front of the white house, and i'm a father. i'm joaquin's dad. do you think this is a sacrifice for me? i lost my best friend and my son. if i need to be here forever, i will. the white house was putting up christmas decorations while i was waiting here. well, guess who is not having any christmas decorations anymore ever again. the oliver family. and 100 families lose a loved one every single day. i came here 400 victims ago. so to answer your question, i'm not moving from here until i have that conversation with the person that promised me that he would put an end on this. >> thanks for being with us. >> take care, buddy. >> thanks.

that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. craig melvin picks up with more news right now. >> a good monday morning to you. craig melvin here. this morning there are new questions and new restrictions in our pandemic fight, but also thankfully some progress. this morning president biden's newly announced winter covid restrictions are officially in place. the new rules coming as concerns over that omicron variant pushed vaccination rate levels to highs not seen since the spring. we're going to dig into that. plus what dr. fauci said this morning about the u.s. travel bans from africa. president biden also gearing up for a high stakes conversation tomorrow with russia's president, vladimir putin. a likely topic there, russia's deployment of more than 90,000 combat troops to the border with ukraine. we'll break down the possible

major points of contention between the two leaders including putin's demand to president biden. also this hour, major questions in the investigation to last week's deadly shooting at oxford high school in michigan. today authorities set to interview an artist at whose studio the parents were found. what his lawyer is saying now. also questions about how the school handled some disturbing behavior prosecutors describe from ethan crumbley in the hours before the shooting. we're going to start, though, with the latest on this variant and the omicron variant detected in 17 states. the new covid testing requirements are going into effect for new international travelers. walk us through the testing and what travelers are saying. >> reporter: they're looking at a new landscape and some new

testing requirements. what travelers need to know is there is now a one-day window for you to get a negative covid test back if you are abroad or you're planning to travel abroad any time soon, you'll need the negative test result within the one-day window before you can enter the united states. while people have been getting tests while they travel, this tighter timeline is going to be something that people need to plan around. not only because not every country has the same testing infrastructure. but also because at some hotels and resorts, these tests can cost north of $100. this is going to apply to almost everyone if you're over two years old, no matter your status or what country you're coming from, this is now required of basically everybody. i've been talking to people on the ground. look, there's some confusion. especially for folks who arrived today just hours after all this went into effect. take a listen to a conversation we had with one family this morning. >> it was very stressful here. because we got a covid test within the time that they

requested, but the lab made a mistake, so when we got here -- >> we had to do another one. >> and it was very expensive. for the three of us, it cost almost $600 just to get another covid test. >> reporter: and travelers can also expect in some major international hubs like jfk or in atlanta to see increased bio surveillance. that means that an organization called express check is going to be working with the cdc to sample some particular passengers coming out of some international locations to get their swabs, and to start looking for this new variant or potentially other variants to come in the coming weeks and months. and so in addition to that surveillance, people will see at major international hubs, people really need to plan around these new tests. >> all right. antonia hilton there at loud jfk. thank you. let me bring in a doctor as

well. she is a harvard medical school physician. doctor naracar, dr. fauci talked about the travel bans on the eight southern africa countries. here's what he said. >> as we're getting more and more information about cases in our own country and worldwide, we're look agent that carefully on a daily basis. hopefully we'll be able to lift the ban within a reasonable period of time. in realtime, literally on a daily basis, we're reevaluating that policy. >> doctor, what do you make of that? the reevaluation of the policy? do you think the united states should lift the travel restrictions against those nations? >> i do. i believe that we shouldn't have had travel bans in the first place for those eight countries. we know based on the second case in minnesota of the omicron variant that the omicron variant was in the u.s. prior to the travel ban. there is no data to suggest that

omicron originated in south africa. in fact, south africa with its sophisticated surveillance system was the first country to identify and alert the global community. so this is a punitive measure on south africa and the other countries, and it should be lifted immediately. >> doctor, the new york city mayor just announced this morning with my colleagues on "morning joe," some new vaccine mandates. new mandates. which include a new vaccine mandate for all private sector workers. everyone ages 5 and older will now be required to show proof of vaccination for indoor dining, fitness, entertainment, everyone now required to show two-dose vaccine proof of vaccination status for all in-door activities. that's a pretty significant escalation of the vaccine mandate for new york city. what do you make of that? >> i think it's the right call, craig. we are amidst a winter surge. we have 100,000 covid cases daily due to delta.

