relics of a distant past. tonight well over 100,000 troops along the borders of this country along with tanks and missiles, we're seeing the kind of war fought years ago can happen again if we don't stop it. a chilling assessment just before air time from a source in a position to know. a russian attack on ukraine sometime this week is more likely than not. john berman here in for anderson. this comes at the end of a day that also saw the last american diplomats in kyiv shut down the embassy there. we're going to have live reports from kyiv and washington. we begin with stunning news from the accountants who for years kept the books for donald trump's business empire. now they're cutting ties with

trump. not only that, the accounting firm is also warning the trump organization and telling it to warn others not to rely on nearly a decade's worth of those fie financial statements. this comes amid an ongoing civil and criminal probe into the president. >> it was my experience that mr. trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in forbes and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes. >> three years later, here we are. what did mazar say in this letter to the trump organization? >> telling the trump organization they should no longer rely on nearly ten years of financial statements.

these were the financial statements mazar compiled for the trump organization. they made a very public filing last month that went into great detail about various misstatements, allegations of misstatements and omissions in these financial statements. everything from the size of donald trump's triplex at trump tower to golf courses to how much cash they had on and. they were not drawing any sharp conclusions about fraud here. they were saying while we have not concluded that the various financial statements contain material drepiscrepancies, we believe our advice to you no longer rely upon those. they said they would no longer

do any work because of a conflict of interest. >> how does this affect the attorney general's investigation? >> it's never good when your accountant says you can't rely on the financial statements. it emphasizes this point that the firm is cooperating with the investigation. donald bender, the lead partner w who has been the liaison with donald trump for years, he has been cooperating. he went before the grand jury last year. it's not a good sign. this also indicated that there is this break. mazar said trump came up with the numbers and they had compiled it. they're also saying we're unsure about this as all. >> what is the trump organization saying? >> they're trying to play it to their advantage. they're trying to imply this is an indication because mazar did

not outright find fraud, they're saying the investigations are moot. they're saying tish james and the d.a. are politically motivated. >> thank you for that reporting. joining us now gloria borger, timothy o'brien, the author of "trump nation, the art of being the donald." and jeffrey toobin. this letter from mazars, is it wrong to read into it? this is tantmamount to saying trump lied to us? >> it's the only logical inference you could draw. the accountant says give me your financial data and we will turn it into a tax return, a financial statement, but they rely on the candor and honesty of their clients and what this letter says is that we can't

rely on the candor and honesty of this client, the trump organization. now, who prepared the false information? who knew information that had been provided to the accountants was false? that's not disclosed here. was it donald trump himself? was it lower level people in the organization? not clear, but what is clear is that the numbers were wrong. >> common to do? >> super uncommon. by the way, the trump organization's comment that this somehow vindicates them is nuts. i mean, it's quite the opposite. >> gloria, you know the pushback is going to be this is an investigation being run by liberal democrats out to get trump. >> sure. >> can you lump an accounting firm you've worked with for decades into this liberals out to get me? >> no. the t accounting firm just fire

their client. they say it was based on information from what they called internal and external sources. meaning, we have done an investigation and for the last decade we have been telling you stuff that we now believe is no longer true. so try as the trump organization might to blame this on tish james or politics or whatever else, mazars has represented them for ten years. suddenly what are they going to do? turn on the accounting firm? i think it's very difficult for them to do that. if you're investors at some point looking to invest somewhere down the road with the trump organization and this has occurred, why would you ever do that? >> tim, you've written about the former president's finances for a long time. at one point he sued you for what he called was a low ball description of his net worth. did you ever think you'd see a

day when mazars just dumped him? >> no. only because they have been representing donald trump for longer than ten years. i find it rather mysterious why they're saying they suddenly decided something was amiss. mazars had represented trump for over two decades at this point. trump said during my deposition that he had given me these statements of financial condition and i ignored him. they never gave those to me, but they produced them during litigation. the documents we received during the litigation in the mid 2000s, mazar said we're not going to sign off on these as conforming with g.a.p., generally accepted accounting practices, because there's not enough here that makes us comfortable. they knew it was problematic long before a decade ago.

