there realistic? and deserved? >> i think that's a realistic place where he should get some credit. since the election we've seen sharp increases in consumer confidence. we've seen a sharp rise in prices, dow jones and other indexes. those are traditionally associated with the electoral outcomes and he won. so i think that's pretty fair. >> would they not be also associated with jobs and the increase of wage growth? >> i think that's going to be the main challenge of his presidency. we've seen the economy recover from a great recession. but we haven't seen wages recover in the way that most people had hoped. if he can deliver strong wage growth, he will be judged to be very successful i think. >> one of the other challenges of his presidency, what to do about his business empire. here's what donald trump said yesterday at mar-a-lago. >> it's not a big deal. you people are making it a big deal, the business, because look

number one, when i won they all knew i had a big business all over the place. in fact i reported it with the, as you know, with the federal election. it's a much bigger business than anybody thought. it's a great business. but, i'm going to have nothing to do with it. i'm going to -- i don't have to, because as you know, i wouldn't have to do that. but i want to do that because i want to focus on the country. >> well the president-elect says that it's not a big deal. he's tweeted that it's not that complicated. although members of his transition team have said that it's taking so long to explain it because it's so complicated. where do you fall on this? >> i think we have to wait and see, to be honest. you know, there potential for conflict of interest. and that's always true. it's been true of previous presidents and previous members of the executive branch. so, the key here is to have actual policy decisions, looking to see whether there's the appearance of a conflict of interest and then have congressional oversight. this idea that he somehow decided in advance, in the

abstract, i think is just too hard. we've got to look at actual decisions and actual potential conflicts and decide on a case by case basis. >> so what degree are you expecting serious congressional oversight? >> oh, i think if we saw, you know, a transaction that appears to have favored his businesses, congress would look right into it. i don't have any real doubts about that. >> all right. thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ see ya next year. this season, start a new tradition. experience the power of infiniti now, with leases starting at $319 a month. infiniti. empower the drive. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree.

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this just in to cnn. an official says the u.s. is aware of recent movements of isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi. this after months of no signs of the terror chief. barbara starr is at the pentagon with more. what have you learned? >> reporter: good morning, victor. exactly what you have said, it's been months since there's been a real sign of the isis leader abu

bakr al baghdadi. the video you are seeing was him months ago preaching in mosul. now this morning, a u.s. official is telling me and i want to read the words very specifically because they are very precise. this u.s. official saying in the last few weeks, we have been aware of some of baghdadi's movement so what are we talking about here? this is now an intelligence tip that the u.s. is looking at very closely. it is not, it's our understanding it is not realtime intelligence. in other words, it's not where baghdadi is right this minute but sometime in the last few weeks they got information about where baghdadi might have recently been. so under standard intelligence practice that everybody's aware of, the u.s. would now be going back looking at that location. we don't know what the location is. looking at the time frame, who might have been there, what are

the signs that baghdadi might have been there, what can they develop going forward about where he might have gone from there, whatever the location was, or whether he's still hunkered down there. the u.s. looks at communications intercepts, telephone intercepts, overhead surveillance, it's got people on the ground throughout the region of syria and iraq where isis is located. there has been intelligence gathered from the military, the iraqi military assault on mosul, iraq, so lots of possibilities here. want to make very clear we are not disclosing where baghdadi is. we don't know. by all accounts, the u.s. doesn't know. but after months of no information, this is a clear sign, one of the clearest recent signs that baghdadi is alive or was as of a few weeks ago, and they may be able to work this tip and develop further information about his location

as the obama administration enters its last couple of weeks in office. victor? >> it's a starting point. barbara starr, thank you so much. this was one of the hottest gifts of the holiday season. amazon's echo. maybe you received one. it's this voice activated digital assistant, you can ask it questions, order things, even stream your favorite music. now police in bentonville, arkansas want to know if the must-have gadget in millions of homes can do something else, solve a deadly whodunit. martin savidge has more on the story. >> reporter: what did you hear? >> hi, there. >> reporter: is it possible the digital assistant in the echo device witnessed a murder inside this arkansas home? that's what police in bentonville are wondering. only they are not asking the device. they are asking echo's maker, amazon, and so far the tech giant is saying no to a police warrant seeking data and

recordings. the always on gadget may have picked up. >> it was a lawfully issued search warrant by a judge and amazon's position is they simply don't believe they have to comply with it. >> reporter: 47-year-old victor collins was found dead face down in a hot tub last year. authorities say there were indications of possible foul play, arresting 31-year-old james bates on suspicion of murder. bates' attorney says the death was nothing more than a tragic accident and her client is incident. she applauds amazon's refusal to comply with police demands, calling it chilling that a christmas gift could be used against people. >> it scares me that our criminal system is coming down to this technology which is supposed to help our daily lives and now it's being used against us for an innocent client. >> reporter: in a statement provided to cnn, amazon seemed to imply it could change its willingness to cooperate in the case, saying amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on

us. the company went on. amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course. amazon did give police bates' subscriber information and authorities have analyzed the information contained on the device itself but believe more echo evidence is stored in the cloud, controlled by amazon. the case calls to mind the mass shooting in san bernardino, california that pitted apple against the fbi as the authorities wanted to access information contained in the locked iphone of one of the shooters. >> what time is it? >> it's 1:56. >> reporter: the always on voice activated technology found in amazon's product is showing up more and more in our lives from thermometers to cameras, even toys. but these modern wonders are also creating some modern worries over privacy, suggesting what happens at home may no longer stay at home. two things to keep in mind. number one, the tech experts say

even if the bentonville police get access to the data it may not have the information they think. in other words, they don't expect this echo captured a crime in the act. it just doesn't work that way. but in the long run, as more and more smart devices end up inside our homes, we have to remember that they are not only a convenience, they are also almost always in some way watching and monitoring us. victor? >> fascinating. martin, thanks for that report. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" begins after this break.

'. good morning. i'm victor blackwell in for carol costello. good to be with you. a possibility of peace in syria. that's where we start.

russian president vladimir putin confirms a cease-fire agreement has been reached between the syrian opposition and the government of president bashar al assad. that's set to begin in about eight years, midnight local time. putin says both sides have signed documents saying they are ready to begin peace talks. turkey and russia will guarantee the truce. the united states apparently not taking part in these negotiations. let's start there with matthew chance following the story out of moscow. the u.s. has tried for years to bring some peace to aleppo, to greater syria, and now there's this deal without them at the table. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. the united states are conspicuous by their absence in this deal. it was brokered essentially by russia and turkey, two countries on opposite sides of the conflict in syria. russia backing bashar al assad, the syrian president. turkey backing various rebel groups opposed to