“I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections … we need to take action. And we will — at a time and place of our own choosing. Some of it may be explicit and publicized; some of it may not be.” As more reports indicate the Russian hack was directed right from the top, President Obama vows that US will retaliate. Obama took questions on this topic and other matters in his final end of the year media briefing.

+ NYT: “Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that the hacking attacks carried out by Russia against her campaign and the Democratic National Committee were intended ‘to undermine our democracy’ and were ordered by Vladimir V. Putin ‘because he has a personal beef against me.'”

+ Russia continues to deny the accusations: “They should either stop talking about that or produce some proof at last. Otherwise it all begins to look unseemly.”