the new york attorney general and the manhattan district attorney were raising these questions. they said in the letter today that they filed that one of the things that convinced them to leave donald trump in the dust was because of new york attorney general tish james's january filing in which she laid out a number of examples in which trump had inflated his assets. that's not knew. trump was going that 20 years ago. but now they're exposed to the same investigation that's targeting trump. i think they're concerned about whether or not they've got criminal or civil exposure as a result of these investigations. i think the other practical implication of this is that donald trump is also in the midst of trying to refinance hundreds of millions of radolla in debt because his business holdings are under pressure and his accountant just walked out the door.

so the financial pressure has accelerated on him and his children and he has to scramble to find people who want to lend him money and are comfortable doing business with someone whose own accountants don't want to work with him. >> pertinent to both the civil investigation and the criminal investigation? >> yes. it's relevant to both because the core allegation that both are investigating is that trump inflated his assets. that is, submitted financial statements that were unduly and inaccurately large when he was trying to borrow money and submitted financial statements that were unduly small when he was being taxed. that's at the heart of both investigations. all of those submissions to the banks, to the tax authorities were prepared by these accountants who have now said

don't rely on these documents. >> gloria, i guess the question is what will this do to trump politically as he positions for the 2024 race? >> look, trump supporters are trump supporters. i think the question is for donald trump right now, how serious is this for him personally, financial ly. and given what's going on with the january 6th committee, he has a whole other circus going on there about accountability on january 6th. so i think the question is going to be what happens in the state of new york, first of all, and then you'll have to see what happens. his supporters will be there, but we have to really give this a little more time to play out. >> tim, we have about 30 seconds left. trump was deposed as part of your case. just remind our viewers how many times do you think he lied

during his deposition under oath? >> we caught him outlying about 30 times in that deposition on everything from his financial dealings to how much he got for speaking fees. he is pathologic on these things. >> jeffrey. >> i think the point tim is making about his financial condition, he needs to borrow money from someone. who is going to lend money to someone who doesn't even have an accountant? >> that's bad for the kids. it's really bad for ivanka and her brothers, who presumably would want to carry on the trump organization beyond him. thank you all very much. next, more on that kbgrim assessment that it's more likely than not that russia will attack this week. we'll have a live report from ukraine and washington.

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metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day. more developments tonight in the ukraine crisis. a source familiar with the central question tells cnn that a russian attack sometime this week is more likely than not. that sends a chilling message, as does the closing of the u.s. embassy in kyiv with remaining personnel relocating west. at the same time, the white house says a path for diplomacy remains open and similar signals from moscow brought the temperature down just a bit. there's been back and forth like that all day as russian forces continue to build up three sides on ukraine. white house officials spent the

day briefing top house and senate lawmakers from both parties, the tone afterwards somber at best. >> this is a very dangerous situation. i think at the same time you have to balance a second concern, which is just as important. that is how quickly something like this could escalate into something very dangerous and catastrophic. >> the only good news is diplomatic exchange continues. putin today indicated that he wanted it to continue. i'm looking for any positive news and i think that's positive. >> senator mark warner, who chairs the intelligence committee, also took note of putin's offer while underscoring the growing threat. quote, they could launch at any point, he said. nothing i heard today dissuaded me from that. secretary of state blinken today told personnel in kyiv to temporarily relocate due to the dramatic acceleration in the

buildup of russian forces. defense secretary austin will be heading to brussels this week to shore up allies. in kyiv, president zelensky and his wife posted a valentine's day on social media showing we are together, we are home in ukraine. this followed an earlier posting which his office later walked back which some wrongly interpreted that he was predicting the russians would invade on the 16th, just two days from now. we have correspondents on both side of the atlantic. clarissa ward in kyiv, kaitlan collins at the white house. how is the white house viewing this tonight? >> reporter: they're definitely concerned. you can hear it in their language the way they're talking about the potential attack. that came from the pentagon today when john kirby today was talking about the potential for an attack today. we are told by a source familiar they do believe a russian attack is more likely than not.

