to the hypothetical, we need to get the hypothetical, as of right now, president joe biden controls the delegates, controls the party. things can always end up changing if there needs to be a different course. >> and he got those delegates because of the vote of millions of democrats. mark murray, thank you so very much. that wraps up the who for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media and watch clips from our show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," joe biden's political fate hanging in the balance as democrats hold their breath before the president's first solo news conference tonight in eight months, with the pressure building for him to drop out, including yet another house democrat calling for him to step aside in the last hour. top biden campaign advisors

meeting with democratic senators today, promising to reveal biden's game plan for defeating donald trump. the president's meeting with president zelenskyy as nato declares an irreversible path to membership for ukraine to the alliance and slams china for propping up putin's war machine. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. tonight, with his candidacy for a second term on the line, a big test for president biden. his first solo news conference in eight months, fielding questions from the white house press corps at the conclusion of the nato summit. fewer than any of his predecessors with the exception of ronald reagan. a rare, unscripted event. a chance to stop the bleeding from democratic house members, donors and voters all concerned that the president is not up to defeating donald trump or if he does win, serving for another four years.

a new "washington post" abc news poll out today showing a majority of democrats across the country saying the president should end his candidacy. also, that poll finding that in a head-to-head matchup with donald trump, the two are virtually tied. last hour, a 12th house democrat said that president biden should step aside as the nominee. yesterday, vermont senator peter welch became the first democratic senator to publicly call on the president to exit the race. today, chuck schumer walking back a report that he is open to a different candidate on the top of the ticket. the house caucus are set to speak with -- excuse me, the senate caucus members are set to speak with biden campaign advisors to void concerns, including how members' calls to the white house have gone

unanswered. we expect to hear from house party leader hakeem jeffries later this hour. we begin with gabe gutierrez, ali vitali, susan page, and phil rucker. gabe, how is the president preparing, how is the white house gearing up for this news conference, as well as monday's exchange with nbc news anchor lester holt? >> reporter: white house aides say the president is preparing for the solo news conference this afternoon like he does for other solo news conferences. we should point out, this is his first of the year. it was eight months ago since he held a solo news conference. typically, over the last several months, he held a few news conferences with world leaders. but they tend to be those types of conferences where he takes two questions from domestic reporters and two questions from international reporters. this news conference is expected

to go much longer. this also comes, andrea, as there's so much attention on this unscripted event. that is something that the white house and the campaign says it plans to do more of. you mentioned the interview on monday with lester holt. as we have been reporting, a lot of lawmakers on capitol hill will be looking to these events to be able to tell how the president is doing, whether he is up to the job. the white house is trying to focus on substance here. we heard from jake sullivan a few moments ago talking about how the nato summit is going. hearing that at least according to the national security advisor, there's been a lot of praise for president biden and everything he is doing for ukraine. the president trying to focus on preserving global alliances. one more thing we have just learned, first lady dr. jill biden will not be at the solo press conference this afternoon. she will be hosting world leaders at camp david. the spouses of world leaders at camp david.

the white house is trying to manage a balancing act. knowing they have to get the president in front of a lot of eyes this afternoon and over the next couple days, they are trying to maintain that he does have a day job and he is trying to focus on this nato summit. >> ali, talk to us about the congressional democrats. refusing to take yes for an answer from the president. the president said he decided, starting with nancy pelosi's extraordinary comments on "morning joe" the other day, indicating they are not accepting that, they they still are sounding off, and a lot are not happy. more have announced that. >> reporter: i think that's true. it's long been the case here that more members are unhappy, panicked, concerned than are willing to say so publicly. that being said, i have been told by several members here that they do expect more of their colleagues on the house side to come forward and either voice those concerns about biden's electability or outright call for him to step down as the

party's nominee. most recently, we heard from a congresswoman just elected, a freshman from michigan's 3rd district, effectively saying, pass the torch. that's an argument you and i will remember was made by younger members of the democratic party against biden during the 2020 primaries, specifically several house members saying that then it was time for biden to pass the torch. that argument clearly being revived by some on the house democratic ranks. you are right that we will hear from the top democratic, hakeem jeffries, in the next half hour or so. he has been steadfast in saying that he is supporting the president. he has been clear -- this is the way he handled running this caucus since he took the helm from nancy pelosi. he really is letting members air their grievances, share their concerns. he told members that he plans to relay those to the president. there's no set time frame on when that conversation might happen. look, on the senate side of this building, one of the key things we had been waiting for is if any democratic senator would go

