tonight, fireworks at trump tower. the president-elect donald trump, his first news conference since july. blasting unconfirmed reports being investigated by u.s. intelligence about russia and whether vladimir putin has material on the new president to blackmail him. and what we now know about that report. brian ross standing by. and that very tense moment today with a reporter. >> you are attacking our news organization. can you give us a chance? also breaking tonight, the family business. since election day, the president-elect promising to offer a plan to avoid conflicts of interest. tonight, his big reveal, and the government of ethics calling it, quote, wholly inadequate. trump's pick for secretary of state, rex tillerson. a

him. and the alarming images coming in tonight. tearful hostages begging the president-elect, donald trump to save their lives. good evening, and it's great to have you with us here on a wednesday night, and we begin with the lightning round of questions today at trump tower. this was the president-elect's first news conference in 168 days. since july, in fact. and mr. trump came ready. the president-elect taking aim at the intelligence community, calling it disgraceful. they could have information to hold over him. and the president-elect was asked, did anyone on his team have contact with the russians during the campaign. and there was a very tense exchange with a reporter from another network. we do have it all covered tonight, beginning with our chief white house correspondent, jonathan karl. >> reporter: it's donald trump versus the intelligence community. in his first press conference as

the nation's top intelligence officers of leaking those unconfirmed reports that russia was gathering salacious information to blackmail him. >> i think it was disgraceful. disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake, out. i think it's a disgrace, and i say that -- and i say that. that's something that nazi germany would have done and did do. i think it's a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public. >> reporter: trump set out to assure the american people that no amount of investigation will tu turn up anything. >> if they come back with any kind of conclusion that any of it stands up, that any of it is true, will you consider your position? >> there's nothing they could come back with. >> reporter: but trump made a big

for the first time saying he accepts the intelligence agencies' conclusion that it was russia that hacked the democrats during the campaign. >> as far as hacking, i think it was russia. >> reporter: although later he hedged. >> you know what, could have been others also. >> reporter: still, he did not dispute the intelligence community's other explosive finding. on that intelligence report, the second part of their conclusion was that vladimir putin ordered it because he aspired to help you in the election. do you accept that part of the finding? >> if putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset, not a liability because we have a horrible relationship with russia. now i don't know if i get along with vladimir putin. i hope you i do, but there's a good chance that i won't. do you believe that hillary would be tougher on putin than me? does anyone bloelieve that? give me a break. >> reporter: but in a response to a question from abc's ceci

a trump admonishment of vladimir putin. >> if you indeed do believe that russia was behind the hacking, what is your message to vladimir putin right now? >> he shouldn't be doing it. he won't be doing it. russia will have much greater respect for our country when i'm leading it than when other people have led it. >> reporter: as as the press conference ended and trump moved through the crowd, cecilia asked him point-blank about another key confirmed allegation in the intelligence report. >> did you or anybody in your campaign have any contact with russia leading up or during the campaign? none at all? >> no. none at all. >> mr. trump called out cnn for saying they have material on the president-elect. here's what happened. >> can you give us a question? mr. president-elect. >> go ahead. >> since you were attacking our news organization, can you give us a chance? can you

a question, sir? mr. president-elect, ycan you give us a question? you're attacking us. can you give us a question? can you give us a question? >> don't be rude. >> you were there, and the president-elect angry about the headlines that broke on cnn. >> reporter: not just angry, david, but seeking retribution. he wanted to make cnn pay a price for breaking that story. it's a sign that donald trump who had very tense relations with the news media during the campaign will continue to play hardball with reporters. >> all right, jon karl. our thanks to you, and cecilia vega there at trump tower today. in the meantime tonight, we have learned the intelligence community does continue to investigate those unconfirmed claims. the allegations that russia might have been gathering material to blackmail donald trump. but our team discovering flaws in that report. here's our chief i

correspondent, brian ross. >> reporter: officials tonight confirm that while the allegations about russia and donald trump are completely unsubstantiated, they are the work of a respected, former british spy, hired first by republican operatives during the primaries, then later by democratic operatives who turned over these memos to the fbi last august. and today we caught up with republican senator john mccain who confirmed he gave copies of the memos to the fbi director just last month. >> i looked at it, decided it's a matter for the fbi and gave it to the fbi. >> reporter: tonight, a senior intelligence official tells abc news that trump was directly told about the allegations last friday at trump tower, when he received a classified briefing about russian hacking, which contradicts what trump aide, kellyanne conway, said last night to seth meyers. >> i believe it said they did brief him on it. >> he has said that he is not aware of that. >> okay. that concerns me. >> reporter: now, an examination by abc news reveals some serious flaws in the information. the memo