and if one does happen, it's likely to be more significant than insignificant. that is a lot of nuance and it remains to be seen what putin would ultimately do. officials caution they don't believe he's made a decision yet. it does speak to the level of concern they have here. they do have a sense here at the white house that very much an attack could happen as soon as this week. >> what's the latest about the closing of the embassy in kyiv? >> reporter: this is notable. they had removed all non-essential staff, told family members to go home several weeks ago. now that they've officially closed it, they were in the process of drawing it down, it does show the level of concern they have about where an attack could happen. it is in the capital city. they have removed remaining diplomats much closer to the border with poland. antony blinken said he believes this is just a temporary

movement. they don't say how long that's expected to last. we should note it does come amid some criticism from the ukrainian president where he said he believed that nations were moving their staff closer to poland that they believe that was a shortsighted decision. they don't believe it makes a difference to move the embassy staff to where they've been moving them. >> i want to go to kyiv and clarissa ward. what's the atmosphere there right now given the u.s. decision to close the embassy in kyiv and after this what the ukrainian officials are calling ironic facebook post from president zelensky where he mentioned a possible attack on the 16th? >> reporter: it's like watching a surreal split screen. there is a huge drepiscrepancy m the alarm, the concern, the warnings and the way people are

behaving on the ground and the way ukrainian leadership is handling this. president zelensky said there had been reports there would be an invasion on wednesday, the 16th. he's decided to call wednesday, the 16th a national holiday. it's going to be national unity day. people are going to fly flags and sing the national anthem. the idea being that he's trying to calm people down, to stop people from panicking and to really play down ultimately some of the threats that the u.s. intelligence community has been conveying to the ukraineians. underneath that is the reality that there is a grim picture taking place on the border and there are now preparations beginning slowly and calmly in a way that's designed not to upset the ukrainian people, but we heard from the mayor of kyiv today who talked about making sure shelters are ready.

he talked about ensuring evacuations would be carried out in a precise way. what to do if cell phone towers were taken out. we heard from president zelensky himself saying he's going to increase the salaries of ukrainian armed forces by 30% and he's also going to release some kind of streamlined information service so ukrainians can have up to date and reliable, verifiable information. so on the surface, things seem calm and there's a kind of rejection almost of some of the rhetoric we've heard from washington. but underneath, preparations are underway and there is tension certainly. >> is there any sense that president zelensky would shift the messaging on ukraine's plans or desire to enter nato? >> reporter: this is an interesting one, because over the weekend the ukrainian

ambassador to the u.k. gave an interview where he appeared to imply that potentially ukraine might be willing to forfeit its long desire to join the alliance if they were able to somehow help deescalate the situation. he then roped that back very quickly. since then we have seen a number of politicians come out and categorically reject it. we heard from the foreign minister here saying we continue to pursue our path to nato. we heard again from president zelensky later in the afternoon reaffirming that ukraine's commitment right now is to proceed on that path. there have been rumblings privately that potentially there could come a moment where ukraine would come under pressure to at least make some kind of statement that it is not their immediate intention to join nato. the reality is even if ukraine

wants to join nato right now, it is not feasible for a number of complex reasons in short-term. this would be an easy concession, if you will. however, it would require a big climb down for president zelensky. it's not even clear whether president putin would accept it. >> a lot of people heard those comments in ukraine, at the united states, at the white house, in russia at the klrkrem. steven piper is a research fellow at stanford university and former ambassador to ukraine. what's your impression of this reporting that we just learned that according to a source, a russian attack on ukraine sometime this week more likely than not? >> i think it reflects a u.s. government assessment that there is a significant risk of russian

military action against ukraine. it comes at a time when moscow is sending mixed signals. today there was an effort by moscow to leave the door ajar for diplomacy. although for four weeks now the russians haven'tresponded in a positive way. meanwhile, you have this military buildup continuing. there still are a lot of alarms going on about this russian military buildup. >> how do you reconcile these two opposing trends? number one, vladimir putin or russian officials opening the door a little bit to diplomacy, while at the same time clearly increasing the level of their military presence? one pentagon official today said they could attack with little to no warning. >> it may well be that mr. putin