so far as to say that biden should step down as the nominee. i talked to senator peter welch in the last hour. gave the white house the leds up before he released his statement he didn't think biden should be the nominee any longer. what he said was clear. his opinion was formed in the moment where he says this is a point where the white house should be showing, not telling. but they are going to be telling democrats, top members of the campaign meeting a few blocks from the capitol, trying to share their strategy going forward. welch as he says biden shouldn't be the nominee told me he is going to the meeting. >> susan, from all your years covering presidents and news conferences, this is among the fewest we have seen. the last solo press conference lasted 20 minutes. it was a xi meeting. usually that's a joint press conference. i'm presuming that president xi did not submit to questions from the press.

that's a pretty bad contrast. ronald reagan had fewer. he had none that i recall in his re-election year of 1984. from the day he announced to the day he was elected. that's hardly a good example at this point. >> this has been the subject of some considerable criticism of president biden and his white house, that he has done so few news conferences. and so few interviews with mainstream reporters. the question has been, is this a standard protection? have they been shielding him from letting reporters and americans see a decline in his mental acuity? that's the question that reporters have. i think the first question we will hear at this news conference, or maybe the second, is nancy pelosi says it's time to make a decision. you say you have made a decision. any possibility you will reconsider whether to run again, because that is where the debate

is now focused? >> phil, there's been so much reporting in print, "the washington post" had speculation some democrats are holding off judgment until after the nato summit. i've been told that as well. there's also reporting in "the post" that there was some dissent among labor leaders, despite the unanimous afl\cio endorsement. they reported there were some member disagreeing in the congressional black caucus with that very quick endorsement from the cbc. >> yeah. my colleagues at "the post" are reporting there's dissent, both within labor leadership, which is the key democratic constituency to turn out the votes, especially in michigan and pennsylvania, that biden is going to need to win to win re-election. a lot of dissent on capitol hill, both among house democrats and among senate democrats.

there's a lot more anxiety and concern than we are able to see publicly right now. these politicians are thinking about their own political futures as well as the president's political future. they are getting internal polling data that shows a real collapse in biden support in a number of critical battleground states. that's according to my colleagues. the expectation among democratic leaders is that beginning friday, tomorrow, after the nato summit ends, we could see an increase in the number of public defections, that is democratic leaders actually calling for biden to step down as the nominee. of course, his performance at tonight's news conference is going to be a key indicator. i think if he has a bad performance at that news conference, you may see more concern, more defections tomorrow. out of respect for him as the leader of the united states at a time when he is hosting all of the foreign leaders in washington, some leaders are holding their comments privately

for now. we could see a public wave tomorrow. >> of course, one of the downsides of this, for them, those who want a change, is that they don't know what that change would mean or who it would be. would it be kamala? this could open up another set of concerns. let me just ask you also about those labor leaders. i read in "the post" that that includes sean feign from the uaw as well as sara nelson from the flight attendants, is that correct? >> our reporting is that there were concerns raised yesterday. biden had a private meeting with the labor leaders yesterday in washington. there are concerns among those labor leaders and others about his electability and whether he can actually beat president trump. to the point made earlier about this meeting today with biden campaign leadership and the

democratic senators, there's a real urgency from democratic leaders to hear a specific plan of action from the biden team to actually have them prove whether he can win -- whether he can beat trump and how. people are looking for a game plan and are not convinced about that. >> it's going to be a real data crunch. they want to see the game plan as well. >> gabe, ali, susan, phil, thanks for starting us off. we have a quick note, monday lester holt sits down with president joe biden in an exclusive interview. watch a preview on "nbc nightly news," then the full unedited interview at 9:00 eastern on nbc. world leaders meeting here in washington working to boost ukraine while preparing for what

a possible return of donald trump could bring to the white house. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in just 90 seconds. stay with us. you are watching msnbc.

nato nations are trying to trump-proof the defense alliance, making long-term commitments to ukraine in particular before a possible trump victory in november. only this week, mr. trump criticized nato members, even though 23 out of 32 have now met their targeted commitments.

