putin's perspective, the russian president says the ukrainian people are asking for his help and he will use military force only as a last resort. but russian troops are firing warning shots in ukraine, several fast moving developments on the ground as secretary of state john kerry landed in kiev this morning. the new video showing him with ukraine's acting president has the white house lays out its economic plan to bolster ukraine's finances. next hour at home, president obama puts his money where his mouth is, unveiling a budget that backs up his income inequality message that backs young children and universal e pre-k. and it has been a winter of extreme cold, record snow. has the deep freeze changed how americans are spending?

we begin with the white house confronting major challenges on the domestic and international fronts. the president next hour will unveil a nearly $4 trillion budget at an elementary school in washington, as they battle with republicans over the economy and income inequality. overseas, secretary of state john kerry has arrived in the ukrainian capital of kiev, where he just met with the acting president. he's there to show support for the country's embattled government, which includes a billion dollars in aid. a new sign of aggression, russian troops fired warning shots at ukrainian shoots marched towards them in crimea, and in his first public statement about the crisis, russian president vladimir putin was defiant, saying his country is ready to use all means to protect russians in ukraine, but says he hopes he won't have to use force. last night the white house

released this photo, talking about the growing crisis. after the president made brief public comments about putin's actions. >> i think the strong condemnation that is received from countries around the world indicates the degree to which russia's on the wrong side of history on this. we are examining a whole series of steps, economic, diplomatic, that will isolate russia. and we'll have a negative impact on russia's economy. >> and while the white house navigates the choppy diplomatic waters, the president is taking more heat from republicans, including this assessment this morning from senator john mccain on "morning joe." >> there's been a fundamental misreading of vladimir putin, his intentions, and the things he will do. there's no reset with vladimir putin. vladimir putin is not going to appreciate the president to be, quote, more flexible after he is re-elected. >> my colleague andrea mitchell

is traveling with the secretary of state. she joins us now by phone, and if you will, andrea, walk us through the secretary's agenda and what reaction we heard, if any, to the comments of vladimir putin today. >> well, from the top there, there's been no reaction yet from secretary kerry, who was flying overnight when putin is speaking. he has not yet spoken to us. we're having a news conference with him later, so we will expect to try to get some reaction from putin, as you know, reserved the right to use military force. what we were told on the plane by senior officials flying over here is he has operational control over crimea and that there is an off-ramp for him, should he choose to take it, but there will be escalating sanctions imposed, obviously, first by the united states and the u.s. hopes with european allies should he step up the pressure and certainly, if he were to move into ukraine beyond crimea, but they did say they

are not willing to accept the ante of him retaining russian control over crimea. right now, secretary kerry is meeting with the acting president, who's the speaker of the parliament here, and also other leaders of the parliament. he had a very emotional walk through the square. he went to the shrine with a candle where 67 died under sniper fire back in february, and also walked among the people, talked to some, some old, some young, saying we need help. he is coming bearing a promise at least of $1 billion in loan guarantees to help the people of ukraine who are hurting and especially going to be hurt if the russian natural gas monopoly carries out its threat to stop discounting natural gas energy supplies to ukrainement chris? >> andrea mitchell, thanks so much for that update.

i want to bring in "the huffington post" political reporter amanda terkel and josh krashaar. how do they hope that john kerry's visit and this new $1 billion aid package might change the equation? >> well, i think that the obama administration wants to show right now as much support as it can from ukraine, while like andrea was saying, providing this off-ramp for russia if it does sort of want to dial down the crisis. what the white house hopes is that russia would accept the offer of sending international monitors to ensure the safety and rights of the russian speaking population in ukraine, but so far russia hasn't indicated it's interested in doing that. right now they are getting support from republicans and democrats, so there is a lot of support for moving swiftly and approving this aid package that the white house is asking for.

