did the right thing. a cease-fire called right now would ratify mr. russia's conquest and give mr. putin more time to reequip and retrain and restart operations at a time and a place of his choosing. >> so if they call for a cease-fire, you believe ukraine should and will reject that? >> yes, we do. and we would reject it as well. we think that that's an unacceptable outcome, right now. obviously, we want fighting to stop. we want the war to be over. as i said, it could end today if mr. putin would do the right thing. but to call for a cease-fire right now basically ratifies what they've been able to grab inside of ukraine and gives them time and space to prepare for future operations. and that's just not going to be acceptable. >> john, do you think this meeting could be a venue where they announce that china may start providing weapons to ukraine or to russia, to use in ukraine? >> we don't believe it's in china's best interests to do that. we can't, we can't envision how we would think it's in their best interests to help mr. putin

continue to slaughter more innocent ukrainians. we don't want to see that. again, we'll see what these leaders come out with and what they say at the end of these discussions. we'll watch this very, very closely. again, we have communicated privately to the chinese. we certainly have communicated it publicly that that would not be an outcome that's to the better, not only of china and their interest, but certainly to the ukrainian people and to the whole idea of peace. >> what does it say to you that after the international criminal court issued that arrest warrant for putin, that, a, xi did still show up in russia, but you saw putin over the weekend in mariupol, in all of these other cities. >> i think to your first question, you've got to keep this relationship in some sort of context here. these are two nations who chafe and bristle at the idea of u.s. leadership or u.s. influence around the world. they don't like playing by the r rules, that the world order has in place and they want to challenge u.s. leadership. this is a marriage of convenience, not of affection. these are two countries that don't have a heck of a whole lot

of trust between one another, but they find common cause in pushing back on the west, and pushing back on american leadership. we'll see what they decide to do when they come out with this. and as for mr. putin's visit to mariupol, mariupol is far away from the front lines of the fighting in the south and in the east. it was convenient excuse for him to go in advance of xi's visit to show that he's still the commander in chief, that he's still in charge, and that his military still has occupied territory inside ukraine. there's no doubt that he could see for himself or we would hope that he would see for himself how badly his military is actually doing, where the fighting is actually occurring, and most of that is right up now in the donbas, near a town called bakhmut. >> the white house wanted president xi to also speak with president zelenskyy to get the ukrainian perspective in this. any indication that's going to happen? >> we haven't seen any confirmation of it. obviously, president xi would be the one to announce that if he's going to do it. but we absolutely have been suggesting it for quite some time and we would love to see

that happen. if you're going to go to moscow and sit down for three days with president putin and get his perspective on a war that he started and that he can finish today, you ought to pick up the phone at the very least and talk to president zelenskyy and get the ukrainian perspective here. what we've been saying from the very beginning, if this comes down to some kind of a negotiated settlement of some sort and some place at some time, it's got to be nothing about ukraine without ukraine. so ukraine has got to be central to those discussions. their perspectives have to be heard and respected. so we absolutely want president xi to reach out and get a little bit of the views and perspective of ukraine here. >> it's been about a week since president biden said he was going to speak to president xi soon. has that call been scheduled yet, john? >> it hasn't been scheduled, but the president very much wants to have another conversation with president xi. it's is really important we keep these lines of communication wean the united states and china. the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world. the president wants to keep those lines open. he'll do that and he'll have a

call with president xi at the appropriate time? >> what is the appropriate time. he said back in mid-february after the u.s. downed that surveillance balloon that he would speak to him soon. he said last week he would speak to him soon. has the u.s. tried to schedule the call and the chinese have been unwilling or what's going on here? >> there's been no logistics, there's been no setting it up. we maintain that we're going to have another discussion with president xi. the president wants to do that, wants to keep those lines open. and at the appropriate time, we'll reach out and see if we can get a call on the schedule. these are two men that also know each other for quite some time, while they were both vice presidents of their respective countries. they had a good meeting in bali, we would like to continue that discussion and make sure that this bilateral relationship is serving not only the best interests of the american people, but also the world. and this is a relationship that me needs to be handled in a responsible, mature way. we want to get back to that. but we're just going to have to wait and do that at the right

