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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBCW  February 16, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PST

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instructed you you were under the rule of sequestration? >> right. i'm not under subpoena either. >> thank you. >> anything else? seeing and hearing none, thank you, mr. floyd. >> thank you very much, your honor. it's a pleasure to appear in front of your honor. >> miss cross, let me check in. was the state planning to call additional witnesses? >> not at this time. we are trying to accommodate if there's a -- >> even if mr. bradley testifies to some extent, it's the potential that the state has no further witnesses? >> i anticipate at least one more will be available this afternoon. that would be it. >> there are potentially more state's witnesses? >> before we move on, i move to strike the last witness' testimony. >> i think the rule is invoked and the instruction was for the
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parties to tell all witnesses subpoenaed or expected to appear about the rule. i don't think the remedy is necessarily striking. i think it can go to credibility as well. to that extent, i will -- unless you want something else to be heard on that. the point is made. do we have an update from mr. bradley? >> yes, your honor. he should be here 12:20. >> what i think we should do is have the preliminary conversations about privilege, and take our afternoon break. to that end, i don't know if you want to argue in place there or go to the table. whatever makes you comfortable. maybe it was relayed to you since you weren't in the court earlier this morning, it sounded like you wanted to be heard? >> it was brought to my attention -- [ inaudible ]
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>> what do you need? [ inaudible ] >> whatever you need to do. [ inaudible [ ] >> we are witnessing a lull in this after we heard the testimony of fani willis' father. now the judge has been speaking with the attorney for terrence bradley who is still not at the courtroom. i want to bring in katie fang. let's talk about -- we keep a close watch what's going on inside the courtroom. what was your reaction to this testimony today from miss willis' father? >> reporter: i couldn't be more
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impressed by how forthright and humble he came across. yet, when it was important, he was able to deliver the forcefulness of a father protecting his daughter. even if that relationship exists, i did not detect a lie. i did not detect the idea that he would testify in a way that would be biased or that would not be truthful. he made it very clear that he did not see or meet nathan wade until 2023. he also made it clear that he did instruct his daughter from when she was a young girl to keep cash on hand, at least six months. you find the corroboration to willis' testimony that she would keep cash on hand to make the reimbursements to nathan wade. not all things are sunshine and roses. there's something interesting we heard. that angle being pursued, as you
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heard for the lawyer for donald trump, is there was secrecy to the relationship between willis and wade. the fact her father had no idea she was dating mr. wade, despite the fact he met on several occasions a prior boyfriend for willis. expect that to be a big point of oral argument when it comes time for the defense to argue in support of the motion to disqualify. >> stand by. i want to bring into the conversation andrew weissmann and charles coleman and melissa redman, former fulton county district attorney and msnbc legal analyst. charles, your reaction to the testimony from willis' father. >> on a scale of one to ten, i give it an 8 1/2. he was really, really strong and very solid. i think that he did what he needed to do in terms of, number one, being consistent and corroborating much of what
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willis testified to on the stand. then number two, being credible in terms of overall painting a picture of who willis is in such a way that i think is going to humanize her and get away from the question of disqualification. at this point, i think it's very important that we take a step back, because when we started today, one of the things that andrew and i both said was that we were looking for and waiting for a moment of controversy. it hasn't happened. at this point, we are dissecting everybody who has taken that stand as if willis is truly on trial. i resisted that talking point yesterday when she made it. but right now, i'm waiting. where is it? where is the actual controversy? we haven't seen it. willis is not accused of anything that would be criminal in nature. we are dissecting this as if she is on a criminal trial -- at a
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criminal trial. i understand that that's not the burden. i understand that's not the standard. but after her father has now testified and corroborated, the state, in my opinion, has more than enough, in light of the fact that the defense in this case has not put forth anything other than the testimony of its initial witness to satisfy this burden. >> that would be bradley, who is yet to come back. >> correct. there's one other point. there's a quiet part to this conversation that i'm going to say out loud. the issue of race has not -- has not necessarily been broached. there's an element where it came up that a lot of people missed. when you saw the congeniality between those attorneys and the former governor, there was a level of exclusion from the good old boys club that mr. wade and particularly willis as a woman
