During his first postelection news conference the President-elect announces he is letting his sons run his business as. In his final address to the nation President Obama urges Americans to stay engaged in democracy. This is KPBS Midday Edition. I am Maureen Cavanaugh it is Wednesday, January 11. Our top story on midday edition. President-elect Donald Trump says he is doing the Democrats a great favor by repealing the affordable care act. That was among the statements made by Trump during his first postelection news conference this morning. It was an event that sounded much like Donald Trump on the campaign trail with jabs at Hillary Clinton and great optimism about his abilities to fulfill his campaign promises. Joining me our political science professor at UC San Diego. Welcome to the show. Also the political science professor at Mesa College. Donald Trump for the first time said he believed Russia was responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. He also said this. We talk about the hacking and hacking is bad. It should not be done. But look at the things that were hacked. Look at what was learned from that hacking. What did you make of his comments about Russia and its role in the election? Donald Trump at least has led to the point that intelligence briefings that Russia was involved but he's downplaying its significance in terms of his been elected but more that he's looking at it and saying this is beside the point going back to what was hacked. The funny thing was what was hacked while in the summation hurt the Hillary Clinton there were no huge smoking guns that came out of it. That stuff came out of her staff. It was intended to deflect from the questions of legitimacy this cast on his own election. Thad there's a world of difference between the way President Obama reacted to the intelligence news that Russia was indeed behind the hacking and the way Donald Trump reacted to it in this news conference today. Right. This was not a cause for an international outcry. This was yes, you should not have hacked but look at this treasure trove of dirt you got on my opponent by hacking. He cannot resist going back and further beating up on his vanquished opponent using that to then quickly pivot into making fun of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham who he will be working with and whose proposing larger sanctions against Russia. This was candidate mode Donald Trump who has not yet pivoted into President Donald Trump. One of the main aims of this news conference was to discuss his potential conflicts of interest stemming from his business dealings. Thad, Donald Trump disclosed during his explanation that last week and he was approached with a to do -- to billion-dollar venture ended by but he turned it down because it would not look at. Them he collectively found out that presidents are not covered by the same conflict of interest rate -- roles that apply to federal employees. What is going on? This is an issue that has dogged him during his transition. It was not one of the major knocks on him during his candidacy. It is to what extent foreign leaders staying in his hotels are the potential deals he's doing and other countries due to the Trump organization, to what extent will these change US policy -- most advocates of governmental ethics have called for him to divest himself or at least create a blind trust. What he outlined today and I think very strategically yielded ground to his lawyer to explain this in great detail was I am going to give it to my kids and then take it back when I am out of here in eight years. That probably will not satisfy the ethics critics. The -- that is what I wanted to ask Carl is not enough to blunt criticism? It will not blunt criticism from people who are looking at it from an ethical perspective. I saw Paul that 77% of Americans do not care. Do not see the potential for conflict of interest until you see policy being influenced by a probably get a pass on it. I just wanted to add one thing that Thad was saying that most people have been talking about. Candidate Trump versus President Trump there will be some miraculous transformation. What you get on the campaign as of animation -- summation of what would get in office. If you think it will be difference it's like turning into the Jerry Springer show expecting masterpiece theater. It's just not going to happen. CNN reported that Russian operatives claim to have compromising information on President-elect Trump. During his press conference he refused to take additional questions about the story from a CNN reporter. Can you give us a question? Do not -- Can you -- You are fake news. That is chair point. That is the greatest example of the pot and the kettle black. The Trump campaign was based on those truths and untruths. Now what's good for the goose is not good for the gander except by creating an environment where truth really has no measure any longer the President-elect can deny whatever he wants in fact checking can always be shown to be partisan. Member he also said that the intelligence services having an engaged in talking about this and he basically called the CIA the Gestapo which is something -- the phrase will he is continually the next four years -- unusual in presidential politics. We ask at this. The first issue is Obamacare. Donald Trump said he is going to replace it and have a replacement claim -- plan S&S his cabinet is confirmed it will be replaced almost weekday or minute that it will be repealed. How likely is that? That is real news and we do not know yet at all what it will look like but I think it is a political admission that you cannot just take away 20 million people's health insurance without any replacement. You just can't blow 10 billion-dollar holes in state budget which the repeal of Obama care with due to California's budget without having something to beat it and I think that is a recognition that in the next midterm elections people are very much going to see whether Trump care is better than Obamacare and he needs to create that. Trump has also long got to build a border wall paid for by Mexico but he said he wanted to get started even without that many. I don't feel like waiting a year or a year and a half. I want to start building. Mexico in their many different forms well reimburse us and they will reimburse us for the cost and the wall. That will happen. Whether it is a tax or a payment -- probably less likely that it is a payment but it will happen. How likely is that kind of reimbursement and really well his supporters care if Mexico does not pay for? This is the retic -- rhetoric that this goes on and with this President-elect is a standard approach to make a huge promise and then hope that you can deliver on it or nobody pays attention down the pipe. He will blame others if the wall does not get dealt. That you can't do anything with Mexico to get them to pay for the wall course -- of course international diplomacy is problematic. He likes to paint the big brush and that it will be up to Rex to listen and others to figure out how to actually apply this. The American people got a glimpse of their incoming President answering questions and making his case on policy. Last night they got a final word from President Obama as he delivered his farewell address. You were the change. The answer to people's hopes and because of you by almost every measure America is a better and stronger place than it was when we started. Still with me are Thad from UC San Diego and Carl Luna from Mesa College.