and 1500 deaths daily here in the u.s. so we do need to have stricter vaccine mandates. mask mandates. public crowding mandates. so many ways that we can mitigate this winter surge. particularly for the next three to four months. >> let's talk about a bright spot. apparently according to the white house, on thursday more than 2 million vaccine doses were administered. that's the highest single day total since may. the cdc reporting that last week the average number of daily vaccine doses given, 22% higher than the previous week. to what do you attribute this, doctor? do you think folks are justifiably nervous about the omicron variant, or is there more to it than that? >> you know, like you said, this is the one piece of welcome news that we've had with the advent of this omicron variant here in the u.s. this number accounts for a couple of things. it includes first, second, and third doses as well as doses for

kids. so we know that this is a very welcome trend, and i hope that if there is any silver lining with the omicron variant, that it spurs more people into action to get vaccinated. >> we've heard from dr. fauci and other health officials that boosters, the best defense against new variants like omicron, but companies like pfizer and moderna already worked on specific boosters for this new variant. do you think boosters of the current vaccine are the way to go? or do we need a more specificized booster shot for all the new variants? >> so, craig, when it comes to developing new boosters and deciding whether or not vaccines and variants are a match, we should trust the public health authorities rather than ceos of companies. and in this particular instance, we are seeing evolving data that the current vaccines had a solid protective effect against the most serious metrics including severe illness,

hospitalizations, and deaths. so that is why we are considering and really pushing for boosters that third dose offers a 30 to 40-fold increase in antibodies. that has a cross protective effect for other variants. so boosting is recommended. and encouraged. and frankly, it is an urgent need right now with the winter surge. both with delta, which is the dominant strain here in the u.s. right now, and omicron which has recently arrived. >> doctor, thank you as always. thank you for your time. we turn now to the investigation into the deadly shooting at oxford high school. today investigators will interview a detroit artist at whose studio the parents of the accused shooter were found. james and jennifer crumbley pled not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to last tuesday's shooting. authorities are also looking into how school officials handled 15-year-old ethan

crumbley's behavior before the shooting. they say a teacher raised the issue that he appeared to have been searching for ammunition on his cell phone a day before the attack. nbc's alison barber is in pontiac, michigan with the latest. i'm also joined by co-host of "money court". she's also an msnbc legal analyst. alison, we'll start with you on the ground in michigan. we should point out the artist has not been charged with a crime. what more can you tell us about him and where the rest of the case stands this morning? >> reporter: craig, this weekend started with a man hunt here in oaklan county. it ended or part of the story ended about 1:30 a.m. saturday at a warehouse in detroit. that is where police say they found the couple of the accused, the parents of the accused shooter ethan crumbley in a

warehouse that is owned by, used by an artist by the name of andre sakora. so police -- they say that the couple had withdrawn $4,000 from an atm and essentially disappeared until they found them early, early saturday morning. an attorney for the artist says that the artist did not know about the charges the couple faced. he says he knew the crumbleys through shared hobbies. according to his lawyer, the suspect asked to stay with his client because they said they were getting death threats. here's more from andre sakora's attorney. >> he definitely didn't know that they were fugitives at that point. the minute he found out, he went to the detroit police department and immediately wanted to give them information. >> reporter: so the parents of the teen accused of murdering four classmates, injuring seven

others c they are each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. they were arraigned via a video conference via zoom. they have both pled not guilty to all the charges they face. police are set to meet with the artists today to see whether or not any charges are warranted in his situation. they have also said that they are still looking at potentially adding other charges to the parents related to their -- what the police have described as their evasion of arrest. but as all this unfolds, as all the very important questions are tackled in regards to what the school knew, what they did or didn't do and what happens with the parents next, the names to keep in mind, the most important names for us to remember are the names of the victims. the people, the children who were gunned down in the hallway of their schools. i want to say their names for you one more time so we don't forget them hannah, tate myier,

