house speaker paul ryan. that is it for the lead today. i'm jim sciutto in for jake tapper. now i turn you over to wolf blitzer who is where he always is, in the situation room. >> happening now, breaking news, no doubt intelligence chiefs testify that the cyber attack on the u.s. election was ordered at the highest levels in russia. and they say donald trump's disparagement of those findings is a cause for concern. for its part, the kremlin says it's sick and tired of being blamed. obama's report, the president is briefed on the cyber attack investigation and president-elect trump will be briefed tomorrow. will he finally accept the findings of the u.s. intelligence community? hate crime, four african americans are charged with a hate crime and kid napping in the torturing of a white special needs team that was streamed on facebook life.

and under close scrutiny, the u.s. military is watching kim jung un's regime more closely than ever. as north korea's leader vows to test a missile that could reach the united states, a missile he wants to arm with a nuclear war head. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. top u.s. intelligence officials lined up against their future commander in chief defending their conclusion that the election cyber attacks were ordered at the highest levels of the kremlin and were accompanied by a campaign of propaganda and fake news all aimed at swaying the u.s. election results. senate armed services committee john mccain who called today's hearing says russia's meddling amounts to an act of war. and president-elect donald trump has repeatedly voiced doubts about russia's role and u.s. spy

chief james clapper warned that such disparagement, his word, disparagement of the u.s. intelligence community is very worrisome. republican senator lindsey graham, a trump critic, weighed in on that. >> mr. putin is up to no good and mr. president-elect, when you listen to these people, you can be skeptical, but understand they're the best among us and they're trying to protect us. >> president obama was briefed today on the intelligence report. president-elect trump will be briefed tomorrow in a declassified version is expected to be released next week. russia is reacting angrily. the state-run news agency says no evidence of russian hacking was presented and a kremlin spokesman says moscow is, quote, sick and tired of being blamed. also in chicago, four african-american suspects have been charged with a hate crime and kid napping in the torture of a white special needs teen that was streamed live over facebook. i'll speak with congressman

chris collins of the trump transition team. he's standing by live. and our correspondents analysts and guests are standing by with full coverage of today's top stories. let's begin with america's top intelligence officials. strongly defending their assessment of russian attacks on the u.s. election, justice correspondent pamela brown is joining us. pamela, what did we learn from today's senate hearing? >> well, wolf, we learned that intelligence leaders are more resolute than ever in their assessment about the russian hack. and they said today russians continue to hack and push out fake news just as they did during the election. >> trade craft that the russians have long, long used. >> today the nation's top spy, not mincing words in his defense of the u.s. intelligence assessment that russia is to blame for the unprecedented hacks during the 2016 election. >> i don't think that we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we've seen in this case.

>> and insisting their confidence has only increased. >> we stand actually more resolutely on the strength of that statement that we made on the seventh of october. >> james clapper, along with both democrat and republican lawmakers, sending a strong message in the wake of donald trump's repeated public statements doubting the intelligence. who actually is the ben factor of someone who is about to become commander in chief trashing the intelligence community? >> i think there is a difference between skepticism and disparagement. >> putin is up to no good and he better be stopped, and mr. president-elect, when you listen to these people, you can be skeptical, but understand they're the best among us and they're trying to protect us. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: clapper revealing today that a comprehensive report into the democratic party hacks will layout not just what the russians did, but why they did it. among the motivations expected

in the report set to be released monday, an effort to tip the election in trump's favor. >> there are actually more than one motive that will be described in the report. >> i assure you that we intend -- i intend to be -- to push the envelope as much as i can on, particularly on the unclassified version because i think the public should know as much about this as possible. >> reporter: clapper told the committee one part of a broader effort by russia. >> this was a multifaceted campaign. the hacking was only one part of it. and it also entailed classical propaganda, disinformation, fake news. >> does that continue? >> yes. >> reporter: intelligence officials say it's clear the man behind it all is vladimir putin. >> you say you think this was approved at the highest level of