>> swiftly on that, but as we just heard from senator john mccain, josh, some criticism, as well, for the overall administration policy, and how difficult is this sort of diplomatic dance that he has to do, because on one hand, he wants to move forward, on the other hand, some of our european allies are pretty divided and even red sint about taking action. >> that's the challenge. we haven't seen a lot of action because the u.s. and europe are not entirely on the same page in terms of how they would counter russia's influence here. the biggest challenge for president obama is to get the european union countries, germany, angela merkel on the same page when it comes to sanctions and punitive measures in ukraine and crimea. the biggest challenge is to get both republicans and democrats on the same page, back home near in the united states but also the european allies on the same

page and back up the words with tough sanctions and countermeasures. >> the criticism has come not just from people like john mccain, but the conservative new republican wrote about the october 2012 presidential debate and which you'll remember the president criticized mitt romney for saying russia was one of the u.s.'s greatest global threats. let's remind you about that. >> governor romney, i'm glad that you recognize al qaeda is a threat, because a few months ago you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat, you said russia, not al qaeda, russia. the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the cold war's been over for 20 years. >> i'm not going to wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to russia or mr. putin and say to him, i'll give you more flexibility after the election. >> is this the kind of opening, amanda, republicans have been looking for as they argue the president has been naive when it comes to dealing with vladimir putin? >> republicans have been arguing president obama has been too weak and that a lot of what he

has said hadn't really been backed up by real threats, and that's why vladimir putin, for example, isn't acting as sort of afraid as some would like him, but president obama's operating in an atmosphere after the iraq and afghanistan wars where there just isn't a lot of appetite either in the united states or internationally. there is not a lot of appetite for using force, for going in there, and i think he's trying to juggle both, you know, having this real threat out there, but also understanding that using force and going in isn't what is really wanted by the public at this point. >> gene robinson writes exactly about that history with iraq and afghanistan. let me read to you where he argues about this credibility problem, as he put it is. "the united states, frankly, has limited standing to insist on absolute respect for the territorial integrity of sovereign states. before iraq, there was afghanistan, there was the

persian gulf war, panama, grenada. those who blame the russian action on weak or feckless u.s. foreign policy are being either cynical or clueless." is this coming back to haunt us in our dealings with russia? >> to some degree. but public opinion also doesn't like seeing the country being held hostage to russia's interventions and i think we show the video of the 2012 debate between obama and romney, but i think looking ahead, 2016 is going to come into play because as secretary of state hillary clinton tried to normalize retles after a frosty period of time. look at the republican comments coming out about president obama right now. you can bet hillary clinton is going to be in for some of those same types of accusations, especially if she comes after a presidential campaign, so foreign policy, which has been on the back burner the last couple of years, is poised to take center page in 2016, whether in the republican party

or hillary clinton and her record as that comes into fruition. >> josh, amanda terkel, good to see both of you, thank you. checking the news feed, reeva steenkamp's mother wanted to look oscar pistorius in the eye during his murder trial. she said she never got the chance when the former olympian walked right by her in court. pistorius is accused of killing his model girlfriend last valentine's day. he said she thought she was an intruder. june steenkamp says, she just wants the truth. >> doesn't matter to me what happens to oscar, because my daughter is never coming back. it's actually important to forgive him for me, because i don't want to leave with bitterness in my life. it's just going to turn itself into my being, and i don't want that. >> more of oscar pistorius's neighbors took the stand this morning, testifying they heard screams from inside the home. well, let the midterm season begin. it is primary day in texas.

one race we're watching is the republican senate contest between the incumbent john cornyn and representative steve stockman. voters will also be choosing candidates to run for six of texas's top jobs and that includes the matchup between wendy davis and greg abbott for governor. nine days of early voting ended last week. members also show more republicans early voting. celebrities, quinton tarantino and hugh laurie kicking off fat tuesday. a little rain and temperatures in the 40s won't stop the quest for beads or dozen or so parades throughout the city today. the first one started at 6:00 a.m. never too early for a drink when you're in new orleans. people camped out all night to get prime real estate. the celebration will pump more than $750 million into the local economy. we don't know how much of that

involves hurricanes, if you know what that is. drink, yeah. seems like the first lady is everywhere, pushing to revamp food labels, get kids moving. now she's heading to china this month. how much of president obama's legacy might rest with michelle. but first we'll dig into the president's budget. he's proposing new tax cuts to help with child care costs and support low-income workers. we'll talk to the top house democrat on the budget, congressman chris van hollen, right after the break. but it's our job to find them. the answers. the solutions. the innovations. all waiting to help us build something better. something more amazing. a safer, cleaner, brighter future. at boeing, that's what building something better is all about. ♪