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do not enjoy. it's not only because they were adversarial that they are being treated this way by defense attorneys. every defense attorney has not been overly hostile or rude. but when you talk about the remnants of what it is to be in the deep south, i would be remiss if i did not call out that very, very stark contrast as i watched the lawyers exchange niceties. it's normal and customary in that space. >> it sounded like they had a relationship with that former governor as well. >> absolutely. >> there's a break. the judge declared a break until 1:00 p.m. andrew, i was struck by -- i don't know what the rules are or aren't. one of the questions asked by the defense to willis' father was, have you been prepped on this? we are talking about the issue of keeping six months' worth of cash at the home and never being
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unprotected and the importance of cash in his life and how he transmitted that importance to his daughter. then asked, were you prepped? he said, yes, i was. what are the rules? are there no rules on that? >> great question. there's two issues that arose at that point. one is, it's a lawyer's obligation to prep witnesses. there's nothing wrong with it. both sides meet with witnesses to go over what they think their testimony will be. what you can't do is say, this is what you need to say. you can't tell them, say this, don't say that. you have to go with the truth. >> what's prepping mean? >> you have a million facts in your head. you are going, what are you going to ask me? what do i need to know to testify? what are the areas so i can think about what happened, i can refresh my recollection? it's get a sense of, are you going to ask me in this case
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that came -- are you going to ask me about cash? it's totally fine to say, okay, tell me what you would say about this, tell me what your answer is on that. the thing that was interesting -- there's twofold. one, the state didn't bring out the cash evidence, which is a little odd. they clearly prepared him. >> why is it odd? >> because it was good for them. it's just an odd thing to prepare a witness to say what willis said her father had always said, you should always have cash in the house, you should have six months' of cash. my father probably doesn't know i did keep cash but not six months' of cash. he said, i was prepared to testify about that. then they didn't ask. there's nothing wrong with that. it's just an oddity. >> what are the rules as far as, for example, watching the testimony of someone, in this case his daughter, talking about
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specifics like that? what are those rules? >> they were under -- the witnesses in this case were supposed to be sequestered. in a situation like that, technically speaking, he is not supposed to be a part of, number one, watching testimony that's taking place from other witnesses, and certainly, a witness like willis, who is a defendant in this case or at this hearing -- i'm going to be clear, it's a hearing. for propriety purposes in the strictest of senses probably shouldn't have been in the room as he is being prepped regarding his testimony. that being said, we don't know to what extent or to what degree she was in the room. meaning that, were you in the room for the entire time? were you present for all of it? how much did you hear? there may be degrees that we could discuss that. to out and out say that now that she was in the room, that
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somehow it invalidates or takes away from the credibility of either her testimony or her father's, i think it's a reach. you are talking about a judge -- let's be clear. we are not talking about a jury. judge mcafee will make a determination as to the credibility of everyone that he hears. the fact that she was in the room, he may take that into account. after hearing both of them testify, i doubt that he is going to sort of throw out their testimony as a whole because of that. >> remember, he testified that he was prepped maybe wednesday. this hearing didn't start -- this proceeding didn't start until yesterday. that would have been prior to any witness testimony related to this specific issue of alleged misconduct. >> but he did see the entirety of her testimony yesterday. >> he was honest about that. maybe perhaps could give him some credibility in the judge's eyes for that reason. i want to bring in barbara mcquade, who is joining us, msnbc legal analyst and former
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federal prosecutor and melissa redman is standing by as well. barbara, i want to ask you about what we heard this morning from willis' father as well as from the former governor, who was the first witness called by the state who testified that he had been asked initially to be the special prosecutor by willis for this rico case. he turned it down because he was concerned about the safety issues around all of this. how much do you think this morning's testimony changed the dynamics in this hearing? >> i think today's testimony is important because it's not whether she was involved in a relationship, it's not whether she's a good or bad person, it's not even whether she has ethical issues, which is for another time and another place. what's at issue here is whether she has a conflict of interest against these defendants. the only theory that these defendants would in any way have a right to a fair trial prejudice is if she's acting in
