senator john mccain saying he wants to know more about his ties to russia. and mitch mcconnell says knowing vladimir putin is not what he thinks about when he says he knows people in russia. it is likely, brian, this is going to be a tougher battle. i can tell you that i spoke with one of his top transition officials earlier today because andrea mitchell, of course, reported over the weekend that president-elect trump intended to pick tillerson, and i said, is mr. trump wavering at all on this decision? i got a very strong, affirmative no back. the sense was this candidate was simply more qualified based on what his terms of qualification are and that he was really in a different league than the other contenders. as you pointed out, mitt romney did get a phone call earlier tonight essentially saying he is not going to be the pick for secretary of state, and there was a lot of internal dates within trump world about mitt romney because he was a very serious consideration at one point as well, but i think one of the things that was so difficult for him to over

an act of war is what john mccain is calling the russian hacks of the u.s. election and putting him in direct opposition with president elect donald trump. >> when you attack a country it is an act of war. and so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay so that we can perhaps persuade the russians to stop this kind of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy. >> get ready for trump and mccain over and over again. >> reporter: senator john mccain speaking out against trump immediately criticizing his choice as rex tillerson of secretary of state. >> anybody who's a friend of vladimir putin must disregard the fact that vladimir putin is a murderer, a thug, a kgb agent. >> and on allegations of russia's meddling in the elections. >> we need a select committee. we need to get to the bottom of this. >> mccain has long tangled with both parties. including the last republican president george w. bush over campaign finance, climate change and torture. >> first of all torture doesn't work as we proved. >> now with trump mccain's differences may be even

i want to bring attention something john mccain said today, he made a case that the failure in syria and hacking of the election essentially by the russian government, that the issues we're having with china in the south china sea illustrated on thursday by the seizure of this unmanned drone, this is a pattern of other countries checking the united states power. he sees it as a failure of leadership in the united states. do you see american power weakening abroad? is this a pattern are these separate and unrelated? >> totally unrelated. we have over the course of this president's time allowed american influence to become diminished, sadly and we've not opini been able to establish the strategic initiative in areas we need to. our pivot to asia didn't really exist. our ability to try to influence actions in the middle east, we've been able -- there are some successes and we've been able to hold isis and the geographic location of that caliphate they created in syria and iraq has in fact been able to put pressure on outside and move it in. as a result of that, it's like pushing into a

jake tapper asked john mccain for his take on trump's comments. listen. >> what does it mean to tell the chinese to keep the drone? is there a strategy behind that? >> i don't know. i know that the chinese are able to do a thing called reverse engineering where they are able to while they hold this drone able to find out all of the technical information and some of it is pretty valuable. but the fundamental here is that the chinese have taken an american vehicle and international waters and gross violation of international law. maybe they saw the success that the iranians had after they captured two american vessels and put american sailors on their knees and then when they were returned, the secretary of state thanked them for that. look, there's no strength on the part of the united states of america. everybody is taking advantage of it. and hopefully that will change soon. but it's -- it's almost unheard of, jake, for american vehicles and ships in international waters being taken by by another iranian or in this case, chinese ship, gross viola

we'll talk to john mccain about this in a while. while hacking our election system and trying to influence is a food idea, which everybody thinks this is bad idea. you need to be on top of that the that is what this investigation in the senate will be focused primarily. you have political side. fbi says they don't believe there was intent and effort to sway this election away from hillary clinton and towards donald trump. the cia says the opposite, byron. >> you have another couple of things which is, on the one hand there are things like the hacks of the democratic national committee and the podesta emails. that is one thing. you have attempts to influence voting machines, hack with actual voting machines on election day. we don't think any of that actually occurred. there is still one other factor. it is one thing for russia to try to influence the american election. it is another thing to actually influence. a lot of skeptics are saying wow, did russia convince hillary clinton to ignore wisconsin and michigan until it was too lat