only nine had before. he did get that moved from three to nine when he was president. yesterday, i asked secretary-general stoltenberg about nervousness among the allies about donald trump returning to the white house. >> i expect the united states to remain a staunch and important ally. the main criticism from former president trump but also from other u.s. presidents has not primarily been against nato. it has been against nato allies not investing enough in nato. that has changed. the clear message has had an impact. >> joining us now, kevin baron and alexander vindman, a senior advisor at vote vets and a whistle-blower during the first impeachment. kevin, your colleague jonathan

martin is reporting the president's aides are calling delegates -- a delegate check on their loyalty at this point. >> yeah. it's been a remarkable week where -- i covered many nato summits over the years. we are usually not talking about not only is the president fit to be president or who will be the next president but who is going to be the next leader of the u.s., and all eyes are on this press conference this afternoon. frankly, i think a lot of people feel trains have left the station, and there's a sense of nato leaders that are used to the world leaders changing and trying to think of how nato will proceed in the future no matter who is in white house next year. >> i have never seen a nato summit quite like this. there's so much nervousness about donald trump. when i was asking stoltenberg, he said there's no way that the u.s. would leave nato. i think that's clear. there's bipartisan support for

it. stoltenberg was on the hill. zelenskyy was on the hill. zelenskyy did the reagan institute event. they have been trying to shore up the republican support as well. >> yeah. for years, there's been -- ever since trump came on the scene as president, the centrist republican national security bubble of its own has not been a part of that. they are lined to democrats who are professionals in the national security space, people in the halls at nato conferences. i feel what i'm hearing from inside the hall and seeing outside all week and hearing is a bit of -- europeans know who trump is. they know what to expect from him. nobody knows what to expect from a trump administration. nobody knows if trump really can end the war before he gets to office if he gets elected in november. or anything beyond that. we don't know what trump's national security team would be. people aren't talking -- i'm hearing less talk about what

trump may or may not do versus a lot of questions to these ministers and their staff about, what do you think about biden? that's the moment which no diplomat wants to answer. >> jake sullivan was saying, colonel vindman, that there's been nothing but praise from the allies. that's what you would expect from the allies to joe biden's face. what people are saying privately is that there's a lot of nervousness and remarking about how he is not the same joe biden that they initially knew back when he first was elected. >> sure. i think there's obviously a cloud over this momentous anniversary, the 75th anniversary of the founding of nato, that has to do with entirely u.s. domestic politics. it's been a robust agenda. doubling down on the rhetoric

around ukraine eventually joining nato. steps are being taken. some concrete announcements moving forward. with regard to the war, charting a way forward when there was a long period of time in the 2000s, 2010s before the start of the ukraine war in 2014, where there was a lack of clarity about the utility of nato going forward. all of that is good. but the cloud over this is whether trump comes back in. it's frankly not a concern about, let's say, a democratic administration, if there was a change in leadership, for instance, i think that nato leadership would be satisfied with anybody but trump, recognizing that trump is an existential threat to the organization. of course, there are efforts to try to trump-proof. some of the ideas include

policies and steps that the u.s. congress has taken to block trump from unilaterally withdrawing many there's no real means to do that. a president has wide article 2 powers. he can choose to move in almost any direction he wants with regards to foreign policy. even if the u.s. stays in nato, there's a real erosion in the belief that nato article 5, this collective defense architecture holds, because the u.s. may not be there. the fear is, again, about trump returning and it affects the core principle of collective defense. there's no dealing with the issue if trump comes back in. his policy or his views are clear even if there are some different views from other potential folks coming in and saying that, nato -- the u.s. won't withdraw from nato. >> colonel vindman, china, they did agree strongly in their

communique, criticizing china for dual use supplies that are propping up vladimir putin. china today lashing out back at nato. >> i mean, it was the right thing to do. i think we -- the u.s. has been critical of china's involvement, growing involvement in ukraine. it's good to see the leadership -- can combined leadership of nato taking this united position. when i was there in ukraine recently, this was a deep concern from the ukrainians of chinese-made support, not necessarily military hardware but dual use technology showing up on the battlefield and the potential that china comes off the sidelines and starts provides weapons. regardless of how china responds with regard to the condemnation to nato's condemnation, they take note of the fact that there's a consolidated consensus view about a response to china

if china does come in. a lot of things being accomplished. a lot is being overshadowed -- a successful nato 75th anniversary summit being overshadowed by the threat of trump coming back in and what that means for security, the collective security of nato. >> kevin and alexander, thanks to both of you. inflation nation, how a key economic report released today could impact your bottom line and perhaps the president's. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.