michael cohen, was part of an "ongoing secret liaison relationship" with the russians and met with them "in prague in august 2016." cohen told abc news and his boss he has never been in prague. >> i said, "i want to see your passport." he brings his passport to my office. i say, "hey, wait a minute. he didn't leave the country." >> reporter: the report given to the fbi also claims that cohen's father-in-law was "a leading moscow property developer" close to putin. but when abc news today went to the home of the property developer in moscow, we found a case of mistaken identity -- same name, but no connection to trump's lawyer. other allegations revolve around trump's travel to moscow for a miss universe contest in 2013, and whether the russians filmed him with prostitutes "to be able to blackmail him if they so wished." trump strongly denied that today, saying he knows how to avoid russia's spy tricks.

careful, because you don't want to see yourself on television, cameras all over the place. >> and brian ross with us tonight. even though you have been able to knock down the allegations in this report, you point out the fbi is still investigating. the fbi also taking some heat tonight about the investigation. it did reveal and the one it didn't. >> that's right. authorities say these allegations are too serious to ignore, and they have been investigating since well before the election. the director, comey, revealed he opened the investigation into clinton's e-mails, the trump russian investigation was ongoing, but he did not tell the american peel about that investigation, david. >> brian ross. you'll stay on it. thank you. now to the trump family business tonight. the president-elect promise a detailed plan for some time now, to address concerns about possible conflicts of interest. how will he separate the family business from the white house? tonight his plan revealed here, and late today, the

government ethics calling it, quote, wholly inadequate. here's rebecca jarvis tonight. >> reporter: within hours of his election night victory, there were demands to know how the president-elect would separate his work from the white house. a week later, this picture. trump meeting with the indian developers of two trump towers in their country. a twitter user posting the picture before taking it down. the trumps sitting down with "60 minutes." ivanka trump's company promoting the $10,000 bracelet she wore during the interview. mr. trump standing beside boxes of legal paperwork awaiting long plans for the trump name. not before pointing out he could handle both. >> i understand. they don't want presidents getting tangled up. they want them to run the count country. i could actually run my busiss

time. don't like the way that looks, but i would be able to do that if i wanted to. >> reporter: today, trump said he will maintain ownership of the trump organization, spanning more than 500 companies in at least 14 countries. trump says he has relinquished leadership, putting the organization in a trust and turning it over to his sons, don jr. and ere picic. >> i hope i'll say, you did a good job. if they do a bad job, i'll say, you're fired. >> reporter: trump also making the point, he turned away billions this weekend. even the offer to an incoming president highlighting the potential conflicts. >> i was offered $2 billion to do a deal in dubai with a very, very, very amazing man. a great, great developer from the middle east. >> reporter: but trump says he'll preside over no new deals and his sons will do no new foreign deals as long as their father is the president. ivanka trump also stepping

relocate her family to washington. >> rebecca jarvis with us live, and your team reaching out to a number of ethics experts today. what are you hearing? is this enough? >> reporter: david, many believe this plan does not go far enough. the office of government ethics, as you said, calling it wholly ined inadequa inadequate. they believe the plan does not achieve the goal of no conflicts. >> what about him saying he'll donate the profits from his hotels? >> reporter: so many questions about trumps a hotels. particular the one in washington, d.c. while he says he is not required to do it, he will donate the profits from foreign governments to the u.s. treasury. >> thank you. in the meantime, the showdown on capitol hill today. on the hot seat, the president-elect's choice for secretary of state. rex tillerson. and the toughest questioning coming from a prominent

there is new reporting at this hour. could that republican end up voting against tillerson? abc's mary bruce back on the hill tonight. >> reporter: the man who could be the nation's top diplomat strolled into a grilling about his close relationship with vladimir putin. >> what do you say to criticism that you're too close to russia? >> reporter: those pictures of them toasting with champagne. putin giving him russia's order of friendship award. former exonn ceo rex tillerson addressed the concerns head-on. >> we usa also be clear-eyed about our relationship with russia. russia today poses a danger. our nato allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent russia. >> reporter: so will there be a new relationship? >> i think the important conversation that we have to have with them is, does russia want to now and forever be an adversary of the united states? we're not likely to ever be friends. we need to move russia from being an adversary always to a partner at times.