madison baldwin, justin shilling. ethan crumbley, the accused shooter and the parents, james and jennifer, are all housed in the jail complex behind me. the sheriff says they're separated and haven't spoken to each other since they've been in custody and they are isolated and kept away from each other and it will remain that way as far as they can see. >> all right. alison barber on the ground. katie, let's start with the artist here. this attorney says he had no idea the crumbleys were fugitives and once he found out he says he went straight to the police. could this artist be in any sort of legal jeopardy, and what do you think the authorities are going to be asking him during today's interview? >> i think the authorities are going to be looking for something to corroborate his story. right? i mean, if he had a preexisting relationship with the crumbleys, and frankly, we were all stunned, i think on friday. if i can speak for the collective at large, when the

charges of involuntary manslaughter were announced, and yet, the parents weren't in custody yet. the fact they announced the charges, the parents weren't in custody. there was a bizarre arraignment that never happens on friday. if it happens to mr. ssakora, yu want to make sure he can independently corroborate he didn't have any nonl they were fugitives from justice. let's be frank. i live in a different part of the united states of michigan, but we all heard about it when he was going on friday. we knew authorities were looking for the crumbleys. the u.s. marshall service was having it blasted on social media. so he's going to have an uphill battle to climb to be able to convince investigators he didn't know and he was not harboring fugitives from justice. he was not obstructing justice by allowing them to stay in a random studio in a commercial space sat night? it doesn't make a lot of sense. >> let's talk about potential culpability for school officials. the prosecutor says the morning

of the shooting ethan crumbley's teacher took a picture of a drawing he'd done. it apparently showed a bull let, a gun, a person who was bleeding and shot twice, and beneath that picture was a laughing "morning joe." the school says it was reported to counselors and crumbley told them it was part of a video game he was designing. so the school called his parents. they told them to put him in counseling within 48 hours. then school officials say the parents refused to take their son home. counselors determined he was not a threat. they send him back to class hours before he's accused of killing four students. the oxford community school superintendent said saturday in a letter, quote, given the fact that the child had no prior disciplinary infractions, the decision was made he would be returned to the classroom rather than sent home to an empty house. potential liability here for school officials? >> yeah.

you know, craig, the benefit of hindsight is 20/20. let's be clear. if you're in the moment, what are you dealing with? what troubles me the most about the potential liability and exposure for the school officials is the following. that drawing that was done by ethan crumbley was not the first indication to school officials that there could be something wrong in terms of harm and potentially harm to not only crumbley himself but to fellow classmates and school admin industry or thes. within 24 to 36 hours prior, he was searching for ammunition and it was brought to the parent's attention. i think that's going to be the biggest issue for the school itself. i know that the superintendent has reached out and indicated they're going to bring a third party in for the investigation. that's the proper thing to do, but when it comes to the fact that the school officials could have searched the kid, could have looked in his backpack, could have looked in his locker c we don't know from law enforcement where the gun and the ammunition was located, but they should have done that, and can i say that comfortably.

it's the foreseeability we look at when we look at crimes and civil litigation. civil causes of action. what was foreseeable, and you know what? there was a lot of red flags and they were within a tight window of time. i'd be concerned if i were the school officials. >> to be clear, under the law, there's no way that they could have compelled the parents to take the son home. is that right? >> that's correct. they could not have forced them to take him home, but they could have put ethan crumbley in another room. put him within watch. could have done something until the end of the school day in some way, but they did not do that that day. >> katie, alison, thank you. thank you especially for reminding us of the names of those four kids. in just a few hours president biden will lay out how he wants to cut the cost of prescription drugs. but can senate democrats pass it to cut down on highest prices in the world? we're going to check in on the latest there.