time. >> speaking about open lines of communication, we're seeing north korea continue to fire off projectiles. is it still accurate to say there's been no contact between the biden administration and north korea? >> not for lack of trying and not for lack of interest, kaitlan. we maintain that we would still, without precondition, be willing to sit down with the north korean regime and try to find a diplomatic way to reduce the nuclear tensions on the peninsula and to see the verifiable denuclearization of north korea. but they have yet to show any interest in that whatsoever or any communication whatsoever. quite the contrary, as you rightly noted. they're firing off ballistic missiles now here, largely in a reaction to u.s. and rok republic of kariya c korea exert we're conducting right now now. >> john kirby, thanks for your time. we want to turn now to the possible criminal indictment hanging over the former president donald trump. he says he expects to be arrested as soon as tomorrow in

the manhattan district attorney's probe of hush money payments to stormy daniels. and today, trump's legal team is making a last-minute push to discredit his longtime fixer and star witness, michael cohen. cohen's former lawyer is set to testify before the grand jury. we're told that he came forward and offered evidence to contradict cohen's claims. cnn's senior legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, joins us now. good morning to you, paula. thank you so much. what are we expecting today? >> this is going to be interesting. because this is a witness that the trump team requested the grand jury hear from. make no mistake, prosecutors are in charge of the grand jury. they didn't have to grant this request, but from an optics perspective, they knew they really had to. and the trump team wants this attorney, a former attorney of michael cohen, his name is rob costello, he represents a lot of trump allies, rudy giuliani, steve bannon. he's going to go in there and speak to cohen's credibility. that's significant in this investigation, because of course cohen is a star witness here. it is possible that cohen could be called to rebut his

testimony. we know he will also be there at the courthouse today. so he could potentially be called as a rebuttal witness. but we'll see if the grand jury wants to hear from him as well. now, costello told me a few moments ago, he's handed over hundreds of documents to the manhattan district attorney's office. hundreds of e-mails about his former representation of cohen, and some contemporaneous memos he made of key events during the time that he was representing cohen, and cohen, of course, waived attorney/client privilege, which costello says is really unusual. >> the hope from the trump team here is that costello will corroborate michael cohen's earlier reflections -- >> yes -- >> -- on the hush money payment, that it was all him and only him. >> exactly. there's been an evolution in the narrative of exactly what happened here. and of course, several years ago, michael cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other crimes, but he's always insisted more recently that he did all of this at the direction of donald trump. there are absolutely issues with his credibility. he does not like it when that is

pointed out. this is kind of a provocative move on the trump team's part. >> you spoke to a trump attorney yesterday talking about what this is going to look like. what'd she tell you? >> i talked to one of his attorneys, alina habba, she does not represent him in the manhattan d.a.'s investigation but represents him in other matters and asked someone to come out and talk about his truth social posts. i really tried to drill down on this call for protests. we know from our reporting that he's speculating about an arrest tomorrow, and asked her, is he speculating about an arrest to incite political violence by calling people to protest and take back the country. here's what she said. >> it is going to cause mayhem, paula. it's just a very scary time in our country. if this is what we're doing in this country, you better secure the premises, because it's dangerous, you know. people are going to get upset. >> there was an opportunity there to tamp down the rhetoric, but clearly, the trump team, as we know our colleagues are reporting, they believe that an indictment could help him politically, so they're clearly ramping up the rhetoric around

any potential indictment. >> yeah. we're still waiting to see what this even looks like, if it even happens this week. we should note, trump said -- as we were talking about earlier, trump said on saturday that he was going to be arrested tomorrow. he's going to be indicted, he's not going to be like arrested at mar-a-lago, and we actually don't know when that's going to happen. we were told by trump's team, they never got a heads up from the d.a.'s office. >> you're exactly right. his own team came out and publicly said, we haven't been informed of anything. and we know from our reporting, there is nothing expected tomorrow, but we don't know what's going to happen and we continue to report it out. >> and they're still seeing witnesses. >> from the trump team! so how they got the tuesday timing, it appears speculative. that's what we asked the lawyer, is he speculating to fundraise and incite political violence? >> and blaming it all, saying the leaks coming from the office. but there's no indication or evidence of that at all. that's why he's saying he's going to be arrested. according to him. >> yes. a lot of accusations of leaks from all sides. we know different people leak, but in this case, his own team