A defiant President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday adamantly denied reports that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him, calling it a "tremendous blot" on the record of the intelligence community if such material had been released.
The incoming president, in his first news conference since late July, firmly chided news organizations for publishing the material late Tuesday night. After weeks of scoffing at reports that Russians had interfered in the election, he conceded publicly for the first time that Russia was likely responsible for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. "As far as hacking, I think it was Russia," he said and quickly added that the United States is hacked by other countries as well, including China.
Trump's extraordinary defense against the unsubstantiated intelligence report, just nine days before his inauguration, dominated a highly anticipated press conference in which he also announced a new Cabinet member, detailed his plans to disentangle himself from his sprawling global business empire, gave his outlook on the future of the "Obamacare" health care law and said he would soon nominate someone to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Related: Transcripts And Annotations Of Trump's Press Conference
"I think it's a disgrace that information would be let out. I saw the information, I read the information outside of that meeting," he said, a reference to a classified briefing he received from intelligence leaders. "It's all fake news, it's phony stuff, it didn't happen," Trump said in a news conference that saw him repeatedly joust with reporters. "It was gotten by opponents of ours."
Asked about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump boasted that it is an improvement over what he called America's current "horrible relationship with Russia" and did not criticize the Russian leader for any interference in the election.
"If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks, that's called an asset not a liability. I don't know if I'm going to get along with Vladimir Putin — I hope I do — but there's a good chance I won't."
Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence and incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer also denounced the report about Russia's influence on Trump, and the incoming president said it never should have been released. He thanked some news organizations for showing restraint.
A U.S. official told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that intelligence officials had informed Trump last week about an unsubstantiated report that Russia had obtained compromising personal and financial information about him. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.
Trump and President Barack Obama were briefed on the intelligence community's findings last week, the official said.
Media outlets reported on the document late Tuesday and Trump denounced it on Twitter before his news conference as "fake news," suggesting he was being persecuted for defeating other GOP presidential hopefuls and Democrat Hillary Clinton in the election.
The dossier contains unproven information about close coordination between Trump's inner circle and Russians about hacking into Democratic accounts as well as unproven claims about unusual sexual activities by Trump among other suggestions attributed to anonymous sources. The Associated Press has not authenticated any of the claims.
Only days from his inauguration as the nation's 45th president, Trump announced that he would nominate David Shulkin to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, elevating him from his current role as VA undersecretary.
He promised that a replacement for the health care overhaul would be offered "essentially simultaneously" with the repeal of Obama's signature health law — something that would be virtually impossible to quickly pass given the complexity of the policy changes. Republicans agree on repealing the law but nearly seven years after its passage have failed to reach agreement on its replacement.
Trump has repeatedly said that repealing and replacing "Obamacare" was a top priority, but has never fully explained how he plans to do it. House Speaker Paul Ryan has said that the House would seek to take both steps "concurrently."
Turning to his plans to build a border wall along the southern border, Trump said he would immediately begin negotiations with Mexico on funding his promised wall after he takes office. He again vowed that "Mexico will pay for the wall but it will be reimbursed." Trump recommitted to his plans to impose a border tax on manufacturers who shut plants and move production abroad. While the tax policy could retain jobs, it would also carry the risk of increasing prices for consumers.
Trump also said he would probably name his choice to fill the vacancy left by the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia in about two weeks after the inauguration.
And he announced his plans for the future of the Trump Organization, bringing to the podium attorney Sheri Dillon of Morgan Lewis, who worked with the Trump Organization on the arrangement.
Dillon said the Trump Organization would continue to pursue deals in the U.S., though Trump will relinquish control of the company to his sons and an executive, put his business assets in a trust and take other steps to isolate himself from his business. She said Trump "should not be expected to destroy the company he built."
The move appears to contradict a previous pledge by the president-elect. In a tweet last month, Trump vowed to do "no new deals" while in office.
The lawyer said Trump would donate all profits from foreign government payments to his hotels to the U.S. treasury.
And pushing back against some ethics experts, Dillon said the so-called emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution does not apply to foreign payments to Trump's company. While some ethics officials have said that foreign leaders who pay for rooms and services at his various hotels would run afoul of the constitutional ban on foreign gifts or payments to the president, Dillon referred to it as a "fair-value exchange."