also the new plan to confront china's human rights abuses at the beijing olympics. what it means for the american athletes who have been planning for years to compete. and the republican primary in the georgia governor's race. a new challenger means two big names in georgia republican politics will be competing to likely face off. off. (vo) singing, or speaking. reason, or fun. daring, or thoughtful. sensitive, or strong. progress isn't either or progress is everything. (vo) t-mobile for business helps small business owners prosper during their most important time of year. when you switch to t-mobile and bring your own device,

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right now americans pay more for prescription drugs than folks in any other country in the world. that's according to the white house. a little more than two hours from now president biden will lay out his plan to try and lower those costs. nbc is at the white house. and we are on capitol hill. shannon, it seems like presidents have been talking about lowering the price of prescription drugs for a few decades now. what's in this president's plan? >> yeah. i mean, you mentioned that. this is something we have heard from one democratic administration after another. and it appears democrats could be close to getting some legislation through with this build back better package, and sahil can talk more to the dynamics there. what the president would like to see congress pass is a plan that would lower drug prices across the board. it would put a cap on how much seniors pay for drugs. limiting them to $2000 a year. it would put a cap on how much

drug makers can charge for insulin, limiting it to $35 for a month for people who have diabetes, and it would allow medicare to begin negotiating drug prices with drug makers for certain medicines. in particular, medicines that have been on the market for a long time. and only a set number of drugs each year. theoretically, that bulk buying power that medicare has could help them lower the price of drugs, driving down the cost across the board. a number of things the administration is trying to tackle here. there has been a lot of back and forth in congress going on. it appears democrats may have settled on a plan. of course, that's just sort of one step in the bigger road of getting this bill package passed. i will note there has been an interesting dynamic here. the pharmaceutical industry has been out in front on helping fight the covid pandemic with vaccines and anti-virals. so while you have the federal government spending billions of dollars to the pharmaceutical industry to help fight the pandemic, you've also got this

other pressure of them pushing the industry to lower prices and certainly we're seeing this administration pick up the ball that so many other presidents have tried to carry. >> yeah. i mean, you've got to wonder if the favorable ratings for big pharma haven't been a lot more impressive over the last year or two than they were in the previous 20. i want to bring back the graphic one of your wonderful producers spent the morning working on that showed the things in the bill, sahil. there they are. the prescription drug pricing plan. i'm a sucker for a good graphic. we know the house passed this bill. what does the timeline look like for a vote in the upper chamber in the senate? >> craig, the senate is still hoping to get this done by christmas. and here is where things stand. chuck schumer, the democratic majority leader moments ago put out a letter to senators explaining the latest update. eight out of the 12 committees submitted their final text, legislative text to the

porlmenttarians. democrats want to make sure before they bring it to the floor that everything complies with the budget process, this arcane set of rules that makes sure anything in the bill is specifically related to matters of spending and taxes. the parliamentarian to likely to have the final word. and schumer said this week and next is when they will finalize that. now, think about this for a minute. the calendar says if they don't start it next week, they'll have to start it the week after which ends in christmas. and schumer in that same letter pointed out the senate could be working long days, nights, and weekends. so this could be a very busy stretch coming up, especially with all the other stuff the senate has to do, and on the prescription drug pricing, it's worth noting this is one of the most if not the most popular element of president biden's build back better plan. there's a reason the white house loves talking about this and there's a reason democrats have been running on this in every election for several cycles now. the cbo congressional budget office expects the drug pricing will save about $160 billion,

about half of it from medicare association and half of it from capping drug prices. this policy was not quite as strong as some democrats wanted. it was limited in part to win the votes of skeptical senators like kyrsten sinema and skeptical centrist house members. a small group by a pivotal one. some democrats believe they missed an opportunity to make it stronger, but they're very happy. they're finally doing something about it and they can take it to voters and say they're fulfilling a promise that they've been campaigning on for years. well, if they pass it. sahil, you mentioned a laundry list of things that our lawmakers are working on there during the holiday season. what else? what else is on the agenda? >> there is the massive defense policy bill, the national defense authorization act they have to get done. they have to raise the debt limit. there's a december 15th deadline that the treasury department has set to get that done. of course, if they blow past that deadline, they risk breaching the nation's borrowing limit. that could trigger a global