>> it could bible certainly john mccain is no shrinking violet. he'll go forward with investigations as will the house and senate intelligence committees, of course, lindsey graham, john mccain, john schumer want a select committee rejected by mitch mcconnell, but i do think there will be tension. there is still election hangover on both sides. still dealing with the results and in denial that donald trump won. donald trump when he hears about this he sees it as another excuse of why he won and he doesn't like that. so i think that the electoral politics, amazingly, and we know we're at the end of the year, the election was november 8th. they're still lingering. >> yeah. >> i respectfully disagree with that analysis. realistically, there is no eford and no one's putting forth evidence russia hacking into our democracy and election had anything to do with changing votes. clearly, interference, clearly designed to hurt hillary clinton, but no one is claiming that the election was in any way, the vote count was in any way impacted. the republicans an

new developments this morning, a bipartisan group of senators led by senator john mccain have called for an investigation into russian interference in the u.s. election. this after the "washington post" reported the cia had come to a new conclusion, that the russians were actively working to elect donald trump. mr. trump responded to the "washington post" report in an interview that aired on fox news sunday. >> it is ridiculous, i think it is another excuse. i don't believe it. i don't know why and i think it is just -- they talked about all sorts of things, every week it is another excuse. we had a massive landslide victory as you know in the electoral college, i guess final numbers are now at 306 and she is down to a very low number. no. i don't believe that at all. >> dickerson: and we begin this morning with senator john mccain. >> senator mccain, you want an investigation, a bipartisan investigation, the president-elect says that this notion of russia trying to be involved in the election is ridiculous. >> what do you make of this disconnect? >> i don't know what to make of it,

they include chuck shum schumer and john mccain. committees have addressed the challenges of cyber security. research shows more must be done. i am not sure i understand the politics of not agreeing with the idea of investigating, ellis. >> it is strange. i think it is not necessarily an analytical reaction. it is an emotional response. i won. i won. quit picking on me. i won. do you think it is deeper than that? >> the thing is, no one is saying you didn't win. >> no one is saying that. frankly, there is no dispute that a lot of this happened. at the margins, there is a disagreement. maybe people connected to the republican party and not the party organization itself or the motives are always in question. hugely complex motives here. the basic facts don't seem to be in dispute. if you attended more intelligence briefings, maybe you would know more about this. >>> let's switch to the hunt. >> it is all intertwined. >> rex itillerson. he certainly is getting a push from trump. here is what he said over the weekend. >> he's more than

i am in lithuania right now with senators john mccain and lindsey graham and we are here to stand up for our allies in eastern europe and nato and to make the point that this isn't about one political party. i am a democrat, they are both republicans, one of them was the republican candidate for president. we see this not about one candidate or party but as an assault on democracy. this is something that was not just about american democracy, it is about all democracies. there is upcoming elections in germany and france. and for the u.s. just to roll over and let this happen with no response would have been a huge mistake. kasia: but, senator klobuchar, you have a president-elect who soon to be inaugurated, who wants to work closer with president putin. donald trump could potentially reverse this. sen. klobuchar: he could, but first of all, what president obama did was amend the 2015 order to make it easier for any president to go after any foreign entity that tries to influence american elections. that is an important tool to have in the toolbox. secondly, if he were to reverse thes

john mccain already has a pretty strong language on putin. lindsey graham, people in key positions are preparing to challenge donald trump over his friendliness with russia, so that's going to be a key clash between congress and the white house. >> i think a lot of republicans do side with donald trump, too, do not want to look into this as much as john mccain does and as much as lindsey graham. in some ways, they are the minority of their own party. there's a push within the house from a democrats to create a bipartisan commission, like the 9/11 commission, to look into that, to look into what happened here, but you're not hearing a lot of support from republicans on that. >> it's numbing to me, having been in this town for a while, if donald trump is right and the cia is wrong, then let's do that investigation so we can fix whatever the cia is doing. and if the cia is right and putin was meddling in our election, let's build the comprehensive case so donald trump's new secretary of state, who maybe somebody who has a good relationship with

. >> senator john mccain is joining the list of republicans who want the investigation. here's his reaction to the president-elect's response. >> i u don't know what to make of it because it's clear the russians interfered. now whether they intended to interfere to the degree that they were trying to elect a certain candidate, i think that's a subject of investigation. but the facts are stubborn things. they did hack into this campaign and they did it, i think, with some what seemed to be effective. >> the ranking member of the benghazi committee is criticizing president obama saying russia's involvement in the u.s. election might have been prevented. >> you think that decision to not come out as definitely before the election was a mistake by president obama? >> i do think it was a mistake. i think it was a mistake earlier not to react more forcefully when north korea hacked us because those kind of lack of deter rans invited the russians to meddle and with impunity. >> today's headlines covering the fallout suggest a rift between the president-elect and the cia after h