government in russia generally speaking. is that right? >> that's what we said. >> okay. who is the highest level of government? >> well, the highest is president putin. >> do you think a lot happens in russia big that he doesn't know about? >> not very many. >> yeah, i don't think so. >> certainly none that are politically sensitive in another country. >> reporter: president obama received his briefing on the comprehensive review today and tomorrow in new york president-elect trump will receive his led by dni chief james clapper. wolf? >> thank you, pamela brown reporting. let's go live to our cnn political reporter sara murry. sara, how is donald trump responded to what we heard from the intelligence community today? >> well, wolf, donald trump of course is known for reacting in real time usually on twitter. but today he is uncharacteristically silent in the wake of those hearings. and i want to draw your attention to his tweets from earlier this morning before the hearings began. and it appears he was trying to do a little bit of clean up, a

little bit of backtracking. trump tweeted the dishonest media likes saying i am in agreement with julian assange. wrong. i simply state what he states. it is for the people to make up their own minds as to the truth. the media lies to make it look like i am against intelligence when in fact i am a big fan. but of course, wolf, donald trump has been tweeting julian assange. he has not been tweeting the intelligence community. they pointed to the upcoming briefing tomorrow with heads of the cia, the fbi as well as dni. so, maybe we will hear more from donald trump about what he thinks of their assessments after that meeting, wolf. >> is the sense, sara, trump is attacking the intelligence community because he takes issue with their work or because he doesn't like their conclusions? >> reporter: well, he certainly takes issue with their conclusions, wolf. i have spoken to people who talk to donald trump about this, who are close to donald trump who say he really does see this as

an effort to undermine the legitimacy of his presidency. and when you look at it in total, he lost the popular vote. there are questions about fbi director james comey's influence on the election as well as questions about the russian hacking. and taken together, that does leave a so you are taste in donald trump's mouth. he wants to come into the white house feeling like he is a legitimate president, feeling like people are not questioning his victory, and right now he feels like questions about russian cyber hacking could potentially undermine that, would have. >> sara murry reporting from trump tower in new york. thank you. joining us now republican congressman chris collins of new york. he's a member of the trump transition team. congressman, thanks for joining us. >> yes, good to be with you, would have, as always. >> were you satisfied with the level of detail you heard from the intelligence leaders during their hearing up on capitol hill today? >> well, certainly i'm looking forward to mr. trump's response after he gets the intelligence briefing. but i really think what america

needs to also focus on is cyber hacking has been a problem be not only with russia, but iran, north korea, and china and it's just -- it's interesting that over the last eight years, even when china hacked into over a million personnel records of the u.s. government, what was president obama's response? it was much to do about nothing. and now i have to think what we're seeing, some of the response we're seeing including expelling the 35 russians is trying to poison the well for donald trump coming in as president. and we have to ask the question, where has barack obama been the last eight years with iran, north korea, china? so, i think that's another issue we should be talking about. >> when the chinese did hack the office of personnel management as you point out back in 2015, and taking information, sensitive information from millions of american government workers, social security numbers and other sensitive information, he did issue a public statement

and he said steps were being taken and there were some sanctions imposed against china at the same time with a strong warning to the chinese to stop it. >> yeah, but that's nothing like they didn't expel 35 chinese and they've been stealing our intellectual property for decades and they continue to try to do it. you know, we've got the other rogue nation states doing likewise. there is a political piece of this, i don't think there is any question about what barack obama is doing. it was pointed out before the election. he told vladimir putin to "knock it off." that was a pretty lame response right there. then there was no actions until donald trump was elected. hillary clinton did lose. and now what you're seeing, not only here, but with the actions that secretary kerry has taken with israel and the u.n., the deplorable u.n. vote that we abstained from, this is political. it's a sore loser in barack

obama. it is something that is beneath the president of the united states. but we're seeing this, and i think this is all political, on the case of barack obama trying to de legitimatize the election of donald trump who is our president-elect who won fair and square, 306 electoral college votes. this wasn't even close. it has to be factored in. >> congressman, let me point out a month before the election -- a month before the election, the administration, the director of national intelligence, the secretary home land security, did issue a strong statement saying, and i'll read you a couple sentences. the u.s. intelligence community is confident that the russian government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from u.s. persons and institutions including from u.s. political organizations. and then it went on to say, we believe based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts that only russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities. that was a month before the election, and they did begin to