has not yet made a final decision. so he is giving himself an out. what i do worry about is it seem that is the kremlin increasingly is putting itself in a corner where it will have two options, either to launch a military attack on ukraine or to make a climb down which could be somewhat embarrassing. after all of this buildup to send the troops home without getting their key demands, that could be embarrassing and look like mr. putin bluffed and was called on that bluff. >> you say russia is cornering itself here. if you're the united states, what do you do about that? >> i think the biden administration has the approach just about right. what they've done is they've said on the one hand there is a diplomatic path forward. nato is not going to agree to withdraw forces from allies that

joined the alliance after 1997. but it has said there is a range of arms control, risk reduction and confidence building measures that could make a genuine contribution to security. if russia does invade ukraine there will be sanctions and further shipments of weapons into ukraine to help ukrainians better defend themselves. >> what is your reaction to the u.s. embassy being closed in kyiv? what does that tell you about the state department's thinking? >> i wish it did not come to this, but i take it as another indicate their the u.s. government's assessment is there are a very real possibility that the russian military may go into ukraine. i hope the government is wrong on that, because i think that

would be a tragedy for ukrainians. but also i think it would be a tragedy perhaps for russia, because two weeks ago the ukrainians i talked to, they're determined to resist. if the russian military goes in, it will not find itself having an easy time. >> thank you, sir. returning to our top story, we'll talk to george conway. with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enenamel in its weakened stat. it's i innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair.

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breaking news from the top of the hour. the long time accountants from donald trump's business empire are cutting ties with him and the trump organization, saying the trump organization should no longer rely on nearly ten years of financial statements. the accounting firm writes, while we have not concluded that the financial statements as a whole contain material discrepancies, based on the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate. joining me is george conway. you tweeted tonight, this is worse for him than getting

impeached twice. why is that? >> absolutely. because it goes to his business. impeach. ment -- this is his private life. this is what he had to go back to, which is running his private business. now ten years of financial statements have been pulled by the accountants saying you cannot rely on them, which raises all sorts of potential collateral issues for the trump organization. it could be debt covenants that say you have to keep providing us on an annual basis audited financial statements or reliable financial statements that are looked over by an account tonaccountant. they're all gone. they're worthless to him. it's ten years worth. that's just remarkable. this is about as calamitous a

thing as could happen to a business as you could imagine, other than being indicted and going bankrupt. this could lead to going bankrupt. >> what about getting indicted? is he in a worse legal situation? >> of course, yeah. it's highly problematic. now you have the accounting firm say saying they didn't determine whether there are material discrepancies. what they're basically saying there is we have no idea what the right numbers should be and you can't rely on them. the fact they are resigning as his accountants basically means they're pointing the finger at him. they have a conflict of interest with him, according to the letter. they're basically playing on team a.g. and d.a. and not team trump anymore. they're going to point at the trump organization to say the information here, if it's wrong, they gave it to us. particularly that's unhelpful for the part of the investigation being conducted by leticia james, the attorney

general. she has the authority to bring a civil case under a new york statute called the martin act. the martin act doesn't require the prosecutor to prove intent and fraudulent intent. if the accountants are concluding these contain false statements, basically that case is proven. >> i want to talk republican politics for a second. the senate minority level mitch mcconnell is pushing candidates with the best chance of winning in november. obviously trump has plenty of power within the republican party, but is that power waning? >> i think they're arguing, mcconnell and his allies are arguing that it is. i can only hope that they're right. there's this big tension that we saw during the georgia senate

elections. in the house everybody is happy to kowtow to donald trump because for the most part republicans run from safe districts that are heavily trumpy. if you're running for the united states senate, you have to win a whole state. there are lots of states where you align yourself with donald trump or being maga is going to hurt you with suburban voters who would otherwise vote republican. mcconnell knows that. he knows trump caused the losses in georgia and last year. he doesn't want to see a repeat of that. that's why he's trying to recruit candidates who are not maga candidates and that's why he's trying to convince them they should run and trying to convince people being on trump's bad side doesn't necessarily hurt you in the senate race. >> rudy giuliani's team is in discussions with the january 6th select committee to have him go answer questions. does this represent a significant move on his part?