all find out what john mccain looks like when he is angry. >> at his own party. i have seen it. >> actually most of them already know. they have seen it on "the view." >> and you talk about projecting strength strength, i don't know that anyone has a longer record of projecting american strength, particularly in russian progression and russian fantasy of -- and john mccain's 2008 campaign where he traveled around with what we called the three amigos, libberman, lindsay and mccain was marked by daily phone calls to leaders in the region who were terrified about america and america that stopped standing up to putin. >> senator mccain is officially invited on this broadcast. we would infact love to talk to senator mccain and have every reason it believe he will join our conversation some night. we employ half of the members of his former staff, after all. and question for nicole, and this is a special question, because we weren't going to include this tonight. because there was a lot of hubbub today about how correctly news media have been criticize sidesed for goin

. >>> senator john mccain and former house speaker, newt gingrich on defense issues and u.s. foreign policy. they were part of a dinner honoring south carolina governor and incoming u.s. ambassador, >>> so recognizing this 75th anniversary, and please, you can eat your salads and get started. but we thought it would be appropriate on this 75th anniversary to take some time to reflect on america leadership in the world. as a new congress and new president, prepared to take office. so we've invited two very special guests, one of whom i've mentioned already. who have been at the forefront of ideas, ideas that focus on what it means for america to lead, what it means for america to be exceptional. and they themselves have been extraordinarily leaders, and continue to be, and we would like them to share their thoughts on the challenges that lie ahead. while you eat your salads, i would like to welcome to the stage, three wonderful friends of the kemp family. and i would like to start with senator john mccain, who as you know, graduate frommed the united states naval academy, repu

you spoke to john mccain at that game. what was his reaction? >> hi, betty. pretty interesting one, actually. the one concern here for the trump team, and this has been true broadly of many of his cabinet picks but particularly in this case has been how will the confirmation hearings go on capitol hill? will it be okay with republicans to vote in favor of many of these picks? it was an issue that rudy giuliani, quite frankly, had if he faced potential confirmation as secretary of state and i spoke briefly to senator john mccain. he's here attending the army/navy game and he along with some of his other colleagues like senator lindsey graham expressed reservations about russia's actions. they've been very vocal about it. mccain is planning hearings into russia's activities as a separate subcommittee on the armed services committee which he chairs. take a listen to what he had to say when i asked him if he had any concerns about tillerson's nomination as secretary of state and his relationship with vladimir putin. >> vladimir putin is a thug and a bully and a m

and a kgb agent. >> reporter: republican senator john mccain said mr. trump shouldn't let his friendly relationship with vladimir putin get in the way. >> you can't make this issue partisan. it's just -- it's too important. a fundamental of a democracy is a free and fair election. >> reporter: all u.s. intelligence agencies agree that russia was behind the hacking. but unlike the cia, the fbi has not concluded that it was meant to advantage donald trump. those reports aren't public. and now, john bolton, a key trump adviser in line for a state department position, is now suggesting that the obama administration may have faked the hacking. >> margaret, thank you very much. >>> russia is also an issue as the president-elect chooses the country's top diplomat. exxon mobil ceo rex tillerson has emerged as the leading candidate for secretary of state. he is drawing attention from his close ties to russian president vladimir putin. a kremlin spokesman called tillerson highly professional. this morning nancy cordes is following the reaction to tillerson in was

senator john mccain is ready to begins the investigation. >> and john bolton is being blamed, and he said, he raised the possibility of it being in his view, a fault flag although there is no evidence of that, so, what is the trump campaign and the trump administration to be saying about the possibility investigations by congress? >> his incoming chief said he would support it, that the president-elect would sport it but only if it lookd at all possible adversaries and not just russia. >> look, someone hacked. we don't lick that. i don't like it. no one wants it. we want to protect american interests. it is america first. why want the d.n.c. hacked. why want anyone hacked. but i don't know who did the hack. that is my point. >> the democrats and now many republicans argue that we do know who did the hacking and they point to the c.i.a. report that concluded with high confidence that russia trade to influence the election to help mr. trump win. >> frank i i don't know a democrat or republican who has her the intelligence that would car really -- would quarrel with the conclusions. tha