russia was behind the campaign hacking, but wouldn't say whether he supports the obama administration's new sanctions. >> i ask based on your views, for something like this involving the united states elections to have happened without vladimir putin knowing about it, and authorizing it. >> i think that's a fair assumption. >> that he would have? >> reporter: but marco rubio pushed further, citing russia's role in the killing of millions of civilians in aleppo, syria. >> is vladimir putin a war criminal? >> i would not use that term, no. >> mr. tillerson, do you believe that vladimir putin is responsible for ordering the murder of journalists and political opponents? >> i do not have sufficient information to make that claim. >> none of this is classified information. these people are dead. >>ep

president-elect trump have talked about foreign policy, but not russia. >> i thought russia would be at the top of that considering the actions taking place. did that not happen? >> that has not occurred yet, senator. >> that's pretty amazing. >> and mary bruce with us from capitol hill tonight, and mary, senator marco rubio, we saw there grilling rex tillerson, and the senator not happy with what he heard, and he is not committing anything. >> reporter: after testimony, marco rubio is not convinced. they need moral clarity, and he is not sure tillerson can deliver. if rubio does not support tillerson, he may not pass a vote, and that could put his confirmation in real jeopardy. david. >> mary bruce, thanks, mary. thanks to a direct appeal of president-elect trump from two professors, and an australian held by the taliban. these videos showing kevin

and australian timothy weeks, tearfully begging mr. trump to negotiate their their release. they were captured in kabul in august. and in other news from charleston. dylann roof, formerly sentenced to die. the jury handed down that punishment yesterday for killing nine black parishioners in a black church. the survivors are talking about their pain and sorrow. refusing to look at them even when they asked him to, he is appealing his sentence. much more to come. a monster storm, and emergencies. the water playing out and rescues under way. the driving conditions, and drivers losing control on the ice. a bus clipping an oil truck, and look at this. right through this home. and the dar

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er: we won! tech: nice! that's another safelite advantage. mom: thank you so much! (team sing) safelite repair, safelite replace. next tonight here, 15 states under winter weather adviceries from california to michigan, and more than six feet of snow, and massive flooding in california. and abc's kayna whitworth is in the storm zone. >> reporter: tonight, in the west rescuers out in force. relentless storms turning neighborhoods to lakes. in hollister, southeast of san jose, boats and fire trucks out before dawn. >> we can't see the road, we're kinda just guessing. >> reporter: bringing dozens of people to safety. cows huddling on spots of dry land. in portland, oregon, more than a foot of snow paralyzed the city -- forcing drivers to abandon their cars.

our neal car lynn ski is there. >> this downtown is littered with fallen trees. >> reporter: this road completely washed away. sa sa sa sanomacounty indunn dated this week. we met this woman rescued from her home. more than 650 homes affectedly flood waters, and david, that's the biggest rain event in the state of california in more than a decade. >> thanks to you again tonight. when we come back here this evening, the major auto maker facing new penalties. the bus clipping an oil truck slamming head-on into a home in this neighborhood. and the famous shark they have been tracking for almost three years on the coastline vanishing without a trace. tonight big news. suddenly reappearing. we'll tell you where in a moment.

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volkswagen tonight. the company pleading guilty to three criminal charges. u.s. prosecutors indicting six top executives accused of a ten-year conspiracy to program their cars to cheat on emissions tests. they will pay $4.3 billion in penalties. the peter pan bus clipping an oil truck on the side of the road. the bus swerving onto the lawn, smashing into a home that was empty at the time. the oil truck spilled more than 2,000 gallons of oil. the shark alive and well. known as katherine the great has reappeared after months of silence. they have been tracking her since 2014. she is swimming between west palm beach and the bahamas. her twitter saying, i was just taking a swim. coming up,

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with a non-insulin option click to activate your within. ask your doctor about once-weekly trulicity. finally tonight, mary the beagle who clearly needed convincing. here's linsey davis. >> reporter: a treacherous climb. >> come down to that ledge. >> reporter: in freezing temperatures. >> if i'm going to slip, it's going to be here. >> reporter: volunteers with the utah county search and rescue hike half a mile up steep terrain, risking their lives -- >> hang tight. we're almost there to you. >> reporter: for man's best friend. >> good dog! >> reporter: they find the foxhound, mary, on a narrow

ledge with a 60-foot drop. >> come on. >> reporter: despite the lure of treats, mary is skittish. >> we thought this dog has been overnight on the coldest night of the year. it's going to be hungry, it's going to be happy to see us. >> reporter: but this pooch perched above city lights couldn't be coaxed. not even by the passage of another sunset. >> i'm just worried she is going to jump off the cliff if i get close. >> reporter: so they leave treats before retreating. but the cliffhanger doesn't end there. in a bit of a mysterious twist, mary somehow made it back to her homeowners that night. giving us all a bit of "pause." linsey davis, abc news, new york. >> welcome home, mary. thanks for watching on a wednesday night. i'm david muir. see you back here tomorrow.

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