pressure president obama not to send arms to ukraine, which she strongly opposes, as she and the french president seek to get a peace deal. key allies clearly disagree on potential decision from the administration here. what more do we know? >> reporter: this meeting is an effort to project unity between the president of the united states and european allies. everyone is on the same page from the perspective that they're trying to deter putin's aggression in the ukraine. the question is how. as you said the question of whether or not to arm the ukrainians is on the table. germans known to be opposed to it the president open to it, over the weekend, secretary of state john kerry left the door open, didn't say one way or the other whether that was the plan.

from the broader perspective, one of the main issues is whether the russians are able to revive a cold war strategy of dividing the united states from european allies. the meeting designed to get everybody here on the same page ahead of as you said talks that are in that peace that are set for wednesday. >> kasie hunt thank you. this news conference expected to start in about 40 minutes. we will bring that to you live of course. also developing the family of the american woman held by isis is holding out hope she's still alive. there's been no confirmation of kayla mueller's fate and no further word since isis claimed she was killed by a jordanian air strike in syria. however, jordan says it did not target the area where isis says kayla was held. jordan is vowing to quote, wipe out isis after it captured air force pilot was burned alive.

keir simmons reported from an air base not far from the border with syria. >> reporter: the jordanian air force say they have been pounding isis targets with 2,000 pound bombs like this flying f-16 aircrafts, supported by u.s. forces. meanwhile, back home, a family in arizona are praying for their daughter, held hostage by isis. >> we are proud of so many of our young people. >> reporter: kayla mueller's family and friends have not lost faith. >> weary but hopeful for her return. >> reporter: there's been no news since friday's unconfirmed isis claim the 26-year-old had been killed. >> you were the kid on the playground knocked down by the school bully, she would be the first to come over and give you a hug. >> reporter: thousands of miles away in iraq and syria, jordanian military officials say isis is suffering heavy losses

but they say the bombs did not kill kayla, as isis claimed. >> we did not actually target any target within the vicinity where they claim kayla was held hostage. >> reporter: when we saw jordan pilots preparing for a mission cancelled. still they say the isis leader himself is in their sights. >> we have isis in the air. >> in your view -- >> no doubt. >> reporter: and the f-16s took off from here. ground assault without the aid of u.s. troops. >> there have to be ground troops to win this victory, and it is clear they're not going to

be american, they're going to be iraqi. >> reporter: the u.s. heads up an international coalition fighting isis. a ground offensive could take place in the next few weeks. there are those questioning whether the iraqi army if they lead that offensive is capable of that even with this kind of air support. back to you. >> let me bring in tara mallard, former military analyst at the cia, she's research fellow in the international security program at the new america foundation in washington. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me tamron. >> obviously our thoughts and prayers are with kayla mueller's family, they're holding out hope that their daughter is still alive. interesting that jordan says the area of targets don't match up with what isis is claiming she was at one of those locations. how could this information be verified? >> sure. absolutely. number one, jordanians claim

they haven't struck this area. number two, there's strong evidence to doubt the veracity of isis claims. they claimed to hold the jordanian pilot which we now know was killed january 3rd. so the veracity of claims known to be false. a lot used for propaganda purpose. another odd thing is they claim the building was empty, she was the only one in it. this would be strange they would leave an american hostage which would be a high value hold alone in an area they don't know the targets for jordanian air strikes. it is possible that she may have already been killed and that they're using this as propaganda to rally the base. >> we know that her parents reportedly oppose a u.s. rescue mission because of the high risk involved. they were looking at a way to negotiate with isis. we know that the united states has strict policy against that, but they were fearful of what a

rescue attempt might end up being for their daughter. >> yeah rescue attempts are highly dangerous and a lot of things need to be balanced in terms of hostage rescue policies, whether or not ransom should be paid by the government or by private parties, whether or not the family ought to have say in the matter, and the complex nature of intelligence. we learned of potential rescue mission to rescue james foley back in july there's evidence in the press recently they found hairs that may have belonged to kayla mueller. it is possible we don't know the full story, information like this. the public gets it way after the intelligence community itself. there might be more information going on behind the scenes now through the collection of human intelligence, signal intelligence, and information we in the public don't have and shouldn't have to be frank as these things are unraveling. >> thank you for your insight. greatly appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. in the northeast, driving conditions in boston and around