take some steps. they went further after the election by expelling 35 russian diplomats and their families. by the way, do you support that decision to expel those russian diplomats? >> well, i'm certainly not in a position to do it. i'm going to say i believe that was a political act, and why weren't we expelling others from iran, from north korea and from china -- >> let me point out the u.s. and iran do not have formal diplomatic relations. there are no iranian diplomats serving in washington right now. chinese diplomats, there are plenty of chinese diplomats here in washington. i'm a little confused, congressman. do you want stronger u.s. retaliation against russia, china, and others who might be engaged in these kinds of hacking activities? >> absolutely. i think we need to be stronger in our defense of all of our cyber activities and we should

be sending out and should have been sending out over the last eight years a much stronger response. but across the board, not just russia -- >> why won't you say you support the expulsion of the russian diplomats because of the russian cyber attacks on the u.s. elections? >> well, because i believe clearly that was a political step taken by barack obama after hillary clinton lost the election. i would have left it up to donald trump as president on january 20, after he is fully briefed on the intelligence to move forward with his team on how we're going to deal with cyber security moving forward. this is a president who has got a couple of weeks left and i think, again, like what happened in israel, this was a political step and it was taken by a president who has only got a couple weeks left. >> donald trump hasn't always been so critical of the cia, the u.s. intelligence community back in 2014 he tweeted this, and

i'll put it up opt screen. you see it right there. the cia deserves our praise for taking the fight to the enemy in the dark corners of the world. the cia perseveres, the pog advertisings whine. doesn't that suggest that this is personal for trump? not based in some innate skepticism of the u.s. intelligence community. he simply very sensitive to the suggestion, as you keep making, that all of this is being done to undermine the legitimacy of his election. >> i think there's no question that's a big piece of this, that the democrats cannot get over the fact that hillary lost, obama's legacy is in tatters, that there is a political piece -- >> but fundamentally, congressman, do you believe the russians engaged in cyber attacks against the democratic national committee and john podesta, the hillary clinton campaign chairman's g-mail account? >> well, i will stipulate from what i've heard, i can accept that the chinese were involved --

>> the chinese? >> in cyber hacking -- >> the chinese or the russians? >> the russians. >> yeah. >> the russians. i just don't accept that it had any impact whatsoever on this election, and that's what i am absolutely in agreement with president-elect trump that this is the attempt of the democrats and certainly barack obama to de-legitimatize his election and that's what's coloring this entire discussion today. >> because general clapper would not say if, in fact, it's not the responsibility of the u.s. intelligence community to say whether it didn't, in fact, have an impact on the election results. the only thing he was saying, and i assume you agree with him, correct me if i'm wrong, that the russians were responsible for those cyber attacks whatever the impact. >> i would certainly accept based on their -- what i've heard that, yes, they were behind it with a 95%, but not 100% assurance. i think mr. trump will know more when he has his briefing. but again, we have to keep also putting this in the framework of

the political insinuations that are totally inappropriate at this point in time. we will never know what we don't know on anything that impacted the election. and i don't believe it had any impact myself. >> congressman, we have more to discuss. i want you to stick around. we'll continue all a of this right after a quick break. >> sure.

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we're back with republican congressman chris collins of new york. he's a key member of the trump transition team. congressman, i want to ask you about republican plans to repeal and replace obamacare. everyone in your party seems to agree that the law should be repealed, but at least so far they don't agree on a way to replace it or even a time line for replacing it.