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growing gap between the rich and the poor. congress got its copy of the spending plan just this morning, coming in at more than 200 pages, here's the big proposal, middle class tax cuts that include strengthening the earned income tax credit for people without kids, expanding the child and dependent care tax credit to help families afford child care, and better tax benefits to help pay for college. the bottom line, the president's plan would give about 13.5 million americans a tax break. ranking member of the house budget committee chris van hollen joins me. >> good to be with you, chris, thanks. >> setting up a pretty epic battle. there's this 204-page report the house republicans have put out that i know you've seen, and it basically says we can't afford the way the president is laying it out. congressman paul ryan, i'm quoting hill here, "for too long we have measured compassion by how much we spend instead of how many people get out of poverty."

does this budget throw more money at a problem? >> chris, what the president's proposing, you just laid out, as well as the child tax credit, are provisions that have had bipartisan support in the past. what the president is doing here is extending that tax cut to child less workers, right now it applies to a lower income workers with kids and so we hope actually that this will be an area where republicans can come together with us and works together. >> what's the indication you're getting on the hill, congressman? >> we've had hearings in the past where republicans support this approach, but as you indicated, you know, chairman ryan just rolled out this report the other day talking about a range of antipoverty programs. we're happy to work with them to improve these programs. what we're not willing to do is to allow their budget to be used as a trojan horse to try and

dramatically slash these social safety net programs, so again, if the past is prologue, they are planning to make major cuts to very important economic security programs, but let's wait and see. >> let's look at another aspect of this, because the president's plan would give a total $60 billion in tax breaks to americans and plans to pay for it at least in part by closing tax loopholes, the so-called gingrich and kerry interest provisions that let high income individuals avoid taxes that other workers pay. part of the republican argument has been this is antibusiness, will stifle job growth, so how do you pay for it? >> well, interestingly, chris, those two tax provisions that you just talked about, the reducing the break for hedge funds and what we call the gingrich/john edwards loophole were proposals dave camp

introduced in his tax plan the other day. those two items are things he identified, so maybe there's some common ground. unfortunately, a lot of republicans are not willing to end specific tax breaks unless they are at the same time lowering tax rates for very high income individuals, but i want to point out one other area of possible overlap, the president has proposed eliminating a lot of tax breaks that actually encourage multinational companies to move their jobs offshore, so american companies moving jobs offshore as a result of some of these tax incentives. we don't want to do that, so what the president is proposing is close some of those tax breaks and use the savings to invest in modernizing our infrastructure so we can compete in this 2 isst century. >> this is more than a budget document, it is a way for people to say this is what we stand for

as a party, particularly in what both parties have identified as critical, which is this gap between the rich and the poor, and, obviously, all budgets are works in progress, there are compromises to be made, as you just indicated, but if you had to lay out the democrat priorities, things your candidates will run on in the midterms, what do you think is not negotiable here? >> what's not negotiable is the focus on making sure that middle income, middle class workers, are better off. we need more shared prosperity in this country. we need to make sure we lift all boats, and some of the republican proposals in the past have essentially been tax give aways to the very wealthy at the expense of investing important areas for growing the middle class, so we want to continue to increase our investment in our kids' education, in science and research that has helped, you know, grow innovation in the country, and in our

infrastructure. republicans in the past have wanted to cut all those important investments and preserve tax breaks for special interests, so, again, we haven't seen what the house republican budget proposal will be this year, but if the past is prologue, that will be the direction they take, and so you're going to have a major debate over priorities and values. >> ranking member of the house budget committee, congressman chris van hollen, thank you. >> thanks. >> for more on the fine print, let's bring in maya, president of the federal budget, a bipartisan nonprofit. good to see you, good morning. >> good morning. >> what's your reaction to what we know about the president's budget so far? >> if you look at the budget about a statement about your vision for the country, there are a number of important things on here, the focus of the budget is growing the economy in the short-term, i think that makes sense. as you just talked about, dealing with the huge and

