yamiche: domestic fights and foreign challeng. >> pres. trump is wrong. yamiche: vice president mike pence rights of biting review of the present he wants serve. >> if i run and i win we will treat those people from january 6 fairly. if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. because they are being treated unfairly. yamiche: as former president trump flexes his grip on the gop and continues to lie about the election. plus -- >> this force is trained and equipped for a variety of missions and to reassure and defend our allies. yamiche: president biden deploys troops to eastern europe. >> this horrible terrorist

leader is no more. yamiche: strikes at the heart of isis. >> we made a promise at the outset it must be a black woman. that is offensive. >> is alack woman lawyer i'm not offended. this is called progress. yamiche: the debate over president biden's pick for the supreme court heats up next. ♪ >> this is washingtonweek. corporate funding is provided by: >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's -- for a variety of no contract plans and are u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. visit consumer cellular.tv. >> additional funding provided by the estate of arnold nam's. the u.n. foundation, committing

to bridging cultural differences in our communities. rose personal and andy shreve's. robert and susan rosenbaum, the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. oncegain from washington, moderator yamiche alcindor. yamiche: welcome to washingtonweek. we begin with a rift between former president donald trump and his vice president mike pence. he said in statement that mike pence had the right to overturn the 2020 election. just hours ago, pence pushed back hard. >> president trump is wrong. frankly there's no idea more un-american than the notion that anyone person could choose the american presidents. under the constitution, i had no

right to change the outcome of our election. kamala harris will have no right to overturn the election we beat them in 2024. yamiche: this is pence is most explicit rebuke of trump ever. trump recently held a rally in texas where he suggested pardoning those who carried out the january 6 capital attack. a few republicans pushed back. one of them is a key trump loyalist, south carolina senator lindsey graham. trump quickly criticized him. >> i want to deter people who did january 6. i hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it. >> lindsey graham is wrong. he's a nice guy but he is a rino. i would absolutely give them a pardon. yamiche: joining me to discuss this tomorrow. peter baker, chief white house

correspondent for the new york times. manu raju, chief correspondent for cnn and seung min kim, white house reporter for the washington post. wiest -- we covered former president trump together. what are you hearing about the decision from former vice president mike pence to speak out now and what impact could his statements be given the state of the gop? seung: the impact will be something that we will be closely watching. as we've gotten further and further away from the january 6, 2021 attack, we seen so many in the republican party forget about the horrors of that day. and what precisely because the insurrection at the capital and what led up to it. pres. trump's clear lies about the election and continued lying

that he won the presidential election when he did not. pence's -- comes an interesting time. when you did have been being more vocal and blatant about the potential actions he may take should he run again in 2024 and win. for example, by sayin he would issue pardons for those charged and convicted alongside -- for their role in the january 6 insurrection. what the consequences of pence's actions are is unclear politically. he is still angling for potential future is in the republican party. to see which republicans align behind pence and rebuke the former president for the continued lies about the election will be something to watch. yamiche: peter, some one talked

about it comes at an interesting time. where mark short, the former vice president's chief of staff was talking to the committee. he just testified. they're said to be a number of aides from the former vi president's office going to the committee. i wonder what you make of these timing and what we heard from pence today saying donald trump is wrong, words he never said before. howdy think that connects to the fact we are seeing these aides coming in and talking to the committee? peter: i do tnk there's a connection here. mark short was the right man for vice president pence at that critical moment. telling him and reinforcing that note, he could not claim unnstitutional powers overturn the election. you heard the former vice president's words he had not before. up until now, he has tried to

soften the distance between him and the former president. he would say things like we are just going to have to agree to disagree. i don't think we will agree on what happened that day. a mild way of saying they are never going to be on the same page. today's language was different. it was very firm. a very un-american act to suggest a vice president could unilaterally overturn the election. that was the phrase the former president used, the real goal he admitted wasn't just the idea of pursuing whether there was fraud, it was to have it overturned election. his words. subvert the will of the public in order to keep power. i think we forget just how serious the thing that is. forget what those people were doing on january 6 when they attacked the capital, they were not peaceful protesters, they were trying to stop the transfer of power. congress that they was counting electoral college votes.

they were storming the capitals with the explicit goal of preventing that from happening. that's why this matters, it is not a semantic issue. it goes to the heart of american democracy. it is fascinating to hear the former vice president speak out in this forceful way. yamiche: peters talk about this is a serious matter and that language matters. we also saw, we talk about language, or more pres. trump talking about pardoning these people who attacked the capital and claiming that sander graham -- senator graham is not a true republican. what does that say that they are now clashing like this. this is all coming as the rnc is deciding to censure representative cheney and adam kinsey jerk in their role in being on the committee -- adam

kinsey number. peter:- seung:- manu: distance himself from his longtime friend, john mccain set the late senator who sparred openly with donald trump. after mccain passed, he became a close ally of donald trump. even when trump was bashing mccain. he wouldn't hear lindsey graham say much publicly about how he was upset about that. once you cross the former president, he comes after you. we saw that with mitch mcconnell. he was key to implementing much of the trump agenda through four years of trump presidency. he voted to acquit trump twice. then he blamed him for the january 6 insurrection. since then it's been nothing but attacks from trump against o'connell.