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a way to maximize her own monetary pay. this is all a kickback scheme. that she indicted donald trump and his co-defendants because she wanted to keep the money flowing. only for that reason would it be relevant she hired nathan wade, she had a relationship with him and she was benefitting financially from that. this evidence we heard from the former governor that he turned down this assignment i think is valuable. it shows that people weren't knocking down her door for this assignment. she chose someone who she thought could do the job when others were unwilling to do so. the father's testimony is relevant as to not only the timing of the relationship but this idea she kept cash on hand. there's speculation that the payment of cash is somehow suspicious. if she's paying her own way on these trips, she's not benefitting in any way whatsoever from the payments she's making to nathan wade. for that reason, it negates the
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idea there's a conflict of interest that would in any way harm the defendants in this case. >> melissa, i'm curious as to what you saw today there, what your take is on what we saw this morning in court. i'm thinking of charles' observation, which is keen and kind of so clear on just ambience and atmosphere that exists in, for example, how they discussed the friendship and the working relationship that the lawyers have had with the former governor, who was part of that club and maybe who was not part of that club. what was your take on what you saw there? >> first, everyone knows governor barnes. he's an established figure in the legal community. he is involved in politics. he is all over everywhere. he is friends with everyone on both sides of the aisle and in both political spectrums. that in itself didn't bother me. the point charles made about being a minority, being a black
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woman rings very true. in the courtroom. not by every defense attorney, not every judge, but it takes place. i think that was some of what we saw yesterday with how d.a. willis was offended at her intelligence and integrity being questioned and her decision making being questioned. it's something you may have to deal with that someone else may not have, i will say it that way. i would say as far as the presentation of the evidence, it looks to me that the state is sticking with what the legal standard requires. there be some showing of personal benefit. with the question of the cash on hand and keeping cash, i absolutely would have to ask the witness -- if i'm prepping the case, i know that my client has said that they reimbursed mr. wade with cash. how can we corroborate that? you would ask those questions from that witness. i also know based on the audible
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responses we found -- we saw from the defense attorneys yesterday that they would not pass up the opportunity to ask mr. floyd whether or not he had that conversation with his daughter. even if i asked -- if i don't ask, i know one of them are going to ask. i know what the answer is. perhaps it's better expecting some contradiction for them to receive a corroboration of prior testimony instead. i suspect that's the reason why they didn't go into it on direct. i think the attorney who asked about the prepping brought up some issues for argument. of course, the judge would know you prep witnesses before you put them on the stand to know what they're going to say. you don't tell them what to say. i think the question after that about the timing of the conversation didn't do the defense any favors. before that, you just had this in the air that this witness was prepped. then we find out that that was actually before the testimony began. we still haven't heard anything to contradict the fact that
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there have been no financial benefit. i believe judge mcafee is going to return to that. what evidence have you presented in this hearing to say that this d.a. and this special prosecutor have benefitted to the point that creates a personal interest in this case such that they should be disqualified? i still haven't seen it. >> of course, we will hear more later this afternoon. we heard the state has at least one more witness to call. they are waiting for this other defense witness to come back, terrence bradley. the court in a break until 1:00. please stay close. there's more ahead as we continue our special coverage of this hearing that could upend georgia's election case. president biden is to speak in minutes about the death of
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we are following other breaking news today. russia's jailed opposition lead leader alexi navalny died. >> his wife called on people to stand up for her husband today at the munich security conference. >> translator: if it is the truth, i would like putin and all his staff, everybody around him, his government, his friends, i want them to know that they will be punished for what they have done with our country, with my family and with my husband. they will be brought to justice. this day will come soon.