the critics pointed out the gop has had seven years to get on the same page. now the republicans are in charge of the house, the senate and the white house. why is there still so much confusion? >> well, first of all, we will repeal obamacare here in short order, but that doesn't mean americans will see any changes in the next two years because those plans for 17 and 18 are locked in. the other thing we should also remember is less than 10% of americans are getting their health insurance through obamacare. i think that is an important point to make. the replacement we have crafted, six or seven slightly different replacement plans. now we have to come together with one plan, 218 out of 241 republicans agreeing on this replacement plan. that's going to take us at least six months, if not 12 months to get through. in the meanwhile, we're going to have a status quo relative to people getting their insurance. but it's not going to be easy to get 218 out of 241 republicans

because we can't count on any democrat help in getting a replacement plan put in. we have to make sure we take care of all americans, all the nuances. we're going to be having numerous hearings on this and we're going to be very careful to make sure that our replacement plan is a plan for the future, whereas we've seen obamacare implode onto itself. we have to fix the mess that obama has put us in with run away costs, very limited options, and so it's going to take us six to 12 months to get that replacement plan done. we're going to get input from governors. we're going to get input from insurance companies, hospitals, physicians. we're going to do it right. in the meanwhile, things stay status quo, people don't have to worry about losing their coverage. >> so, congressman, at least for the next two years, obamacare is the law of the land. is that what you're saying? >> well, obamacare is -- we're going to be repealing some of the mandates, if you will, the employer mandate, the employee mandate, things like -- >> if you repeal that, those are

critically important parts. they fund a lot of the people who have insurance -- health insurance under obamacare. if you start repealing those mandates, where is the money going to come from? >> well, that's a big issue that we're going to be dealing with. ways and means, our committee on taxes is going to be dealing with that piece. those of us on energy and commerce are going to be dealing with the expansion of medicaid. but for the time being, all the folks that have insurance, those plans are set. they can't be changed this year. they effectively cannot be changed next year. you are correct, there are financial impacts that we're going to have to deal with because of the mess that obamacare has caused us, the run away costs in many cases because of the minimum benefit package, or in some cases other changes that have driven up the cost to private insurance, corporate insurance, the 30 versus 40-hour workweek. these have all got to be dealt with, very complicated, but we are going to repeal obamacare.

the details of that will be out, you know, i expect we'll be doing this by the end of february relative to the repeal. the replacement is going to come, i think, some time late this year. that gives us time to do it right and i think america understands that. >> congressman, the vice-president joe biden just granted an interview to pbs and he had a specific, very pointed message for the president-elect. listen to this. >> grow up, donald. grow up. >> grow up, donald, grow up. he goes on to say, time to be an adult. you're president. you've got to do something. show us what you have. you're going to propose it on legislation. we're going to get to dough bait it. let the public decide. let them vote in congress. it's going to be much clearer what he's for and against and what we're for and against. now that it's going to get down to actually discussing in details issues that affect people's lives.

so, he's telling the president-elect, grow up, donald, grow up. time to be an adult. you're president. your reaction? >> you know, that's a pathetic response. i think it's beneath the office of the vice-president. it shows just the angst of the loss of this election by obama, hillary clinton and joe biden. donald trump is the adult in the room. you've already seen his -- the reactions in the economic front. companies saying they're bringing jobs back to america. they're creating new jobs in america. they understand where donald trump stands on trade. donald trump as president-elect is getting more accomplished, frankly, on the economic front than barack obama did in his eight years. i think that's the sign of very good things to come. we don't -- america has a true leader, someone that's going to stand up to our enemies, going to stand tough, but also make sure that he takes care of all americans, whether it's health care, whether it's jobs and so

forth. so, i'm very disappointed that someone like vice-president biden, who i do respect, would make a comment like that. i really -- it's beneath his office and beneath the vice-president that i know. >> very quickly, i just want to ask you a local question involving our hometown of buffalo and a fellow buffaloian you had a trump transition today. was he there? >> carl was not there, carl was not involved in the kellyanne fund-raiser. we did successful fund-raiser that donald trump asked us to put together to help fund the transition team. these folks that are right now on landing teams and the agencies, a way to get them paid. so, at his request we put together a very successful fund-raiser today in buffalo with kellyanne conway. she was great. everything went off smoothly. but the direct answer, no, carl paladino was not involved in the

event. >> as you know, he caused a huge stir when he told a buffalo magazine he wants michelle obama to be, "let loose in the out backs of zimbabwe where she can live with gorillas and for president obama to catch mad cow disease and die." have you spoken with him about that? i know he apologized, but that is so outrageous. >> yeah, those comments could not be defended, so, i would certainly not be one to ever attempt that. they were something beyond the pale. i know that carl unfortunately he did say what he said and he has apologized for that. they can't be defended and, again, he was not part of today's fund-raiser. >> all right. congressman chris collins, our fellow hometown buffalo new york, thanks very much for joining us. >> good to be with you, wolf. >> thank you. coming up, the democrats raise new questions about donald trump's pick to run the department of health and human