growing problem of income inequality in this country. i think there's some small pieces there. we'll have to do more on that. then there's the issue of fiscal responsibility, which is this country is on an unsustainable path in terms of the debt, and in terms of that, they took a step back on emphasizing, getting ahold of our debt in the medium and long term, so while the president's budget is important and should be commended for the fact there are a number of new initiatives, it doesn't do nearly enough to get our long-term debt problem under control and that, in fact, is part of an overall economic strategy, which we need to be focused on. >> i think you know what the argument is that the white house would make. first of all, president obama did make reductions, for example, to medicare and social security last year as part of the grand bargain with house speaker john boehner, and if you look at the deficit, it's been cut by more than half in 2009, the fastest deficit decline over a sustained period since world

war ii, so would you acknowledge some progress is being made? >> yeah, i think it's a great point. if you look at the numbers, looks like quite a bit of progress has been made and the deficit has come down very quickly. that, of course, comes after a large rampup in the deficit where it grew by 800% before those four years, and i think more troubling is if you look at the nation's debt, where our debt levels are twice as large as they've been historically and are at historic highs and that's where the trouble is. while we've done a lot of deficit reduction, we've done it in the wrong way. we've focused on, i think, inadvertently through congress not being able to pick our policies on short-term measures that came out of the budget, which isn't where the problem is. what we should be doing is trying to replace those savings that came from the sequester that aren't as useful or long-term with more permanent

and structural changes to entitlement programs and the tax code. that would be the best to do for the economy. >> let me ask you quickly before we go, because i think there is this growing consensus and you said you think there can be more that is done on that. give us a sense of where you think that can happen. >> well, i think there's different ways you have to look at income inequality, which is how people are making their money and what's happening after the government's involved, so one of the issues we have to look at is how to have more training, more education, more high skilled workers earning higher wages to begin with, so it's not just things like eitc and changing the distribution of the tax code, which is kind of after the fact. we're going to have to look more at the institutions in this country and how as we're growing the economy, we're ensuring the gains are spread more broadly. i think that's a bigger discussion, but i think it's a very important piece of all of this and i also would think that fiscal responsibility plays a critical role in protecting

people on the lower end of the income spectrum, who tend to be most vulnerable during economic downturns. >> president of the committee for the responsible budget, maya, thank you so much for coming on the program. >> thank you. check out the record cold sweeping the nation. 18 here in new york, 37 in nosa antonio, texas. the most ice we've seen so late in the season with statistics going back to 1963, according to the weather channel. so besides making us miserable, the cold is freezing people's wallets. we'll dig into the frozen-omics coming up. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn?

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right now, secretary of state john kerry is meeting with leaders in ukraine. he made his way to independent square in kiev just a short time ago and before he touched down, vladimir putin broke his silence this morning, calling russia's actions in crimea a humanitarian effort, not an invasion. the obama administration says it's suspending military ties with russia, including exercises, bilateral meetings, port visits, conferences, and is considering freezing assets of select russian officials, as well as state run financial institutions. at the same time, congressional leaders are looking at economic sanctions. former u.s. attendant secretary of state for public apairs, p.j.

crowely. good morning. a lot of moving parts, let me start with you, he said russia reserves the right to use force as a last resort. those were his words. what did you hear him say? >> well, his troops are going to go back into barracks, they, of course, had this unannounced exercise, military exercise, last week, that put a lot of nerves on edge, and the good news is that those troops are going back to barracks, so those are just the ones in russia, not the ones in crimea. he also was clearly sensitive to the things you mentioned on economic sanctions, so i think he is begun to think carefully about the impacts of his actions. >> so do you think, and we talked to andrea mitchell about this and the white house and john kerry wanting to preserve essentially a way out for him. is that what he's looking for, a face-saving way out?