so what do you say to john mccain? >> well, first of all, i have a great respect for john mccain. and the -- to the extent john mccain is making his case, he is accurate on the facts. but the facts also are that, as a business leader, as a person in the energy field, mr. tillerson had to do -- not had to but would be expected to do business with russia and i am sure he has a cordial business relationship with putin. that's different from being secretary of state and representing your country. it's two different roles. again, to me, it makes sense that, if he is in that field, he would have dealings with putin and obviously, if successful, he would have a certain degree of business friendship with him. that doesn't mean that he supports any of the atrocities putin is carrying out. i am against putin. i am a real skeptic when it comes to russia. having said that, i have also spoken to leading diplomats from close allies of ours who think this could be the time for us to make a move and to actually be able to work things out with russia to some extent. now, i am confident donald trum

john mccain, still very much in touch with him. salter is on twitter suggesting that rex tillerson should have a tough senate confirmation vote because of his position on russia. you look at where john mccain is, and you look at where we think donald trump is on the issue of russia. mccain is much more hawkish, much more skeptical of russian intentions. looking towards conflict, looking towards potential confirmation battles, john mccain and rex tillerson, it could be one to watch. >> that's a good point. we wondered about the pushback he would receive. hans nichols, thank you for checking in with us. >>> joining me on the phone is msnbc's ali velshi. what do we know about tillerson's background and tenure as ceo at exxon mobil? >> he's been the ceo for a long time, ten years as ceo but he joined in the 1970s. what's most interesting about this development is that in 2010 andrea mitchell referred to this, exxon mobil made a deal with the russians to explore in the arctic. the russians do not possess the capability to drill for oil

the thing that john mccain is talking about today. let's dig in and find out where the facts lead, wherever they lead and then judge what it means. >> i want you to listen to some sound from trump's soon to be chief of staff, reince priebus, earlier today. let's listen. >> do you believe, let's clear this up. do you believe -- does the president elect believe that russia was trying to muddy up and get involved in the election in 2016? >> number one, you don't know it. i don't know it. and there's no conclusive or specific report to say otherwise. that's the first thing. the second thing is you don't have any proof that the outcome of the election was changed -- forget about who did the hacking. >> do you want to know? >> if someone did the hacking. >> how do you know that? >> does he want to know? >> of course we want to know. >> he wants an investigation on capitol hill? >> of course. listen, i don't know what investigations he wants but we want to know. >> the rnc between today and yesterday very, very strong in their responses. him

chuck schumer joined by many other members including john mccain. [video clip] chuck schumer: if you are wondering why we are confident we can be successful at passing immigration reform this time around, look right behind me. these folks here. an unprecedented coalition has formed in favor of immigration reform, growers and farmworkers, high tech business leaders, the faith community, some of the most well-known conservative activists in washington, and some of the most progressive. powerful outside forces have helped defeat certain other initiatives in washington. but on immigration the opposite , is proving true. i am convinced this issue will not fall victim to the usual partisan gridlock. and we are mindful that we approach our task at a moment when the public has never been more fed up with congress, but in a week when disillusionment with politics is being acutely felt, this bipartisan breakthrough offers a degree of hope. despite strong personalities and even stronger disagreements on many issues, we met in the middle for the common good. th

. >>> straight ahead in the "cnn newsroom," republican john mccain says russia must pay for hacking the u.s. election. >> when you attack a country, it's an act of war. >> the political fallout and vladmir putin's message to the u.s. >>> then in new york, tight security for tonight's times square new year's eve celebration. a live report. >> a lot you will say and as per usual a lot you will not see. >>> welcome back. while russian president vladmir putin and president elect donald trump bothi dismiss accusations that russia interfered in the y u.s. election. officials are saying there is another attack. a vermont electric company says the same malware was found on one of their laptops. senator leahy says this is beyond hackers having joy rides and calling this incident a direct threat to vermont. this comes as many republicans are backing president obama's sanctions against russia. some lawmakers including republican senator john mccain don't feel the sanctions go far enough. >> when you attack a country, it's an act of war. and so we have to make sure that there is a price to pay so t