says he was going off of press reports and he's clearly speculating. >> paula, thank you very much. don, you have new reporting. this is on the second case involving trump. >> it's the second case and this is out of the fulton county georgia and the charges that he might face there. and they are not specifically naming him, but you have to read into what the sources are saying and exactly what the charges are. i spoke with a source with knowledge of the investigation and here's what they say. that source says prosecutors are thinking about bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with donald trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election in georgia. they have been looking at phone calls, e-mails, texts, documents, testimony from inside and outside the state. why is this important? because a source says it underscores the idea that the push for trump was not just an organic grassroots effort inside of the state. now, remember, investigators have at least three recordings

of the former president pressuring georgia officials including this one. >> so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. because we won the state. >> that phone call is as shocking as the first time you heard it, every time you hear it. so why the potential racketeering charges? they allow prosecutors to bring charges against multiple defendants. fulton county district attorney fanny willis could use the law to try to make the case that trump and his allies were part of a criminal enterprise and willis likes using rico charges, which were originally designed t to take down the mafia. this is what she said about it over the summer, in an unrelated case. >> the reason i'm a fan of rico is i think jurors are very, very intelligent. they want to know what happened. they want to make an accurate decision about someone's life.

and so rico is a tool that allows a prosecutor's office and law enforcement to tell the whole story. >> we should say, of course, that trump denies any criminal wrongdoing, claims that willis is -- her investigation is politically biased. my source says that the d.a. could make decisions on the charges this spring, so expect them soon, first day of spring today. "the atlanta journal-constitution" recently spoke to five grand jurors unanim anonymously. one of them said, a lot is going to come out sooner or later, it is going to be massive. it is going to be massive. you have all of this playing out as the d.a. in manhattan is gearing up to do whatever he's going to do or not going to do. trump out there, as your reporting says, he's going to be arrested on tuesday. but the one that most people believe, that he faces the biggest threat would be the one in georgia. has the biggest legal

ramifications for him. >> he's facing so many investigations. it is important to keep that in mind. this is the most public one right now, it's at the forefront, what's happening here in manhattan. but there are many others behind the scenes. >> many others. and we'll be following all of them. and we'll see what happens this week in manhattan, if anything. but you heard the d.a.'s office say, they are ready for it. law enforcement said they're ready for any possible unrest if that does happen. >> and speaking of that, we have this video that we just got moments ago. this is the new york police department. they're installing security cameras on light posts. that is outside the manhattan criminal courthouse. so, for perspective on this, as what we are seeing here with these officers right now as they are preparing for what could potentially happen this week, i want to bring in jonah goldberg, cnn political commentator and cofounder and chief of the dispatch and david axelrod, host of "the axe files." you're watching this video of the new york police department, they are putting cameras on light poles outside the courthouse in anticipation of what could happen. what do you think republicans should be saying publicly about

how the response should happen, if trump is actually indicted this week? >> look, i think it's a fine line for them to rye to walk here. on the one hand, i think they should be much more vocal, much more outspoken about saying, there's no need for violence, there's no need to take the law into your own hands, while at the same time, i think it's perfectly legitimate to criticize this -- the reportedly, the indictment that is reportedly coming out of the office, because i think it is a deeply flawed thing. but just taking a step back, you know, listening to adam kinzinger earlier and all the commentary and reporting that you've had so far, i think one of the things that people need to keep in mind is that, you know, donald trump broke a lot of norms. he broke a lot of rules, he tested the system, he violated the good faith and understanding of how government and public officials are supposed to work.