i asked him whether he agreed with the notion that these insurrectionist should b pardon. he said those who pleaded guilty should not be pardoned. he also said the election was determined on december 14, 2020 when the states certify electoral votes. the rnc has made it clear they are the trump party. that they will align themselves with donald trump. going after two people who are investigating what happened here , for on the outs of their party. simply because they want to get to the bottom of trump's role. they are so decidedly in the minority right now, there's a significant push to defeat cheney in her primary. push to expel them from the republican conference. putting the republican leaders in the house and of difficult position. kevin mccarthy, who has tried to align himself with trump is going to be forced to choose sides.

try to keep the focus where he wants to, on democrats in the midterms. that is the concern from republican leaders who see what trump is doing and see these things, talking about the election as essentially dividing their party. as a distraction from the real focus, they want to keep the message on the biden administration. fast mccarthy whether he supports this rnc effort to censure cheney and kinsinger, he wouldn't answer the question. yamiche: i appreciate when you're running around the capitol, giving us the latest. you talked about loyalty being a one-way street with pres. trump. that leads me to the january 6 committee. there so may develop mints with new memos coming out that some in trump's orbit were welling -- willing to use the nsh go after people. information about the draft executive order that might have been used to seize control of

voting machines. it didn't happen. something trump and people close to him were looking at. what do you hear from lawmakers when they talk about the work ahead, given the time they have to work on this might be shortened if democrats lose control of the house? what did they expect to hear from people that they have asked to come involuntarily, including volga trump? -- yvonne got trump -- ivanka trump? nancy: manu: it remains to be seen whether they get the test my from a number of people close to the former president. people who are pushing back. they have interviewed hundreds -- more than 100 witnesses, more than 200 witnesses and have gotten scores of documents from the national archives and these witnesses. even people who thought the committee, like mark meadows. they put fight it text messages to piece together what happened

here. jones for the committee is being able to put this together and have a definitive narrative on what was going through donald trump's mind aired what he was doing. all the efforts weeding up to the insurrection. the efforts by the justice department overturn the election. and get the all done before november. it when november comes, house republicans are probably going to take back the house. and end this investigation next year. yamiche: meanwhile this week, president biden held a bipartisan meeting with key senators about his supreme court nominee. but the process could get complicated. days ago, new mexico democrat senator ben ray lujan suffered a stroke, delaying his return to washington for several weeks. with democrats razor thin majority in the senate, some are nervous. talk about what democrats are

telling you about their concerns about lujan's condition. you have a good scoop about how he is building his team for the supreme court. the timing of this and what is going on at the white house? >> nervous doesn't begin to describe what democratic senators are feeling right now. they are sending their best wishes to senator lujan, we are told that his recovery is on the trajectory it is now, he should return to washington in four to six weeks. chuck schumer has indicated it is not going to impact the timeline for the consideration of the supreme court nominate, particularly because senator lujan does not sit on the judiciary committee. mono and i have been told by democratic senators -- manu and i have been told by democratic senators, they are aware they

are one heartbeat away from losing the majority. whenever a condition arises, even if it is a covid diagnosis that takes a senator out of commission for a few days, they are aware there majority is fragile. that's why they want to move as expeditiously as possible. not just on supreme court nomination, but pieces of their agenda. with senator lujan's prognosis being what it is, the plans for supreme court nomination seemed to be on track. that is welcome news to the white house for many reasons. president biden, senior aides are making reparations now to make sure they have a seamless rollout of the nominee make sure she can navigate through what is likely to be a contentious confirmation process. to that end, they have enlisted the former democratic senator, doug jones, from alabama, who has bipartisan appeal.

even though he did not have a long tenure in the senate, as a so-called sherpa, one my favorite supreme court terms. to guide her around the hallways of capitol hill, to meet with senators one on one. at the same time, they are bringing on political strategists. a former obama spokesman and a longtime veteran of -- close to the clintons. she is going to be tasked with engaging and mobilizing and network of outside groups to build this grassroots support for this nominee. who as we should note will be the first black woman to sit on the supreme court in history. that really is a historic moment. yamiche: it is going to make big history. now i want to turn, that is big history and we are living history right now, it other big

story is the diplomatic standoff between russia, ukraine and the united states. where than 100,000 russian troops are currently gathered at the training border. on wednesday, the pentagon announced that 3000 american troops are being deployed to eastern europe. with sides insist there is still time for diplomacy. on capitol hill, democrats and republicans sounded off about their concerns. cracks the white house has put us in a horrible situation. i'm concerned there putting gasoline on the fire. >> we need to make clear to ukraine and vladimir putin that ukraine is not alone. the free nations of the west will stand with ukraine against russian aggression. >> i think it is right to communicate our intent in advance. it is most likely to have a deterrent effect. yamiche: joining our discussion on this is nancy youssef.