and john mccain offered some great quotes on donald trump today. here they are. basically take the first quote and then repeat it three more times. he then told the reporter i promise on the first of january i will answer all of the stupid idiotic questions. >>> another former general in the trump circle is receiving new attention. his national security adviser's son, flynn, who was fired today for passing on fake news story via twitter. but his father has passed on a few himself. here are a few, clinton is involved in child sex trafficking and has secretly waged war on the catholic church. and discussed jihadi and terrorists, fake news played a role in the election and continues to find a wide audience. a buzz feed of donald trump's own tweet where they follow back root stories to their own source found more of them came from breitbart than any other news, and a whopping 77% disapproval rating from people in new jersey, over half believe that bridgegate should be investigated further. and 71% believe chris christie knew what his aides had followed out. he will p

senator john mccain. [applause] mccain: thank you. thank you very much and thanks for that kind introduction. i'm honored to be here today with all of our members of our greatest generation and all of our friends and supporters. i think it's worthy of the presence of our governor, former member of congress and vice president-elect might -- elect mike pence. thank you for being here and continuedfor your service. mike has a son who is a naval aviator. unlike me, his son's landings would match the number of takeoffs. so it is a privilege to be here and join you in commemorating the events of december 7, 1941 to theour respects sacrifice and heroism displayed that day. it has continued for three quarters of a century. of the dates on which history will swear on its great hinge and the world was forever changed. for some of us it is a personal memory. old, playing in the front yard of our family's home. a navy officer shouted that -- shouted at my father that the japanese had bombed pearl harbor. i rarely saw him again for the next four y

>> i haven't gotten briefings yet because i'm not -- >> john mccain? >> i have not gotten that information. i don't have that information. >> the question is -- >> the investigation -- >> the question i'm asking why would they hack just into the democratic national committee? what would be the goal of doing that? >> we do not know what they have done. there is good evidence they hacked into the dnc and i've heard it second -- >> senator. >> the people briefed told me this is serious and wide ranging. let's find out. >> one quick question. if rex tillerson is the nominee for the secretary of state will he have a problem being confirmed in the united states senate? >> well, look. the bottom line is every one of these nominees, and particularly a guy like tillerson, needs a thorough, thorough hearing. the wung thing we will insist on, democrats, not quick like this. five minutes to each person in one day. we will want thorough questions and he will be questioned thoroughly should he be the nominee and thiel allegations and talks about his closeness to put

we begin this evening with senator john mccain who will be the chair of the senate armed services committee responding to the obama administration's announcement of an investigation into whether russia tried to influence the american election. >> we don't have a policy. until the president of the united states sets a policy as to what you do and how you achieve it -- for example, right now, if we think there is an impending attack, there is no policy as to what to do. once there is an attack, there is no policy as to what we do in response. and, so, there is really a lack of coherence from the executive branch, and our job is to lay out the the scenario and enact legislation if necessary and i'm sure some legislation will be necessary. >> rose: on the same subject, we continue with david sanger and michael isikoff. l of this down on paper, give is it to congressional committees, perhaps make part of it public, before president-elect trump gets sworn in and is able to come in and say nothing happened here. >> rose: we continue with an update on the trump transition and begin with major garre

how to deal with vladimir putin. >> more on john mccain now. john mccain has called putin a murderer, thug, and took issues with the friendship from putin. particularly the order of friendship that putin awarded him back in 2003. listen to this. >> frankly, i would never accept an award from vladimir putin because youen ki kind of give s yes dense and credibility to the kgb agent what is what he is. being against agents and vladimir putin invaded, basically, ukraine and partitioned the violation involving international law, took crimea. then in a leads to me to question what about the issue of morality? there's some certain standards, whatever business we are in. and again, honoring having, accepting and honor vladimir putin legitimizes vladimir putin. >> see my point. >> john mccain a very respected senator. that is a high hurdle to clear. >> certainly the the way mccain described it. the only thing i would say is being a businessman and being secretary of state are different things. at the end of the day, the two, three largest oil producers

i spoke earlier with senators john mccain and lindsey graham. they are traveling in eastern europe now, right in the middle of the growing struggle with russia. we spreek wieak with them exclu. all this after this break. ♪ 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. listen up. etes. we're not professional athletes... but that doesn't mean we're giving up. i'm in this for me. for me. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes, lowering a1c by up to 1.2 points. do not take if allergic to farxiga. if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction such as rash, swelling, difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking and seek medical help right away. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine, or pain while you urinate. farxiga can cause serious side e