and that elicited from a lot of people the same response back. and now we are in the sort of situation where people say, well, he breaks the rules so we can break the rules to go get him. and i think that is the kind of banana republic logic that we're seeing unfolding. where trump is now basically a wink and a nod saying, you're allowed to go mob the courthouse. he's not going to say it outright, but that's the subtext of it. and the response to that is going to be a sort of more lawless thing as well. in this really dysfunctional dynamic we're in. >> david, what do you think as you're watching this? >> look, first of all, i don't want to comment too deeply on a case where we don't know exactly what the district attorney's going to do. i suspect that of all of the investigations that are going on about donald trump, that he probably would want this one to go first, because it's the weakest. just on the facts. i don't know that the american people are as deeply concerned

about what he did with for -- two stormy daniels and around that. and some of the other charges like the one down in georgia. and what he really wants to do is color this as a series of political prosecutions. i will say this. if i were his lawyers, and i were defending against the investigation about the insurrection, i would not be thrilled about the email that he sent out or the post that he made over the weekend, suggesting that people get out in the streets and take the country back, because that is part of the pattern that they are investigating in the other case. and my guess is, they're saying, well, this only supports what we believe happened back on january 6th. so i don't think he helped himself there. but what he did do was send a dog whistle to republican

politicians. and some of them reacted in pavlovian fashion, including the speaker of the house. and this is what trump ultimately wants. he wants all of these cases to be cast as political prosecutions. and he wants republicans to lineup behind him. >> and to that point, we did hear from people like the former vice president, mike pence, who has been critical of trump in recent weeks, like we've talked about, but he said this feels like a politically charged prosecution. you know what i notice offered the weekend, we didn't hear from people, like governor desantis, nikki haley, they've decided not to weigh in. it's interesting to see who is comment among the potential 2024 candidates and who isn't. >> i agree. it's a difficult, it's difficult not to cut on this thing, if you're another republican candidate. on the one side, you don't want to get crossed with an angry base, even though i think the base is crazy as it is to be about something, but you don't

want to take all your cover against the guy you're running against. i thought it was remarkable, like somebody who thought like what bill clinton did with monica lewinsky was a bad thing, you don't see anybody saying, why, i never! i cannot believe you would even insinuate that donald trump would have anything to do with a porn star, right? it is all of the sort of kabuki theater about process and not giving the other side a win and we're being treated unfairly, whereas, you know, conservatives are supposed to actually care about things like adultery and character. and that's all gone out the window. >> i feel like we're very far past that. the shock value of that has gone away since we've learned about it. final word to you on just how unprecedented this is. the fact that we are even talking about a former president being indicted, regardless of what, you know, legal experts think of the strength of the case, the idea that we could actually see him going and being taken in, having to present himself, being fingerprinted,

it's remarkable. >> yeah. it's remarkable, and it's sad, but it's consistent with what we've seen over these years, as jonah mentioned. donald trump has serially is undered rules, laws, norms, and institutions since he came down that escalator. and this is the predictable result of that. and the danger is that the institution that he's now going to sunder or continue to sunder is our legal system and try and cast everything that holds him accountable for his actions, not just on this case, but on all the others that go much more to the operations of government and democracy, that he's going to cast them all as politically motivated and large numbers of americans in his base will accept and embrace that. and a large number of

politicians and republicans will embrace that. that's terrible for our country. and that is the big danger here to me. is that somehow he turns this in a political way to his advantage to the great detriment of our democracy. >> only time will tell. jonah goldberg, dravid axelrod, thank you both for joining us this morning. >> it is interesting, kaitlan. you were watching them and the nypd put up those cameras downtown in front of the courthouse and someone who has knowledge of these events said, the manhattan d.a. must use every tool in his arsenal to control the criminal defendant, including contempt, obstruction, interference, or witness tampering. just like the federal prosecutors are using tool within their arsenal to control sam bankman-fried. they will have to treat him and whatever he's doing just like any other defendant. so, any other person who is being charged with a crime. so that's going to be interesting to play out to watch

play out here. >> see what it looks like. >> this morning, shares in credit suisse have plunged after it agreed to a take over from rival swiss bank ubs. what it could mean for your finances here at home. e, get on. with five flavors that are delicious any time of f day. ononly from ihop. download the app and earn free food with every order. find your beat your moment of calm find your potential then own it support your immune system with a potent blend s and emerge your besteveryc think he's posting aut all that ancient roman coinage? no. he's making real-time money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. somewhere out there is that one-in-a-million. someone who thinks with their hands.