>> well, he can certainly take it. he does have the opportunity to allow monitors to go into eastern part of ukraine to take a look at any alleged problems that russian speakers or russian citizens have in that part of the country. he's allowed monitors to go in and take a look. there's been no indication, none, of any threats to or problems of russian speakers or russian cities in ukraine, but he can do that. he can also sit down with the government, the interim government in kiev and talk through the issues having to do with crimea. >> p.j., you argued in a piece that you wrote for the bbc that i was looking at that putin has already accomplished his mission in crimea, so what do you think is going on here? >> well, i think he has at least for the moment arrested the revolution that i think was spinning out of control and out of -- beyond russia's control or interest. he now has some leverage and people are paying attention to

him. we focused in recent days about the military situation, the danger of an escalation, but john kerry today is beginning to address the other aspect, you know, part of russia's narrative is the current interim government is illegitimate. obviously, the united states needs to help the interim government deal with a very, very difficult economic situation in the short term and begin the process of preparing for you saw the laundry list of what the administration is doing or is preparing to do, but you also heard andrea merkle is -- for

the president. >> those are all still very real options. the president can lead on this. he has led. he can take the strong case that we have, that the international community has, to the europeans, and i believe he will get support. angela merkel's comment that president putin seems to be detached from reality is right. he's not crazy. he's not insane, but he is living in a different world and the europeans understand that. i think they will be -- they can be convinced to come along. >> didn't you read his comments, p.j., we call them defiant, but it sure seemed from the translation that in that context of what we heard from angela merkel that he doesn't get it, he doesn't get how the rest of the world views this. >> the dilemma for vladimir putin or the west in dealing with vladimir putin, is he has a very high pain threshold. he's probably thinking along the lines in 2008, russia, in retaliation to a move by

georgia, invaded georgia and got away with it. you know, the ramifications for russia were short term, you know, six years later we just celebrated the olympics in sochi, where with vladimir putin as host. i mean, the dilemma here is that we have to, you know, make sure that there is real pain here, so otherwise he might again think that whatever costs he has are short term and not long term. the one cost, one potential real trigger here, is that where he is paying a cost is in ukrainian public opinion. many of the oligarchs in ukraine, who were supporters of the former president, yanukovych, are defending the sovereignty and honor of ukraine, so putin has options here, but if he goes too far, he solidifies ukraine in ways he didn't intend. >> let me ask you quickly, ambassador, we saw quick reaction in international markets, as well as the u.s. markets, they don't like

uncertainty, but if you look at the dow right now, it's gained back more than it lost yesterday. do you think that there's a sense out there that maybe we've seen the worst, at least for now? >> there could well be, also i think if you look at the russian markets, they are down, so markets are going up here, down there. that's a good sign. >> ambassador william terrell, secretary p.j. crowely, good t o see you both. checking the news feed, chris christie holds his third town hall meeting since the bridgegate scandal broke. his former campaign manager could be the target of a federal criminal investigation. the report says that federal agents are calling and showing up unannounced. we're getting a good picture now of just how much last fall's government shutdown cost the country's national parks. interior secretary sally joule said 8 million fewer people visited and that resulted in the loss of about $414 million.

joule called the shutdown a reminder just how important national parks are for local economies. pope francis unintentionally had a holy slip of the tongue during his weekly address when he made a small and common mispronunsuation of an italian word, which, of course, itali italian's not his native language, it turned out to be the italian version of what we call the "f" word. pope francis tweeted, "in life we make many mistakes, let us recognize our errors and ask forgiveness." he's so cool. and what's a bronze medalist to do when he returns from sochi? ski the indianapolis motor speedway. they took laps around the famous oval on skis and even pulled off some tricks. tens of millions of us woke up this morning to another day of record cold temperatures in what's been an unusually brutal winter for most of the country,

nearly 90% of the great lakes are covered in ice, highest percentage in two decades, and there's an enormous bottom line intacted. airlines, auto industry, they've all lost money, a lot of businesses, big and small, are wondering if they can ever recoup those lost sales. and the winter of our discontent has caught the attention of fed chief janet yellen. >> a number of data releases have pointed to softer spending than many analysts had expected. part of that softness may reflect adverse weather conditions. but at this point, it's difficult to discern exactly how much. >> well, we're starting to get a look at how much. hitha is here with what's moving your money. good to see you. you're back from l.a. and the oscars. >> i am. >> so nice of you to come with us here on "jansing and co."

