at barnhart college. my students who have undocumented parents say they're right there in the ivy league. they're not giving up. it is a loss, a loss of economic power in this country. you deport people, great, you educated them, trained them, employed them, now you're going to -- it's ridiculous if you believe in cap tammism. it's about voting now, getting people registered to vote, and believing in the democratic process. >> and also seeing that people who say they want to hem actually do, because words are cheap, and real change takes sacrifice, blood, sweat, toil, and tears, and we need to see some of that. >> all you have to do is walk roosevelt hotel or 26 -- talk to them. >> maria hinojosa, susan del percio, jonathan for being with us. that wrap us up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. see you tomorrow night on "nbc nightly news saturday." andrea mitchell has more news right now.

right now on "andrea mitchell reports," former president trump back in court after storming out this morning, fuming in the middle of closing arguments in the e. jean carroll defamation and damages case with the jury watching it all. while nikki haley scheduled two south carolina rallies this weekend. donors pour millions into her campaign, defying trump's appeal to write her off. and the u.n.'s highest court pressures israel to stem the loss of lives in gaza but does not come down hard on israel, as cia director bill burns crosses the atlantic, trying to pose a deal to free the hostages. and critical funding for border. israel and ukraine. it's all hanging in the balance as mr. trump tries to get senate republicans to scuttle a border compromise that was weeks in the making.

good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. donald trump back in a manhattan courtroom for closing arguments in the e. jean carroll defamation trial. earlier today, the former president left court during the closing arguments by carroll's lawyers over how much he has to pay in damages to e. jean carroll. she's speaking $10 million. he's already been found by a judge to have abused carroll sexually in the 1990s and defamed her while he was president. mr. trump delivered a brief testimony thursday, just about threees long, again denying even knowing carroll. the former president said he lashed out because he, quote, just wanted to defend himself -- defend myself, my family, and, frankly, the presidency, all of course in front of the jury. the judge struck that comment from the record, saying it was not responsive. joining us now, nbc national correspondent in new york, and katherine kristin, former manhattan district d.a.

what have you heard so far from the closing arguments? give us some context for why the former president stormed out of court today. >> reporter: it's been quite a day, to say the least, andrea. the former president stormed out about ten minutes into e. jean carroll attorney's closing arguments, not wanting to hear, it seems, the rest of those closing arguments. he's back in now for his attorney's closing arguments. let me take you some of the arguments we've been hearing so far. alina habba is making the argument that e. jean carroll dined out on the article in which she revealed the assault by the president of the united states, along with a book she wrote about it, and she's been appearing to dine out since then, appearing on primetime shows, gotten jobs from it, made money off of it as well. so, they're kind of creating this picture that e. jean carroll essentially has developed more celebrity, has made more money since 2019,

since losing her job at "elle" magazine and. in, has benefitted from the focus that has turned to her because of the sexual assault allegations that the former president was found liable for in the trial last year. for e. jean carroll's attorneys' part, and the closing arguments there, a very different picture, obviously. there was a moment in which she painted a picture of e. jean carroll in her apartment in midtown manhattan. and she talked about -- to the jury about e. jean carroll's state of mind, and she said to the jury, imagine being someone who is being harassed by the president of the united states, by the sitting president of the united states, then back in 2019, after you have just revealed that you were sexually assaulted by him, and you close your shades, you lock your doors, you do not leave your house, she goes on, because you are so afraid for your security. she talks about the persistent harassment that e. jean carroll

faced after the revelations she made back in 2019 and how there has been a significant loss to her reputation and her ability to hold a job, hence the reason we're here. as you mentioned, $10 million is what e. jean carroll is seeking here. the jury likely to go into deliberation during lunch. that is what judge caplan has laid out for us. >> katherine, did donald trump help himself by walking out today? how did the jury react to that? >> well, it was for show. i have to say i've actually seen that in other trial where is one side gets up and walks out. but it was for show. obviously, he didn't want to hear what miss carroll's attorney was saying. he reappears when his attorney is speaking. maybe the jury didn't notice, but clearly it was just him making a statement that he