new england are nearly impassable as the northeast gets buried in mountains of snow. massachusetts governor charlie baker issued a statewide snow emergency, virtually all public schools in the state are closed today and tomorrow. the governor says the big challenge now is figuring out what to do with all of the snow already on the ground. >> at this point we are starting to worry a lot about roofs, which are now under tremendous stress as a result of this snow we have seen over the course of the past few days. >> amanda secuma is in boston where it snowed for 12 of the past 16 days. we can see through the window, you can see, the driver can't, it is treacherous out there. >> reporter: good morning, tamron. the snow is coming down thicker in the last hour. crews have done a good job keeping the roadways relatively clear. it is really starting to build up on the street.

there is no travel ban, meaning roadways are open people are able to drive. conditions are getting increasingly worse and more difficult. crews are working around the clock with 600 workers out plowing snow shoveling it. it has been causing headaches for not only commuters but city officials. as the governor mentioned, they're running out of places to store the snow. using vacant lots as snow farms to store snow and eventually melt it using industrial machinery that melts 150 tons of snow an hour but they're worried about keeping up with pace. meanwhile, boston has already broken records. it is now broken a 30 day snowfall record. starting to build up in dramatic ways. this is going to continue. it is just monday.

snow should continue on through the day and into the morning. city officials are aware of the consequences of record breaking snow. >> thank you. the worst may be yet to come for boston, and the rest of new england with more snow expected end of the week as well as coldest temperatures we have seen in the area. msnbc meteorologist bill karins joins me. it is unbelievable. >> especially unbelievable when you look at the rest of the country, just the northeast, it was 70s from the southeast to denver, colorado this weekend, but the northeast is just locked in this extreme cold and snow. right now in boston area with the latest storm, they already had 12 to 14 inches 18 degrees, light fluffy snow. snowing as hard as it has. in the next three hours is peak intensity, then should taper off going through the evening. the snow is beginning to end toward the buffalo area. but it extends back to central new york. icing conditions earlier are over with in northern new

jersey, just a little light snow. back to boston we have about two to three feet on the ground now, there's no signs of any warmth coming your way. if anything looks like another snowstorm is possible thursday could be windy, maybe a minor snowstorm, three to six inches that's the next event. after that temperatures crash toward the weekend with near record cold. call this cross polar flow. high pressure in the gulf of alaska big storm in the north atlantic acts as a funnel takes all of the cold air near the north pole shove it straight to the south, like an arctic highway into the eastern u.s. watch it in the blue and white and purple is the really cold air. coldest is white. notice a chunk of that air thursday and friday, great lakes, northeast. shot number one. then shot number two, going through saturday around lake michigan, ohio valley sunday into the northeast. could be record breaking cold. could see wind chills around negative 20 to negative 30, as

far south as new jersey and pennsylvania. we are talking about serious cold to deal with next week. doesn't look like after that we have a big warmup either. will be quite a february to remember. >> it is indeed. thank you very much. jury selection under way in the murder trial of the man accused of killing real life american sniper chris kyle and another man. the defense team says the suspect will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. more developing news the supreme court denied a request to keep same-sex marriage licenses on hold. and just in the past hour, alabama started handing out same-sex marriage licenses. we will take you to the state capital live. plus a look at some of the grammys memorable moments most talked about today. >> need some help. come back. >> well, what kanye west is saying about that interruption during beck's surprise win. we will look at that and other

drama from the grammys. join the conversation online. find the team @newsnation, on facebook, instagram under my name, tamron hall. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle see how much you could save. curling up in bed with a favorite book is nice. but i think women would rather curl up with their favorite man. but here's the thing: about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. and remember, you only take it when you need it. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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developing now, jury selection under way in the trial of the man accused of killing former navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle eddie ray routh is charged with the deaths two years ago in texas. according to routh's mother she asked kyle to help her son with post traumatic stress disorder. he took him to a shooting range and he admitted to killing the two men. "american sniper" is based on the memoir.