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>> let's bring in monica alba. we await comments from the president any moment now. at this point, what are we hearing from the white house? >> reporter: you can certainly expect this would be a topic that president biden would want to speak out on. it was back in 2021 in geneva after he met with president putin that he was asked specifically whether he delivered a message to the russian president about what would happen if navalny were to die in prison. he told putin it would be devastating for russia. we are waiting to hear from the president to get a sense of what that might be. i think you can expect the administration to point to the fact it's early hours and they are still waiting for some more official confirmation perhaps before being able to say more on this issue. it's something that the
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president has reiterated, that this is really a matter that violates international norm. he has continued to raise his concerns about the treatment of navalny while he was in prison for some time. we heard those comments from national security advisor jake sullivan earlier today. this is really a situation where you have to put into context these broader comments that the president and his top officials have made about president putin being a dictator and his treatment of those who oppose him, who speak out against him, and the treatment that those opponents often face and often receive and often see. and they have really highlighted that. i think you can expect the president to talk about that more generally, more broadly. but he will be pressed on what happens next and also what kind of communication now there will be between the u.s. and russia on this. we know there have been talks between the two countries in the last couple of days on other
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issues, on national security threats and other topics. where that goes from here is really notable on a day where also the president's re-election campaign is launching a new ad that specifically calls out former president trump for his embrace of vladimir putin and what they call traitorist comments on the nato alliance in the last few days. >> monica alba, stay close. as soon as the president begins to speak, we will bring that to you. andrea mitchell joins us from munich. she's joined by senator chris murphy. >> thanks so much. this has been a shock. the death of navalny. i covered his story. i talked to his people and met with his advocates. he bravely went back into what
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was a death sentence we all thought. today, it became a reality. we were both in the conference hall when kamala harris spoke to it and said that we don't -- we assume it's putin. we haven't confirmed that yet. we assume it's putin. then she finished her speech with a blast at putin and trying to reaffirm u.s. support for ukraine, which i know is your passion. and then just walking out on the stage to our surprise was his wife. >> extraordinary. >> what was your reaction? >> an extraordinary moment. her speech was short and to the point. vladimir putin murdered my husband. there's no doubt about that. he has to pay a price. this conference in which the world is really deciding whether we are going to stay with ukraine or whether we are going to allow putin to march into
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ukraine and perhaps into europe, the stakes just got raised because you have seen the clear sickness and brutality of vladimir putin who is so insecure about his hold on power that he needed to murder one of his last remaining political opponents on the brink of his election, that he was sure to win 98-2. that's not good enough for him. my hope -- i think her hope is this puts steel in the spine of the united states that maybe some of the republicans that are running away from ukraine and to president trump to decide that democracy is worth it. if you abandon ukraine, you are abandoning democracy crusaders all across the world, people like navalny who are speaking truth to power in dictatorships throughout the world. their light is flickering today and perhaps goes out if we
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abandon the legacy of navalny and the freedom fighters in ukraine. we can't do it. >> i was speaking to mike mcfaul, a close friend to navalny. he had dinner with his wife last night. she had not heard or seen anything. they had seen a video of him in the last 24 hours. he was not ill. there was nothing physically wrong with him. he was out for a walk. suddenly, he is dead. that raises such suspicions. no one i have spoken to here has any doubt that this is an assassination. >> i have no doubt it was an assassination. in part because this is par for the course. every single high profile political opponent of putin has been murdered by this regime. second, it comes just weeks before an election in which putin clearly wants to send a signal that if you are even thinking of being a public opponent of me and my crowd of
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oligarchs, you are going to pay a price of your life. this, to me, is an open and shut case. this is a murder, one that has to come with consequences. >> i was talking to your colleague, who is leading the delegation, republican dan sullivan, who fought with you for the ukraine funding, and then everyone had their -- the rug pulled out from them in the house when donald trump came out against it. he was talking about how we are here, the delegation, to show the allies resolve in the fight for ukraine. zelenskyy will be here meeting with the vice president tomorrow. vice president harris spoke about fighting for ukraine. what kind of resolve when the united states house will not vote on a supplemental for ukraine? europe has done $54 billion two weeks ago. >> i think it's incredibly important we are here just days after the senate voted 70-30 in