didn't like what he was hearing. >> how could they not notice? when he leaves, the secret service leaves, you know, the reporters rush out after him to see if he'll stop and talk in the hallway. you know, it's got to be disruptive. >> disruptive and, you know, i'm sure -- i wasn't there -- the juries notice that, and if he's saying i don't like what i'm hearing, the jury might think why? because it's truthful? i mean, we don't know what's in the jurors' minds, but clearly, really nothing he's done during this trial has helped him, even his brief, you know, less than five minutes' testimony yesterday. i don't think it hurt him severely, but it certainly didn't help him. >> catherine christian, yasmin, thanks for starting us off. and congressional standoff -- why capitol hill is still in gridlock on that border deal with ukraine hanging in the balance. that's next. the first time you connected your godaddy website

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i think the border is a very important issue for donald trump, and the fact that he would communicate to republican senators in congress, people, that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame biden for it is really appalling. >> donald trump is flexing his power over congressional republicans in an attempt to cut al bipartisan deal and keep border security as a key issue throughout the campaign according to democratic critics. congress and the white house have been working on that border deal for weeks with republicans earning long-sought concessions from president biden. now it's all falling apart or could fall apart as mr. trump publicly pushes to kill the effort, and he could take additional aid away from ukraine, israel, and taiwan because they're all hanging in the balance. joining us to talk about all of this is democratic congresswoman

from virginia, abbail spanberger, a former cia officer, serving on the intelligence committee, and also running for governor in virginia. congresswoman, thank you very much. contrary to a lot of misconceptions, the u.s. is 14th or 15th as proportion of gdp in terms of supplying weapons to ukraine. importantly, though, the u.s. is the only supplier of certain types of weapons, so that is a hang-up. but compared to the scandinavian countries, the u.s. is far behind and other counties in the e.u. and nato. but, again, it's those categories, things they really need at this point in the war. what's your assessment? >> the united states, as we know, is an absolute global leader in military strength. it is -- it has been our support to the ukrainians that has allowed them to continue fighting this war for their own

freedom in support of democratic values. and as you mentioned, we are not in it alone, but we are also leading the way, since the very beginning, the united states a central partner not only to our ukrainian am lies in their fight for freedom but in bringing together partners from across the world to support ukraine. but we do have unique military advantages, and we do supply our ukrainian partners with important military supplies and lethal aid that cannot be provided by other entities. and it is extraordinarily important not just for ukraine and their fight for freedom that we continue to support them, but it is in our national security interests that the united states maintain our support for ukraine and their fight against russia.

>> speaker johnson has just released a lte today to his caucus saying, if rumors of the senate border comome are true it would have been, in his words, dead on arrival in the house. so he's calling it rumors, so he doesn't even know the contours and the specifics of the deal, supposedly, that the senators have been working on, including senate republicans. would enough democrats cross over? would it be dead on arrival, or is there enough votes in a bipartisan bill, assuming that -- although they don't follow the speaker's directions? >> the speaker's comments are ridiculous. the fact he wants to kill a proposal before it he's v even has a chance to move forward is absolutely ridiculous. the fact that he and so many within his conference are talking morning, noon, and night about the crisis at the border, about the need to do something, they plan to impeach secretary

mayorkas, but, yet, when the opportunity is there, because of the work of the senate, to potentially take steps forward, he is already saying it's dead on arrival. the importance of this issue, the importance of addressing our need for increased border security, for, you know, recognizing that our broken immigration system is impacting people and families and employers and, you know, farms throughout my district that are trying desperately to hire people to help support their work and our economy in virginia, this is an extraordinarily important issue that requires us to take action, and that's why not only in addition to what we've seen moving forward in the senate, but there's a great bipartisan bill in the house called the dignity act led by veronica escobar, a democrat from texas, and maria salazar, republican