economic meltdown according to treasury and a number of independent economists. that's a big item on the plate right now. they did avoid a government shutdown. that government funding is extended through february 18th. that's off the plate. beyond that there's a series of executive and judicial nominations democrat leaders are determined to get done before the end of the year, and the build back better act. so much to do. so little time. sahil there at his perch at the capitol. and shannon at her perch there at the people's house on pennsylvania avenue. shannon, don't go far. we want to come wac to you again later this hour. the georgia's governor's race was shaping up to be a rematch when brian kemp and stacey abrams. right? not so fast. kemp has a new challenger from the right and he's backed by former president trump. why that primary will likely get pretty ugly. next. let's go to dianne. i got the awesome new iphone 13 pro and airpods,

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it's simple. he has failed all of us and cannot win in november. >> well, that was former republican senator david perdue making it official in a video posted online this morning, he is, in fact, getting in the georgia's governor's race. and it sets up what will be a heated primary race against kemp. the general race was already set to be one of the most closely watched statewide elections next year after abrams announced she is running. i'm joined by gregg, a political reporter for the atlanta journal constitution, a paper of record there in the a. you wrote that governor kemp's allies have promisesed, quote, total war, scorched earth if perdue got in the race. he's in the race. how heated do we expect that the going to get? >> it's going to get brutal. we've seen a glimpse as governor

kemp's campaign is accusing david perdue of things you usually have them blaming biden for. the run away costs of federal programs. so their charting that same sort of vitriol they turned on biden, the white house administration on perdue, blaming him for the defeat that paved the way for democratic control of washington. >> perdue has the support of the immediate past president of these united states. and he's been critical, extremely critical of brian kump after last year's election. investigate, he said in his statement after abrams announced that the maga base will just not vote for kemp. how much could president trump hurt the party next year? >> yeah. i mean, it already seems clear we're going to see a repeat of what happened last election cycle where the president was basically obsessed with when the

president was pacically obsessed with georgia and the election outcome. he's already endorsed three other statewide candidates in next year's election in georgia alone. that shows you the level of attention he's paying on -- to our state right now. david perdue is positioning himself as a uniter. someone who can unify both the maga base and traditional conservatives in georgia who might have otherwise backed kemp in a battle against abrams next november, but of course, if you're in the kemp camp, you find a delicious sort of irony. he's promoting himself as a uniter, when he's challenging himself with the first lifelong republican governor in georgia history. >> you make a good point. let's talk about stacey abrams. she was instrumental in turning georgia blue for president biden last year. what does perdue's entry into the race, what does it mean for

her campaign? >> well, she's tried to stay above the fray, saying both republicans would be disasters for georgia. she's promoting her plan really the same plan she had in 2018, doing her near-miss to expand medicaid and boost education fund and now, of course, the bolster public health funding amid the coronavirus pandemic. so she is not taking shots really at either one. she's just enjoying in a sense, the republican disunity, because if there's one major thing democrats have going for them, and there's a few, but one big thing is there is community on the top of the ticket, whether it's for abrams or warnock who is also up for election. there's no challengers for either of the democratic candidates. >> i would assume we're looking at another billion dollar race in the state of georgia. fair assumption? >> it could be. you know, we neared that mark in doing the runoffs.

i don't think it will be that high, but it will be -- it will be a very costly race. when three candidates who can raise a lot of money, when you count the senate race, we might get close to the mark. but certainly abrams, look, she raised more than $100 million for her political organization since 2018. that's without her running for anything. so that shows you the fundraising power house that she is. when you add in a former senator and a sitting governor in that mix, that's a lot of money that's about to be spent on the air waves and mailers and everything else in georgia. >> and digital ads and canvassing. gregg, we'll check in with you a lot over the next year and some change. thank you, gregg. >> thanks for having me. meanwhile today marking another big deadline day for the select committee that's investigating the january 6th deadly insurrection. five close allies of former president trump including alex jones and roger stone have until the end of the day to produce

some important documents to that committee. the committee is also just postponed a deposition scheduled today for two witnesses, including michael flynn. as he continues engaging with the committee. the united states is officially restarting a controversial trump era immigration policy. why some migrants will have to wait in mexico even after they've applied for asylum in the united states. we'll go live to tijuana for the latest on that. also a high stakes one on one conversation between president biden and vladimir putin. next. ir putin. next