[ put a little love in your heart by david ruffin begins to play ] my bad, my bad. good race. - you too. you were tough out there. thank you. i'm getting you next time though. oh i got you, i got you. down goes jewett. jewett and amos are down. what a lovely sign of sportsmanship. you okay? yeah. ♪ ♪

we have good news for a change on the inflation front. a big boost for american consumers. new data suggesting inflation cooled more than anticipated last month. the consumer price index showing inflation at 3% in june. that's up moderately as expected since last year. it's down from may's 3.3%. potentially paving the way for the federal reserve to actually cut interest rates. joining me now, jared bernstein. this is a bright light on the inflation front. we want to call it when we see it. >> that's right. thank you. it's great to be with you again, andrea. you are right, this is a really

important inflation report from the perspective of consumers. the inflation actually ticked down in june, actually prices went down by a tenth. we saw price decline in important areas for family budgets, gas, cars, appliances, electricity. i mean lower prices in those areas. our work is not done. president biden's cost cutting agenda is as important as ever. we will continue to implement, to push on it. boy, this is a sign that we are moving in the right direction. it doesn't just show up in prices. it shows up in real wage gains, which have been important in terms of boosting families' buying power. >> it doesn't show the overheating in any of the sectors. the core inflation, the numbers that the fed looks at before they decide whether or not to cut, those are are indicating

were also down? >> correct. very important from the perspective of the federal reserve. it takes out the more volatile gas and food prices to get a better bead on the trend. that came in under expectations and has been falling pretty steadily. one of the things people really don't like, even my own wife when i talk to her about this, why would you take out gas and food? that's what households care the most about. let's talk about them. gas prices were down very significantly in this report for june. that's some real breathing room at the pump. the same time, grocery prices, since january, have actually been slightly down. again, lower prices, not just less inflation. we feature that in a blog today on the cea website where we show just how high grocery inflation got and the round trip it has taken back to where it is now. again, more work to do to ease those prices that are still too high, including in the grocery aisles. but real progress.

>> i know it's not your job to figure out the politics of communicating that. but certainly, people don't feel it. it's not -- it's one of the big attack lines from the republicans. you know that. translating this is another challenge. let's talk about the vice president and president whom you have known and worked closely for for so many years. i have covered him for so many years. can you say he is still the person that you worked with in the white house all those years ago? >> i can unequivocally say that. it's not just based on a couple of days or a couple of weeks or one data point. it's based on a long relationship, as you just said. i was his chief economist when he was vice president. since then, i have been briefing him on economic reports exactly like this one. those briefings are frequent. they happen often. sometimes in person, sometimes over the phone. the guy on the other end of the

phone or sitting there in the oval talking to me about these reports is as sharp as ever. he is always asking exactly the right questions. sometimes forcing me to scurry back and figure out the answer to some of his tough questions. in a report like this, he wants to know, tell me how this will help consumers. tell me what this will mean around the kitchen table. tell me what the markets will do. tell me what the path of interest rates might be around there report. the president continues to press on exactly those issues in these very informative briefings we have been having for decades now. >> what's the mood in the white house these days? >> i can certainly tell you today that we love a good economic report. we started out this morning with our senior staff meeting. i got to go first, which is what happens with a good report.

it's very much consistent with what we are trying to do. keep our heads down, make sure that we are implementing the president's agenda, but also make sure that in conversations like this, we talk about our work with the president. we have a unique position, i guess i do in some ways in particular, because i've been with him for such a long time. we can tell anyone who is willing to listen that our interactions remain strong and his work on behalf of the american people is not just a set of good interactions with me and him. that's important but not the whole story. it's that he is delivering real tangible results, whether 15.7 million jobs or inflation down two-thirds off its peak. real wages up. that's delivering the goods on a daily basis. our interactions are as solid as ever. outcomes are strong, too. >> jared, thank you very much. >> thank you.

attack lines, next, how this week's nato summit is going to impact the war in ukraine and the way russia may respond. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. every time i dried it! it only takes a minute. look at that! the heavy duty cloths are extra thick, for amazing trap & lock. even for his hair. wow. you'll love swiffer or your money back. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. whoa! how'd you get your teeth so white? you gotta use the right toothpaste! dr. c?! ♪♪ not all toothpastes whiten the same. crest 3d white removes 100% more stains for a noticeably whiter smile. new personal best. crest. (aaron) i own a lot of businesses... so my tech and my network need to keep up. thank you, verizon business.