from florida. and i mention this because the urgency that many members are bringing to this conversation is clear, in the house, in the senate, democrats and republicans. and the fact that the speaker of the house, with the ability to either bring a bill forward or not is essentially saying he will not even contend with conversations related to the senate's bill for political reasons, because he wants, you know, his perfect version of the bill. it's a totalabdication, i think, of his responsibility as speaker, and it is not allowing for us to do the work of the people. andrea, having not seen the full finished senate bill, if a bill can pass the united states senate with at least 60 volts to pass that filibuster threshold, presumably there would be a broad bipartisan majority within the house. and what the speaker is communicating that that bipartisan majority in the senate means nothing and that

the bipartisan majority in the house means nothing because his ability to, just through inaction, kill legislation, is the path that he would choose to take. and this is on one of the priority issues that every legislator should be earnestly focused on trying to get at. the fact he would be doing this for political gains, to support the former president, is just shameful. >> abigail spanberger, thank you, congresswoman. thank you very much. and joining us now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles. so, sort through this. we have the letter from the speaker. you've heard the congresswoman spanberger, what she had to say. there's a lot of confusion over what mitch mcconnell said in that caucus meeting, the republicans, the luncheon meeting, what he may actually mean, was that a definite no, is it still in play.

the tea leaves from the hill are confusing right now. >> even members of the senate are confused as to what mitch mcconnell was attempting to communicate to them a few days ago about this package. essentially, the read we're getting is mcconnell wants an i would case from his conference that they're at least willing to pass something, whatever that something may be, and if they're going to just throw it out without even seeing the package before it comes to them, then they need to let him know that as soon as possible. the vibe after that initial meeting with senate republicans is that they're going to plow ahead, they're going to try to allow this negotiation to run its course, and see what legislative text the bipartisan negotiators can come to. in talking with the senators yesterday, there's still hope ey can get something done. listen to what a few of them said. >>f we don't take the opportunity now, there will be zero democrat votes for exactly

the same policy next year. it is immoralor me to think yo looked the other way because you think ts the linchpin fo donald trump to win. >> i didn't take it that way at all. mcconnell said he was laying out the political realities, he was the elephant in the room. we're in the middle of a presidential primaries season. that's the shift that has occurred. just a reality. >> reporter: that's very important. this is mcconnell saying if you're going to listen to donald trump, then this conversation is over. if you're going to listen to your stilts and deal with the reality on the ground, then let's have a conversation about what we can feasibly get over the finish line. now, that means they'll tray and get to 60 volts. to your conversation you just had with the congresswoman, andrea, if they can get to 60 votes, i do think this becomes a bit of a different conversation in the house. the you parse through the language in that letter that speaker johnson said to his colleagues today, he says that the rumors about a potential bill would be dead on arrival.

that gives him a lot of wiggle room if they actually deliver something. part of this is speaker johnson doesn't want to have any attachment to that bill, because if it fails, he doesn't want to take any of the blame. >> for obvious reasons, no one wants a motion to vacate again. ryan nobles, thank you. a lot going on in town this weekend, and a lot of people are pressing very hard on the republican senate to stand up for ukraine. a lot of foreign policy people are in town, a big gathering tomorrow with all the meetings. we'll see what happens by monday. thank you. and the closer -- the biden administration deploying cia director bill burns to the middle east to try -- not to the middle east, he's going to europe, trying to sort through the middle east i v crisis and get those hostages out of gaza. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. in bloo. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person.