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we're following the breaking news, the vice-president of the united states joe biden just doing an interview on pbs in the news hour telling donald trump, it's time to grow up. listen to this. >> grow up, donald. grow up. time to be an adult. you're president. you've got to do something. show us what you have. you're going to propose legislation. we're going to get to debate it. let the public decide. let them vote in congress. let's see what happens. it's going to be much clearer

what he's for and against and what we're for and against now that it's going to get down to actually discussing in detail these issues that affect people's lives. >> pretty amazing words from the vice-president of the united states. let's bring in our political panel and dana bash, have you ever heard a sitting vice-president in the final few days of an administration telling the president-elect of the united states, "grow up, donald, grow up, time to be an adult, you're president?" >> no. neck, no. absolutely not. look, you can see the frustration. you can hear the frustration in the current administration, the almost former administration, from the president and the vice-president on down because it is about the transfer of power and making sure that, never mind legacy issues, never mind the partisan differences, but about the fundamentals of the presidency and the executive branch. having said that, saying "grow

up" to donald trump i don't think is really the best tactic to make that work. i'm guessing there is going to be a retort that will be something along the lines of an illustration that growing up is not -- is not part of the response. >> it was the context was he was asked, the vice-president joe biden, about a tweet earlier today from donald trump in which he called the new democratic leader, the minority leader in the senate, chuck schumer a clown. >> so now joe biden calls donald trump a child and plays directly into donald trump's game. this is what donald trump did throughout the entire campaign. whether it was little marco, or low energy jeb. what we saw when his opponents tried to play his game, they weren't as good as it as donald trump is, joe biden is trying to play this game. this is why joe biden is so much fun to cover as a reporter because he delivers these kinds of quotes and sound bites with

regularity. to your point, wolf, it is unprecedented. you just don't hear people talk this way and obviously that is the kind of signature joe biden language. >> this is what trump tweeted ten hours ago, just checked it on twitter. the democrats led by head clown chuck schumer, know how bad obamacare is and what a mess they are in. instead of working to fix it they dot typical political thing and blame. the fact obamacare was a lie from the beginning. you, doctor, keep your plan and then he goes on. >> if i can just quickly add, joe biden certainly gave a great sound bite there. but chuck schumer, who is going to be the one who is going to lead the trump opposition, declined to respond. he learned the lesson from the little marco and everything else that happened during the campaign. >> the name calling. >> he tweeted schumer is the head clown, not just a clown, but the head clown. >> he gave him that honor. >> based on history, i assume that the president-elect will respond to the vice-president. >> well, you would think so.

preside precedent has shown when donald trump is attacked, to use his words, he likes to punch back. i wouldn't expect that donald trump would necessarily change his rhetoric as president because it has worked so well for him. part of his appeal for so many of his supporters was that he didn't talk like a normal politician. but i do wonder, to joe biden's other point in this statement, that suddenly donald trump as president is going to need to actually show what he stands for and fight for the things that he believes in. i think that's a very important point because donald trump has been idea logically fluid throughout the campaign process, throughout his political career. now he will be held a little bit more to what he has said and that will be really interesting to see how he evolves in that respect. >> phil, it comes in the context of today's very important senate armed services committee hearings from the intelligence community and you heard the leaders of the u.s. intelligence community all agree they're all on the same page.