the only theater where jury selection is taking place sold out every showing of the movie for nearly three years. charles, this theater sold out, that's part of what the defense said before trying to get the trial moved, they were worried they could not seat a jury that would be fair in this case. nevertheless, it is proceeding. do we have a time line when the jury might be seated and the trial starts? >> this town is consumed by this big trial taking place here. jury selection is under way. they called in about 800 potential jurors. that's four times the typical number for a murder trial just to make sure they get a fair trial, a fair jury. jurors are being whittled down down to 260 now, and hope to have 12 jurors and 2 alternates by end of the day tuesday. opening argument and testimony is expected to begin on

wednesday. routh's attorney plans to bring up insanity as defense and past mental disorders as well as struggled with ptsd as the trial unfolds. it is expected to take about two weeks. >> as you mention, this is a small texas town. the amount of coverage quite honestly nationally but especially in a state kyle's death received and even his funeral was almost wall to wall just curious, what are you hearing about people not part of the jury pool milling about the town? >> reporter: everyone here just about everyone knows chris kyle's story. chris kyle lived in this community for awhile attended college, the shooting range he frequented often, where he brought eddie ray routh to help when he was shot to death two years ago. a lot of people know the story.

the book came out in 2012. the movie was just released. it has been selling out as you mentioned here. everyone has heard the story. the question is the jurors are asked have they seen the movie. and just because they saw the movie doesn't preclude them being a juror. the question in texas is can they put everything aside and listen to the facts of the case and come up with a decision at the end of the trial. those are the 12 people they're trying to seat now. >> thank you so much. appreciate that live report. this story is the focus of today's gut check. do you think the man accused of killing chris kyle and a friend can get a fair trial. also coming up bruce jenner speaks up about his involvement in a deadly car accident. the latest on the on-going investigation out in california. plus a fast moving wildfire keeping hundreds of people out of their homes in california. one of the stories we are following around the "newsnation" for you. here is what's happening,

monday, february 9th. knight will return for a bail hearing, he faces murder charges following a hit and run. and spacex and the airport attempt to launch a saturday night to research weather and climate. it will then attempt to land back here on earth. mouths are watering, lemons are squeezing and stomachs are growling. or is it just me? every minute between you and red lobster's lobsterfest feels like an eternity. and who could blame you for craving our largest variety of succulent lobster dishes all year? dishes like dueling lobster tails. with one tail topped with creamy shrimp and a second tail stuffed with tender crab. i was hungry already and now you show me lobster lover's dream® let's make this dream a reality. a delicious, delicious reality. but one that won't last forever, so hurry in. [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, we know in the cyber world, threats are always evolving. at first we were protecting networks. then, we were protecting the transfer of data. and today it's evolved

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grown in america. picked and packed at the peak of ripeness. with no artificial ingredients. del monte. bursting with life. welcome back. olympian and reality star bruce jenner speaking out the first time since being involved in a deadly car accident in california. the multiple vehicle crash happened saturday. authorities say bruce jenner rear ended a lexus, propelling that car into the path of a hummer. yesterday, jenner called it a terrible accident. nbc's halle jackson has the

update. >> reporter: here in malibu, los angeles sheriff's department is looking for video from witnesses and through cell phone records to see if texting or talking played a part. this morning, bruce jenner out with a news statement, says he will cooperate in every way possible with this investigation. and his publiclyist says cell phone records show he wasn't texting. it is another headline for the reality star who has been in a lot of them. cameras capture the moment bruce jenner's cadillac slammed into the car ahead of him. video shows him outside the suv seconds after impact. the police say the paparazzi who track nearly every move jenner makes probably didn't start the chain reaction crash that killed a woman and hospitalized seven other people. >> unlikely due to the fact there was traffic and other cars stopped. >> reporter: police say a toyota prius slowed or stopped on the highway, was rear ended by a lexus. jenner then hit the lexus,