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to the international court of justice stopped short of ordering an israeli cease-fire in gaza. the court's decision is not a verdict on whether the israeli campaign in gaza amounts to genocide as alleged by south africans in this case, but if the civilian death toll rising above 26,000, according to the hamas health ministry, the court did all it can to prevent

further destruction in gaza. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu fired back at the allegations his country faced in the u.n.'s top court today. >> the charge of genocide leveled against israel is not only false, it's outrageous. and decent people everywhere should reject it. on the eve of the international holocaust remembrance day, i again pledge as israel's prime minister, never again. israel will continue to defend itself against hamas, a genocidal terror organization. >> and, by the way, the state department just came out with a statement saying that decision ordered by the u.n. high court is consistent with u.s. policy. what the u.s. has been calling for is minimizing of the civilian casualties. the u.n. refugee organization, meanwhile, separately in the mideast, amra, has terminated the contract of 12 employees israel said were allegedly

involved in the october 7th attack, pending an investigation. this is an explosive allegation today that has also led the u.s. to temporarily halt all future u.s. funds to that agency. nbc's matt bradley joins us now from tel aviv. a lot going on. so, israel was fighting against this genocide accusation and very upset that south africa brought it, and it got -- it was persuasive with the court. they did not come down as hard as they could have. this is still all an open issue. what's the impact of the international high court ruling today? >> v. >> reporter: it's unclear because this is an unusual moment for this conflict, well into its fourth month here. this ruling kind of has something for everybody, and it's unusual. we heard praise from the united states government. there was some qualified praise from the israeli government for the verdict, from the south

africans, and even from the palestinians. those are strange bed foal lows, indeed. they don't normally agree on anything, and we've gotten used to in this conflict when one person gains, everybody else seems to lose, so it's a zero-sum game. that's not what we're seeing here. the israelis seemed pleased the court didn't tell them to stop their offensive in the gaza strip. the palestinians seemed pleased this case was heard at all. south africans were pleased they brought the case. this is a rare moment here and one that could have an impact on what's going on on the ground. andrea? >> of course a lot of political, you know, things going on, europe and the u.s. it's been a lot of vetoes by the u.s. and the security council, which would be politically challenging for the president to do again right now in the middle of this political campaign where he's facing so many protesters. in any case, separately, the

u.s. is intensively trying to rescue the hostages diplomatically. the cia director, bill burns, heading to europe to meet with israel's mossad director and the qatari prime minister, trying to reach a deal to bring home the hostages, 136 people still held by hamas. how big is the pressure now on prime minister netanyahu to temporarily pause the offensive, at least for a while, if it can bring home the hostages? i should put out hamas has been demanding a complete seesz cease-fire, which is a nonstarter. >> reporter: a nonstarter for the israelis. entire world seems to be in this chorus asking for a cease-fire. the pressure on netanyahu is searing, it is substantial. there are protesters outside of his homes here in tel aviv and in jerusalem all the time, pressing their case. we spoke with actually one young woman whose father is still a hostage in the gaza strip, and she was saying that she was really cheered by the fact that

william burns is on his way to europe to try to revive these negotiations. important to note here, andrea, as we're seeing all this pressure on benjamin netanyahu, including from the international court of justice, you have to remember that after 26,000 people have died in the gaza strip, most of them civilians according to the hamas-run health ministry there, only one hostage has been freed by military maneuvers. owl of the more than 100 hostages have been freed through negotiated deals like the ones that william burns, the cia deck or the, is on his way to try to revive. so, that still remains by far the best avenue for freeing these hostages. andrea? >> and i should point out the u.s. and israel and actually the other negotiators from the arab countries understand this, that a cease-fire, permanent cease-fire, is not in the offing, but perhaps a long pause that could be extended and extended. but they're going to have to

break through that gridlock if anything is going to come out of these weekend talks. matt bradley, as always, thank you. and joining us now is a law professor and director of the university of michigan, the human rights center, and previously worked in the state department's advisory committee on international law. rebecca hamilton, experienced in prosecuting cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. welcome both. today in the hague, the u.n. court called on israel to prevent the possibility of genocide in gaza. what does that order mean? does it move automatically to the security council, or do they wait for a month for this report they've requested from israel? >> it's important to outline what the court ordered it to do and not do. it ordered it to ensure genocide