what do you think he's playing at here? >> my guess is he doesn't really have the money anymore, it seems, according to reports, to basically engage in a lot of fighting over documents and subpoenas. he is running short on money. he's been begging for quite some time, trump to pay his legal bills and basically trump has stiffed him. the easiest course, the smartest course for giuliani is to cooperate. giuliani has a lot of legal problems. he's being sued by dominion voting systems and other people who he liabled in connection with the big lie last year. and he's also got this disciplinary proceeding where he could easily lose his law license. it's already suspended but there will be a trial before it can be discerned what the permanent sanction will be. he's got a lot of problems,

legal problems, legal bills. the best way for him to minimize expense is to cooperate with the january 6th committee. he doesn't really have many reasons to help out donald trump now since trump has been refusing to pay giuliani's legal bills. >> well, if he were to full on cooperate with the january 6th committee, that would be surprising. george conway, i appreciate you being with us tonight. thank you very much. >> thank you. just hours ago the judge overseeing sarah palin's case against the "new york times" delivered a big blow to palin as the jury continues to deliberate. we'll give you the latest, next. ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you u back. i'm retired greg, you know this. pepeople have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shoululdn't do that. they're gettining crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. ththey're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend.

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more breaking news in a big round one win for the "new york times." the judge overseeing former alaska governor sarah palin's defamation lawsuit against the times said he will dismiss the suit after ruling that palin's team did not provide sufficient evidence in its case. he also said he will allow the jury to continue deliberating and reach a verdict, but whatever they come back with he's still going to dismiss the case. palin sued the times in 2017 after they published an editorial that incorrectly linked that map that palin's political action committee had posted to a shooting in 2011 that killed six and killed

former congresswoman gabrielle giffords. what did the judge have to say? >> he said he wasn't pleased about this because he was disappointed by the "new york times." he feels like the paper really screwed up with this editorial from 2017. he said this was an example of very unfortunately editorializing. he said the standard for malice was not set. he said this trial should have been thrown out during the initial court proceedings. but the trial did go through. many legal experts came away with the same conclusion, that palin's team simply did not prove what was necessary to meet that high threshold of actual malice. the bigger context is where should the bar be set? should the bar be set so high? should it be so hard for public figures who are written about in ways they are disturbed by to be able to sue and win?

six years ago donald trump started saying the liable laws in this country should be loosened. sarah palin is trying to loosen the liable laws to make it easier for politicians and celebrities to sue news outlets. even though the times has prevailed in round one, it will have round two and round three. >> again, this isn't about the times. they did get it wrong. the issue is whether or not there was malice in getting it wrong. the judge said no way, you didn't come close to proving that. >> that's right. the "new york times" saying when we make a mistake and we correct it, you're not supposed to be able to sue and get millions of dollars in damages . the jury is still deliberating. whatever the jury decides is basically moot, but this is going to create a public record for an appeals court process. some conservative lawyers would like to see this go all the way to the supreme court so politicians can have more power

to challenge news outlets in court. that could hurt the foxes of the world, it could also hurt local newspapers in other ways. >> it has a lot of significance going forward. thank you so much for being with us. up next, the frustration that sparked a showdown at one small california town. why the area is poised to be led by ultra conservatives backed by some in the community with militia ties. my family's immigration experience. ♪ i've been able to explore and learn a trememendous amount about how chinese americans have experienced civil rights and immigrant rights and what life must have been like for them. and as i pass it on to my daughter, it's an important part of understanding who we are. ♪ unitedhealthcare medicare plans offer more... like the “visit a doctor anywhere our rv takes us” plan. and the zero copays means more money

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they can help break up with your current carrier for you and transfer your info to your new phone. giving you a fast and easy experience that can save you hundreds a year on your wireless bill. visit your nearest xfinity store and see how the switch squad can help you switch and save. switch to xfinity mobile and get connected to the most reliable 5g network. talk with our helpful switch squad at your local xfinity store today. in a conservative northern california community, there have been threated made against politicians outraged over covid vaccines and mask mandates. a six figure political donation from an out of towner. all of that adds up to the likely removal of a long time republican county supervisor who critics say is not republican enough. this is the same place where