>> back to reality, yes. >> and the reality is, people are saying do i really want to get in my car in sub-freezing temperatures, drive to the mall and slog across the parking lot and they are saying, no. >> right. the answer is no, and we saw this dip in retail sales in january. it took a hit of about .4%, so it doesn't sound like very much, but if you look at the big picture here, clothing, for example, took a hit of .9%. that's a decrease in clothing sales, right, furniture sales, .6% and retail sales in general, .1%. so when you look at that whole picture together, you're seeing everyone not go into stores, in addition to the fact macy's just reported out their earnings. they said this weather, and as retail analysts, we balk at the fact they use weather as a point to justify these low retail sales, but check this out, 244 stores were closed out of the 840 stores that macy's, you know, bloomingdale's, out of

that, we did a little math, per day that equalled $122,000 lost sales per store per day, overall that was $30 million, chris. >> let's talk about the airline industry. seemed every week we were reporting not just dozens or hundreds, but thousands of flights cancelled. >> even just now, i was flying back, i thought my flight was going to get cancelled. about $6 billion overall has been lost in the airline industry. because of cancellations, purchases of flights have been down 5.5%. >> yeah, and unlike the airlines, which are still going to charge you like crazy, car dealerships feeling the impact, but that means if you're looking to buy a car, there might be deals. >> you're seeing more people buy suvs, but yes, when you go into a car dealership, people are using that as a negotiation tactic because they want to move the inventory out. >> somebody's got to be

benefitting from this. i know i was buying boots and a new coat because how many times can you wear the same heavy coat? >> amazon, for example, a lot of these online retailers are benefitting, amazon and if you're a "house of cards" watcher, netflix is also benefitting from the winter weather, sel. carmex and l.l. bean. >> for lip? >> yes, because of the cold weather and winter gear. >> thank you so much, good to see you. >> you too, chris. >> glad you made it back. >> thank you. if you're looking for a job, you may be able to head south, the website wallethub looks at the best cities for job seekers. three out of the top five are in texas. dallas is number five, arlington, fourth. tampa, florida, number three on the list, our nation's capital, d.c., the runner-up, and the best city for job seekers, ft. worth, texas. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget.

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she's everywhere. in just the last two weeks, michelle obama joined jimmy fallon on the tonight show, appeared with actress amy poehler in miami to promote her let's move campaign, sat down for the "today" show, talked up new federal standards on how junk food is marketed in schools and those proposed regulations on nutrition labels. she has two more events today, one at the state department honoring women of courage and a visit to a chinese emerging charter school, there she'll talk about her trip later this month to china. as michelle obama begins her second year as second term as first lady, there is a question, is there a line between activism and policy? let's bring in steve mcmahon, and abby huntsman. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> i think, abby, nobody is more familiar with this than hillary clinton was, because she got involved with health care very early on in the first term, but

how do you think a first lady needs to navigate this, especially, frankly, as she's heading into the final years as first lady? >> i think just like the president, every event there are political implications, a person mi behind it, and we're seeing her pushing more of this political role. i think there's nothing more political than this trip to china. people probably don't remember, but last summer when xi jinping came out with his wife, there was an expectation michelle was going to join barack obama on the trip, but that was a big deal to the chinese, so part of this trip is making up for lost time. it's a really important trip for her to be on. huge political implications for the chinese. these trips are very symbol iic. they want you to be curious and interested in their culture and history, so i think it's a smart move for her to go to china, but as a first lady, you're a surrogate, which means you represent the president, but also the country. >> is she right about that?