(kevin) now our businesses get fast and reliable internet from the same network that powers our phones. (aaron) so whatever'xt... we're cooking with fire. (vo) switch to the partner businesses rely on. even if you're not on summer vacation. join millions of families who've trusted us and find care in your area for kids, seniors, pets, and homes. all from background-checked caregivers, rated and reviewed by people like you. that's hours and hours of goofing around. hundreds of 'lovely afternoons'. mile after mile of w-a-l-ks. and acres of expertly cleaned floors. go to care.com now to find the care you need this summer.

this afternoon, president biden is scheduled to meet with ukraine's president zelenskyy after zelenskyy met with lawmakers on capitol hill yesterday. tuesday night, he urged the u.s.

to lift restrictions and allow ukraine to strike bases deep inside russia. last night i asked secretary-general stoltenberg about zelenskyy's push to carry out strikes across the border. >> we need to remember what this is. this is a war of aggression. russia has attacked a neighbor, violated their territorial integrity, invaded ukraine with troops, missile, tanks, air strikes. ukraine -- that's a violation of international law. according to international law, ukraine has the right for self-defense. >> joining us now, pleased to have former nato supreme commander retird admiral stavridis. stoltenberg said they have the right.

it was a clear pitch to the republicans and he met with them on the hill as well. jake sullivan was briefing us and said there's no plan to change the u.s. position. the u.s. is isolated on this. i believe the uk new prime minister is in favor. >> yes. >> untieing their hands. their point is they need to go 150 to 500 kilometers inside russia because that's where the bombers are taking off. >> yeah. just as an aside, boy, we are all going to miss the outgoing secretary-general of nato. he just -- his thinking is so crisp and clear. he just clips at you like a viking warship, which is suitable considering he is from norway. having said that, i'm with the

secretary-general on this. i think that without question, under international law -- don't forget, i was the dean of a graduate school of international law. this is part of my wheelhouse. ukraine has every right here. i think your metrics are about right. >> admiral -- admiral, i hate to interrupt. let's go to hakeem jeffries being asked about joe biden. >> they continue until that process has concluded. i'm not going to address what any outside stakeholders may have to say about this matter. >> how much longer can you allow this to go on before it wounds him? >> house democrats, senate democrats and president biden are unified on the affirmative agenda that we have for the american people related to

lowering housing costs or ending price gouging or growing the middle class, defending democracy and fighting for reproductive freedom. president biden, house democrats and senate democrats are also united in pushing back against project 2025 and the extreme maga republican agenda. that's unifying, not dividing us. >> leader jeffries, president biden said he is staying in this race. do you think it's time for him to reconsider that, based on what you are hearing? >> our conversations have been candid, comprehensive and clear-eyed. they are ongoing. hold on. right there. you. >> thank you. you have another member calling for biden to step aside. others are coming closer to that conclusion. are you worried biden is a liability for your most

vulnerable members? >> no. [ inaudible ] >> house democrats will win back control of the house of representatives on november 5th and vacate the extreme maga republican majority as long as we are able to clearly communicate our agenda of putting people over politics, lowering costs, growing the middle class, defending fundamental freedoms and democracy and contrast that with the extreme maga republican agenda, which will destroy working families and the middle class way of life as we know it. thanks. >> do you believe biden has made a final decision? >> as i indicated, house democrats are engaged in conversations with house

democrats at this moment in time. those conversations have been candid, clear-eyed and comprehensive. that's important for us to do as a house democratic caucus family. as long as those conversations are ongoing, i'm going to respect the sanctity of those conversations until we conclude that process. >> thank you very much, leader jeffries. i want to ask about appropriations. last time the speaker's job was threatened, it was your caucus that bailed him out, gave him support to survive. that was important to him maintaining his job. what are your priorities for the appropriations process that's underway? do you plan to use your leverage over the speaker to get some of your -- >> hakeem jeffries, the democratic leader saying very clearly that house democrats are engaged in conversations among

themselves, among the democratic family. that as long as those conversations, which have been candid, comprehensive and clear-eyed, continue, that they are ongoing. so there's no conclusion. admiral stavridis, i interrupted you. i'm sorry. you were saying something that i agree with, which is that stoltenberg is a treasure to the alliance. i can say that. this is his last big nato summit. he has been an extraordinary leader. i'm going to interview him tonight at the conclusion of nato after his news conference. let's talk about where those bases are and why the u.s. is almost the lone holdout against international law, which stoltenberg articulated, which is that it's a war of aggression, russia started it, ukraine has the right to defend itself. the incoming is coming from those bases. they know where they are. they have got the atacms.

