evacuations ordered at the u.s. embassy in ukraine, as a military build up continues and diplomatic efforts appear to be gaining no new ground. >> has the omicron wave in america peeked plus the tusands that showed up to protest vaccine man mandates. today, former porn star stormy daniels will testify against her former attorney over allegations he defrauded her and a new look at a historic image that's chafging how we

usually think of cowboy culture. "early today" starts right now thanks for starting the work week with us >> we begin this morning with breaking news. americans in ukraine should leave right now. that warning from the state department amid growing concerns of possible russian military action family members of u.s. embassy staff have been ordered to leave and non-essential embassy workers also have that option. this as russia continues to grow its forces at its border with ukraine. two officials tell nbc news that president biden was briefed this weekend on ways the u.s. could respond if russia invades. nbc's ali joins us now live. what actions have we seen so far from ukraine's allies? >> reporter: good morning. well, the u.s. had promised financial and military aid to ukraine and kiev just got its first shipment from the u.s. around 200,000 pounds of lethal

aid, including ammunition to fight on the frontline britain is also supplying ukraine with short-range antitank missiles for defense and a small team of british troops are also being sent to ukraine to provide training. and it's not just support being steppe stepped up but rhetoric as well. let's listen to what they had to say. >> if a single additional russian force goes into ukraine in an aggressive way, as i said, that would trigger a swift, severe, and united response. >> we will support them in defending themselves but to the international community, european, nato allies, u.s., we're standing shoulder to shoulder saying there will be very serious consequences if russia takes this move to invade and also install a puppet regime. >> the uk is accusing president biden of plotting to lead ukraine's government

the foreign secretary said the information was released to shine a light on the extent of russian activity, designed to subvert ukraine. and with every passing day, vladimir putin is increasing the military in the ukrainian border, making the russian troops amassed there more dangerous, more lethal, while the temperature keeps rising forcing president biden to weigh more options, like the one defense secretary lloyd austin presented to him such as ship visits into the black sea and the moving of troops and equipment from other parts of europe into poland, romania and other countries neighboring ukraine. but most of the responsibility is going to fall on the shoulders of the u.s. to come up with a plan and execute it because there just isn't the sort of unity that there needs to be amongst nato >> you said it best. temperatures just keep rising. thank you. it has been a violent weekend for police officers. in houston, texas, corporal

galloway was killed during a traffic stop after pulling over a car sunday morning, the suspect immediately began firing galloway was shot multiple times. the tragedy comes days after a gun battle in new york city. one nypd officer killed and the other left fighting for his life they're responding to a domestic disturbance at a harlem apartment, when the accused suspect fired multiple times he was shot and is hospitalized in critical condition. the omicron surge is putting plans on hold worldwide. new zealand prime minister is delaying her wedding, amid new covid restrictions she was set to marry her long-time partner next weekend and in beijing, 72 cases confirmed among 3500 personnel who entered. in the last few weeks. none among athletes.

in d.c. with the latest. thousands of protesters marched through the capitol this weekend. >> reporter: that's right. over the weekend, thousands of protesters rallied on the national mall for the defeat the mandate protest. this drew prominent antivaxers, including robert f kennedy jr. the biden administration proposed strict measures to boost that number higher but has falsed setbacks in court protest organizers said they were against mandates, not vaccines themselves. they say it's the only way to get life back to normal. >> i think our freedoms are starting to erode. and it's really sad to see that people are forced to take a vaccine to go to college, to maintain a job to feed their families and it's not right. it's unamerican. >> mandates are the way we've

managed to get 99% of the population vaccinated against measles. if you leave it up to individual choice, you might as well have 33 million states within california, each one making its own laws and choices >> meanwhile, nbc news polls show distrust. a wide gap between democrats and republicans. now, that partisan gap turns into a chasm for president biden. overall, 37% trust president biden and 8% of gop voters now, former president trump fairs even worse with 21% trust on handling the coronavirus. the most trusted figure in our polls, six in ten say they trust their employer on covid. back to you. >> those polls are always so enlightening brie, thank you.

an irish man was arrested for causing disturbance on a dublin flight. shane mcinerney repeatedly refused to wear a face mask, threw a can at a passenger and pulled his pants down. he was charged with interfering with a flight crew, which is a felony and former attorney general, william barr met with the january 6th panel. barr resigned as ag in d.c. 2020 he was seen as an ardent defender of president trump but notably dismissed his claims of voter fraud. opening statements begin for officers at the scene when george floyd was killed. they're charged with depriving

ploid of his constitutional rights by failing administer aid to him and for failing to intervene while chaven kneeled on floyd's neck for nine minutes, resulting in his death. and stormy daniels attorney is accused of stealing $300,000 from the adult film star it was an advance for a book deal avenatti is currently under house arrest after being convicteded of extortion in a different cases two years ago. and then there were four a wild weekend in the nfl with divisional round games coming down at the wire >> from the 19 and 17 seconds. down the middle to the end zone and there it is. >> in the fourth quarter, full of lead changes, the bills got ahead with 13 seconds left, only

for the chiefs to storm down field and force overtime and in o.t., the chief won and on their way to a title game and earler the yin the day, tom brady and the buccaneers erased a 22-point lead but left the rams a little too much time on the clock. the last-minute drive led to a field goal the buck stops for tampa bay and tom brady. and on saturday, both number one seeds fell at home to last-second field goals, setting up the conference championship games. and history in women's college basketball kansas state 's ayoka lee needed a ranked game against oklahoma lee put up 61 points good for an ncaa division one single game record she almost out scored the entire oklahoma team by herself as kansas state beat the sooners