we look at these pictures and they always look like they are having a great time over there, wherever they might be, but are there more political implications than we might know? >> symbolically, it's important to the chinese, i think abby's right about that, but i think the difference that the first lady is making really is more in this country and what she's doing every single day here rather than the foreign trips she might take later this month. >> let me ask you that, because i'm going to read what politico wrote. "this week's announcements could produce even harsher pushback from the food industry and critics who see the first lady taking on too big a role in policy, as observers say obama is edging towards more controversial territory." is there danger there? >> i don't know. it's interesting, because the president said in his state of the union address that if congress won't act on things, he's going to continue to push forward, and i think it's in

that spirit that michelle obama is moving forward, but remember, she sort of goes about it in a different way. she's gotten some great results by actually bringing some of those industry groups and some of the companies that might be impacted by these kinds of regulations into the white house and gotten agreements with them to do things voluntarily, so in that sense, she's actually doing the kind of government or private/public partnerships that republicans say they favor. we'll find out now whether or not the republicans actually do favor public/private partnerships. you saw the grocer's manufacturing situation, which represents a lot of companies impacted by this legislation, came out in favor of it. i don't think she's actually taking on the industry, i think she's actually getting the industry involved in helping to address a problem that affects everybody. >> i wonder if it's time for us to look a little differently at what we consider the traditional role, which is the first lady doesn't get involved in policy, she wasn't elected, yet when you

have an issue like this where she is clearly extraordinarily well informed, very dedicated, what's wrong with her making the argument, do we need to sort of reassess the way someone that incredibly intelligent, that committed, and, frankly, with that kind of form why shouldn't she get involved in the conversation? >> i'm with you, having grown up in politics, i've seen firsthand that a spouse can be a secret weapon oftentimes. we see michelle, no matter where you fall in the political spectrum, you can't say she's not made a huge impact on young kids in terms of being healthy and early education and looking at this trip to china, there was this expectation of president obama having been born in hawaii, raised in indonesia, he would be more involved with the chinese, he would travel over more than once in his five years as president so far, and i think she can do a lot in her trip over there. that says it all, she can go over to china, show she's interested in them, cares about them, much of what makes our

relationship with china good and strong and healthy happens off the negotiating table. it's trips like these, showing that you care about them, and i think this is going to be a really important trip for her and i think it's probably the first of many we're going to see in the years to come from her. i think we'll see she'll do a good job on this trip. she connects with people, connects with young kids, all walks of life. >> abby huntsman, great to have you on the program, steve mcmahon, good to see you, thank you. you can see abby, of course, at 3:00 p.m. here on msnbc. we'll be right back. be a victim of fraud. fraud could mean lower credit scores and higher mortgage rates. it's a problem waiting to happen. check your credit score, check your credit report at experian.com.

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it is his fifth grandchild. that's his daughter, not his granddaughter. jon stewart taking a shot at russia's president putin, wondering what happened to that olympic spirit he displayed to the world just two weeks ago. >> pudi, is this because you got more golds than everybody else? you realize olympic wins are not internationally binding, right? unless norway there was just three gold medals there from embarking on a quest for world domination. ford might be trying to set a record for interviews, and let's guess it might not be helping the city's image. this from jimmy kimmel last night. >> just a normal, average, hard working politician. i will -- >> you are not the average politician, my friend. you are the most wonderful mayor i've ever witnessed in my many years. you are sweating a lot. let me get you tissues here. >> we're good, we're good. >> do you mind if i dab you,

mayor? auction this off on e-bay afterwards. >> jimmy, that's creepy, actually. right? that's going to wrap up this hour of "jansing and co." i'm chris jansing. "news nation" with tamron hall is up next. i'll see you back here tomorrow. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief! [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. before using her new bank of america credit card, which rewards her for responsibly managing her card balance. before receiving $25 toward her balance each quarter for making more than her minimum payment on time each month. tracey got the bankamericard better balance rewards credit card, which fits nicely with everything else in life she has to balance. that's the benefit of responsibility. apply online or visit a bank of america near you.

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when your skin is luminous, so are you. new regenerist luminous. from olay. your best beautiful. good morning, everyone, i'm tamron hall, and this is "news nation." we are following major developments today in the volatile crisis in crukraine. russian president vladimir putin spoke a few hours ago, and breaking news, john kerry will speak in about 15 minutes. kerry is in ukraine's capital of kiev. the secretary also visited independence square, which had been the center of protests and where a huge memorial has now been erected to those killed before president yanukovych was ousted. we'll bring you secretary kerry's remarks live when he starts.