does not take place as well as to prevent and punish any incitement to genocide, which they're concerned about, as well as to ensure perdition of humanitarian assistance. the icj did not order israel to cease hostilities or to rescind any orders. it didn't tell them to stop committing genocide. the order of the icj is legally binding. israel has a legal obligation to comply with it. it doesn't automatically go to the security council unless one member state decides ta israel is not complying, at which point there could be a discussion and a vote. its influence is more likely to be political. it will influence the way others engage with israel, could put pressure on the israeli government the cease-fire or at least towards moderating some of the way they're conducting hostilities. that's really the way the icj's orders are most likely to influence the facts on the ground. >> rebecca, talk to us about

this u.n. court asking for a submission from the report. how would this be dealt with? >> so, the court is wanting israel to follow up with a report to show its conformity with the provisional measures that the court ordered today. so you can think of this as sort of ongoing accountability. as the professor mentioned, the court's order is binding on israel, and this is one way of ensuring oversight that israel does, indeed, perform the actions that the court is asking from it. >> one of the problems here, to both of you, is there is so much hostility in both directions, israel towards anything that involves the u.n., and they're criticizing u.n. relief, they're stopping humanitarian aid from getting in in the amounts that

the u.s. wants. they have not yet let the u.n. observer to go into north gaza, which had been agreed to two weeks ago in meetings with secretary blinken. so, rebecca, with this -- this, you know, historic adversarial relationship now between israel and the united nations, how much can they accomplish through this judicial process? >> what i would say is that the international court of justice is -- has got a huge amount of legitimacy internationally, and even israel itself, when this case came about, didn't simply walk away. it engaged in the proceedings. there was an israeli ad hoc judge on the bench who signed on to at least two of the provisional measures that the court ordered. and so, among the different parts of the u.n., the icj does have international legitimacy.

it's decision today was measured, it was based in factual observations, the court was pained to acknowledge the horror of the october 7th attack by hamas, and i think really put itself on a strong footing to not be politicized in the way that so many of the u.n. actions are. so, i actually feel quite positive about the possibility that the icj's decision here can have an impact not in terms of the fact that it's directly and legally binding, although it is, but politically it gives weight and leverage to the many israeli lawyers that are very concerned, as well as israeli citizens and officials inside the u.s. government who want to see a change in the direction of the military campaign that israel has been conducting. >> that's such a good point,

because the court, unlike the general assembly and the security council, the court acknowledges the horror of october 7th, whereas there has not been a cease-fire resolution proposed yet that condemns october 7th, which is why the u.s. says it keeps vetoing the cease-fire resolutions that the general assembly -- of the security council and voting against them at the general assembly. steven, how long could this take in terms of the judicial functions? >> well, the icj works very, very slowly. it gives states a lot of time to final different documents, and there's many states to litigation. the case brought by bosnia against serbia for genocide in the early 1990s was not decided by the court until 2007. and so, we have a long wait for any kind of a judgment about

this allegation. it will always be in the background. however, israel will continue to file briefs and send people to the hague to make arguments, as will south africa, and it will be one of many things going on in the background. and i think the fact that the court is not a political body, that its members are independent for the most part, and that this order was so overwhelming, it was a 15-2 vote, does suggest that israel is going to engage with this process seriously. and it is not dismissing it as it does many other u.n. actors who are hostile to israel. >> so helpful. thank you so much, rebecca hamilton and steven ratner. center stage. next, how nikki haley is kicking off her campaign blitz across south carolina in what she hopes will not be her last stand against donald trump. that's next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. s and unforgettable scenery with viking.

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donald trump is closer than ever to climpbing the republican nomination in a rematch with president biden unless nikki haley can pull an upset in south carolina. peter baker of "the new york times" calls this a clash between the presidents of blue and red america. it's about ideology, he writes, but also fundamentally about race, religion, culture, economics, democracy, and retribution, and most of all perhaps about identity. joining us now is "new york