she is a national security reporter from the washington journal. before i go to nancy, i'm going to go to peter. you were the moscow bureau chief for the washington post. written a book on russia and put in. where do things stand given what we are hearing from the u.s. and russia? peter: we are still basically waiting for putin to show us what he is going to do. he is the central figure in all this. everything else has been predictable. vladimir putin knows what joe biden is going to do or could do in retaliation for an invasion. as what europe could and would do. he knows what nato would and could do. he knows what ukraine is capable of. what we don't know is what he is going to do. that is the real question. the question not only joe biden and the rpms and ukrainians are trying to figure out, also the russians. he holds his cards close to the vest. the question is how far is he

willing to go? he is in beijing for the opening of the summer olympics. he doesn't want to show up his friend gees and ping by creating a military situation -- xi jinping. i was talking with some officials in europe and the u.s. they're worried this is heading toward a conflict and this is a serious threat, not just ukraine but all europeans ability right now. is there an offramp that president putin is willing to take. he has not shown it so far. yamiche: what role might the troops be playing to deter russia. there's a lot fluid there, what is your point? fax the u.s. troops will be going to three countries, germany, poland and romania. you will not they are not going

to ukraine. the united states is that it would not deploy troops to ukraine. their purpose is twofold. one is deterrence to russia. to say while you have not gone into ukraine, and have said you are not going into allied partners, this is our line. there cannot be any threats to nato members. this comes after russia deployed troops to belarus, near the polish border and heightened concerns in the region about russian intentions. the other is to reassure allies and partners. as a scene russian movements, there has been a real fear amongst nato members that this could be the start of further aggression aggression. all of these military maneuvers are designed to signal something to the alliance and to russia about the u.s. interest in backing its partners in the region. yamiche: nancy, a quick follow-up, there was a letter that president biden wrote and

wasn't putin responded. i wonder what does at reveal about the shy gees? talk a little bit about the energy issues, when you talk about europe's stance and where they stand in all this? nancy: while the things that happened in the effort to reach a diplomatic solution was an exchange of letters. the u.s. spelled out what it needs from russia, russia did the same. while russia is talk about border issues, how does what ukraine to be a member of nato, but doesn't want the alliance to expand further, how wenstrup free -- we can the alliance. the united states is offering more things aligned with missile defense. we will let you inspect our in poland, lessen the patrols in the black sea. i think that is why we are having such a challenge. these two foes are looking at

this from a different perspective. one is talk about border control, one about missile defense. that is why there is a nervousness about what is ahead. all this is happening as russia is mounting troops on all sides of the ukrainian border, moving ships into the black sea. by every measure, moving more troops than has in the past seven decades around ukrainian borders. yamiche: nancy is laying out the form policy issues here, if you could, i want to give you a couple seconds to describe what is going on on capitol hill, where democrats stand on sanctions, what could happen? manu: there is significant bipartisan discussion to impose sanctions on russia. the debate has been between the democrats and administration

concerned about pre-invasion sanctions. republicans have wide to impose them preemptively and go after the nord stream 2 pipeline. some sanctions will go in preinvasion, some would kick in after any invasion. what both sides are sayin they are getting closer to a deal. what they are saying is these will be crippling sanctions. the leader of the effort said this will be the mother of all sanctions. in a lot of ways, they are trying to deter russia from going forward. we expect that to be proposed in the coming days. it will be interesting to see where the republicans were concerned they're going to far about sending troops europe, where they come down as well some liberals were concerned. this could lead to further conflict by beefed up ellijay presence as well as beefed up sanctions. yamiche: nancy, we have 30 seconds left, i want to come to

you. on thursday, as in biden did and as a top leader of isis killed during a raid carried out by special forces. u.s. leaders say the leader detonatean explosive. way inherent, what is the significance of this raid -- weigh in here. nancy: he had ruled for about two years of the group. in that time, he came in after the self-proclaimed caliphate had been destroyed. isis was able to stay intact. it was ableo expand its presence in sub-saharan africa, this was not the kind of charismatic leader we saw in our back daddy. this is the type --al bagdadhi. the organization is poised to come back from the loss of its leader. i think we will see that again.

yamiche: thank you for joining us and sharing your reporting. we will continue our conversation on president biden's agenda on the washington week extra. tune in on monday to the pbs newshour for the latest on efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the tensions between russia and ukraine. finally, i would like to mark the beginning of black history month and say my heart is full thinking about the heroes of our community past and present. i look forward to celebrating them this month and all your long. i want to call attention to the recent bomb threats against historically black colleges and universities. it is heartbreaking t see these institutions targeted. i pray they remain safe. thank you for joining us. i am yamiche alcindor, good night from washington. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

(intense music) ♪ (narrator) people all over the world take the knee, but for centuries, black resistance to oppression has taken many forms. ♪ when the quarterback colin kaepernick first took the knee in 2016 during the national anthem at an nfl game, there was a huge backlash. ultimately, this act of defiance cost him his livelihood. (kaepernick) i'm gonna continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. this country stands for freedom, liberty, justice for all, and it's not happening for all right now. (trump) maybe he should find a country that works better for him. let him try. (narrator) in the years since, taking the knee has become a powerful symbol of resistance, as potent as martin luther king's civil rights marches,