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stay in mexico until their u.s. immigration court date. president biden ended that policy when he took office, but he struck a deal with the mexican government last week to put the policy back in place. gabe gutierrez is in tijuana, mexico, near the border. gabe, explain why this policy is being reinstated and how it will impact migrants at the border. >> reporter: hi there, craig. yes, it is being reimplemented starting today. the biden administration says that is because of court order. states like texas and missouri sued, and essentially a federal judge said that the biden administration had to reimplement this policy. that's why it's happening. first, i want to show you where i'm at. there are hundreds of migrant families here, and critics of this remain in mexico policy say that it will -- if it continues, that it will contribute to a bottle neck here at the border.

and that these migrant tent camps will get worse. we learned this morning from customs and border protection from the remain in mexico policy, which is, of course, known as mpp, migrant protection protocols. it is starting to be reimplemented in el paso, and the border. but it will expand to several other places like tijuana within the next couple of days. so, craig, you know, the biden administration says that there are changes to it. that there are humanitarian provisions that will be included including better access to lawyers and their asylum claims will be processed quicker. potentially within six months. many migrant advocates say they're livid with the biden administration for not doing more to get rid of this policy. and quickly, i want to speak to one of the migrants i have been speaking with a short time ago. alex. you're from elsa va dor? >> yes, sir.

>> how long have you been here? >> seven months. >> how difficult can the conditions been here? >> you can see right now, i don't know, if you call it house. i don't know. camp, i don't know. but the problem -- >> and craig, we spoke with several other people including a woman and her young children who said t extremely difficult here. other migrants told us that they potentially face the fear of kidnapping here and other extortion. that's what migrants say is danger. do you have any idea how long before your asylum claim is processed? do you know how long before you could potentially go to the united states? >> i don't know. maybe, maybe in january. maybe when they start the new year. maybe. i don't know. >> reporter: thank you, alex, for speaking to us. craig, i don't know. that's something that many migrants don't know. they feel like they're in a state of limbo here and they'll continue to be in a state of

limbo as this remain in mexico policy is reimplemented. again, the fear here from many migrant advocates is that migrant camps like this one, bottle necks at the border like this, will get even worse. >> i can't even imagine the conditions in which those folks are living beneath those tents there. gabe gutierrez along the border, continuing to shine a light on this migrant crisis. gabe, thank you. thank you for your reporting. be safe. u.s. athletes will compete in the 2022 beijing olympics. but how will the biden administration hold the chinese government accountable for the human rights abuses? we have details about their new plan, next. about their new plan, next mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth.

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thurng we're following breaking news surrounding a 2020 olympics. next year's winter games will likely feature plenty of u.s. athletes, but zero u.s. officials. that's because the biden administration is set to announce a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming games after

presidential lawmakers pushed the administration to take a stand against china's human rights abuses. shannon is following this one for us. shannon, china already responding to the move, a spokesperson for china's ministry of foreign affairs calling itquote, naked political provocation. when do we expect the administration is going to announce this officially? >> reporter: well, we do expect that to come shortly as senior administration official told nbc news last night that this has been decided, that there would be this diplomatic boycott. now, that does not mean u.s. athletes will be prohibited from going. we fully expected u.s. athletes to attend, but no top officials. for example, at the tokyo olympics we saw first lady jill biden attend. oftentimes you see other high profile prominent figures from the u.s. government attend. that will not be occurring here because of this diplomatic boycott, and it just speaks to how tense and cold the relations between u.s. and china have

gotten on everything from trade to human rights, and the human rights abuses administration officials said were really central to this decision to have this diplomatic boycott citing the crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in hong kong, the china's policy towards tibet and taiwan, and of course the violence against muslim uyghurs in china, which the state department has classified as genocide. a number of contentious issues between these two countries and the administration taking a big move here, though. as you indicated, not necessarily a surprising one because of that pressure we have seen from lawmakers and some indications we had gotten from the president that he was seriously considering making this step. >> okay. we'll expect that official announcement here shortly. again, shannon pettypiece from the white house. thank you from china to russia now, this morning we are getting a preview of what is going to be a high stakes conversation between president biden and russia's president vladimir putin.