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favor of ukraine aid. that's not enough republicans but it's a big bipartisan vote. it puts pressure on the house of representatives. we need to shake some sense into the house and make them understand that if you don't stop putin here, it's very possible that there well be u.s. troops, men and women dying fighting putin inside europe. we have to make them understand, this would be a devastating blow to u.s. credibility, just two years after putin's invasion, we pull up stakes and tell ukraine they are on their own? no one will sign up for an alliance with the united states. no one will come to our defense ever again if they think we're this kind of unreliable partner. the stakes are high. they were going into today. with navalny's death, they get higher. our hope is the vote in the senate can put pressure on leadership in the house to at least call the bill for a vote. it will pass the house if they call it for a vote. that's all they have to do. >> you have seen the intelligence. i've done the interviews.
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obviously, i can't look at the intelligence. you were persuaded that ukraine is running out of ammo, they don't have air defenses, they don't have the kind of atacms, long-range weapons, they can only get from the united states, and that it all gets plowed back into our defense industry. it's a jobs program. it helps our own gdp. >> you don't have to listen to me. president zelenskyy himself says if the united states doesn't continue to support us, we will lose the war. right now, on many days, ukraine is firing one-quarter the artillery shells that russia is. you cannot hold the line if you are firing 25% as many rounds of ammunition as your opponent is. europe will try to fill in the balance if the united states steps out. there are certain weapon systems that only the united states can provide. if we cut off aid, it's likely a matter of time before kyiv is a russian city. that's not hyperbolic.
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that's just the truth of what american aid means to ukraine. >> you are a democrat, but you have been a long supporter of ukraine for years. what do you think about the republican frontrunner and former president embracing vladimir putin and criticizing nato? >> he has given a green light to putin to continue his fight in ukraine. he telegraphed to putin, if i'm president, i will let you into europe. europe will fight. but without the united states, it will be difficult to maintain european security absent the united states' help. we are potentially on the verge of world war iii. that message is not just to russia. it's to china as well. they will start to move on neighboring nations if they think that trump is not going to defend the post world war ii order. >> thank you so much. >> thank you.
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>> back to you. >> thank you so much. >> worth mentioning that we have reached out to donald trump and his campaign. they have not put out any specific statement related to the death of navalny. that was five hours ago. or responded to our request. >> we are expecting the president any minute now. you see the podium is set up inside the white house. we expect to see the president speak about the reported death of putin critic navalny any moment now. >> you are watching special coverage only on msnbc. rage onlc l new footlong sidekick. we're talking a $2 footlong churro. $3 footlong pretzel and a five dollar footlong cookie. every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick. order one with your favorite subway series sub today. ( ♪♪ ) we're still going for that nice catch. we're still going for that sweet shot. and with higher stroke risk from afib
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welcome back. we are expecting to see president biden momentarily here speaking about the reported death of putin critic alexei navalny. he will join us from the white house. >> i want to bring back monica alba and andrea mitchell in munich. monica, we can expect the president in a minute or so to speak specifically and uniquely about navalny? >> reporter: yes, i think that's right. he may echo something we heard from the vice president earlier in munich where andrea is. she said if confirmed, this would be another sign of president putin's brutality. that's how she framed and phrased it. i think that's something you are likely to hear from the president. as they gather more information and more facts about his reported death that the vice president said, make no mistake,
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whatever happens, russia is a countable here and will be held responsibility. the president is speaking shortly about what that might look like as the vice president is in munich to reassure the allies about what the united states is going to do about continued funding for ukraine. that's the backdrop to the larger conversation that top political advisers here are continuing to have about what message this sends to the world if the u.s. does not continue to help ukraine in its continued defense against the russian invasion, now almost at the two-year mark, it will be next week. i think the president could likely touch on some of that as well. here he comes to address the reported death of alexei navalny. >> good afternoon. i'm heading off in a moment. i wanted to say a few things
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this morning about alexei navalny. you know, like millions of people around the world, i'm literally both not surprised and outraged by the news, the reported death of alexei navalny. he stood up to the corruption, the violence and all the bad things that the putin government was doing. putin had him poisoned. he had him arrested. he had him prosecuted for fabricated crimes. he sentenced him to prison. he was held in isolation. even all that didn't stop him from calling out putin's lies. even in prison, he was a powerful voice for the truth, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. he could have lived safely in exile after the assassination attempt on him in 2020, which nearly killed him, i might add. but he was traveling outside the country at the time.