times" chief white house correspondent peter baker and brendan buck from the communications adviser to week with us. you're writing these two americas are living in two different realities, and that, while there have been divisions in the past, these are two americas separated in their facts, in the way they view themselves, and often in their abortion laws, their gun laws. talk to us about the potential for that. >> yeah. i mean, obviously every contest for president is a split between liberal, conservative, republican, democrat. these are debates we've had in history. but the polarization is so stark we seemingly live in separate americas. there are about 44 states these candidates won't show because they're already assigned to red america or blue america, and owe v you see how different they are not just in their laws, their outlooks, but even in their information space. they live in a different

internet media sphere, have different ideas about reality, including the 2020 election, a pretty good barometer of that. you have these two presidents -- this is the first time we've had two presidents, a former and current president running against each other in more than a century. but they're not only two presidents who served in the oval office, but they seem to lead the two different americas. you see even today, donald trump, even though he's not an incumbent, acting like one in the way he's calling shots on the hill in terms of negotiations with biden and the democrats over the border money and policy. so, you do have this remarkable moment i think in our history. >> brendan, at the same time, you know, donald trump is beating joe biden in many of the polls on the economy, certainly, on all kinds of other factors. but the u.s. economy is playing very much in biden's favor, growing at more rapid pace in the latest gdp, inflation in the

closing months of 2023, the stock market. here's president biden reacting yesterday to the "wall street journal's" coverage. >> the u.s. economy grew at a shocking pace. i love a shocking pace. by the way, the economic growth was stronger than we had during the trump administration. my predecessor recently said he was actually hoping for an economy to crash, his quote. >> but the fact is a lot of the voters don't know about that. they may understand a different economy, the economy they see in the grocery store, and the difficulty in the housing market, perhaps. and they're not hearing donald trump the same way through their media. >> yeah. that's right. there are a lot of statistics that work in the president's favor, but they have for a long time. as you noted, a lot of people

haven't said they think the economy is -- they think their own personal economy is going very well, but there is this perception that's so per vase they've the american economy is week, and the white house has a difficult job ahead of itself to turn that around. is there an opportunity for that? absolutely. we've talked a lot about the white house's decision to brand the economy bidenomics. there are smart people at the white house. the white house communications director is not a dummy. i think they understood there was a risk associated with that. they were probably placing a bet the president would rise or fall on the economy and they might as well own it. i think what they're hoping is in the next six to nine months you see a dramatic turnaround, and the perception starts to catch up with the statistics, and they can take credit for it. i think they realize if that doesn't happen, they're probably toast either way. >> peter, just very briefly, the so-called change or shake-up at the campaign, do you think that that is going to make a big

difference in the messaging? >> well, look, this is inevitable. it was inevitable you'd have these two people go over the campaign, but there has been some discontent about how it's been organized, how it's been messaged. the biden people say calm down, it's okay, they've raised a lot of money and have a lot of time to get their message out there. part of the message won't just be on the economy. i think that's the way politics used to work, it's the economy, stupid, was always the driver of presidential elections. i think in today's polarized, tribal atmosphere, because of the perceptions brendan was talking about, you know, it's also about, you know, defining the other -- the choice, and that's what president biden's campaign thinks it has to do with, has to make clear to the voters, voters disappointed in president biden, that donald trump would be worse. we'll see if they can pull that off. >> brandon buck, peter baker, thanks to both of you. the threat assessment next. iran-backed forces in yemen

continue to target u.s. naval recess elts in the gulf of aden again today. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. thiss imsnbc. k i'm ready for t. heck, yeah! with e*trade you're ready for anything. marriage. kids. college. kids moving back in after college. (applause) finally, we can eat. ♪ you know you make me wanna... ♪ and then we looked around and said, "wait a minute, this isn't even our stroller!" (laughter) you live with your parents, but you own a house in the metaverse? mm-hmm. cool! i don't get it. here's to getting financially ready for anything. and here's to being single and ready to mingle. who's ready to cha-cha? ( ♪♪ ) here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free

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president will have to pay e. jean carroll. now to the gulf of aden where the navy destroyer the "uss carney" shot down an anti-ballistic missile this morning. it was fired directly at the vessel from houthi-controlled areas inside yemen. last week, president biden admitted that u.s.-led strikes on militant missile sites are not stopping the houthi rebels, who have now been redesignated by the u.s. as a terrorist group. joining us is the former deputy commander of the u.s. european command. joining us now is lieutenant general stef twitty, former deputy general of the european command. this is the not the first time the houthis have fired directly at a u.s. naval vessel. and retaliatory strikes, so nine rounds of u.s. strikes are not doing enough to cripple the houthi's capabilities or to stop them from keeping this up.