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if she tells me to do something, i usually jump on board. golo was doable, it's realistic, and it's something we can do the rest of our lives. a historic deal made in an effort to ease the global banking crisis, zurich-based banking giant ubs is buying credit suisse for $3.2 billion. this is a deal negotiated by the swiss government. it's essentially a fire sale of credit suisse and this morning, shares in credit suisse have plunged 62%. shares of ubs also lower by

about 8% at the open there in europe. the move comes as major financial institutions continue to grapple with the recent failures of two u.s. regional banks. that's silicon valley bank and signature bank. so let's bring in anchor and cnn chief business correspondent, christine romans, and cnn business reporter, matt egan. guys, thank you so much. >> hi, poppy. this was stunning to follow all weekend. i saw the ft first reporting, thought it was going to be just $2 billion, it ended up at $3 billion without any approval of the shareholders by credit suisse, who just get wiped out in this. >> this is a 167-year-old bank that is one of just 30 banks in the world that are considered globally important. there are ties to every kind of economy and every kind of industry. it's a really big deal to be bought by ubs. essentially, it's a rescue purchase of this company with all kinds of backing from the swiss national bank and the swiss government to make sure it goes through. it had its own problems, right? a lot of problems getting up to this point, but it is the

current period of fragility and a lack of confidence in the banking system that kind of tipped it over the edge. >> it's so amazing, because i feel like regulators really around the world, they're just going from weakest link in the system to weakest link in the system, trying to put out fires right before it spreads. what's crazy is that ubs, they didn't want to buy credit suisse, right? credit suisse has been a mess for years, but regulators basically forced ubs or strongly persuaded them to do this. this would be like roger goodell trying to get the new england patriots to buy my beloved new york jets, because they just keep losing and it's bad for the league. and the patriots say, sure, but you have to sweeten the deal, because we don't want to lose money on it. >> why does this matter for anyone at home this morning? >> stability is what we're searching for here, and that's why it matters. there's the opposite of confident is fear. and we have a fundamentally strong banking system, way better today than it was in 2008. we have all of these backstops.

but if you don't have confidence and fear in the banking system, that starts to unravel the groundwork. so they're just trying to get confidence back in the system. i talked to an economist today who used to run t.a.r.p., the troubled asset relief program, the bank bailout from 10, 12 years ago. she said, this is going to take weeks or maybe even months to sort out. that's -- we're kind of in the early innings, i think, of finding that stable ground again in banking. >> one bit of good news you reported over the weekend, matt, is that these smaller and mid-sized u.s. banks actually saw a little bit of stabilization. so many outflows, not as many depositors pulling their cash out because they're freaked out. >> right. that is really important. more important than what the share prices are doing, which they've been on a roller coaster ride. u.s. officials are really paying attention to the deposits. because some of these banks, obviously, signature bank, silicon valley bank and others saw really big amounts of cash being taken out. and so a u.s. official over the weekend telling cnn that these withdrawals from banks, from the small and mid-sized ones, have either slowed or flattened out

or even some of them have reversed. and that, of course, is exactly what u.s. officials want to see. >> what about what central banks announced yesterday, which is basically a lot of central banks around the world coming together to do what? >> this is usually every week, there's this period, a window that opens for these liquidity dollar swaps, right? to make sure the dollars are in the system. they're opening that window every day now. it just means, there are going to be more dollars available for all of these banks to make sure that they have the money to meet the deposits. so it's just, it's helping the liquiditity y of the system. a vote of confidence but also showing that all of those central banks will be available to make sure that the plumbing is working in the banking system. you know, we've seen that facility that the fed opened a lot of money has been borrowed. and we won't know who those banks are for some time, for obvious reasons, wright? you don't want to know who is tapping the emergency supplies of loans, but that's been used a lot.