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instead, he returned to russia. he returned to russia. knowing he would likely be imprisoned, or even killed, if he continued his work. he did it anyway, because he believed so deeply in his country, in russia. reports of his death, if they're true -- i have no reason to believe they're not -- russian authorities are going to tell their own story. make no mistake, make no mistake, putin is responsible for navalny's death, putin is responsible. what has happened to navalny is more proof of putin's brutality. no one should be fooled, not in russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world. putin does not only target his citizens of other countries, as we see in what's going on in ukraine right now, he inflicts terrible crime on his own people and people across russia around the world are mourning navalny today because he was so many things that putin was not. he was brave.
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he was dedicated to building a russia where the rule of law existed and where it applied to everybody. navalny believed in that russia, that russia. he knew it was a cause worth fighting for. obviously, even dying for. this tragedy reminds us of the stakes of this moment. we have to provide the funding so ukraine can keep defending itself against putin's vicious attacks. there was a bipartisan bill that passed to fund ukraine. i mean this, history is watching. history is watching the house of representatives. the failure to support ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten. it's going to go down in the pages of history. it is. it's consequential. the clock is ticking. this has to happen. we have to help now.
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we have to realize what we're dealing with with putin. all of us should reject the dangerous statements made by the previous president that invited russia to invade our nato allies if they weren't paying up. he said if an ally did not pay their dues, he would encourage to do whatever the hell they want. i guess i should clear my mind here a little bit and not say what i'm really thinking. let me be clear, this is an outrageous thing for a president to say. i can't fathom -- they are rolling over in their graves hearing this. as long as i'm president, america stands by our commitment to our allies as they have stood by their commitments to us repeatedly. putin and the whole world should know, if any adversary were to attack us, our allies would back
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us. if putin were to attack a nato ally, the united states will defend every inch of nato territory. now is the time for greater unity to stand up to the threat that putin's russia poses. i sent my deepest condolences. we will continue his loss despite all of putin's attempts to stamp out the opposition. most of all, to his family, especially to his wife, his daughter and his son, who have sacrificed so much for their family and a shared dream for a better future for russia. i want to say, god bless alexei navalny. his courage will not be forgotten. i'm sure it will not be the only courage we see coming out of russia in the near term. thank you. i will be happy to take a couple questions. >> was this an assassination? >> the answer is, we don't know exactly what happened. there's no doubt that the death
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of navalny was the consequence of something putin and his thugs did. >> to be clear, you warned vladimir putin when you were in geneva of devastating consequences if navalny died in russian custody. what consequences should he and russia face? >> that was three years ago. they faced a hell of a lot of consequences. they have lost and/or wounded 350,000 soldiers. they have been subjected to great sanctions across the board. we are contemplating what else could be done. what we are talking about at the time there were no actions being taken against russia. that has transpired since then. >> are you looking at increasing sanctions? >> we are looking at a number of options. that's all i will say right now. >> is there anything you can do to get ammunition to ukraine without the supplemental from congress? >> no. it's about time they step up.