pushing it into traffic where a hummer headed southbound slammed into the car killing the woman behind the wheel. calls the crash a devastating tragedy adding i cannot pretend to imagine what this family is going through at this time. i am praying for them. the former olympic champion and current reality star has been a tabloid fixture lately with reports he is in the process to transitioning to life as a woman. police say jenner was cooperative on scene, passing a sobriety test offering a blood sample. say it doesn't appear jenner was the cause of the crash. authorities looking into the other driver involved in the crash, trying to figure out why that car stopped on the highway originally. legal analysts say it is possible nobody is charged if it is determined to be an accident. up next the latest from alabama where same sex couples are getting marriage licenses for the first time in the south. plus this.

>> thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four grammys. [ cheers and applause ] >> sam smith wins record of the year and becomes one of the most tweeted about people from the grammys. coming up, i talk with a music writer about the ups and downs and the controversy. my sister had to come help. i don't like asking for help. i took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. so my daughter brought over some aleve. it's just two pills, all day! and now, i'm back! aleve. two pills. all day strong, all day long. and now introducing aleve pm for a better am.

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secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. so i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. welcome back. following breaking news now. awaiting news conference from president obama and german chancellor angela merkel following meeting at the white house focusing on the escalating crisis in eastern ukraine. we mentioned earlier chancellor merkel was expected to pressure obama not to send arms to ukraine as she and the french president seek a peace deal. as we await the president, senior political editor mark murray joins us live from washington. mark, great to see you. >> good morning, tamron. >> talk about some of the dynamics here. obviously merkel believes there may be progress potential

progress with the russian president putin, they have given a deadline of wednesday to overlook the blueprint for a peace deal but seems the white house may have hit the end of the road honestly ready to make a decision regarding providing arms. >> it is important to know where angela merkel and the united states and europe are in agreement and where they are in disagreement, and where they agree is that russia is behind the pro-separatist pro-russian separatists causing hostility in eastern ukraine. they have all agreed to apply serious economic pressure against russia in retaliation for that, and they all agree there should be some political solution to provide vladimir putin with an off ramp to be able to end the hostility in eastern ukraine. where there's disagreement on how you get to that political solution, merkel and france are saying if the united states and other countries end up sending more arms to ukraine, that's

only going to further embolden vladimir putin. you're not going to get to that off ramp for a political resolution there. the united states is saying vladimir putin is already ramping things up and it is time to be able to help ukraine as they're battling pro-russian separatists, tamron a lot of agreement but disagreement, and the disagreement is the one we are focusing on today. >> absolutely. that disagreement significant if the fear is it will only escalate the violence there, the on-going war there. it has not been in the headlines as much as we saw of course at the end of last year but nevertheless violence has been raging on. with that said secretary of state kerry was in kiev met with ukrainian leaders. do we have any insight on how well the meetings went? if carry was able to make any progress in his visit? >> tamron not from my perspective. of course you mentioned earlier about how the ukraine story

which seemed to be kind of away from the headlines for three or four months popped back up in one respect, it is one of the situations where good news is when you're not hearing about it, bad news when you're hearing it is. there was expectation that after all economic sanctions were leveled, russia's economy was in freefall that russia backed away but in the last few weeks we have seen more violence more incursions, and of course we are back to a situation we were in the fall where this is a very big matter that europe the united states is all trying to negotiate. >> and just by the numbers, according to the u.n., more than 5300 killed in the fighting in eastern ukraine since last april. we are waiting for the news conference to begin. we are told around 11:40. we will bring it to our audience as soon as both leaders walk out. thank you so much mark for joining us. greatly appreciate it. coming up new polls from

new hampshire show jeb bush taking a comfortable lead over other gop rivals. it is one of the things we thought you should know. and new video going viral. a pair of sky divers narrowly missed by the plane they jumped from. it is one of the craziest things you'll see in our stories we are following around the "newsnation." in my world, wall isn't a street. return on investment isn't the only return i'm looking forward to. for some every dollar is earned with sweat, sacrifice, courage. which is why usaa is honored to help our members with everything from investing for retirement to saving for college. our commitment to current and former military members and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars.