there's a lot out there to shore up the system. >> here's why it's so important to shore up the system. at the end of the day, it's not necessarily about zdeposits in the bank. we know that's safe, up to the $250,000 fdic limit per borrower. it's about what this does to the economy. more fear in the system means more expensive loans, harder to get a mortgage, harder to get a car loan. more expensive small business loans. and all of that can slow down the economy. and the worries that this banking crisis could be the spark for the next recession. hopefully it doesn't happen. >> let's hope no, matt egan and christine romans, thank you very much. >> appreciate it. also this morning, california bracing for even more flooding. the last thing anybody there wants to hear after they were slammed with no less than 12, yes, 12 catastrophic rainstorms. we are live on the ground. and vladimir putin making a surprise visit to russian-occupied mariupol. the same city where hundreds of ukrainian sicivilians were kill as they sheltered inside a theater. one said that putin's visit is

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welcome back, everyone. this morning, storm-battered california bracing for the 13th atmospheric river of the season. the parade of storms has sparked floods and left sides, toppled trees and power lines, and stranded mountain residents in record deep snow. authorities now warning it could be a dire spring, especially if warm temperatures melt the snow quickly. cnn's veronica miracle live in the midst of it in pajaro, california, near monterrey. good morning to you. what kind of preparations are being taken? >> reporter: well, don, preparations hardly being taken in this community, because this community hasn't even taken from the last storm, don. this whole area was covered in floodwaters just last week. you couldn't even navigate it by car, you had to take a boat. those floodwaters have since receded, but the entire town is

covered in mud and debris. in fact, it is still a ghost town. you cannot get in if you are a resident. there are still polblockades an the only sign of life you see, first responders, those who are helping to clean up some of the mud, and those who refused to leave. this is impacting the community on every single level. not only can they not get back into their homes and those areas that are con tam taminated with and water and debris, but we're standing in a strawberry field, this is where so many people work. i'm trying not to fall in this mud here, but it is kocovered i mud. those leaves just brown from the mud here. people are not going to be able to and have not been able to come back to work. they can't get in their homes and they cannot come to work. there is only a sliver of good news for this community, who -- for the thousands of people that have been impacted. this 13th atmospheric river, this next storm coming in, it is expected to hit southern california harder than it is

expected to hit northern california. it still means moisture is coming to this area, so it delays the process of drying out, and there are still communities deeply impacted in southern california. so this has been an incredibly difficult time for california, don? >> certainly has. thank you, veronica miracle. also this morning, former president trump is leading florida governor ron desantis new polls on the 2024 race and what it might look like. it is actually mostly due to one key voting bloc. it might surprise you. harry enten is here to explain, next.

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former president trump seeking to weaken don desantis ahead of his expected white house run, not announced yet, but it is expected. the former president has been calling the florida governor names when he out speaking publicly, criticizing his past views on everything from social security to ethanol. now polls suggest that desantis might have his work cut out for him, especially when it comes to one particular voting bloc among republican voters. cnn's harry enten has been looking into the numbers. you find that there is one group

of voters that trump has a pretty significant advantage over desantis with. which group? >> that's right, kaitlan. so this morning's number is 29. it's 29 points. trump leads in the primary over desantis is 29 points among gop and gop-leaning voters of color. that is non-white republicans, where he has a significant lead, 29 points. and i want to compare why voters with voters of color on the gop side. you see among white voters, right, donald trump and ron desantis are within the margin of error of ooemp. i each other. look at this ballooning lead that donald trump has among voters of color. it's 29 points. he's doing 28 points better among voters of color than he is among white voters. and you know, i think there's this idea, you know, the republican party is much more white than the democratic party. but in fact, the gop is becoming more diverse. so this is the share of gop voters who are people of color. this year, right now, it's 18%. back in 2016, when trump first ran, it was just 13%. so trump is doing better among a