he works with a couple now and races like indiana senator-elect todd young and john mccain's reelection and mike lee and ted cruz for freedom works. and peter who managed another one of the most uphill races of the 2016 cycle for pat toomey. we want to first talk about the ads we just saw. >> so the grace ad that you just saw was something that in the work for a long time. we did research early on identifying the constituents in the story and we knew we were going to be outspent so we knew that we needed to be and we knew they were going to see if they

meanwhile, the republican senator john mccain calls russia's alleged hacking an "act of war" and says the us must make sure russia pays the price. russia asks the un security council to consider a new resolution to endorse the ceasefire in syria that came into force last night. a post—mortem examination into the cause of george michael's death has proved "inconclusive" — further tests will now be carried out. drivers are told to take care in fog and freezing conditions, as a coach overturns on the mao in oxfordshire injuring seventeen people. good evening and welcome to bbc news.

trump spokesman jason miller, in fact, this morning saying that senator john mccain is right now drafting legislation that would get general mattis around that law that mandates that uniformed

mccain the 5th, please welcome senator john mccain. [ applause ] >> and then next when i was -- i think i was 22 years old, that was 1994, yeah, it was 1994 and those of you who remember your political history remember what happened that year. how long had it been since the republicans had had the house? >> 40 years. >> been 40 years and the republicans came to the majority of the house and speaker newt gingrich lent me a little pumped 22-year-old follow him around the other day and that made an incredible impression on me because the first thing he did was take care of himself. he swam and met me at the office at 7:30. newt is predig eous in so many ways. please welcome newt gingrich. [ applause ] >> to moderate this conversation it gives me a really great enjoyment to have michelle van cleave who's been with me since i started the foundation in 2009 shortly after dad passed away. michelle is a national security expert. she's -- she was the head of counter intelligence for president w. bush, she was my dad's foreign policy advisor, national security advisor, michelle is incredibly tale

from how john mccain and lindsey graham and former senator joe lieberman and all of the sort of -- and marco rubio. there is a caucus in the u.s. senate made up largely of republicans who are skeptical and really reluctant to accept sort of the warm words that donald trump -- >> is rex tillerson going to be forced to denounce putin in that confirmation hearing? >> i believe he will be and pushed about his own reflexes and his own impulses. this is going to become a threat that i think we will be able to pull through the first early months of trump presidency. what's the impulse and instinct instinct and reflex is to defend putin from hacking. we know that rex tillerson in business dealings was able to be so sort of conciliatory and able to work with russia that he received a medal of friendship. what does that tell us about their impulses about russia as really not an ally but an adversary at this point to the united states of america. >> nicolle wallace, thank you very much.

worked for the mcconnell now and raises like indiana senator elect todd young and senator john mccain's reelection area michael started working first for insurgent campaigns like ted cruz for freedom works and peter who managed another one of the most uphill races of the 2016 cycle for pat toomey. we want to talk about those as we just saw. so the great ad that you just saw was something that had been in the works for a long time. we did a lot of research early on identifying the constituents in thestories that we wanted to tell . you know, we knew this was going to be an uphill battle. we knew we were going to be outraised and outspent so we knew we needed to be creative and think outside the box and really be scrappy and we also knew that the feingold team was going to try to see ron johnson as a coldhearted billionaire who only cared about special interests and

john mccain / (r) az ) "i believe that vladimir putin is a thug and a bully and a murderer and i believe that the relationship between mr. tillerson and vladimir putin needs to be examined."this comes just a few hours after the washington post reported the c-i-a believes russia interfered in the presidential electionhacking and leaking democratic party document not just to cause chaos, but rebecca sinderbrand / washington post) "so you're looking ahead to an early part of the trump presidency where russia is very much going to dominate the conversation and certainly you can expect to hear a lot of tough questions at this confirmation hearing." the trump team immediately slammed the c-i-a and said it's time to "move on". chris pollone, nbc news, new york. coming up: local families fly to the north pole ... without leaving milwaukee. and this is a live look outside at waukesha county on really coming down.. and drivers are taking it slow. much more to come from storm team four meteorologist scott [ bell dings ] santa? no, jingles. [ knuckles crack ] [ spits ] ooo. ouch. [ neck cracks ] [ d

races like indiana senator-elect todd young and arizona senator john mccain's re-election. michael got list start working for campaigns like mike lee and ted cruz for freedom works. peter who manage one -- another one of the most uphill races of the 2016 cycle for pennsylvania senator pat toomey. we want to talk about the ads we saw. >> the grace ad that you saw was something that had been in the works for a long time. we did a lot of research early on identifying the constituents in the stories that we wanted to tell. we knew this was going to be an uphill battle. we knew we were going to be out raced and out spent. we knew we needed to be creative and think outside the box and really be scrappy. we also knew that they were going to try to paint johnson as a cold hearted millionaire who only cares about special interests and billionaires.