>> andrea, good to be with you, and we must remember that the houthis went through several years of a saudi-led air campaign, and so these are hardened militants, and they have hardened facilities in which they can hide such as the tunnels in which you're seeing in gaza strip, they're in yemen as well. they have underground bunker facilities also behind their radars and hide their munitions, and so they are skilled at this given that they've endured the saudi-led air campaign, and they don't intend to back down from the u.s. they've been emboldened. they're defiant. they view themselves as in solidarity with the palestinians and the palestinian calls. and oh, by the way, the iranians are backing them. so we can expect for this to continue. >> let's turn to ukraine,

another hot spot obviously, a war now going on and the supplemental aid from the u.s. is not forthcoming, at least not yet. the government of ukraine says its military is simply running out of ammo and interceptors. russia today said it's ramping up its defense output. how is all of this going to impact the war itself on the ground? >> well, i think the ukrainians are starting to see the impact now. so we anticipated that the war would sort of -- for the winter months, would calm down a little bit. that's not the case. in the region there's been relentless fighting over the last couple of months there, and you're starting to see the ukrainians ration munitions. you're also starting to see when it comes to upper caliber munitions such as artillery rounds, patriot missile interceptors, antitank rounds,

they're starting to ration those as well. it's starting to have an impact on the battlefield. my fear is that they won't get this passed in time and then we're really in problems here because 50% of that aid comes from the united states, and i don't think that nato and our western allies can absorb that much to support the ukrainians. >> that's a grim outlook, lieutenant general stef twitty, thanks to you. a russian court has again extended the pretrial detention of evanevanger issue coe wits. the american journalist will have to remain in russian prison for at least two more months until his trial on march 30thll how the u.s. and china are working to try to end the fentanyl crisis.

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. chinese officials have now agreed to form a joint task force with the u.s. to try to help limit the flow of the chemicals used to create fentanyl, a drug that has killed thousands and thousands of people in the united states. the initial effort to cooperate emerged from that summit in san francisco when president biden met with china's president xi jinping. that was last november.

next week u.s. officials and their chinese counterparts will be meeting in beijing. nbc's janis mackey frayer spoke with a top chinese narcotics official in an exclusive interview, and she joins us live from the chinese capital. we understand jake sullivan is on his way to the coming week, i guess to talk to chinese officials about fentanyl. so how promising is this? >> reporter: well, it's been months in the works, as the crisis has only deepened. the u.s. has long accused chinese authorities of doing little or not doing enough to crack down on these chemical supply chains. these are the tens of thousands of precursor chemicals that do have legitimate uses, but also are used to produce the fentanyl that's killing so many americans. this meeting that will happen next week marks a significant step. this is the first direct collaboration at this high level

in years. u.s. officials from homeland security, from dea are traveling to china to the launch of what chinese officials are calling a joint task force on fentanyl. i sat down with the deputy director general of the narcotics control bureau of china's ministry for public security. he says that cracking down on supply lines is one thing, but demand is the problem. problem.

. >> reporter: andrea there hasn't been counternarcotics cooperation since china called off talks in august of '22 as retaliation for nancy pelosi's visit to taiwan, and there was also the obstacle of sanctions against two police labs that both fall under the ministry of public security. but they were removed from the entity list, that was seen as the tradeoff for paving the way for this cooperation that we're going to see next week that comes at a critical time. andrea. >> thank you so much, janice. that does it for us for this edition. remember, follow us on social media at mitchellreports. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good afternoon. i'm chris jansing live from msnbc headquarters in new york city.