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welcome back. new details about a shooting in georgia that left five people dead. tops our look at stories around the "newsnation." he shot six people saturday, mostly his own family before killing himself at a home outside atlanta. among those killed, his ex-wife, her boyfriend and two children. investigators say prather was arguing over taxes and child support. two other children in critical condition. more fears of flash flooding and mud slides in the northwest and northern california. another round of drenching rain expected, thanks to the storm system known as the pineapple express that brought major flooding friday. also in california, firefighters are gaining controlno push your enterprise and you can move

the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the new you'll need the right it infrastructure. from a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. and stay ready for everything that is still to come. this is the equivalent of the sugar in one regular soda. and this is one soda a day over an average adult lifetime. but there's a better choice. drink more brita water. clean, refreshing, brita.

hey matt, what's up? i'm just looking over the company bills. is that what we pay for internet? yup. dsl is about 90 bucks a month. that's funny, for that price with comcast business, i think you get like 50 megabits. wow, that's fast. personally, i prefer a slow internet. there is something about the sweet meditative glow of a loading website. don't listen to the naysayer. switch to comcast business today and get 50 megabits per second for $89.95. comcast business. built for business.

welcome back. it is time to revisit our gut check question. it is of course starting the trial of the man accused of killing chris kyle the navy s.e.a.l. depicted in the film "american sniper." another man was also killed that day. jury selection started this morning from a pool of about 260 people. the county september a jury summons to 800 people and hundreds were eliminated last week during prescreening. the oscar nominated movie based on chris kyle's memoir. the judge in the case told potential jurors they would not be dismissed for seeing the movie or reading the book. eddie ray routh is charged with

the capital murder deaths of kyle and littlefield. the defense is going with the insanity defense. they asked for the venue to be changed, saying fair trial would be impossible in such a small town where showings sold out at the only theater in the town for weeks now. what does your gut tell you? do you think the man accused of killing chris kyle can get a fair trial in that small town? go to newsnation.com. and florida governor jeb bush has an early advantage in the key state of new hampshire, that according to a bloomberg politics poll. rand paul scott walker chris christie closely behind, no other candidates cracking double digits. john kerry will employ a gay

diplomat. the state department is vetting candidates for the post confirms the appointee will be an openly gay foreign service officer. and evil eyed political watchers spot two top democrats on the grammy red carpet. only seen a few seconds, denny wasserman schultz and sheila jackson-lee. more than a dozen lawmakers headed to los angeles over the weekend to take part in grammy events, and to raise money. those are the things we thought you should know. from the performances to unexpected controversial wins, music's biggest night proved again there's no business like show business. as the grammys were handed out, the big winner was sam smith who took hole four grammys, record of the year best new artist. powerful duet with mary j. blige among the night's memorable

performances, more toned down than last year. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> some of the big moments, aside from performances, one of the more stunning things of course, everyone talking about when album of the year was announced which went to beck prompting another kanye reaction that we have all grown accustomed to. joining me to recap, l.a. times music critic gary kennedy. good to see you again. >> good to see you, thanks. >> just "variety" reporting ratings were down for the show.

i believe, trying to find the tweet, i think it was a six year low, i don't want to misquote. bottom line according to "variety" said the ratings were down for cbs in the key demo. does that surprise you? >> it does. huge year madonna, beyonce, kanye, rihanna. huge performances, and surprising to hear the ratings were down a bit. >> some performances, all of them were incredible in different ways. my favorite was the annie lenox stepping on stage, more duets, ballads, not the big opening with a bunch of different stars some may have craved. >> it was really ballad heavy. there were huge moments, rihanna being there, but something like madonna kind of went over a snooze inside the arena, there