the russians did it. they're going to be briefing behind closed doors the classified report that the president received today, the president-elect will receive it tomorrow. this is a very, very sensitive moment right now because we don't know how trump will react after he gets that briefing. >> i think we have two things to think about. what happens in private, wolf, and what happens in public. i think we've seen a sense of what happens in private. he'll be respective of the people in front of him. he'll listen to the briefing. i think they'll talk about a couple of issues. one is the facts of what they learned during the russian hacking. what did we see in term of the diagnostics on the ground. the second is the tougher issue, and this is where i think the president-elect should be asking tough questions. and i think has a legitimate reason to aa tack the intelligence community. are you certain beyond a reasonable doubt that vladimir putin knew about what was going on on the ground. i think the bigger question, wolf, though is not what happens in private. it's what happens when he walks out in front of the cameras.

does he denigrate the intelligence community? does he denigrate people who have given 30 years of service to government as he did yesterday? or does he flip-flop as he did today and say, no, not really true. i respect intelligence. who comes out in front of the cameras? behind the cameras i suspect he'll be perfectly respectable. >> we'll have to wait till tomorrow afternoon, that briefing taking place in new york city over a trump tower. everyone stand by. we're getting some new information on some of his cabinet selections that may be facing some serious problems. we'll be right back. safelite, w busy your life can be. mom: oh no... tech: this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windshield. so she scheduled at safelite.com and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there, so she didn't miss a single shot. i replaced her windshield giving her more time for what matters most. tech: how'd ya do? player: we won! tech: nice! that's another safelite advantage. mom: thank you so much! (team sing) safelite repair, safelite replace.

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we're lrning new details about potential problems for some of donald trump's cabinet nominees. our senior washington correspondent jeff has been working the sources up on capitol hill. jeff, democrats are zeroing in on trump's pick for secretary of health and human services, tom price. why? wolf, they are indeed. democrats are calling for an ethics investigation into georgia congressman tom price. he, of course, is the nominee to be the health and human services secretary. they are raising questions about some $300,000 in stocks that he traded over the years in health and pharmaceutical companies while he was here in congress. now, senate democratic leader chuck schumer led that charge today on capitol hill. >> bottom line, congressman price had the influence and was actively involved in pushing health care policies while simultaneously making dozens of trades in companies that would be impacted by those policies.

he did this repeatedly and in such large numbers, he's likely to have made tens of thousands of dollars on one of these trades alone. every american should be shocked by this. >> reporter: now, congressman price told cnn today he looks forward to answering all these questions at his hearing which is scheduled for next week. and a trump transition official said today senate democrats, he pointed out three in particular, also have traded health stocks here in congress. so, wolf, that will be one of the central things, but we should point out here, congressman price has led the charge against obamacare. so, democrats have a big policy difference with him as well. >> they do. and also democrats are concerned about the timing of these upcoming hearings. explain that. >> reporter: wolf, if you look at the schedule next week here on capitol hill, on wednesday alone there are six confirmation hearings scheduled all in the same day. it happens to be the same day donald trump has said he'll hold his first news conference as

well. senate democrats are concerned about the scheduling packing this all into one moment here so they are trying to work with republicans to space these out a bit. senator diane fine stein, the ranking democrat on the judiciary committee told me this afternoon, wolf, there simply isn't time to go through all this information. and one other thing that several senate democrats are raising questions about are the fbi background check. they say they simply have not been submitted from several cabinet nominees. so, wolf, between now and next week so much paperwork still needs to be done and they are also concerned about this packing them in. but the reality here is republicans say democrats are simply trying to hold this all up. they hope to confirm at least some nominees by the first day donald trump takes office. >> that will be january 20th. thanks very much, jeff reporting from capitol hill. a quick note. tune in monday for a cnn town hall event, senator former presidential candidate bernie sanders takes questions from a

live studio audience. live monday night, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. coming up, breaking news, chicago prosecutors file hate crime charges against four african-americans who allegedly kidnapped a white special needs teenager and live stream video as they tortured him. also ahead, the u.s. military and intelligence community taking an even closer look at north korea. what is kim jung un up to right now? raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. and if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you 24/7. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. this is your daughter. and she just got this.