they have the ability to strike them. they will have f-16s this summer. why would that be escalatory when vladimir putin is hitting targeted hits on a children's hospital in ukraine's capital city of kyiv? with many people dead and injured. >> i predict that the administration will change course on this. you are correct, all of our allies essentially the ones that have the significant systems have already signed up to go in deeper inside russia. the conventional answer to the question why aren't we doing it would be, russia is a nuclear power, we don't want to escalate. that's the same logic that we have used to avoid sending abrams tanks, to avoid sending patriot batteries, to avoid sending above all the f-16s. if we had done those things

sooner and had been also incremental, we would perhaps be in a stronger position. having said that, in my view, clearly the right thing to do as we say in the navy, batteries released to the ukrainians. i would give them a number, say 400 kilometers inside russia, and tell putin, this is coming. as long as you continue to strike ukrainian targets, your systems will be held at risk by systems built in the united states. i'm fine with that. >> russia today is even objecting to the new -- to moving the joint command or the coordinating command to germany with the training, which is one of the big steps from the communique today. we have had military all through the cold war and since in germany. let me ask you about china. a big piece of the communicate is pushing back against china

and accusing them of what the u.s. first accused china of more than a year ago at the munich security forum, which is not weapons transfers to vladimir putin but dual use technology and material, which is propping him up, aside from money and oil purchases and the sanction of asians. >> this is the right message from the nato alliance collectively, which by the way, china, here is the wake-up call. nato has 32 countries. it is over 50% of the world's gross domestic product. it's the largest market in the world collectively, nato. china, listen when we say to you, we are going to start imposing sanctions against you possibly if you continue to provide weapons of war to ukraine.

my sources tell me, i'm sure yours do as well, that the u.s. laid out a very strong intelligence case showing these dual use technologies, meaning things that could be used in a civilian product but are equally capable of being inserted, a chip, for example, into a drone system, that's what's flowing across the border. china needs to hear that message loud and clear from the alliance. i'm proud of the appliance for pushing back collectively on it. i think we have the economic leverage here. >> they also communicated an irreversible path for membership for ukraine, and the training and all of the battle coordination is going to help foster that. admiral, i'm sorry for the interruption. thank you. >> those conversations are private until members of the caucus decide to make them

public. kevin? >> after the last two weeks, even with all -- there was a polling that suggested biden and trump are neck and neck. is there a case you can make for staying the course with biden as the nominee? on top of that, if you don't follow what the concerns are of some of the members coming out and speaking and don't call on biden to resign and he loses, you don't get the house, you don't become speaker, why should the members trust your political judgement? >> we will work as hard as we can to win back control of the united states house of representatives in november. i think at the end of any election cycle, people are going to evaluate what the performance of house democratic leaders has been in achieving the objective. that involves candidate recruitment. that involves house much

resources the dccc is raising relative to our counterparts on the extreme maga republican side of the aisle. it also involves what happens in any high profile special elections that may occur during the course of the 118th congress, including ones that may happen to emerge in your own backyard. the record will speak for itself. i'm not going to characterize it as this moment. all of this information is in the public domain. >> do you think president -- your meeting -- >> thank you. >> >> with zelenskyy yesterday, if i may ask, have you been talking about the restrictions on the ukrainian army and how congress may help ukraine with that, and also, have you been talking about securing aid to ukraine in the future, in the next year? >> we have not had any conversation about future appropriations but we had a very

thoughtful and candid and comprehensive and meaningful discussion with president zelenskyy and his team yesterday. i was, of course, joined at that meeting by katherine clark and pete aguilar, nancy pelosi, some of the leaders of committees of jurisdiction. at that conversation, we talked about how we can fully implement the legislative product that was produced in connection with the national security package. and we also talked about the stakes being incredibly high. this is a moment in the world where we are locked in an existential struggle between democracy and autocracy.

between freedom and tyranny. between truth and propaganda. the united states and ukraine stand on the side of democracy, freedom, and truth. vladimir putin stands on the side of autocracy, tyranny, and propaganda, and is engaging in brutal tactics such as bombing a children's hospital. russian aggression must be stopped at all cost for the good of the ukrainian people, for the good of america's national security interests and for the good of the free world. we made clear to president zelenskyy we will be with him every step of the way until russian aggression has been defeated. we discussed a wide variety of issues in terms of how to

operationalize the legislative effort that was passed and signed into law by president biden, great leadership in that regard from president biden. and we will follow up our conversation with president zelenskyy with members of the administration. [ inaudible ] >> are you concerned the conversations that are going on with your members speaking to the press about biden's candidacy are a distraction from the message you could be spreading? >> president biden is meeting right now with president zelenskyy of ukraine. we're trying to fix the audio from the pool at nato. let's listen. i think we can hear it now. >> i announced a historic donation of air defense equipment to ukraine.