group of voters that is becoming a larger share of the republican party. >> so this could be a pretty significant voting bloc, if he does maintain their support or potentially grow it. >> that's exactly right. that's exactly what's going on here. and i think it kind of intersects with another sort of divide that we're seeing in the republican party, right? which is, we were talking about this before in the break, you know, voters in the republican party are breaking along income lines. so voters making less than $50,000 a year, they favor trump by 27 points. voters making at least 50,000 a year, they favor desantis by six points. and it's this intersection of everything going on, right? so 28% of white gop voters make less than 50k, while 45% of gop voters of color make less than 50k. what's going on, this populous message that trump has is working particularly well with voters of color tat this point. >> that's so interesting to see how that shapes desantis when he form lates his own message and we see him officially enter the race as he's expected to do.

>> it's going to be a wild ride, kaitlan. >> really interesting look. okay, beating the odds, busting your bracket, but that's okay. watch this. the 15th seed princeton tigers will continue their cinderella run to the sweet 16 of the ncaa tournament. the team's coach and one of the star players here live in studio, next. for a limite buy one, get one free.time, with five flavors that are delicious any time of day. only from ihop. downloadad the app and earn free fooood with every order. find your beat your moment of calm find your potential then own it support yourmmune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c i was born here, i'm from here, and i'm never leaving here. i'm a new york hotel. yeah, i'm tall - 563 feet 2 inches.

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upsets. first against number two-seed arizona, who had been a popular pick to win it all. then princeton dominated missouri, a number seven seed. now they will face creighton, a number six seed on friday with a trip to the elite eight on the line. joining us now is princeton's head coach, mitch henderson, and their march madness star, toson awomaa. guys, when we heard you were coming in studio, i was so excited. it's so great, mitch, to be underestimated and prove everyone wrong. and for you, this is like, we all remember, i think we have the picture we can pull up, right right, back in 1986. you were a player, you jumped for joy, and now you get to do it adds a coach. that's you, by the way. >> i know -- >> how you doing? how are you guys? >> we're on cloud nine. as the coach, you want to

separate yourself from being the player as often as possible. i'm so glad we're getting rid of that photo around our gym. it's time for some new photos and we've got a lot of them, and we're really pleased. i know it's cinderella and brackets are busted, we're happy to be in that role. but this group really believes in themselves. it's a national stage. one of the cool things about the tournament, you know, it's neutral court. and all of these guys grew up watching the tournament and you believe. and the group has -- it's a very gritty and gutty group that also plays with a lot of savvy and we're not surprised that we're here. >> gritty, gutty, and savvy. that's a good combination. >> you're right in the middle of it. whether you -- do you realize how big this is? >> i'm not sure i quite do, to be honest. you know, obviously, it feels amazing. i think when we finish playing, we'll probably appreciate it for what it is. but right now, we're trying to stay in the moment a little bit. and obviously enjoying myself a massive amount, as well. >> you're making it into the

sweet 16, first time since 1967, six decades. how do you coach at a time like this? what is your message to the team? >> i think, don't lose sight of what got you here. we were just fighting to make the tournament eight days ago. so it's been quick. we're pinching ourselves a bit. i also think that you have to tap into the little kid in you, you know, all of us wanted to be at this moment. these guys have earned the right to enjoy the process. and the school, princeton has such incredible school spirit, so we wanted to tap into that. i thought that was a big part of the reason why we were successful in sacramento. in tsakalotos. we have an amazing fan base and alum base. i don't think anybody does the four year undergraduate program like princeton. >> can you talk about what inspires you to play. i know so much of it is your family, not only your dad who played in nigeria, but you wear these pink shoes in honor of your mom.

