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| Barack Obama holds final end-of-year press conference – live updates | Barack Obama holds final end-of-year press conference – live updates |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 7.49pm GMT | |
| 19:49 | |
| Obama criticizes Russia for participating in Syrian slaughter | |
| Obama warns that the tragedy of Aleppo is deepening and says the crisis is the exclusive fault of “the Assad regime and its allies Russia and Iran, and its blood is on their hands.” | |
| “Regretfully but unsurprisingly, Russia has blocked the security council from taking action on these issues,” Obama says. | |
| “Over the long term, the Assad regime cannot slaughter its way to legitimacy,” Obama says. | |
| “The Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies are trying to obfuscate the truth. The world should not be fooled. And the world will not forget.” | |
| 7.46pm GMT | |
| 19:46 | |
| Obama claims troop drawdowns overseas from 180,000+ to 15,000 and says “no foreign terrorist organization has successfully carried out an attack on our homeland that was directed from overseas.” | |
| “By so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started.” | |
| He credits the American people. “I could not be prouder to be your president.” | |
| There’s a lot more work to be done, he says. | |
| 7.43pm GMT | |
| 19:43 | |
| Obama says he’s going to talk about “how far we’ve come over the past eight years.” | |
| “We’ve seen the longest streak of job growth on record,” he says. “For the first time in history, 90% of Americans are insured” on health, he says. He says he prevented a crisis on Wall Street without stifling growth. “The stock market has nearly tripled.” “Last year the poverty rate fell at the fastest rate in almost 50 years. ... and we’ve done all this by cutting our deficits by nearly two-thirds.” | |
| 7.41pm GMT | |
| 19:41 | |
| Here’s Obama. | |
| 7.41pm GMT | |
| 19:41 | |
| FBI agrees with CIA on Russian hacking, CIA says | |
| The FBI agrees with the CIA’s assessment that Russian hackers tried to tip the US election to Donald Trump, the Washington Post is reporting. The Post report quotes a statement by CIA director John Brennan | |
| Trump has denied the hacking occurred, though in July he invited Russian hackers to find Hillary Clinton’s “missing” emails, and on 8 October, one month before the election, the office of the director of national intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a joint statement formally accusing Russia of hacking the Democratic party’s computer networks. | |
| The FBI, where a culture thrived of deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton, had not previously joined the CIA and DHS assessment of the situation. | |
| Barack Obama has ordered an intelligence community review of evidence of Russian hacking in the presidential election. | |
| 7.17pm GMT | |
| 19:17 | |
| Journalists in heavy attendance for this one: | |
| Never in four years have seen the White House briefing room this packed. Obama news conference starts momentarily pic.twitter.com/sXRXn6FgPw | |
| 7.10pm GMT | 7.10pm GMT |
| 19:10 | 19:10 |
| Here’s a live video stream: | Here’s a live video stream: |
| 7.03pm GMT | 7.03pm GMT |
| 19:03 | 19:03 |
| Sobering thought. | Sobering thought. |
| Given the fact that Trump hasn't held a press conference since July, this could be the last Presidential press conference for a long time | Given the fact that Trump hasn't held a press conference since July, this could be the last Presidential press conference for a long time |
| 6.42pm GMT | 6.42pm GMT |
| 18:42 | 18:42 |
| Hello and welcome to our live blog coverage of Barack Obama’s final pre-holiday press conference. The president is due to appear at the White House shortly, and is expected to address the ongoing slaughter of Aleppo, Syria; Russian hacking during the US presidential election; the incoming administration of president-elect Donald Trump; and other topics. | Hello and welcome to our live blog coverage of Barack Obama’s final pre-holiday press conference. The president is due to appear at the White House shortly, and is expected to address the ongoing slaughter of Aleppo, Syria; Russian hacking during the US presidential election; the incoming administration of president-elect Donald Trump; and other topics. |
| Obama departs for family vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii, later today. The mood of these pre-holiday appearances is typically fairly light. The headlines, however, are grim. | Obama departs for family vacation in Honolulu, Hawaii, later today. The mood of these pre-holiday appearances is typically fairly light. The headlines, however, are grim. |
| Thanks for reading and please join us in the comments. | Thanks for reading and please join us in the comments. |