today i'm proud to announce new security systems package for ukraine. this will be the eighth package i have authorized since we signed the national security bill. the secretary of defense can talk about what the details of all that are. i signed it last night. and we're working with our nato allies to insure ukraine is flying f-16s this summer and show the world we stand with ukraine now and in the future. mr. president, thank you again for being here. we have a lot of work to do together. i yield the floor to you. >> thank you so much. mr. president, thank you very much for the invitation to the summit and thank you for such strong news about the security package. i'm grateful to you, your team, your administration. of course, congress, both parties, both chambers. all americans for the vital, strong support of ukraine and

ukrainian people. together we are saving lives of our people. you mentioned about kharkiv. thanks to your support, thanks to our soldiers, really, it was tough work, but they did it. and together we are preserving ukraine's independence and freedom. historic actions that will protect the world from similar wars. i especially want to thank today president biden for his support and personal statement following the russian strike on the children's hospital in kyiv. this is our largest children's hospital. it was a direct hit by russian missile. that's why we're grateful appreciating your decisions for our air defense, thousands of other systems. and we have, and i want to also speak today how we can continue

support and also want to discuss, mr. president, how we can stop russian terror with this big problem for us. it's guided bombs, and of course, we need some quick steps to lift all limitations for our ukrainian soldiers. and of course, we are thankful for that you helped us to save our energy. it's tough for people without energy, but anyway, we're thankful to you and partners and of course, we'll discuss the war. we must have this war justly and for peace to return as soon as possible. we need a second peace summit this year. thank you for your participation and we're counting heavily on america's support in this.

god bless america. >> we will stay with you, period. thank you, press. >> and as you saw, they were not taking any questions. the president will have a news conference later tonight that is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. eastern. in his meeting with president zelenskyy, he recounted that he is getting the f-16s. they were promised more than a year ago from the u.s., but the training and delivery took all that time, and they're finally going to be delivered this summer. president zelenskyy mentioned

that he -- his gratitude for what they were getting in air defenses, wants to talk about how to stop russian terror, from the missiles, the guided missiles and the bombs, the guided bombs. well, that is code for being able to strike back against the russian bases. as recently as an hour and a half ago, jake sullivan told us reporters that there's no change in that u.s. policy restricting them from going deeply into russian territory, other than border strikes. in any case, the news conference with hakeem jeffries has just concluded. garrett haake is with us now. talk to me about hakeem jeffries from everything that we saw from that news conference, they're taking their time. they're still talking with the caucus. he's been quoted as saying that he's going to relay their concerns. and ryan nobles is reporting from the hill that a lot of

democrats have deep concerns, many more than the ten or 12, ten that we're hearing from publicly, 12 that we know are concerned that he should step aside. >> reporter: that's right. while all this has been going on across town with nato, we have seen an effort by democratic congressional leaders and the biden campaign to keep the remaining congressional horses in the biden barn, if you will, on both chambers, essentially at the same time. on the senate side as we speak, there's a briefing going on or just beginning with top biden campaign officials talking with senators about the path forward. on the house side, hakeem jeffries has been fielding the same version of question, whether he will continue to support the ticket. what he's said in so many ways is this is an internal conversation that needs to happen among house members and he will, as you say, relay those results to the white house. what i think is interesting and notable about that, obviously,

is the president has made clear he has made his decision. here you have hakeem jeffries essentially relaying information that would inform a decision that has already been made, or does it suggest perhaps there's more that needs to be said or done here? but jefferies has been very careful to remain publicly committed to president biden and also made a point to focus his remarks on what he calls extreme maga republicans and project 2025, the effort sort of maybe backed, maybe not backed by donald trump about what he would do in a second term, trying to stay on the bullet points here, taking the fight to trump where he can, while house democrats figure out what exactly they want to do collectively about joe biden and when they want to say or do anything about it. >> and thank you, garrett haake, and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. chris jansing reports starts right now. good day. i'm chris jansing live at m