nearly 63% of voters backed the former president in the 2020 election, a red county in a blue state. now the county is poised to be led by ultra conservatives, some in the community with militia ties. opponents warn it could happen in other towns across the country. >> reporter: there is a quiet revolution happening in this rural california town. >> there are just a lot of frustrations. a lot of people are pretty fired up. so, that kind of lit the fuse. >> reporter: in this shasta county barbershop, it's not just republican views, but ultraconservative, guns. a upoconfederate flag rolled up the corner, he's a member of a militia, who says conservatives like him woke up when covid first stroke. >> businesses got closed down and schools and everything and we've had an oh [ bleep ] moment

in this country and people are like, holy, crap, we've got to get ahold of things here. >> make no mistake. this is now the people's house. >> reporter: they took hold of their local county board. >> i don't care about your decorum. >> you guys are going to prevent me from completing my citizen's arrest. >> i know change starts local, so that's why all of us are here. >> they were trying to put masks on our kids. >> freedom, as she prefefrs be called, says the pandemic directed her rage to the closest politicians available. >> why does it have to be so loud? why do there have to be slogans like, let's go brandon? >> be passive is you know what? and being complacent gets you what you have. and we want so much more. they like to call us domestic terrorists because we're passionate. and just because you're passionate doesn't make you a terrorist. >> i think they're going to make this community over into their

image and make it a very extremist alt right community. >> leonard modi was a shasta county board member, was, because he lost an election earlier this month. modi was targeted because he stood up to the anger at the board meetings, defying their demands to reject state mask rules. then threats started online and in public. >> we know where you live. we faux had who your family is. we know your dog's name. >> the anger turned into a recall petition to remove moty. a protrump group took interest in the local effort and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the small town race. >> it's very disheartening to me to have a group be able to spend that much money to personally assault my reputation that i worked for 44 years to build in hi hometown. >> did the extremists win?

>> they won the first bout. i do think it's the republican party falling apart. don't think it's just going to go away. don't think this can't happen to you. >> it's the antivax people, the antimask people, anti-science people. >> donny chamberland runs an online website covering shasta county. an unabashed democrat, she backed moty. chamberlain says it's now the far right in majority control. >> they forced the ouster, a supervisor who had truly done nothing wrong. i'm fearful about the kinds of people who will come in and how they will vote and what will happen to shasta county. >> reporter: the most visible national face of this recall is carlos zapata, who has appeared on conspiracy outlet boards. >> you don't vote your way out of socialism. once it takes root, the only way to ir rad kate it is to fight it

with arms. >> reporter: and whose speech at the shasta county board went viral. >> i've been in combat, and i never want to go back again. but i will to save this country. if it has to be against our own citizens, it will happen. and there's a million people like me, and you won't stop us. >> there were some harsh words you said. >> harsh to who? harsh to the people who need to hear them maybe. i wish people were more angry. if anger gets you to the point of action -- if i was never angry, i would have never acted. violence, that's a different deal. >> zapata and his coalition call themselves red, white, and blueprint, offering what they call a template to turn rage in school boards and city councils across the country into political takeover. >> i would never want my kids or myself to have to go to a civil war. but it seems the direction we're in is in that direction. i don't like it at all. that's why we're doing mechanism, political mechanisms, peaceful mechanisms, so we don't

have to get there. >> reporter: and we know of at least one other county that is close to shasta that is following in its footsteps. nevada county seeking to recall all of its board members. carlos zapata tells us that he's been -- he's heard from at least 60 other counties, john. and what he says he's sharing with them is that template that he was talking to us about, the red, white, and blueprint template, which is essentially a guide for other counties to follow in their footsteps. john? >> thank you very much. fighting back against the truck erin spired protest that had been causing havoc at ottawa. the details next. ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪

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covid-19 man tates. prime minister trudeau said the government is invoking the emergency act. the act temporarily suspends the citizens' free right to assembly, and will block funding for the protest. this comes as the ambassador bridge, north america's busiest land opening sunday. the news continues. let's hand it over to laura coates and cnn tonight. >> happy valentine's day. >> you too. i am laura coates, and this is "cnn tonight." there's a heavy feeling in the air. russia has amassed forces on three sides of ukraine, with an estimated 130,000 troops. and now, according to the pentagon, this could be the week putin strikes. >> i won't get into a specific date. i don't think that would be smart. i would just tell you that it is