jon: senator john mccain is joining forces with top democrat chuck schumer this week leading a push for select committee to investigate russian hacking in the presidential election. >> the president has no strategy and no policy as to what to do about these various cyber-attacks that have possibly disrupted an american election. we need a select committee, we need to get to the bottom of this and we need to find out exactly what was done and what the implications of the attacks were specially if they had an effect in the election. there was no doubt it was interfere and no doubt of cyber-attacks. question is how much and what damage and what should the united states of america do and so far, we have been totally paralyzed. jon: let's discuss it. former deputy campaign manager for martin o'malley. welcome to both of you. >> thank you. jon: liz, it's pretty unusual that a liberal like chuck schumer gets together with john mccain for legislation? >> it's a christmas miracle, i guess. it highlights the importance of this issue that this wasn't just an attack on democrats, it was on attack o

it's john mccain, lindsey graham. there aren't a lot of democrats that are willing to lend a hand to donald trump and his nominees. >> senate foreign relations committee which will hold hearing on the tillerson nomination, assuming he's actually nominated, it's pretty evenly divided, ten republican seats, nine democratic seats. >> they need three republicans. if you count mccain, graham and rubio, that's three if they all stay opposed to him. susan collins is talked about as another one who might be opposed in the end. the committee is where the vetting takes place. if rex tillerson comes before the committee and he says the right things and says that he supports russia policies that the committee supports, it could be okay. but if more is revealed about his ties to putin and if he continues on with a pro-russian anti-sanctions policy, that will be a big problem. >> let me ask you because marco rubio is on the senate foreign relations committee, if he votes against him and all the democrats vote against him, then he w

with some alarm on races like indiana senator elect todd young and john mccain's reelection come up but he started working first for ted cruz and frida mark. peter managed another one of the most uphill races which was pat toomey. let's first talked about the ads we saw. >> so the gray sad that you just saw was something that had been in the works for a long time. we did a lot of research early on identifying the constituents and the stories that we wanted to tell. we knew this was going to be an uphill battle. we knew we were going to be outraised and outspent so we knew we needed to be creative and think outside the box and be scrappy. we also knew that the team was going to try to paint land johnson as a coldhearted millionaire who only cared about special interests and billionaires. we got ahead of it we did our

i have a lot of respect for lindsey graham and john mccain. i endorsed mccain for president when he ran the first time. graham is my senator. i understand their apprehension. anybody should. questioning one of donald trump's potential appointees is not a problem. i think that is part of the whole system that we all appreciate. we have a vetting process, whereby you have a united states senate that gets to ask lots of questions, in-depth questions. i don't think anyone has ever questioned mr. tillerson's loyalty to his country. he is a businessman. his role was to cut the best deals he could possibly cut for his company. but in a different role, wearing a different hat for his country, if he is willing to give up a substantial paycheck in order to try to move the country forward, much like donald trump has done, i think that is a good thing. i don't have a problem with him being vetted thoroughly. >> he will have to retire anyway because he will be the mandatory age of 65. the question becomes, can he fully take off that hat? right? when dealin

we heard from john mccain. he's the chair of a powerful senate committee, armed services, so in theory, if he doesn't get what he wants out of the intelligence committee, could he not hold hearings himself? >> he will. he plans to do that. the difference is he will not have access to the wide scope of intelligence information that's under the purview of the intelligence committee, not under the purview of the senate armed services committee. remember, there's 17 intelligence agencies that do not report to the senate armed services committee. it would be difficult for him to get some of that intelligence information. so if there's a select committee, they would have presumably access to all of that intelligence. so that is the reason why there is this procedural dispute happening right now. the one that could have a lot of significance. >> the mechanics are very important. thanks so much for explaining exactly why. appreciate it. >>> so far, president-elect trump has refused to publicly accept the notion that ru