94-65. i heard her saying she thought it was going to bea regular game she wasn't even trying >> can you imagine if she did. let's get a check of your week and your monday weather with janessa webb. good morning >> good morning. you said 61 points was anybody playing defense? definitely a remarkable accomplishment we're seeing there. you can see across the great lakes into the northern tear, we're dealing with snowfall and 15 million people impacted by this storm system. and if you're across northeast ohio you've been dealing with a tough weekend. this storm system continues. it will bring accumulation up to four to eight inches and makes its way into sections of the northeast as we go into your tuesday afternoon. this collides withand this is b

weather. a ton of sunshine for los angeles to san diego, in the lower 70s. we'll take a look at your week ahead coming up, guys. krispy kreme is giving back one doughnut at a time in response to the national blood shortages, they'll offer one free original glazed donut they'll need to show their sticker conformation on the donor app. and used cars. a jelly bean that's good for you? nature's bounty introduces new jelly bean vitamins. good-for-you nutrients in a tastier for you form. more sweet dreams. more flavorful immune support. new nature's bounty jelly beans.

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leading the news, a new wildfire is raging in the monterey county, california. it forced hundreds of evacuations and closed highway one in both directions the blaze, known as the colorado fire has burned an estimated 700 acres. it began late friday and according to cal fire, only one structure has been damaged the caof the fire is currently under investigation. the fashion world is mourning the death of mugler they remembered him as a visionary. he was known for his avant guard designs, his aesthetic combined latex leather and curves he designed out fits for george michael's too funky video and dianna ross walked his runway.

thierry mugler dead at 73. the prices for used cars have been sky rocketing, rising faster than almost every other product. it's a major road block for consumers who need reliable transportation >> normally the lot would betwo lines. >> reporter: he sells used cars in new jersey. and the past two years he's had less to sell he blames covid for accelerating the shortage before the pandemic, this lot was typically packed with about 120 used cars. today, there's only 45 >> we are paying around 30% more for the same cars we used to by before the pandemic. >> you have to pass that on to the customer >> absolutely. >> reporter: price of a used car has sky rocketed more than 37% in the past year, soaring above $28,000 for the first time ever.

in west new york, new jersey, a smaller dealer but the same story. >> got 120,000 miles on it >> reporter: he's been selling cars at this corner lot for nearly 60 years. his fleet is older with a lot more miles but like many other dealers, he has a lot less to sell >> all the years i've been in business, these last two years are the worst i've ever seen a lot of people come here cannot afford a car today >> reporter: that's the hard reality for john cook and his wife in alec -- alexandria, indiana. no nest egg to replace their subaru that was injured in an accident >> i didn't expect it. i expected a preview price i didn't expect it to be outside, especially on a fixed income >> reporter: with the average monthly payment topping $500

in fact, a study this week found the average worker would need to work five additional weeks a year to afford the additional cost is there one thing or a series of things leading to the lack of inventory in the used car market >> there are fewer semiconductor chips, which means, fewer vehicles being built, which means fewer vehicles sold into the used market. >> reporter: john just wants a car so he and his wife can get back to being involved grandparents >> and there's still growing left to do for our kids. we need to be there. >> reporter: but in today's r y f, fgetting there in a use camabeurther down the road nbc news wl yeah. see you around. i knew that was the last time i'd see tom. the truth is, i was spending too much online jake from state farm. don't give up what you love.

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>> well, fine, here to talk about it is a guy who just bought a ferry >> hey we bought a ferry. the windowless van of the sea. >> the two staten island nate natives bought the ferry along side a manhattan real estate broker they plan to turn the decommissioned ferry into a live entertainment event space. >> that will be so cool. taking that ferry as kids and now they own one a look at the week ahead and our top stories, including why sarah palin is taking the "the new york times" to court to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant®

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in today's top stories, sarah palin verses "the new york times" heads to trial. the former vice presidential nominee is suing for libel over a 2017 editorial that wrongly linked an atd from her political pack to the 2011 shooting in tucson the attack killed six and badly wounded then congresswoman gabrielle gifford. within a day, the times tweeted an apology the former governor is asking for punitive damages she has a high bar to clear.

she has to prove they knew it was wrong or reckless. recreational marijuana sales hit new highs, generating more than $3 billion in tax revenue across 11 states according to the marijuana policy project that's up and is only going to grow with virginia, new york and vermont beginning sales this year. and now the group cowboys of colorer said they wanted to buck stereotypes as they stood in the spotlight last week. noel walker from the dallas fort worth station has the story. >> reporter: there are iconic images that makeup the rodeo >> the history books didn't quite tell the story >> reporter: the picture of the american west might be different than you think >> the cowboys, it wouldn't matter what color your skin was. it was a tough job and who

wanted the job and who could do the job. >> reporter: one third were cowboys of color african-american,inative american and hispanic. that's why cleo hearn, seen here two years ago, started the cowboys of color rodeo in 1971, to show case the diverse contributions to cowboy culture. no more fitting day to have it on mlk day >> that's what we need to embrace is we all have to work together to get to where we're going today. >> reporter: the cowboys of color rodeo has been at the fort worth stock show and rodeo for 12 years this year more than 200 top rodeo athletes competed. for frank branch, this is home >> and like a lot of people always tell me we never see a colored cowboy >> he wants to buck stereotypes but not get bucked off a bronk >> a lot of kids look up to us like this, you know.

they think we superstars and they want to be just like that when they grow up. >> reporter: because if you can see it, you can be it. >> this isn't about whaticaler you are. this is about us working together for one common goal

the clock is ticking after a weekend of intense diplomatic discussions on all sides the military is ska lags continues. is the russian invasion of ukraine only a matter of times >> thousands marched on the wall protesting vaccine mandates. >> the three officers involved in the george floyd murder go on trial today. we've got a preview. caught on camera, how grandmother turned the tables on a phone scammer and caught him trying to steal thousands in cash. >> and the mysterious case