--- title: President Obama's Last Press Conference of 2016: Watch Live description: President Barack Obama will hold his final press conference of the year Friday afternoon. canonical: https://time.com/4604652/barack-obama-press-conference-livestream/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-16T15:30:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:56:49.616Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama's Last Press Conference of 2016: Watch Live og:description: He'll likely field questions about his new promise that the U.S. will retaliate against Russia og:url: https://time.com/4604652/barack-obama-press-conference-livestream/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65b9bd8adfe4ce6a/6988b3118e060132e1468998/gettyimages-623223028.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama Holds News Conference Before Departing For Greece og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama's Last Press Conference of 2016: Watch Live twitter:description: He'll likely field questions about his new promise that the U.S. will retaliate against Russia twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65b9bd8adfe4ce6a/6988b3118e060132e1468998/gettyimages-623223028.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Live: President Obama's Last Press Conference of 2016 > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3c3ef473-9170-4183-8727-4ba005b7f816&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama Gives Last Presser Of 2016 [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Gives Last Presser Of 2016](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Vy5JR1rr.m3u8) (4:21)  _Published 2016-12-16. President Obama spoke during his last press conference at the White House in 2016. He said that the issue of Russian hacking the election should not be partisan._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 16, 2016 3:30 PM UTC President Obama spoke during his last press conference at the White House in 2016\. He said that the issue of Russian hacking the election should not be partisan.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 16, 2016 3:30 PM UTC [President Barack Obama](http://time.com/the-obamas-family-album/) will hold his final press conference of the year Friday afternoon. Obama will take questions from the press before his family’s trip to Hawaii over the holidays. He’ll likely field questions about his [new promise](http://time.com/4604505/white-house-putin-dnc-hacking-election-russia-trump/?xid=homepage) that the U.S. will retaliate against Russia for its suspected interference in the U.S. election process. “Some of it may be explicit and publicized, some of it may not be,” Obama [told NPR ](http://www.npr.org/2016/12/15/505775550/obama-on-russian-hacking-we-need-to-take-action-and-we-will)Thursday of the action against Russia. “But Mr. Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it.” The press conference is scheduled to begin at 2:15 p.m. ET. You can watch the live stream above. ## Transcript [00:00] Good afternoon. This is the most wonderful [00:04] press conference of the year. [ LAUGH ] I've got a list [00:08] of who's been naughty and nice, to call on. But, let me [00:12] first make a couple of quick points, and then I'll take [00:14] your question. For years, we've worked to stop the [00:18] civil war in Syria, and alleviate human suffering It [00:23] is one of the hardest issue that I faced as president, [00:26] the world as we speak, united and four the savage [00:30] assault of the russian and the Iranian allies on [00:35] the city of elope. We have seen a deliberate seen. [00:42] Innocent civilians. We've seen relentless targeting of [00:45] humanitarian workers and medical personnel. Entire [00:48] neighborhoods reduced to rubble and dust. There are [00:52] continuing reports of civilians being executed. These [00:56] are all horrific violations of international law. [00:59] Responsibility for this brutality lies in one place alone, [01:03] with the Assad regime and its allies Russia and Iran. [01:07] And this blood and these atrocities are on their hands. [01:12] We all know what needs to happen. There needs to be [01:15] an impartial international observer force in Aleppo. [01:19] They can help coordinate an orderly evacuation [01:23] through safe corridors. What we've simply said is the [01:27] facts, which are that based on [01:32] uniform intelligence assessments, the Russians were [01:36] responsible for hacking the DNC. And [01:42] that as a consequence it is important [01:46] for us to review all elements of that and make [01:51] sure that we are preventing that kind of interference [01:55] through cyber attacks in the future. My hope is that [02:00] the president elect Is going to similarly be concerned [02:04] with making sure that we don't have potential foreign [02:07] influence in our election process. I don't think any [02:10] American wants that. And that shouldn't [02:14] be a source of an argument. I haven't shared, [02:18] previously, private conversations I've had with the [02:21] President- Elect. I will say that they have been Cordial [02:25] and in some cases have involved me making some [02:28] pretty specific suggestions about how to ensure [02:33] that regardless of our obvious deep disagreements [02:38] about policy Maybe [02:42] I can transmit some thoughts about maintaining the [02:49] effectiveness, integrity, cohesion of the office, a various [02:54] democratic institutions. I've said before I could be [02:57] prouder Secretary Clinton for her outstanding service. [03:01] Think she's worked tirelessly on behalf of the American [03:03] people and I don't think she was treated fairly during [03:05] the election. I think the [03:09] coverage of her and the [03:13] issues was troubling. Mike, I always feel responsible. [03:16] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I [03:20] Felt responsible when kids were being shot by [03:25] snipers, I felt responsible when millions of people had [03:28] been displaced. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [03:34] I feel responsible for murder and slaughter that's [03:37] taken place in South Sudan that's not being reported [03:40] on. Partly because there's [03:44] not as much social media being generated from there. [03:46] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] There are places [03:51] around the world where horrible things are happening, [03:53] and because of my office, because I'm President [03:57] of the United States, I feel responsible. I ask myself [04:01] every single day is there something I could do that [04:03] would save lives and make a difference? 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