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we're following breaking news and a shocking crime story in chicago. a short time ago prosecutors

announced they filed hate crime charges against four african-american suspects. they allegedly kidnapped a white teen who has special needs and then live streamed video as they tortured him. we want to warn our viewers some of this video is so, so very disturbing. what are you learning? >> police are calling this a hate crime because of references by these four alleged attackers, who are all black, to the victim being white and to his mental disability. what's bizarre here is that the four suspects, three teenagers, apparently knew the victim, two of them were classmates of this young man. police say they had spent the day with him. but things took a violent turn, police say. it's unclear why. but the victim was bound and gagged with plastic and the women began screaming -- streaming the assault live on facebook. again, this is very disturbing video. we blurred portions of it.

but what you can see is the attackers carving a part of the victim's scalp them repeatedly kicked and punched him. at one point on the video the attackers talk about the victim's appearance and they say exmettic donald trump and exmettic white people. one of the women even turned the camera on herself at times. she appears dismayed that she isn't getting as much attention as she expected with the commentators on facebook. late this afternoon police say the combination of racial slurs and the references to the disability are what led to this -- these enhanced charges. >> it's show shocking. how long was it being live streamed on facebook? sarah, how long was this being facestreamed live on facebook? >> this went on for about 25 minutes. the victim was able to escape when a neighbor called the police complaining of noise. chicago police say they found

the victim bloodied walking down the street with one of the alleged attackers. moments ago president obama actually commented on this calling the act despicable. >> so it's being streamed on facebook for almost half an hour. >> almost half an hour which has raised questions about the platform. but you know, facebook has a policy related to this. they made a statement today and, as you said, 25 minutes this went on with some people at least commenting and thats with referenced by the alleged attackers. >> the four individuals have now been charged, among other things, with a hate crime. we'll see what happens. a very disturbing story. we're also getting new information in the situation room a threat from north korea where the dictator kim jong-un is vowing to test a missile that could reach the united states even as his regime works on a nuclear warhead. barbara starr, what have you learned? >> cnn has exclusively learned that the u.s. intelligence

community is keeping a much closer eye on north korea. all this evolving since new year's when kim jong-un made that statement that you just referred to about wanting to test an intercontinental ballistic missiles. more intelligence officials eyeballing every piece of intelligence they get, whether a satellite passing overhead, an aircraft, submarine or radar. they're looking at everything about north korea. they don't want to be surprised. the reality is that at any point kim could have another underground nuclear test. he could launch a missile. there would be very little warning of that. they don't think he has the intercontinental capability just yet. they're watching around the clock. >> what a story that is as well. coming up, intelligence chiefs testify that the cyber attack on the u.s. election was ordered at the highest levels in russia and they, along with key senators

say donald trump's disparagement of those findings is a cause for concern. >> putin's up to no good and he better be stopped and mr. president-elect, when you listen to these people, you can be skeptical but understand they're the best among us and they're trying to protect us. dollars on my car insurance with geico. i should take a closer look at geico... geico has a long history of great savings and great service. over seventy-five years. wait. seventy-five years? that is great. speaking of great, check out these hot riffs. you like smash mouth? uh, yeah i have an early day tomorrow so... wait. almost there. goodnight, bruce. gotta tune the "a." (humming) take a closer look at geico. great savings. and a whole lot more.

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happening now, breaking news, up to no good. top u.s. intelligence officials testify before congress about russian election hacking placing the blame on the highest levels in the kremlin and warning of an ongoing cyber threat. will president-elect donald trump believe them when they brief him tomorrow?

backing off. trump reverses course after disparaging u.s. intelligence on twitter. now saying he's, quote, a big fan. and a spokesman denies report trump wants to limit the power of the u.s. spy chief. what are trump's plans for national intelligence? grow up, donald! vice president joe biden calls out trump saying, quote, it's time to be an adult and urging him to do something. how will the president-elect react? and no reservations. trump gives a deposition in one of two lawsuits against celebrity chefs who canceled plans to open restaurants inside trump's new hotel in washington. one of them wants to settle and give the money to charity. will trump accept the offer? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news.