were so many ballad heavy performances. >> variety says grammy ratings down. the show dominated from what was on but it appears to have hit a six year demo low, according to "variety." let's talk about the moment people were discussing not the music, it is kanye west. i thought he was kidding when he walked up kind of trolling or spoofing his past with taylor swift, but he gave an interview to e! and this is what he said. >> the grammys, want real artists to keep coming back stop playing with us. we ain't going to play with them no more. beyonce video. beck needs to respect artistry should have given his award to beyonce. at this point we tired of it what happens is when you keep on diminishing and not respecting the craft, smacking people in

the face after they deliver monumental feats in music. >> gary what do you make of that. >> pop up on stage, like you, thought it was a joke. the grammys are meticulously planned, thought it was an orchestrated moment would be a light hearted thing. then saw the interview that he did, i was troubled by it because i agree with the fact that yes, beyonce record was monumental. me and you spoke about it how much it changed the industry and we talked about it for the past year but to give that criticism and then also say that beck is not a real artist is unfair. he is an incredible talent. i just don't believe he had the biggest record of the year. that was beyonce's win, we all sort of kind of agreed with that. >> based on winners and losers and performances what do you think the message is to music lovers from what we saw last night? >> i still think music lovers can walk away with the fact that sam was a huge success story.

didn't have much controversy or criticism for the past year he was universally acclaimed. that still shows that that narrative can still happen on the grammy stage as well. >> what was the highlight, if you had to pick one thing you rewound the tivo i know i am putting you on the spot you're usually open and honest. >> easy for me annie lenox blue me away. to hear that voice and be so loud in the staples center was amazing. >> wow. thank you for joining us. always appreciate you making time for us to talk about this. greatly appreciate it. see you soon. following some developing news in the past couple hours, the state of alabama started issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples officially becoming the first state in the deep south to legalize same-sex marriage but the move was not without last minute dramatics. the supreme court declined to block a court order requiring alabama to issue the licenses.

joining me by phone, national reporter for "the washington post" at the probate court in mobile, alabama. thank you for joining us. >> thanks. >> so this has been as i pointed out an interesting morning. the chief justice in that state early on said basically he would fight this into the bitter end. now we have movement. >> that's right. so last minute he issued a letter to the ones that issued licenses ordering not to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. >> i think we lost our connection. >> are you there? i can hear you. >> i'm sorry, sounds like we have run into some interruption. go ahead please i'm sorry. >> yes. so the chief justice of the supreme court here ordered, has ordered the probate judges to do

the marriage licenses to issue marriage licenses not to issue to same sex couples. >> and as a result as we mentioned in a surprise i think for many the supreme court saying they would not block those marriages from being issued. do we know what the status is outside? >> yes. some counties have started issuing the licenses but a number of them have just cut off issuing licenses marriage licenses at all rather than issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. i should clarify what i mean the state supreme court has told them not to issue the licenses to gay couples. he is known as the guy who refused to take out a statue of ten commandments from the courthouse. >> he made a number of headlines. as i understand at least one quote from the chief justice,

roy morgan of the state was that he was ready to bring in the national guard quote from this chief justice, roy morgan was that he was ready to even bring in the national guard according to one quote from attributed to him. >> yes he's pretty serious about fighting this to the bitter end, to the extend that he can. >> thank you so much for joining us. we'll be right back. >> i want to take you back to breaking news a news conference, president obama and german chancellor angela merkel and let me go back to chris jansing. we're waiting for this to start here and mark murray was on with us making a distinction which you did as well focusing on what the allies agree on. but certainly not negating or minimalizing the key difference that they may be discussing behind closed doors, which is to arm ukraine, a decision u.s. is

debating. >> this is a critical moment the president and angela merkel meeting in what had been a planned meeting but given new importance given the escalating violence in ukraine. angela merkel will make the argument that the peace process is making progress in fact even with arms there's no indication that ukraine could hold its own against russia. the other argument and that has been gaining some momentum including with members of the senate armed services committee and others within the white house and state department is that the only language that vladimir putin understands is force. so the arming is necessary, that there needs to be more anti-tank missiles drones ammunition provided to the ukrainian. now that is the key conversation that is going to be happening here. angela merkel has spent most of the last several days on some very intense shuttle diplomacy going from place to place, uniquely positioned to do this.