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don't you think? instead of going on a two-week vacation? two weeks they are walking away. two weeks! what are they thinking? my god. this is bizarre. it's reinforcing all the concern and almost -- i won't say panic, but real concern about the united states being a reliable ally. this is outrageous. >> are you more confident you will get the ukraine aid given what's happened today? >> i hope to god it helps. the idea we need anything more to get the ukraine aid, i mean, this is -- in light of the former president's statement saying if they haven't paid their dues, go get 'em, come on. what are these guys doing? what are they doing? >> sir, how concerned are you about the anti-satellite
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capability russia is developing? what is the administration doing in response? >> there's no nuclear threat to the people of america or anywhere else in the world with what russia is doing at the moment. number one. number two, anything that they are doing or they will do relates to satellites in space and damaging of satellites potentially. number three, there's no evidence that they have made a decision to go forward with doing anything in space either. what we found out, there was a capacity to launch a system into space that could theoretically do something that was damaging. hadn't happened yet. my hope is it will not. >> thank you, mr. president. >> one more. >> mr. president, switching gears. have they presented a credible plan for the palestinians? what would the consequences be
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for israel if they move ahead with a ground invasion without clear measures to protect civilians? >> first of all, i have had extensive conversations with prime minister netanyahu over the last several days. almost an hour each. i have made the case and i feel very strongly about it that there has to be a temporary cease-fire to get the prisoners out, to get the hostages out. that is underway. i'm still hopeful that that can be done. in the meantime, i don't anticipate -- i'm hoping that israelis will not make any massive land invasion in the meantime. it's my expectation that's not going to happen. there has to be a cease-fire -- by the way, we're in a situation where there are american
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hostages, american citizens who are being held hostage. it's not just israelis. it's american hostages as well. my hope and expectation is that we will get this hostage deal, we will bring the americans home. a deal is being negotiated now. we are going to see where it takes us. >> an fbi informant at the center of the impeachment inquiry into you has been indicted for allegedly lying. your reaction to that? should the inquiry be brought? >> he is lying. it should be dropped. it's been -- it's been an outrageous effort from the beginning. see you in ohio. >> president biden from the
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white house delivering his first comments following the reported death of alexei navalny, a putin critic who we learned died this morning, according to russian state media, quoting prison officials. he died in a russian prison. back with us, monica alba and andrea mitchell. he did not mince words. putin is responsible for navalny's death he just said. >> he says, there's no doubt about it. echoing what the vice president said here. what people here are saying -- you heard chris murphy here live. the actions of vladimir putin imprisoning him and repeatedly threatening him led to his death, no matter whether it was this incident or another. no one here whom i have spoken to and the president of the united states does not believe this was anything but a targeted assassination. they don't have proof. they can't actually say that they have proof. they don't have intelligence yet. it's too soon.