>> yeah, my parents, like you said, have been a huge influence on me, my brother, too. yeah, i try to honor my mom, you know, every game with pink shoes with the number 20, that was her birthday was march 20th. everything is kind of for her. i try to make her proud as best as i can and my dad, too, and i kind of play for them. you know, i have had other things in my life, too, and it's just amazing to be able to perform on this stage for them and hopefully have the same kind of effect on younger generations, whether back home in england or in the princeton community as well. it's been amazing to play a part in inspiring the younger generations. >> look, i mean, it's -- basketball in many countries, but it's looked at as an american sport, right? you are from england. you didn't start playing ball until you were 14. >> yeah, that's right. >> what's up with that? now here you are. >> yeah, it's not huge in the uk, but, you know, it's growing,

it's growing. everybody getting behind the sport, i think, right now specifically, but i'm glad i found basketball and here i am now. >> his nickname is slow-mo but it's a good thing, is this right? >> i think the game slows down for him, even i'm often urging him can we go a little bit faster now? but i think that maybe this is the football/soccer influence on him, but the way he sees the game makes it easier for others to play faster. he is such a gifted passer. i always say when he came to princeton it's like a brilliant blinding light from heaven. >> nice. >> when you beat arizona what was it like? >> surreal. yeah, surreal. i mean, we always had belief, but to actually go out and do it, you know, surreal in front of the fans, amazing crowd, amazing stage to play on. yeah, you can't ask for much more. >> when you beat alabama what's that going to be like?

>> just give us that chance. >> we love having you on set, my dad will be thrilled. >> guys, congratulations. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> so proud. >> making time to join us on set while you are in the middle of this. >> thank you for this. >> there are two more. we will get kaitlan to wear one. >> maybe. >> you guys are awesome. we wish you the best of luck, unless you're playing alabama. >> good to see you. good luck. okay. also this morning cnn is live on the ground in moscow. chinese president xi jinping has just touched down, he is about to meet with president putin, first time since russia invaded ukraine. we will tell you the number one thing leaders in the west are watching for. that's next. humpty dumpty does it with a great fall. wonderful pistachios. get crackin'

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so this morning chinese president xi jinping arriving in moscow, soon he will meet face-to-face with russian president vladimir putin on the agenda, ukraine, of course. xi saying that he is actively promoting peace talks. joining us now from taiwan, cnn's senior international correspondent will ripley. will, hello. what should we expect to see today in this meeting between xi and putin? >> reporter: well, certainly on the surface it's going to be quite a lavish affair. this is an official state visit going on for three days and i bet vladimir putin is very happy to see xi jinping. i mean, this is his best friend in the world right now, considering, you know, the potential to be tried on war crimes charges, you know, condemnation by the west, you know, growing allegations of just, you know, barbaric behavior with him at the helm and yet you have the chinese president showing up, talking about, you know, working with putin to safeguard the international order. a journey of friendship,

cooperation and peace. it just really is so thick, you can slice it with a knife and yet this is what, you know, the russian public, the chinese public, this is what they're being fed and so this buildup of this no limits partnership between these two, again, xi continues to put so much, you know, of his own credibility really in this relationship with vladimir putin. now, the question that we need to see if it will be answered publicly or if it will come out later is whether they talk about lethal weapons, which putin needs because his troops are running out of ammunition and other things, and will china be willing to give russia the weapons that it would need that could actually turn things around for them on the ground potentially? this is the big concern. and also this chinese peace plan that xi is going there touting, basically ukraine says this plan needs to begin with a russian withdrawal of what china is

calling for is for russia to basically be given the land that they've already taken. >> yeah, and notable given that john kirby said earlier even if china does publicly propose a ceasefire once again the u.s. believes ukraine should reject it and says the u.s. will reject it as well. >> reporter: yeah, it's -- these are two men, two strong men up against the west and with each visit, with each, you know -- each side digging in their heels it's pretty troubling for a lot of people watching the direction of these two peculiar opposites in the world right now. >> all right. will ripley in taiwan for us this morning. will, thank you very much. appreciate you joining us. >> we will be tracking all the latest with this putin/xi meeting. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. ♪ good monday morning, i'm erica hill. >> and i'm john berman. great to see you this morning. >> nice to be back with you, my friend. >> a pivotal day in court for

the former president