she's from east germany and vladimir putin from his team in the kgb also speaks german. they are often known to speak both languages. so the president going to have a critical decision to make. officials here say he is not prone to make this hastily or lightly although we did get an indication as you know from secretary of state john kerry that he was not going to wait a long time after this meeting. tamron? >> i'd like you to hang on with us, chris. let me before in senior editor mark murray. one of the questions that ask in today's first read and people can go online and read it why is angela merkel so important? >> she's important because essentially germany is the bedrock of europe. when you talk about europe, you're talking about a score of different countries with different makeups and all of that. but germany is the economic powerhouse of europe and what europely usually agrees to or eu

would agree to has to go through germany and angela merkel. it is important when merkel as well as france ends up saying that we're not 100% behind arming ukraine in their fight against the pro russian separatists that all of a sudden that europe isn't united. to be able to have a united europe, you need germany. it's very important on that and of course that's why the discussions are ongoing today. >> chris, let me bring you back in. it was on "meet the press" that john kerry refused to say if the u.s. would send military assistance to ukraine. are we to read that this meeting today is why he refused to answer that key question? >> well absolutely i mean the president obviously had not made a decision. there is no indication that he had. certainly you are not going to see john kerry get out ahead of that. in addition to that i think to add to what mark was saying this is a critical relationship. it is probably the most important bilateral relationship

between the united states and any member of the european union. and although as we all well remember about a year ago when there was a controversy over the nse spying on angela merkel that there had to be an apology for. they remain respectful of each other and that becomes much less important at a time when you see so many issues across the globe, not just with what's happening in ukraine, but the rise of isis and iranian nuclear question. these critical questions are in the forefront and they have a deep respect for each other. and that's what the focus is going to be on these issues of such global import. >> mark on the iranian nuclear talks, john kerry saying the headline, put or or shut up time. something merkel will discuss with president obama as well? >> we've seen extensions over the past several months now for the united states and iran to be able to strike some type of agreement when it comes to

iran's nuclear weapon and you've seen extension after extension. the last kind of movement came from when there were democrats as well as republicans who want new sanctions against iran and legislation and democrats backed off basically ended up saying march 24th was their deadline. it seems to me john kerry almost agrees with this. we're not going to have anymore extensions unless there is some type of broad outline of what the iran is going to do. they are not going to kick the can down the road. the consequences of not having an agreement are profound and huge but it does seem the united states is putting out the statement right now, this is put up or shut up time the next month or so month and a half will be absolutely critical to getting a deal. >> mark murray chris jansing, thanks so much. we greatly appreciate you joining us. that does it for this edition of "news nation." up next, "andrea mitchell reports" with live coverage of the news conference with president obama and chance lower merkel. thanks to angie's list now it is.

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good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president obama has been holding a crisis meeting primarily on ukraine with german leader angela merkel. moments from now they go into the white house and address the news media. merkel met with senators and other foreign policy experts at blair house. she opposes the u.s. option to arm ukraine. she met with putin, vladimir putin in moscow on friday to try to negotiate a new ceasefire along with french president hollande. a big sticking point with the allies how much land the russian separatists can control after breaking a ceasefire in september. joining me now, mark landler, we've watched these sum mits before. they were all in munich over the weekend. merkel gave a very strong speech not to arm ukraine. joe biden gave a speech that was to defend ukraine but didn't

specifically say to arm ukraine. john kerry came on "meet the press" and said there are no differences but there are profound differences between the german and the french on the one hand and the u.s. option pushed very hard by senator mccain and others who had been in munich as well this weekend to arm ukraine with defensive weapons. >> that's right, andrea we're really at a critical moment in the relationship. if you look at the history of the u.s. and e.u. on this issue, it's been one of unity under very difficult conditions. the germans went along with the plant plan to ratchet up sanctions, this was difficult for angela merkel to do in germany. now for the first time we see real daylight between them. i think this meeting will be all about how you reconcile these two positions that are very fundamentally different. she wants to continue