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he said, make no mistake, it's the brutality of vladimir putin that made this happen. he spoke passionately. this president, as the former head of the foreign relations committee, vice president, believed fervently that navalny was heroic in his willingness to go back. he referred to that. he could have lived in exile. he went back knowing he would be imprisoned. he survived one assassination attempt from the putin thugs and went back knowing he would be imprisoned and would likely die. that's the heroism that made him a martyr even before this. now, literally a martyr. i tell you, the people here are devastated. i think you heard the passion. clearly, the president trying to get the house moving on the ukraine aid, because that is vladimir putin's potential victory. i have talked to officials -- former officials and current officials in europe, in the
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united states, european leaders who believe that all the intelligence shows that zelenskyy cannot last even a year if he does not get this aid. he needs the american weapons. he needs the money that will buy those weapons and those weapons that are only produced in the united states. right now, they are at a standoff. they don't have ammunition. you heard all of the support for that from intelligence, from officials speaking. zelenskyy will be here tomorrow trying to make that point that they are in the trenches. it's in the snow. they can't fight back. they are holding a line. they can't retake any territoryt fight back. they're holding a line. they certainly can't retake any territory. so navalny becomes a symbol of this resistance, of the ukrainian resistance. the president's trying to make that case and trying to get this out of the house, and i think you heard, you know, echoes of
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harry truman, the fighting words, they're taking a two-week vacation. who does that? they're up against a budget deadline. the passion there was very emotional from the president. i think that was legitimate. i want to also say, jose and ana, i talked to mike mcfaul who's grieving the loss of his friend, and yulia -- i don't think he would mind my saying -- called him and asked him to have his wife back home reach out to their daughter who is at school in the united states on the west coast, but she said, yulia said, you heard her say this you just played it a little while ago, that she wanted to be with her children, you know, obviously fly back to find them and be with them, but she thought what would alexei do. what he did repeatedly in his life was to go into the battle and that's what yulia navalny, that's what she did today.
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>> i'm so glad that the president was so clear on how he spoke of navalny and the many attempts by putin and his regime to, you know, poison him, arrest him, detain him, beat him, paint him with green paint in his face. all of this, it's not like -- and andrea, in authoritarian regimes and specifically russia, you know, it's not just 1940 trotsky being hit over the head in mexico city with an ice pick to kill him, it's also the responsibility that you have to keep someone like that alive unless you decide not to. >> reporter: well, it's -- and i was speaking to dan sullivan earlier, i referred to that, he said these are the regimes, it's putin, you know, it's kim jong-un. it's the iranian mullahs, their people don't support them, so they're insecure. chris murphy, you know, also
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spoke to that. they are so insecure, so afraid of being overthrown that they use murder and they use security forces. i mean, you know it from cuba and other regimes, this is what totalitarian leaders do. they keep their thumb on the necks of people. we saw the women in iran who aren't being written about as much as they should be, but you know how heroic they were. and some dying in jail. no price to be paid, well, it's up to the freedom fighters and the world leaders, the democracies gathered here to do something about it. >> and monica, we heard our colleague peter alexander ask a question there about potential consequences putin and his regime could face for all of this, and he quoted the president directly from a couple of years ago when he said there would be devastating
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consequences if navalny were to die in prison. the president wasn't clear that there would be some kind of devastating consequence now that it has happened, was he? >> reporter: that's right, ana, and i think those were really important questions from our colleague peter alexander who also asked was this an assassination point-blank, and the president said we're still gathering information, but in effect, it doesn't really matter because putin is responsible, because russia is going to be held accountable for this death, but what was notable if that follow-up answer is he said since he made those comments in 2021 about potentially devastating consequences, the biden administration has issued plenty of sanctions on the russian government and key players there that they feel is what would be kind of part of this potential response that could continue. so that's something that will be evaluated, but he did point to that as something that has happened in the years since navalny was jailed, and then i just want to also point out something that's related to all of this that was asked in the room about that potential national security threat from a
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russian military capability in space related to satellites. the president spoke out on that saying there is no nuclear threat right now to americans or to the world that russia has not decided to activate or go forward yet with that capability. so he wanted to put that message out there since we've been talking about that a lot over the last couple of days. another important question from our esteemed colleague peter alexander, at the end of the press conference he asked them about that fbi informant who has been charged and arrested in connection to the impeachment inquiry that house republicans have launched against the president into potential business dealings between hunter biden and his father and he said that he believes that impeachment inquiry should be dropped because of that. >> monica alba at the white house, andrea mitchell in munich, thank you so very much. >> thanks, ladies, and thank all of you for joining us throughout our special coverage today. we are about five minutes now from when that hearing in georgia is expected to get
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good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city, and we are tracking three enormously consequential stories unfolding simultaneously as we come on the air. in fulton county, the courtroom drama has become a family