president biden says tomorrow's video call will be a, quote, long discussion. the white house says the two leaders will likely engage in a range of topics, but the most crucial perhaps being russia's deployment of more than 90,000 combat troops to the ukraine border. according to "the washington post," u.s. intelligence officials are warning putin's military has drawn up plans for an offensive involving some 175,000 troops. nbc's senior international correspondent, keir simmons, joins me from london with more on this story. keir, also important to note here diplomatic sources in russia and the west both tell nbc news that president putin has not decided to invade ukraine yet, but apparently putin is expected to push president biden to guarantee ukraine not be admitted into nato, is that right? >> reporter: that's right, craig, and it's a really important point to raise because the question of nato is really

crucial to this. i think it really is the case that president putin hasn't decided what to do. he's getting what he wants, he's getting a call with president biden tomorrow. of course, it's right i would expect that they should say in the white house that they do that call just to try and prevent a conflict. just to very simply explain one of the impasses, craig, and it's that question of nato that you just raised. president putin is determined that ukraine should not enter nato or collaborate with nato more than it already has been and does. on the west side, on president biden's side, america and western europe are determined that ukraine should retain the rights to enter nato because when they talk about protecting ukraine's sovereignty, that's the kind of thing they mean, and those two positions clearly are opposed to each other, and then you have, as you say, these russian forces are on the border

of ukraine, clearly the russians have created enough concern with their plans and their military on the border that has got american intelligence very, very worried and warning the president. but of course just because there are military plans, it doesn't mean that russia is going to invade, and there are huge downsides for president putin, craig, from invading. just, for example, we know that america and western europe would impose much greater sanctions and other measures against russia as a result of action like that. you might think -- and there are diplomats i've spoken to who think this -- that russia is getting what it wants simply by threatening to invade and hopes that it can push president biden to negotiate. and that's how crucial this call is tomorrow, craig, we're told around 10:00 eastern in the morning according to reports in russia, in the morning tomorrow.

it will be a long call, i suspect, because there's a lot to talk about, craig. >> keir simmons for us in london, thank you, my friend. up next, back here honoring an american icon. how politicians on both sides of the political aisle are paying tribute to bob dole next. eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. because the way we care is anything but ordinary. ♪♪ if you wanna look fresh, fresh. you gotta eat fresh. eat fresh. that's why subway bought time in my shampoo ad. to talk about the new baja chicken & bacon. body, bounce, and baja. bounce. eat fresh. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible body, bounce, and baja. bounce. with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪

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>> right now flags in all federal buildings including the white house and capitol are flying at half-staff in honor of the late senator bob dole. he died sunday at the age of 98. the former senator was born in kansas and served in world war ii. he was permanently injured in battle, injured roughly two weeks before the war would end. for his service he received two purple hearts. he was later elected to congress in 1960. he was elected to the senate eight years later where he was a gop leader for more than a decade. bob dole ran for president not once, not twice, but three times. the last time we saw him in public was at the funeral for george h.w. bush where he so memorably stood from his wheelchair to salute his dear friend within last time. presidential historian jon

meacham talked about his legacy earlier today. >> he understand that politics was a rough contact sport, but he understood that politics has a purpose. it's not just about getting power and holding power. it's about using it. >> a remarkable life dedicated to service. so far no official memorial plans have been announced. that's going to do it for me this hour. "andrea mitchell reports" starts next. ♪♪ good day, everyone, this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. republic health officials are now on alert for two disturbing coronavirus trends, the continuing spread of omicron now confirmed in 17 states, while scientists still work intensively to figure out just how dangerous that new variant is, and the more immediate threat from the delta variant ripping through the country with th